Explorers of North America

European Explorers

• Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian in the service of France, sailed to North America in 1524 in search of a sea route to the Pacific.
• Verrazzano discovered what is today New York harbor.
• Frenchman Jacques Cartier reached a gulf off the eastern coast of Canada that led to a broad river, which he named the St. Lawrence.
• Cartier followed the river inward and named a large island Mont Real (Mount Royal), which later became known as Montreal.

New France

• In 1608, Samuel de Champlain sailed up the St. Lawrence with about 32 colonists and founded Quebec, which became the base of France's colonial empire in North America.
• The French moved further into the North American continent, and in 1673, French Jesuit priest Jacques Marquette and trader Louis Joliet explored the Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi River.

Dutch Colonization

• The Dutch followed the English and French into North America, and in 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the service of the Netherlands, sailed west in search of a northwest sea route to Asia.
• Hudson did not find a route, but explored three waterways that were later named for him: the Hudson River, Hudson Bay, and Hudson Strait.
• The Dutch claimed the region along these waterways, established a fur trade with the Iroquois Indians, and built trading posts along the Hudson River at Fort Orange (now Albany) and on Manhattan Island.
• The Dutch West India Company was formed, and in 1621, the Dutch government granted the company permission to colonize the region.
• The Dutch holdings in North America became known as New Netherland.

Pirates and Privateers

• Privately owned armed ships, known as privateers, attacked merchant ships of enemy nations and sank or robbed them on behalf of their governments.
• Pirates also roamed the high seas, attacking ships for their valuables and not caring what nation the vessels represented.
• One of the best-known pirates was Edward B. Teach, also known as Blackbeard.

Colonizing the Caribbean

• During the 1600s, the nations of Europe also colonized the Caribbean, with the French seizing control of present-day Haiti, Guadeloupe, and Martinique.
• The English settled Barbados and Jamaica, and the Dutch captured what are now the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba from Spain.
• On these islands, the Europeans built huge cotton and sugar plantations, which demanded a large and steady supply of labor that was eventually supplied by enslaved Africans.

Struggle for North America

• The English, French, and Dutch battled one another for colonial supremacy in North America.
• The English ousted the Dutch from New Netherland, which was renamed New York.
• The English, French, and Dutch continued to expand their settlements and explore the continent.