(1510-1554)
Coronado was born into a noble family in
Salamanca, Spain, in 1510. At the age of 25,
Coronado moved to Mexico to work as an assistant to a leader in the area.
In Mexico, Coronado married the daughter of the colonial treasurer, put down a major slave rebellion, and became governor of an important
Mexican region. But he wanted more. Inspired by rumors of seven cities of gold, Coronado led a royal expedition of about 300 Spanish soldiers, over
1,000 Tlaxcalan Indians, and herds of livestock north into what is now the American West.
In July 1540 Coronado and his group met the Zuni tribe.
Coronado recited the requirimiento, which said the native people must "acknowledge the Church as the ruler and superior of the whole world, and the high priest called
Pope, and in his name the King and Queen" of Spain.
Coronado warned Zuni that if they failed to obey orders
"with the help of God we shall forcefully... make war against you... take you and your wives and children and shall make slaves of them."
In response, the Zuni began firing arrows at the
Spaniards, at one point very nearly killing Coronado himself. The better-armed and mounted Spaniards quickly entered the pueblo and forced the Zuni to flee.
Because Coronado found no gold in the Zuni pueblos, the exploration continued. Coronado sent out parties that ranged all the way to the Colorado River on the border between
California and Arizona, exploring the Grand Canyon and much of what is now New Mexico.
Coronado himself led a party in search of the city of Quivira and its mythic riches, into what is now Kansas, but found only a small village of what were probably Wichita Indians.
Coronado returned home to Mexico, where the Viceroy (the leader of the government) branded his expedition a failure. Coronado managed to resume his governorship, but within several years he was found guilty of numerous crimes against Indians under his authority. He was removed from office in 1544 and moved to Mexico City to work in a modest position in the government. He died in 1554, decades before the tale of his expedition was finally published.

Around 1450, John Cabot was born Giovanni Caboto in Genoa, Italy. In 1482 he married a
Venetian woman, Mattea, with whom he had three sons.
Caboto believed people would make more money through trade if a sea route to the Orient (Asia) could be established. But the people of Italy weren't interested, since they controlled trade through the eastern Mediterranean. Around 1490, Caboto decided to move his family to Valencia, Spain, to gain either
Spanish or Portuguese support for an expedition to find such a route. He was too late, however. Thanks to Bartolomeu Dias and
Vasco da Gama , Portugal had pioneered a route to India by sailing down the Atlantic coast of Africa, around the Cape of
Good Hope, and through the Indian Ocean. In 1493, Christopher
Columbus, sailing for Spain, announced that he had reached the
Orient by sailing west across the Atlantic.
Turned down by both Spain and Portugal, Caboto turned in 1494 or 1495 to Bristol, England.
Caboto’s plan was to reach Asia by sailing west across the North Atlantic, which he estimated would be much shorter and quicker than Columbus' southerly route. The English agreed to support Caboto, and, on March 5, 1496, he received official backing from Henry VII. It may have been about this time that Giovanni Caboto became known as John Cabot, for from this time on he sailed for the English Crown.
On his first voyage in 1496, Cabot was forced to turn back after running short of food, running into bad weather, and having to fend off a mutiny. In his 1497 voyage, Cabot steered a course across the North Atlantic. Some 35 days later he sighted land, and was shortly back in Bristol. This is all that is known about this voyage, however, as no records survive. No one knows for sure exactly how far north or south he may have sailed, where or even if he made landfall in North America, or what he may have found.
In February 1498, Cabot set sail with a fleet of five vessels. One ship returned to Bristol after being damaged in a storm. The other ships returned to Bristol with more geographical knowledge of the areas now known as Newfoundland and Labrador or eastern Canada. Lastly, we know that John Cabot, his son Sancio, and some of his crew died while ashore, but how they died remains a mystery.

Early Life
Robert de La Salle, also called Robert Sieur de la Salle, was a famous French explorer. He was born on November 21, 1643, in
Rouen, France. He spent nine years studying to be a Jesuit Priest before renouncing his vows and traveling to the New World.
The Search for the Northwest Passage
La Salle’s career in exploration began in 1666, when he traveled to Quebec, Canada as a
French colonist. In 1667, he was granted a seigneury (a large plot of land) on Montreal
Island, which he sold two years later in the hopes of jump starting his career as an explorer.
Eager to find the fabled Northwest Passage to Asia, La Salle set up an expedition with nine canoes from Montreal, Quebec in 1669. La Salle and his crew, however, were ill-prepared for the exploration, but did reach Lake Ontario. The expedition turned back to Montreal two months later without reaching the river that La Salle believed led to China – the Ohio. La Salle made several other smaller expeditions between 1671 and 1673.
Claiming “Louisiana”
On February 6, 1682, La Salle and 40 men reached the
Mississippi River and began their journey south. On April
9, La Salle claimed the entire Mississippi River Valley for
France when he reached the mouth of the river near
Venice, Louisiana. The claim included not only the
Mississippi River, but all land where its branches extended – approximately two thirds of the entire United States. La Salle named the region Louisiana, after his King.
La Salle’s Deadly Failure
In 1684, La Salle and 300 hopeful colonists returned to North America in the hopes of establishing a large French colony along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The trip, however, was a nightmare. It was plagued by pirate attacks, hostile Indians, and poor navigation. One of La Salle’s supply ships became shipwrecked and members of the expedition killed local
Indians who had taken supplies from the wreck, making dangerous enemies. The expedition ended up in Texas where they founded another Fort St. Louis, far from their target – the Mississippi River. During one of several searches for the river, 36 of La Salle’s men turned on him near present-day Navasota, Texas. It was here where La Salle was murdered by one of his own men on March 19, 1687. The colony of Fort St. Louis would persist until 1688, when its remaining residents were killed by Indians.

Samuel de Champlain was born in Brouage, France around the year 1567. He became one of the most important explorers in North American and French history and mapped much of Canada and the northeastern United States.
Starting a Career in Exploration
In 1603, Champlain sailed to North America on Francois Grave Du Pont’s expedition. The pair and their crew sailed west through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and into the St. Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers. They also explored the misty Gaspe’ Peninsula of Quebec. After returning to France, Champlain decided to sail back to Quebec in the hopes of discovering the Northwest Passage, a mythical waterway that would serve as a shortcut from the
Atlantic to the Pacific.
Making History for France
Champlain returned to Quebec in 1604 on Pierre de Mont’s expedition. For the next three years, Champlain explored much of the coast of Nova Scotia, the Bay of Fundy and the coasts of Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Champlain started his first colony in the
New World on Port Royal, Nova Scotia in 1605. In 1608, Champlain started the first permanent French colony in the New World at Quebec (City) on the St. Lawrence River.
The colony was started as a fur-trading center. Unfortunately for the French settlers, they were not used to the bitter Canadian winter. Of the 32 settlers in the colony, only nine survived the winter. More colonists would be sent from France to reinforce the colony.
Exploring the Great Lakes Region
In 1609, Champlain helped the Huron Indians fight the Iroquois, which ultimately led to much bitterness between the French and Iroquois. In
1615, Champlain explored much of upstate New York and parts of Ontario and eastern Michigan. Champlain spent the rest of his life managing the settlements at
Quebec. He died in 1635, apparently of a stroke.