Notable & Famous Explorers Posters and Prints, pg 4/8
for social studies teachers and home schoolers, theme decor in office.

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
b. c. 1500; Cadiz
d. c. 1557; Spain

Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer remembered for his La Relacion (The Report) to Charles V about being one of four survivors out of a party of 300, and crossing from Florida to Mexico, 1528-1537.

John Cabot
b. c. 1484; Bristol; England or Venice
d. c. 1557

John Cabot (originally Giovanni Caboto), was an explorer under the flags of England and Spain, and a cartographer to Henry VIII.

• Voyages and Discoveries: Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques & Discoveries

Sebastian Cabot
b. c. 1484; Bristol, England or Venice
d. c. 1557

Sebastian Cabot (originally Sebastiano Caboto), the son of John Cabot, was an explorer under the flags of England and Spain and a cartographer to Henry VIII

• Voyages and Discoveries: Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques & Discoveries

Pedro Alvares Cabral
b. c. 1467; Portugal
d. 1520; Portugal

Pedro Alvares Cabral, Portugese navigator entrusted with carrying on in Vasco de Gama's post, is considered the first European to establish a sea route to

• Voyage of Pedro Alvares Cabral to Brazil and India

Verney Lovett Cameron
b. 7-1-1844; England
d. 3-24-1894; England

Verney Lovett Cameron was the first European to cross equatorial Africa from sea to sea.

• Across Africa by Verney Lovett Cameron

Christopher Houston “Kit” Carson
b. 12-24-1809; Kentucky
d. May, 1868

“Kit” Carson was an American frontiersman born in Kentucky to a Reveloutionary War veteren and traveled with his family at the age of two to Franklin, Missouri, situated at the eastern end of the Santa Fe Trail.

After his father's untimely death clearing land purchased from Daniel Boone's sons, Carson apprenticed in a saddlemaker shop and heard the stories of the trader's and trappers setting out for New Mexico.

He left home at the age of 16, eventually learned the fur trapping skills and became fluent in Spanish, Navajo, Apache, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Paiute, Shoshone, and Ute. Carson also married three times, having fifteen children, and serving as scout for John C. Fremont.

• Kit Carson's Own Story of His Life

Jacques Cartier
b. 12-31-1491; France
d. 9-1-1557; France

France based its claims to the rich lands of Canada on the exploration of Jacques Cartier. He lead the first European expedition up the St. Lawrence River, which became an important passageway into the interior of North America. He detailed accounts of his geographical discoveries, the Indians, and the plants and animals of the New World were published in French, English, and Italian. They stimulated many later voyages to North America.

In 1534, King Francis I sent Cartier to North America to search for the fabled Northwest Passage to China. Many Europeans hoped they could reach the Orient by sailing north of North America. Cartier's expedition landed on the Gaspé Peninsula in Canada. He claimed the peninsula for France. There he met a group of Iroquois Indians who told him of precious jewels and metals farther northwest, which whetted his appetite for exploration. Cartier established friendly relations with the Indians on this expedition, finding natives who would later serve as interpreters.

Cartier returned to Canada the next year. Saling along the northern coast of the Gaspé Peninsula, he entered a bay, which he named for St. Lawrence because the expedition arrived there on the saint's freat day. From the bay, he sailed up the great river to the foot of a mountain he called Mont Réal, or “Mount Royal.” The city of Montreal was founded on this site. Because Cartier claimed the region for France, Montreal grew into the second-largest French-speaking city in the world. Later explorers named the great river that flowed by Montreal the St. Lawrence. Winter stopped Cartier's exploration on this second expedition. He and his crew returnd down the river to what is now Quebec City, where their ships were trapped by ice and they had to spend the winter. The Frenchmen suffered greatly from cold and hunger during the long Canadian winter. Most of them became ill with scurvy, a disease caused by lack of vitamin C. Before Cartier learned that a brew of white cedar bark would cure the disease, 25 men died.

On his third voyage ot America, Cartier searchd for gold and spices that Indians said existed to the west. The Indians became hostile when they realized the French intended to stay in Canada. They killed many of Cartier's men, and he returned to France after spending another hard winter in Canada. (text from no longer available poster in series)

• North American Continent poster

Samuel de Champlain
b. 1567; France
d. 12-25-1635; Quebec City

Samuel de Champlain, the "father of New France," founder of Quebec City, opened North America to French fur trade.

Champlain was born in the seaport town of Brouage on France's west coast and naturally became a salior, progressing to navigator and mapmaker. Champlain would spend several months or years exploring North America in the area of present day Quebec and the area of the US where Lake Champlain, named for him, in 1609; and then return to France to find investors for more exploration.

Hugh Clapperton
b. 5-18-1788; Scotland
d. 4-13-1827; Africa

Hugh Clapperton, a Scottish traveller and explorer of West and Central Africa, was the first European to see Lake Chad; died on Niger Expedition.

• Hugh Clapperton into the Interior of Africa: Records of the Second Expedition, 1825-1827

Christopher Columbus
b. c 8-26 & 10-31-1451; Genoa, Italy
d. 5-20-1506; Valladolid, Spain

• more Christopher Columbus posters

James Cook
b. 10-27-1728; England
d. 2-14-1779; Hawaii

Captain James Cook, explorer, navigator and cartographer, made the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia, the European discovery of the Hawaiian Islands, the first mapping of Newfoundland and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.

• The Journals of Captain Cook

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
b. c 1510; Salamanca, Spain
d. 9-22-1554; Mexico City, bankrupt

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was a Spanish conquistador whose desire for the fabled gold of Cibola fueled his expedition into what is now the southwestern United States to “Quivera” in the area of Lyons, Kansas. He was also the first European to see the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River.

• In Coronado's Footsteps, Stewart Udall

Hernan Cortes
b. 1485; Medellin, Kingdom of Castile
d. 12-2-1546; Seville Province, Spain

In the early 16th century conquistador Hernan Cortes led an expedition that heighten the turmoil among the Native Americans and brought down Montezuma II and the Aztec Empire, putting much of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau
b. 6-11-1910; France
d. 6-25-1997; Paris

French naval officer Jacques-Yves Cousteau was an explorer and ecologist who studied the sea and all forms of water life.

Davy Crockett
b. 8-17-1786; Tennessee
d. March, 1836; The Alamo, TX