Graphic Century of 
1500s 
| Graphic Century of |
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| 1500s |
| 1500s 1507 - The name "America" is first used in a geography book referring to the New World, correctly crediting Amerigo Vespucci as being the first to realize that a new continent, rather than a route to Asia, had been discovered. |
1510s 1513 - Ponce de León of Spain lands in Florida. 1513 - Vasco Nunez Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean. |
| 1520s 1519-21 - Hernando Cortés conquers the Aztec empire. 1519-1522 - Ferdinand Magellan is the first person to sail around the world (killed in the Philippines). 1524 - Giovanni de Verrazano, sponsored by France, lands in the area around the Carolinas, then sails north and discovers the Hudson River, and continues northward into Narragansett Bay and Nova Scotia. |
1530s 1533 - Francisco Pizarro conquers Peru. 1535 Jacques Cartier navigates St. Lawrence River (to 1536) |
| 1540s 1541 - Hernando de Soto of Spain discovers the Mississippi River. |
1550s |
| 1560s 1562 - French build Ft. Caroline near present-day Jacksonville, FL 1565 - The first permanent European colony in North America is founded at St. Augustine (Florida) by the Spanish. 1567 - Portuguese settle at Rio de Janeiro |
1570s 1577 - Sir Francis Drake sails round the world (to 1580) |
| 1580s 1584 - Sir Walter Raleigh lands on Roanoke Island and names the surrounding area Virginia, in honor of Queen Elizabeth I of England. 1586 - Francis Drake sails to West Indies. 1587 - The first English child, Virginia Dare, is born in Roanoke, August 18. 1588 - In Europe, the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English results in Great Britain replacing Spain as the dominant world power and leads to a gradual decline of Spanish influence in the New World and the widening of English imperial interests. |
1590s |
1500s