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1400's - 1600's
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In the timeline, the Renaissance period started from 1400 - 1500
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João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira, two Portuguese explorers found Porto Santo.
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On this year, the Portuguese reached the peninsula of Cape Verde and the Gambia River.
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Lopo Gonçalves became the first European sailor to cross the Equator on this year.
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Diogo Cão reached the Congo River on the year 1482, where he built a padrão which is called in English, pillar of stone.
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Bartolomeu Dias, the Portuguese navigator, was the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.
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Cape of Good Hope was a natural stopping point for European vessels on their way to the Indies. Cape of Good Hope was founded in 1488 by Bartolomeu Dias who first sighted it on his return voyage to Portugal.
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On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus, a European from Italy, found America (or so most people think). This day is an annual holiday that celebrates the day on October 12, when Christopher Columbus officially found the Americas. It has been a national holiday in the United States since 1937. Even though most people think Columbus found America, it was actually a person called Leif Ericson (son of Erik the Red) who did about half a millennium (500 years) before Columbus.
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Vasco Da Gama found India. He established the Indian Route as he sailed around Africa and into the Indian Ocean where he found India and stopped at Calicut.
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Giovanni Caboto in Italian, as Zuan Chabotto in Venetian, and as John Cabot in English was an Italian (Venetian) navigator and explorer. He is known for his 1497 voyage to North America, where he claimed land in Canada for England.
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The European-Asian sea route, commonly known as the sea route to India or the Cape Route, is a maritime shipping route from the European coast of the Atlantic Ocean to Asia's coast of the Indian Ocean passing by the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulhas at the southern edge of Africa. The first recorded completion of the route was made in 1498 by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. The route was important during the Age of Sail, but became partly obsolete (outdated) as the Suez Canal opened in 1869.
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European countries established the slave trade in west Africa to obtain workers for the sugar plantations in South America and the Caribbean, and the cotton plantations in the southern U.S.
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Amerigo Vespucci (an Italian merchant) explored up and down the coast of South America. He was the first person to recognize North and South America as distinct continents that were previously unknown to Europeans, Asians and Africans. America was named after him.
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Under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral, a Portuguese expedition was the first to bring spices from India to Europe by way of the Cape of Good Hope in 1501. Spices such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, and turmeric were important items of commerce in the earliest evolution of trade.
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The Age of Sail was a period roughly corresponding to the early modern period in which international trade were dominated by sailing ships lasting from the mid-16th to the mid-19th centuries.
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Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spanish explorer and soldier who was the first European to set foot in Florida. He went searching for riches and the Fountain of Youth (a mythical spring that restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters). He then landed on the East Coast of Florida (St. Augustine) and named it Pascua de Florida (feast of flowers) and claimed the land for Spain.
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Hernán Cortés Spanish conquistador and explorer. In 1518, he set off to explore Mexico and then defeated the Aztecs and claimed Mexico for Spain.
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Ferdinand Magellan is known for being a Portugal explorer who discovered the Strait of Magellan while leading the first journey to circumnavigate the globe which he did successfully.
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Francisco Pizarro who was a Spanish conquistador traveled through much of the Pacific coast of America along Peru. He then conquered the Incan Empire, stealing massive amounts of gold, silver, and other treasures. Explored South America.
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Giovanni da Verrazzano was an Italian navigator who explored the northeast coast of North America from Cape Fear, North Carolina to Maine while searching for a Northwest passage to Asia.
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Jacques Cartier was a French explorer who was the first European to describe the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he later named, The Country of Canadas.
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Ruy López de Villalobos discovered 3 islands which were Fais, Ulithi, and Yap in the Carolines and 8 atolls(a ring-shaped reef, island, or chain of islands formed of coral) which were Kwajalein, Lae, Ujae, Wotho, Likiep, Wotje, Erikub, and Maloelap all in the Marshall Islands.
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Sir Francis Drake is best known for circumnavigating the world (even though he wasn't the first to do so).
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Triangular Trade was a series of trade routes that linked Europe, Africa, and America. First, merchant ships brought European goods to Africa. Then, the goods were exchanged for slaves and the slaves were sailed to the Americas. In the Americas, the slaves were traded for raw materials which were shipped to Europe, completing the process.
