Major Explorations of the Americas

Date	Explorer	Nationality	Chief Achievements
1513	Vasco Núñez de Balboa	Spanish	Led expedition across Isthmus of Panama; sighted Pacific Ocean.
1513	Juan Ponce de León	Spanish	Explored Florida.
1517	Francisco Fernández de Córdoba	Spanish	Reached Yucatán.
1519-1521	Hernando Cortés	Spanish	Conquered Mexico.
1528-1536	Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca	Spanish	Explored Gulf Plains from Texas to Mexico.
1528	Pánfilo de Narváez	Spanish	Explored western Florida and northern coast of Gulf of Mexico.
1531-1537	Diego de Almagro	Spanish	Aided in conquest of Peru; crossed Atacama Desert in Chile.
1531-1535	Francisco Pizarro	Spanish	Explored Peru; founded Lima.
1536-1538	Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada	Spanish	Explored northern Andes region; founded Bogotá.
1539-1542	Hernando De Soto	Spanish	Reached Mississippi River; explored southeastern United States.
1540-1542	Francisco V. de Coronado	Spanish	Explored central Kansas and the Grand Canyon region.
1540-1541	Pedro de Valdivia	Spanish	Conquered and explored Chile. Founded Santiago.
1541	Francisco de Orellana	Spanish	Explored Amazon River.
1598-1605	Juan de Oñate	Spanish	Explored southwestern United States.
1603-1616	Samuel de Champlain	French	Explored eastern coast of North America, and St. Lawrence River west to Lake Huron. Reached Lake Champlain.
1659-1661	Pierre Esprit Radisson	French	Explored Lake Superior and northern Mississippi region.
1673	Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette	French-Canadian and French	Explored northern Mississippi Basin.
1678-1687	Sieur Duluth	French	Explored Lake Superior region.
1678-1683	Henri de Tonti	French	Explored Mississippi Valley.
1679-1682	Sieur de La Salle and Henri de Tonti	French	Explored Lake Michigan region and Mississippi River.
1679-1680	Louis Hennepin	Belgian	Explored upper Mississippi region for French missionaries.
1699-1720	Sieur de Bienville	French-Canadian	Explored lower Mississippi Valley; founded New Orleans. Worked for France.
1699-1702	Sieur d'Iberville	French-Canadian	Explored lower Mississippi Valley; first European to enter Mississippi River from the sea. Worked for France.
1771	Samuel Hearne	English	First man known to reach Arctic overland from Hudson Bay.
1789-1812	David Thompson	English	Explored western Canada.
1789-1793	Sir Alexander Mackenzie	Scottish	Explored western Canada; reached the Mackenzie River.
1804-1806	William Clark and Meriwether Lewis	American	Led expedition across Rocky Mountains to Pacific Ocean and back.
1805-1807	Zebulon M. Pike	American	Explored Middle West and Rocky Mountain region.
1824-1829	Jedediah Strong Smith	American	Explored Great Basin; blazed trails across Rocky Mountains to California and the Pacific Northwest.
1824	James Bridger	American	First white man to visit Great Salt Lake.
1842-1846	John Charles Frémont	American	Did extensive western exploration in the United States.