In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan set out to
reach the Spice Islands by a westerly route.
Magellan navigated the straits at the south-
ern tip of South America. After his death
in battle in the Philippines, Sebastian del
Cano led one ship back to Spain, becom-
ing the first navigator to make a circum-
navigation of the earth. The voyage
brought the Philippines into Spain’s pos-
session and gave navigators a clear idea of
the distances involved in transoceanic
travel.
In the sixteenth century geographical
knowledge of the Americas expanded as
new voyages of exploration returned to
Europe. Giovanni da Verrazano explored
the Atlantic Coast of North America, from
Maine to Florida, in 1524. Jacques Cartier
made two voyages to Canada in the 1530s,
attempting to colonize the banks of the
Saint Lawrence River. Martin Frobisher
and John Davis explored Greenland, Baffin
Island, and the Arctic Ocean straits. Henry
Hudson reached a great arctic bay in 1610,
believing he had reached the Pacific Ocean.
Hudson was cast adrift by his mutinous
crew, but his discovery of Hudson Bay led
to England’s control of a new and lucra-
tive fur trade.
Exploration in the Spanish Americas
led to conquest and colonization. Spanish
explorer Francisco de Orellana navigated
the entire Amazon River in 1541–1542.
Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas of
Peru and Hernán Cortes, the Aztecs. Fran-
cisco Coronado explored the American
southwest in 1540. Spain now had claim
to the largest colonial empire on earth.
Spain also established a cross-Pacific trade
route between Mexico and China. Euro-
pean exploration had led to the coloniza-
tion of much of the world and control of
trade. In turn this expanding trade brought
about Europe’s economic expansion and
industrialization, allowing Europeans to
dominate the global economy for centu-
ries to come.SEEALSO: Cartier, Jacques; Columbus,
Christopher; Cortes, Hernán; da Gama,
Vasco; Henry the Navigator; Magellan,
Ferdinandexploration