Marian A. Cornelius, teacher
From left are Thomas Henderson, Colton Halley, Delphine Field, Mariah Lefthand and Aspen Johnston-Nelson.
Jacques Marqutte
J esuit
A lways looking for natives
C anoes
Q uest seeking
U sually talking to natives
E asy going
S etting missions
M arquette
A wesome
R eligious
Q uester
U nchanged
T ough
T otally
E ver so Christian
CHRISTIAN HOFFMANN
Vasco Balboa
V enezuela
A lways doing something
S pain
C ollecting gold
O wed a lot of people money
B alboa
A lways walking
L eading the way
B ringing gold home
O rdinary
A lways thinking
ANALESHIA RODRIGUEZ
John Cabot
J ohn Cabot
O cean sailor
H as a couple Arab enemies
N othing he won’t explore
C anada
A dventure
B oat
O cean exploring
T o go to Asia
MASON BISHOP
From left are Analeshia Rodriguez, Brodie Hart, Winnie Zarling and Bobbie Weimer.
Pedro Cabral
P ortugal
E xpert
D anced
R ampage
O cean
C lever
A dventurer
B razil
R ewarded
A ctive
L oves to sail
BRODIE HART
George Vancouver
V alues mapping
A laska he mapped
N ame Mount Rainer
C hatham one of his boats
O regon he mapped
U nder England’s command
V ancouver, Washington
E ncouraged Thomas Jefferson to send explorers out west
R epresented England
AUSTIN SANT
Francisco Pizarro
F amous
R eally knew how to sail
A mazing
N ot lazy
C aptain
I explored pure
S ea man
C olumbus was his idol
O h! He sure did sail the open seas
P izarro
I founded the Inca empire
Z oned out
A Spaniard
R eal
R ambunctious
O h! I sure knew how to sail
COLTON HALLEY
From left are Ashley Rodriguez, McKenna Munden, Mason Bishop and Tristan Gray. Photo by LYNN SCHWANKE/Missoulian
Jacques Cartier
J ourneying all the time
A ll around the world
C artier was busy
Q uests for the king
U nbelievable sometimes
E xploring everywhere
S taying at many places
C onquering his enemies
A lways thinking
R emembering his past
T elling people what to do
I n a ship with crew members
E nduring worse moments
R iding for miles
ASPEN JOHNSTON-NELSON
Sir Francis Drake
S ecretly planning attack
I ntelligent
R ude
F orever rich with gold
R ecovered from storm
A ttacking the armada
N ever stopped sailing for long
C riminal
I ncredible sailor
S tealer
D ied in 1596
R ich
A bsolutely determined to keep going
K ept going
E l Draque
GYEN SMITH
Serra Junipero
S erra
E xplorer
R earranging
R unner
A merican
J unipero
U npleasant
N ative people
I ris
P riest
E ngstrand
R itter
O n foot
CHARLES BEAUVAIS
Robert LaSalle portrait by BLAZE WHITE
(Editor’s note: Due to lack of space, stories have been edited.)
Estevanico Gomez
My name is Estevanico Gomez. I was born in Holguin, Cuba, in 1490. I was raised in the Muslim religion, but in 1513 when I was 23 years old, I was captured and enslaved by the Portuguese. I was converted to the Christian religion. After 7 years I was purchased as a personal slave by Andres Drantes de Carranza. In 1527 my master heard stories of the New world and joined the expedition taking me with him. The expedition was called the Narvaez Expedition. Finally on June 17, 1527 I set off to the gulf coast of the New World from Florida to Mexico. We also found some natives but they captured and took us to their village. Finally in 1536 I was given my freedom! I became a guide to search for the cities of gold! I also talked to many Indians and became friends with them. In 1539 I was killed by some natives in Hawikuh, New Mexico.
MCKENNA MUNDEN
Henry Hudson
My name is Henry Hudson. I was born in 1565 in England. As a young man, I learned about navigation and became interested in exploring the Arctic. I was hired by the Dutch East India Company in 1609 to find a Northwest Passage from England to Asia through the North Pole. On my fourth try, I started out the same, but this time I tried to go through the Arctic. I sailed through my Strait, my Bay and down my river about 150 miles. I didn’t find a route through, only ice. I turned my ship around and headed back. When we reached the Hudson Bay again, my crew became very angry with me. They decide to have a “mutiny“, they made my son, 11 crew members and me get into a smaller boat and cut us loose. It is not known what happened to me after that, but no one ever saw us again.
HOMAS PETER HENDERSON
Ferdinand Magellan
Hello my name is Ferdinand Magellan. I was born in Sabrosa, Portugal, in 1480. In September of 1519 my crew and I set out across the Atlantic Ocean. We had five ships. We sailed along the coast of South America. Finally we found a water passage at the tip of South America. I named it after myself, and called it the Strait of Magellan. By that time we were running low on supplies. We had to eat rats for food. Many of the sailors suffered from scurvy. The drinking water was slimy and smelly. One of the other captains got fed up and went back to Spain. In March of 1521 we arrived in Guam. There I was killed in a fight with the islanders. I died by a poison arrow through my foot and a spear through my heart. Only 18 of the original 215 crew members survived. I was the first person whose crew went around the world.
HANNAH CASSIDY
Hernando De Soto’s path by BOBBIE WEIMER
Juan Ponce De Leon
My name is Juan Ponce de Leon. I was born on 1474 in Tierra de Cameos Palencia, Spain. My mother and father died when I was a young boy, so I lived with my aunt. After a while, I was hired by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in their castle. In 1493 I sailed with Christopher Columbus on his second voyage. I had some problems with Indians. After we defeated them, I was made governor of Higuey as a reward of service. In 1508 I led an expedition to Puerto Rico, were we discovered gold. Within a year we conquered the Indians that lived there. A few years after that I learned about the Fountain of Youth. They said, if you drink from it, then you will be young forever. I never found it, but I’m most famous for finding Florida. I died in 1521 by a poisoned arrow in my stomach. I was buried in Puerto Rico.
WINNIE ZARLING
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo
My name is Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. I was born in Castile, Spain, around 1499. I had very poor parents that barely could afford to feed me. I left Acapulco in New Spain which is now called Mexico, and headed for the coast of California. King Charles I gave me money so I promised to claim land for Spain in 1542. In this trip I found San Diego Bay and Los Angeles. But before I could travel anymore a terrible storm blew over and forced me to turn around and go back. In 1543 I decided to try again. This time in the Santa Barbara Channel I ran into skirmishes with natives. When I tried to get off the ship, I fell onto the land and on a jagged rock. I broke my leg and it never healed. During the trip back in San Francisco, I died in 1543. I was buried in Monterey. I was most famous for the first European explorer to travel up the coast of present day California in United States.
KENDRA GENSCH
Francisco De Coronado
My name is Francisco Vasquez De Coronado. I was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1510. Later I left home because my parents had promised the family fortune to my older brother. In 1540 I had set out with 300 soldiers and about 1,000 Indians. We had been sent by Admiral Mendoza to find the seven golden cities of Cibolo where the houses and the streets were made of gold. We led ourselves into what is Arizona and New Mexico. We had only found Zuni, Hopi and Pueblos, but no gold or silver. We then searched all of the Southwestern part of the United States but we have found no gold or other riches. We were told to go back home to New Spain, however we didn’t find any gold but I was set to be governor of part of New Spain. I am most famous for the Southwest and the Grand Canyon.
ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ
Hernando De Soto
My name is Hernando De Soto, a Spanish explorer. I was born in Extremadura, Spain, in 1500. When I was a young boy, I started my life as an adventurer. I traveled to the North America continent and sailed to Nicaragua, South America, to search for the golden cities again. I explored with Francisco Pizarro and Francisco de Cordoba. I was hoping to find gold and silver but I didn’t find any. In 1536 I got married to Isabella de Bobadilla. I reached the province of Tuscaluza, Alabama, where I had been told there were immense riches. The Indians in big numbers gave me my worst battle yet. I was most famous for discovering the Mississippi River and finding the Southeast. I died in 1542 from a high fever. I was buried on the banks of the Mississippi River in late June.
BOBBIE WEIMER
Hernando Cortez
My name is Hernando Cortez. I was born in a small town in Medellin in southwest Spain in 1485. When I was 18 years old, I sailed to Hispaniola the Spanish headquarters in West Indies. Diego Velazquez became a governor and picked me to lead the expedition. I found the Yucatan and went to Mexico on the coast of what now is Tabasco. I had a small battle and stole an Aztec princess. Then I went on with my expedition and ran into a group of Natives. They attacked my men by 300 of them to one of us. I defeated the Aztec Emperor Montezuma. I found out Montezuma had planned an attack on Velazquez. I harmed the Aztec emperor and forced him to surrender his men. I explored the Lower California from 1534 to 1535 and I fought pirates in 1541. I led the expedition against the Maya of the Yucatan. Later Montezuma grew strong again and brought an attack on me. They threw stones at me and later I died of my wounds.
DELPHINE FIELD
James Cook
My name is James Cook. I was born in Yorkshire, Briton, in 1728. I went to work for a shipping company at age 13. Then I joined the navy at age 27. I left Spain to find Europe, but I found Hawaii. When I got there, natives were bugging me and stole my ship. I left the Hawaiians seeds, goats and pigs. When I came back to Hawaii, there was trouble and the Hawaiians killed me. The Hawaiian chief didn’t like me and I didn’t like him. I found the Sandwich Islands. I took Hawaii hostage. When I came back to Hawaii there was trouble and the Hawaiians killed me. I died at age 63, Feb. 14 1796. I died by getting stabbed to death. I was famous for going around the world two times and finding Hawaii.
MICKELL MANNEL
Samuel De Champlain
My name is Samuel De Champlain. I was born in Brouage, France, in 1567. When I was a boy, my father taught me how to navigate ships. In 1603 I went on my first voyage to Canada. I was a geographer on a fur trading expedition. I made maps so I could map Canada. In 1604 I made my second trip to North America. I was looking for a place where the French people could make permanent settlements. I remained there for three years because I was exploring the Atlantic Coast from the Bay of Fundy to Cape Cod. Then the English decided to attack. They took the fort in 1629, so I went home to France. After the French-British treaty in 1632, Quebec was French again. After that, I returned as its governor in 1633. I died from a stroke on December 25, 1935.
MARIAH LEFTHAND
Amerigo Vespucci
My name is Amerigo Vespucci. I was born March 18, 1454. in Florence, Italy. I studied the universe. In 1499 I sailed from Spain with four ships commanded by Alonso de Ojeda who had sailed with Columbus on his second voyage. After 24 days we reached the northern coast of South America. Ojeda and I went our separate ways. I headed south and became the first European to see Brazil and to explore the mouth of the Amazon River. On my second trip we reached land near the eastern tip of Brazil. We went as far south as Argentina. At that time there was no accurate maps of the world so nobody knew how big around the world was. I estimated the size within 50 miles of its actual size. My name was given to North America and South America because I was the first to recognize that it wasn’t part of Asia. I claimed to have explored these continents in 1497, and it led the mapmaker, Martin Waldseemuller, to consider me instead of Columbus, as the man who discovered North and South America. In 1512 I died of malaria.
TRISTAN GRAY
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