why did they want to come to the Americas?
The European Countries wanted to come over to the Americas because of the three G's. The three G;s include gold, glory and god. They wanted wealth because of the upcoming bank system They wanted to spread the word of god so god would put them above everyone else. Finally they wanted the glory because who doesn't want to be famous.
The most important of the bunch
The first country to start the tradition was Portugal. Prince Henry was the first to explore. He sailed to West Africa. The next to explore was Spain. Christopher Columbus explored for Spain. He sailed to the Bahamas. After Colombus was Juan once de Leon. He discovered Florida. After him was Vasco Nunez de Balboa. He claimed the pacific ocean for Spain. The last of the most important explores was Hernando Desoto. He discovered Georgia. Those are the most important explorers.
Spain discovers the new world
Columbus was the first explorer to make it to the Americas. He thought he was in the West Indies. He sailed there on October 12th, 1492 on the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Amerigo Vespucci was with Columbus and researchers think that's why America is called America.
English join the race
The merchants of England wanted apart of the new world. In result of this Cabot sailed in 1497 to North America. He ended up landing the Canada, but sailed the east Coast. A new economy called Mercantilism was a motive for merchants to get too north America. Later on a boat called the MayFlower took pilgrims over to north America to set up a colony. A new Colony called Carolina was created by England. The colony includes the land of most of the south east.
The French
The French was the 3rd power to enter the race. They entered it in 1524, when a French sailor though he could said westward to get to Asia. This route was blocked by North America. In 1562, the French crated port Royal which is now the Savannah River. They eventually made their way down to Florida where the Spanish hold their grond and didn't let the French take over.