Who was Marylands first known explorer?

Answer 1

The first European to record an entrance into Chesapeake Bay was the Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, who was exploring under the French flag. In the early years of the 17th century the English explorers arrived, Bartholomew Gilbert in 1603 and John Smith in 1608.

In 1631, the Virginian William Claiborne became the first European settler in Maryland when he opened a fur trading post on Kent Island in Chesapeake Bay.