Early New World Explorers - FREE American History Lesson Plans & Games for Kids. Explorers. Map of the World in the 1500's The story of exploration of the New World is a story of courage, discovery, and often times disaster.
The men who led the expeditions to the New World faced the unknown of uncharted waters, the threat of mutinous crews, and often peculiar natives who might offer friendship, or might roast and eat the uninvited visitor. These men were sometimes motivated by spreading the Gospel to new lands, and sometimes motivated by the hopes of riches, power or eternal youth. Motivated by greed, or the noblest of ambitions, the explorers more often than not met with disappointment and disaster.
Christopher Columbus was rejected by the ungrateful monarch, Ferdinand, and he died in poverty and obscurity in 1506. Explorers. European Exploration and Settlement in the New World. Despite the common belief that Christopher Columbus was the first European discover of the New World, it is far more likely that Leif (or Leiv) Erikson (or Eriksson or Ericson) sailed west from Greenland around the year 1000 and landed somewhere in present-day Canada, probably the coast of Labrador.
However, no permanent settlement ensued and the discovery was largely forgotten. The first European to discover America and remember was Christopher Columbus. As an Italian by birth, his name would have been Colombo then, and his Spanish sponsors would have called him Colon. Explorers. European Explorers. Mcstechnology / Explorer Research Template. Early New World Explorers - FREE American History Lesson Plans & Games for Kids.