<Li> 1499--João Fernandes Lavrador, together with Pêro de Barcelos, sight Labrador . </Li> <Li> 1499--Gaspar and Miguel Corte - Real reach and map Greenland . </Li> <Ul> <Li> 1500--Vicente Yáñez Pinzón reaches the northeast coast of what today is Brazil at a cape he names "Santa Maria de la Consolación" (Cabo de Santo Agostinho) and sails fifty miles up a river he names the "Marañón" (Amazon). </Li> <Li> 1500--Pedro Álvares Cabral makes the "official" discovery of Brazil, leading the first expedition that united Europe, America, Africa, and Asia . </Li> <Li> 1500--João Fernandes reaches Cape Farewell, Greenland ("Terra do Lavrador", or Land of the Husbandman). </Li> <Li> 1500--02--Gaspar and Miguel Corte Real discover and name the coasts of "Terra Verde" (likely Newfoundland) and Labrador . </Li> <Li> 1500 - 01--Diogo Dias discovers Madagascar and reaches the gate of the Red Sea, the Bab - el - Mandeb Strait . </Li> <Li> 1500--Rodrigo de Bastidas explores the Colombian coast from Cabo de la Vela to the Gulf of Urabá . </Li> <Li> 1501 - 02--Gonçalo Coelho discovers "Rio de Janeiro" (Guanabara Bay). </Li> <Li> 1502--03--Columbus explores the North American mainland from Guanaja off modern Honduras to the present - day border of Panama and Colombia . </Li> <Li> 1505--Juan de Bermúdez discovers Bermuda . </Li> <Li> 1506--Lourenço de Almeida reaches the Maldives and Sri Lanka . </Li> <Li> 1506--Tristão da Cunha discovers the island of Tristan da Cunha . </Li> <Li> 1509--Diogo Lopes de Sequeira reaches Sumatra and Malacca . </Li> <Li> 1511--Duarte Fernandes leads a diplomatic mission to Ayutthaya Kingdom (Siam or Thailand). </Li> <Li> 1511--Rui Nunes da Cunha leads a diplomatic mission to Pegu (Burma or Myanmar). </Li> <Li> 1511--12--João de Lisboa and Estevão de Fróis discover the "Cape of Santa Maria" (Punta Del Este) in the River Plate, exploring its estuary, and traveling as far south as the Gulf of San Matias at 42oS, in present - day Uruguay and Argentina (penetrating 300 km (186 mi) "around the Gulf"). </Li> <Li> 1511--12--António de Abreu sails through the Strait of Malacca, between Sumatra and Bangka, and along the coasts of Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, and Flores to the "Spice Islands" (Maluku). </Li> <Li> 1513--Jorge Álvares lands off the coast of China, on Nei Lingding Island at the Pearl River Delta . </Li> <Li> 1513--Vasco Núñez de Balboa crosses the Isthmus of Panama and reaches the Bay of San Miguel, discovering the "Mar del Sur" (Pacific Ocean). </Li> <Li> 1513--Juan Ponce de León discovers "La Florida" (Florida) and the Yucatan . </Li> <Li> 1514--15--António Fernandes reaches present - day Zimbabwe . </Li> <Li> 1515--Gonzalo de Badajoz crosses the Isthmus of Panama at the site of Nombre de Dios, reaching as far as the interior of the Azuero Peninsula . </Li> <Li> 1516--Juan Díaz de Solís explores the River Plate estuary and names it "La Mar Dulce" ("The Fresh - Water Sea"). </Li> <Li> 1516--Portuguese traders land in Da Nang, Champa, naming it Cochinchina (modern Vietnam). </Li> <Li> 1518--Lourenço Gomes reaches Borneo . </Li> <Li> 1518--Juan de Grijalva explores the Mexican coast from "Patouchan" (Champotón) to just north of the Pánuco River . </Li> <Li> 1519--Hernán Cortés travels from Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco . </Li> <Li> 1519--Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda sails around the Gulf of Mexico to the Pánuco, proving its insularity; also discovers the "Father of Waters" (the Mississippi). </Li> <Li> 1519--Gaspar de Espinosa sails west along the west coasts of modern Panama and Costa Rica as far as the Gulf of Nicoya . </Li> <Li> 1519--22--Ferdinand Magellan's expedition completes the first circumnavigation of the globe, exploring the coast of Patagonia and discovering and traversing the Strait of Magellan . </Li> <Li> 1520--21--João Alvares Fagundes explores Burgeo and Saint Pierre and Miquelon in Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia . </Li> <Li> 1521--Francisco Gordillo and Pedro de Quexos find the mouth of a river they name "Rio de San Juan Bautista" (perhaps Winyah Bay at the mouth of the Pee Dee River in modern South Carolina). </Li> <Li> 1521--Cristóvão Jacques explores the Plate River and discovers the Parana River, entering it for about 23 leagues (around 140 km), to near the present city of Rosario . </Li> <Li> 1522--Gil González Dávila explores inland from the Gulf of Nicoya, discovering Lake Nicaragua, while his pilot Andrés Niño explores along the coast to the west, discovering the Gulf of Fonseca and perhaps reaching as far as the southwestern coast of modern Guatemala . </Li> <Li> 1524--Giovanni da Verrazzano explores the eastern seaboard of the present United States from about Cape Fear to Maine; discovers the mouth of the Hudson River . </Li> <Li> c. 1524--Aleixo Garcia travels westward from Santa Catarina, across the Paraná (perhaps sighting Iguazu Falls) to the Paraguay near the site of Asunción, then across the Gran Chaco to the Andes and the Inca frontier, somewhere between Mizque and Tomina in modern Bolivia . </Li> <Li> 1524--25--Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro explore from Punta Piña (7 ° 56' N) on the southern coast of Panama to the San Juan River (4 ° N), on the west coast of Colombia . </Li> <Li> 1525--Estêvão Gomes probes Penobscot Bay, Maine . </Li> <Li> 1525--The Portuguese reach "Celebes" (Sulawesi). </Li> <Li> 1525--Diogo da Rocha and Gomes de Sequeira discover the Caroline Islands . </Li> <Li> 1526--Alonso de Salazar discovers the Marshall Islands (Bokak Atoll). </Li> <Li> 1526--28--Pizarro and his pilot Bartolomé Ruiz explore the west coast of South America from the San Juan River south to the Santa River (about 9 ° S), becoming the first to sight the coasts of Ecuador and Peru . </Li> <Li> 1526--27--Jorge de Menezes discovers New Guinea . </Li> <Li> 1527--28--Sebastian Cabot explores several hundred miles up the Paraná River, past its confluence with the Paraguay . </Li> <Li> 1528--Diogo Rodrigues explores the Mascarene Islands (which he names after Pedro Mascarenhas), naming the islands of Réunion, Mauritius, and Rodrigues . </Li> <Li> 1528--36--Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three others are the only survivors of a group of several hundred colonists who travel from the coast of western Florida to the Rio Sinaloa in northern Mexico, where they encounter Spanish slavers . </Li> <Li> 1531--Diego de Ordaz ascends the Orinoco to the Atures rapids, just past its confluence with the Meta . </Li> <Li> 1532--33--Pizarro explores and conquers inland to Cajamarca and Cuzco . </Li> <Li> 1533--Fortún Ximénez finds the tip of Baja California . </Li> <Li> 1534--Jacques Cartier explores the Gulf of St. Lawrence, discovering Anticosti Island and Prince Edward Island . </Li> <Li> 1535--Fray Tomás de Berlanga discovers the Galapagos Islands . </Li> <Li> 1535--Cartier ascends "La Grande Rivière" or "La Rivière de Hochelaga" (the St. Lawrence River) to the village of Hochelaga (present - day Montreal). </Li> <Li> 1535--37--Diego de Almagro leads en expedition from Cuzco to the south, taking the Inca highway to the southwest shore of Lake Titicaca, through the altiplano and the Salta valley to Copiapó; a detachment continues south to the Maule River . Almagro takes the coastal route back, through the Atacama Desert . </Li> <Li> 1539--Francisco de Ulloa sails to the head of the Gulf of California and around Baja California to Cedros Island, establishing that Baja is a peninsula . </Li> <Li> 1539--43--Hernando de Soto's expedition explores much of the modern American South, becoming the first to cross the Appalachians (over the Blue Ridge Mountains) and the Mississippi . </Li> <Li> 1540--42--Francisco Vásquez de Coronado searches for the mythical Seven Cities of Cibola, only to find villages of mud and thatch . He sends out smaller parties, one of which, under García López de Cárdenas, discovers the Grand Canyon; another finds a city of gold called Quivira (in modern Kansas), which Coronado later visits--although he finds no gold . </Li> <Li> 1540--Hernando de Alarcón ascends the Colorado River to the confluence of the Gila River (near present - day Yuma, Arizona). </Li> <Li> 1541--42--Francisco de Orellana sails down the length of the Amazon . </Li> <Li> 1542--43--Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo explores the coasts of modern Baja and California from Punta Baja to the Russian River, discovering the Channel Islands; after his death, his second - in - command, Bartolomé Ferrer, reaches Point Arena . </Li> <Li> 1542 or 1543--Fernão Mendes Pinto, António Mota and Francisco Zeimoto reach Tanegashima, Japan . </Li> <Li> 1543--Ruy López de Villalobos discovers three islands (Fais, Ulithi and Yap) in the Carolines and eight atolls (Kwajalein, Lae, Ujae, Wotho, Likiep, Wotje, Erikub and Maloelap) in the Marshall Islands . </Li> <Li> 1543--Jean Alfonce explores up the Saguenay River, believing it to be "la mer du Cattay". </Li> <Li> 1553--Hugh Willoughby seeks a Northeast Passage over Russia; reaches either Kolguyev Island or Novaya Zemlya . </Li> <Li> 1556--Steven Borough reaches as far as Kara Strait, between Novaya Zemlya and Vaygach Island . </Li> <Li> 1557--59--Juan Fernández Ladrillero and Cortés Hojea explore the Chilean coast from Valdivia (39 ° 48' S) to Canal Santa Barbara (54 ° S); the former passes through the western entrance of the Strait of Magellan to its eastern entrance and back . </Li> <Li> 1565--Miguel López de Legazpi discovers Mejit, Ailuk and Jemo in the Marshall Islands, while his subordinate Alonso de Arellano discovers Lib in the same island group, as well as five islands (Oroluk, Chuuk, Pulap, Sorol and Ngulu) in the Caroline Islands . </Li> <Li> 1568--Álvaro de Mendaña discovers the Solomon Islands . </Li> <Li> 1576--Martin Frobisher discovers "Meta Incognita" ("the unknown bourne"; Baffin Island) and what he believes to be a passage to Cathay: "Frobishers Streytes" (Frobisher Bay). </Li> <Li> 1577--80--Sir Francis Drake completes the second circumnavigation of the globe . </Li> <Li> 1578--Frobisher sails part way up the "Mistaken Straites" (Hudson Strait). </Li> <Li> 1581--82--Yermak Timofeyevich and his men cross the Ural Mountains and reach as far as Isker on the banks of the Irtysh (near modern Tobolsk). </Li> <Li> 1585--John Davis explores Davis Strait, reaching 66 ° 40 ′ N; also sails up Cumberland Sound, thinking it to be a "passage to Cathay". </Li> <Li> 1587--Davis sails up the west coast of Greenland as far as 72 ° 46 ′ N (about modern Upernavik). </Li> <Li> 1589--João da Gama reaches "Yezo" (Hokkaido). </Li> <Li> 1592--Davis discovers the Falkland Islands . </Li> <Li> 1595--Mendaña discovers the Marquesas . </Li> <Li> 1596--Willem Barentsz discovers Spitsbergen . </Li> </Ul> <Li> 1500--Vicente Yáñez Pinzón reaches the northeast coast of what today is Brazil at a cape he names "Santa Maria de la Consolación" (Cabo de Santo Agostinho) and sails fifty miles up a river he names the "Marañón" (Amazon). </Li>

Who was the first european to discover the mississippi river