EXPLORERS AND THEIR QUEST FOR NORTH AMERICA

Featuring many famous adventurers including Hernan Cortes whose victorious battles against the Aztecs conquered Mexico for Spain, Henry Hudson's sea voyages in search of the Northwest Passage which led to the colonisation of New York and the exploration of Hudson Bay in Canada, and Meriwether Lewis' journey across the Louisiana Purchase which began the mass migration of settlers to Western America. Among the slightly lesser-known explorers discussed are Vitus Bering whose discovery of Alaska established Russia's claim to the region, and Alexander Mackenzie's 107 day trek across western Canada that opened the frontier to settlement, commerce and development of its natural resources. From Columbus to Lewis, the exploration of the New World became one of humankind's greatest quests that altered history forever. The book ignites the era of exploration to the New World. The Age of Discovery began when Christopher Columbus' three ships swept to the continent of North America. The book traces the discovery, exploration and settlement of the western hemisphere through the comprehensive biographies of 14 explorers - others include John Cabot, Jacques Cartier founder of New France, Hernando de Soto who discovered the Mississippi River, Francisco Coronado, Samuel de Champlain the father of French Canada, Captain John Smith, Henry Hudson, Robert Cavelier de la Salle explorer of the Great Lakes, and Daniel Boone, frontiersman and pioneer in the Ohio Valley. 303pp, maps.