Age of Discovery

The Age of Discovery refers to the period of the 15th and 16th centuries when Europeans began exploring the world and colonizing, including the territory that would become Canada. From 1480 or earlier, English venturers from Bristol set forth on regular voyages in search of the “Island of Brasil,” shown on contemporary charts to be west of Ireland. Sometime before 1494 their search was crowned by the discovery of a mainland, which John Cabot would identify as North America when he and his crew reached land during his first voyage in 1497.