| A | B |
|---|
| Northwest Passage | a nonexistant water route through North America that many explorers hoped would be a shortcut to Asia |
| Marco Polo | the famous Italian land explorer whose description of China and the Indies Islands inspired exploration |
| Leif Eriksson | the explorer who traveled along the Canadian coast, finally settling in Vinland |
| Prince Henry the Navigator | the nickname for the Portuguese leader who set up the first European school for training sailors in navigation and had hopes of being the first person to discover a water route to Asia |
| Bartholomeu Dias | the explorer who was the first European to sail around the souther tip of Africa before turning back |
| Vasco da Gama | the explorer who sailed around the southern tip of Africa to India |
| Christopher Columbus | the explorer who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean seeking a western route to Asia |
| Amerigo Vespucci | the explorer who came to the conclusion that he and Columbus had discovered a previously unknown continent rather than Asia |
| Vasco Nunez de Balboa | the explorer who crossed the Isthmus of Panama and became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean |
| Ferdinand Magellan | the explorer whose surviving crew managed to be the first to sail around the world |
| Hernando Cortes | the explorer who defeated the Aztec Empire in search of gold in what is now Mexico |
| Francisco Pizarro | the explorer who defeated the Inca Empire of South America in a search for gold and riches |
| Juan Ponce de Leon | the explorer who discovered what is now Florida while searching for the legendary Fountain of Youth |
| Francisco Vasquez de Coronado | the explorer who explored areas in the Southwest United States searching for the legendary Seven Cities of Gold |
| Hernando de Soto | the explorer who was the first European to see the Mississippi River |
| Jacques Cartier | the explorer who sailed up the St. Lawrence River searching for a Northwest Passage to Asia and who began the fur trade with the Huron Indians |
| Samuel de Champlain | the explorer who set up a settlement called Quebec and a trading post at what is now Montreal |
| Henry Hudson | the explorer who claimed the land along the Hudson River for the Netherlands |
| Sir Walter Raleigh | the English nobleman who sent people to settle England's first colony just off the coast of what is now North Carolina |
| Captain John Smith | the English leader who forced the colonists to work |
