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Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy. He was the son of a prosperous wool weaver and owned a cheese stand. He had 3 brothers and 1 sister. He spent his early years of life traveling around Europe. He worked for a trading company. This inspired his liking of exploration.

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Francisco Pizarro was born in 1478 in Trujillo, Spain. His father Gonzalo Pizarro was a Spanish army colonel and Pizarro's mother was a poor women who lived in Trujillo. He was illiterate, and was raised by his grandparents because his parents never married. For a while he worked as a pig herder.

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Hernan Cortes was born in 1485 in Medellin, Spain. Hernan Cortes came from a fairly famous family, his father was a captain in the Spanish army. His parents wanted him to be a lawyer when he grows up and sent him to school of studying law, but Cortes wasn't interested in this idea and did not wanted to come back to home when he was 16. He actually wanted to travel and find / see new lands. He also wanted to make his fortune and fame.

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In 1492 he got approved by King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain. He began his long journey to the Indies. A member of the Pinta spotted land on the morning of October 12. They believed they reached the Indies but they reached the Bahamas. He found natives in the Bahamas but called them Indians because he thought he was in the Indies. He took 4 trips to the new world he made the natives slaves and killed them. He also killed hundreds by spreading a disease (Smallpox). He got arrested by the Spanish for making the natives slaves, killing them, and stealing riches from them.

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Cortes sailed to the New World in 1504. He first arrived in the island Hispaniola at the city Santo Domingo. He got himself a job as a notary. Over 5 years, he made himself a name on the island.

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In 1506 Christopher Columbus died of congestive heart disease. He had a successful life. He took 4 trips to the new world and got a holiday named after him. He got married in 1479 to Filipa Moniz Perestrelo he also had 2 kids one named Diego Columbus and another named Ferdinand Columbus.

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Christopher Columbus' parents names were Susanna and Domenico Columbus. His father owned a cheese stand and Christopher worked there. He also had a desire for exploration. He spent a while traveling around Europe and eventually traveled to the "New World" and became famous. Columbus and his brother were arrested for six weeks for their gross misgovernance. He died in 1506 of congestive heart disease. This was the end of an interesting life.

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Biography of Christopher Columbus for Children: Famous Explorers for Kids - FreeSchool

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Over time Pizarro became friends with fellow explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa. Joining him on an expedition in 1513. Pizarro heard rumors of a South American land full of gold and other treasures. But he din't know that there was a tribe that was living there. His first expedition was a complete failure, many of his men died and Pizarro was forced to go back without anything value except the death of some of his crew members. His expedition in 1526 was more successful for he reached the Tumbez people on the borders of the Incan empire. He then realized the rumored gold was true. He was again turned back before he could reach the Incan empire. Pizarro wanted to try a third time but he couldn't convince the governor of Panama lost all confidence. Pizarro thought he needed to go back so he traveled to Spain to get the King of Spain's support. The Spanish government decided to let him try a third expedition. This last journey was a success! He defeated the Inca because his army had better weapons and killed them with a disease they had called smallpox.

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In 1518 Cortes was put in charge of a expedition of something he really wanted to do for a long time, go to the main land of Mexico. At the last minute, a problem happened, Governor Velazquez had became worried that if Cortes sailed he would become too powerful and he ordered him not to sail, though Cortes disobeyed and sailed anyways. On April 1519, Cortes had reached Yucatan Peninsula. He had 11 ships, around 500 men, some horses, and some cannon. He had wanted to conquer them and take their gold treasure back to Spain. He had requested a meeting with the Aztec Emperor, Montezuma II but was turned down. Gathering his 500 men he went to Tenochtitlan. In the way he found out that other tribes did not like Aztecs because of their culture. They had decided to take down the Aztecs.

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On November 8, 1519, when Cortes  arrived at Tenochtitlan, he was welcomed by the Aztec Emperor, Montezuma ll. Montezuma actually didn't trust Cortes but he believed Cortes was a god in a human form. He gave Cortes and his men gifts of gold. He did not want Cortes to take over and he thought that these gifts will make him stay away, although it made Cortes want more. He had took captive of Montezuma ll in his own city. However Governor Velasquez from Cuba sent another expedition under conquistador Panfilo de Narvaez to take command from Cortes. So Cortes left to fight Narvaez. After taking care of that, he found that his men killed Montezuma ll. He decided to flee and on July 30, and Cortes and his men escaped.

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On June 26, 1541 Francisco Pizarro was assassinated by Diego de Almargo and 20 of his men. He lived a successful life with 3 voyages to the new world and 1 successful journey. He and a couple hundred men and they were able to conquer a tribe of 10,000 + Incan people. Francisco Pizarro was a successful conquistador.

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- Pizarro was the second cousin removed of Hernan Cortes, who conquered the Aztecs.
- Nobody is quite exactly sure about when was Pizarro born. It most likely happened between 1471 and 1476.
- Pizarro's brothers Gonzalo, Hernando, and Juan, were with him throughout his campaign to conquer Inca.
- The famous explorer Hernando de Soto was a part of Pizarro's group that conquered the Incas.
- Pizarro also read the book Cortes made, which had military strategies such as taking the ruler hostage.

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Cortes had to come back to Spain because he fell out of favor of King of Spain. In 1541 he participated unsuccessful expedition to Algiers, where he nearly drowned and his ship was sunken. When he finally reached Seville he was stricken with dysentery. When he was 62 he died from a case of pleurisy.