Significant Voyages of Exploration to the Americas – the ‘New World’ 1492 to 1535

1492 Columbus First Voyage

1493 Columbus Second Voyage

1497 Giovanni Cabot

1498 Giovanni Cabot

1498 Columbus Third Voyage

1499 Hojeda, Cosa, Vespucci

1499 Pinzon

1500 Cabral

1501 Vespucci

1502 Columbus Fourth Voyage

1519 to 1522 Magellan Expedition World Tour

1524 Varrazano

1534 -1535 Cartier

Christopher Columbus – Italian

Christopher Columbus (1451 –1506) was an Italian explorer and navigator who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, opening the way for European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions, sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, were the first European contact with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.

Voyages sponsored by King of Spain, Ferdinand II (1452 to 1516) (Knight of the Garter #218 (appointed 1480))

Giovanni (John) Cabot – Italian

John Cabot (1450 – 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of King of England, Henry VII is the earliest known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century.

Voyages sponsored by King of England, Henry VII (1457 to 1509) – Knight of the Garter and Head of the Order (appointed 1485)

Amerigo Vespucci – Italian

Amerigo Vespucci (1454 – 1512) was an Italian-born merchant, explorer, and navigator from the Republic of Florence, from whose name the term “America” is derived. He became a Castillian (Spanish) citizen in 1505.

Voyage of 1499–1500 sponsored by King of Spain, Ferdinand II (1452 to 1516) (Knight of the Garter #218 (appointed 1480))

Voyage of 1501–1502 sponsored by King of Portugal, Manuel I (1469 to 1521) (Knight of the Garter #267 (appointed 1510))

Alonso de Ojeda – Spanish

Alonso de Ojeda (1466 – 1515) was a Spanish explorer, governor and conquistador. He travelled through Guyana, Venezuela, Trinidad, Tobago, Curaçao, Aruba and Colombia. He navigated with Amerigo Vespucci who is famous for having named Venezuela, which he explored during his first two expeditions, for having been the first European to visit Guyana, Curaçao, Colombia, and Lake Maracaibo, and later for founding Santa Cruz (La Guairita).

Voyage of 1499–1500 sponsored by King of Spain, Ferdinand II (1452 to 1516) (Knight of the Garter #218 (appointed 1480))

Juan de la Cosa – Spanish

Juan de la Cosa (1450 –1510) was a Castilian navigator and cartographer, known for designing the earliest European world map that incorporated the territories of the Americas that were discovered in the 15th century. De la Cosa played an important role in the first and second voyage of Christopher Columbus to the West Indies, since he was the owner and master of the Santa María.

In 1499, he served as the chief pilot in the expedition of Alonso de Ojeda to the coasts of South America.

Voyage of 1499–1500 sponsored by King of Spain, Ferdinand II (1452 to 1516) (Knight of the Garter #218 (appointed 1480))

Vicente Pinzon – Spanish

Vicente Yáñez Pinzón (1462 –1514) was a Spanish navigator and explorer, the youngest of the Pinzón brothers. Along with his older brother, Martín Alonso Pinzón (c. 1441 – c. 1493), who captained the Pinta, he sailed with Christopher Columbus on the first voyage to the New World, in 1492 as captain of the Niña.

Voyage of 1499 sponsored by King of Spain, Ferdinand II (1452 to 1516) (Knight of the Garter #218 (appointed 1480))

Pedro Cabral – Portuguese

Pedro Álvares Cabral (1467– 1520) was a Portuguese nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the European discoverer of Brazil. In 1500 Cabral conducted the first substantial exploration of the northeast coast of South America and claimed it for Portugal.

Voyage of 1500 sponsored by King of Portugal, Manuel I (1469 to 1521) (Knight of the Garter #267 (appointed 1510))

Ferdinand Magellan – Portuguese

Ferdinand Magellan.(1480 – 1521) was a Portuguese explorer who organised the Spanish expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, resulting in the first circumnavigation of the Earth, which was completed by Juan Sebastián Elcano.

Voyage of 1519 to 1522 sponsored by King of Spain, Charles V (1500 to 1558) (Knight of the Garter #264 (appointed 1508))

Varrazano – Italian

Giovanni da Verrazzano (1485 – 1528) was a Florentine explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France.

Voyages sponsored by King of France, Francis I (1494 to 1547) (Knight of the Garter #292 (appointed 1527))

Cartier – French

Jacques Cartier (1491 – 1557) was a French-Breton maritime explorer for France. Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named “The Country of Canadas” after the Iroquois names for the two big settlements he saw at Stadacona (Quebec City) and at Hochelaga (Montreal Island).

Voyages sponsored by King of France, Francis I (1494 to 1547) (Knight of the Garter #292 (appointed 1527))