Italian explorer John Cabot, sailing for England, becomes the first European to land in North America since Leif Erikson.

The father and son duo of Erik the Red and Leif Erikson found the colony of Greenland, and become the first Europeans to arrive in North America.

Zebulon Pike sets off into the Louisiana Territory

American explorers, including Zebulon Pike, set out to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory

Balboa sets off to find the mysterious sea on the other side of the mountains

Balboa and the Spanish quest for gold leads him to establish the first permanent European colony in the Americas

Juan Sebastián Elcano takes the reins of the fleet as they try and finish the circumnavigation of the world

Magellan and the Armada de Molucca set sail across the Pacific in search of the Spice Islands

Magellan sets sail for South America to find the strait that will take him to the Western Sea

Magellan plans his daring expedition to the legendary Spice Islands