Motivations
The three famous "G"s that summarized European motivations for exploration.
What are God, Gold, and Glory?
This is the vast, uncharted ocean did early European explorers have to cross, causing massive fear and uncertainty.
the difference between a motivation and an accomplishment.
What is why someone starts a journey, and what is how they successfully did or achieved something?
Reason European nations were so desperate to find a direct sea route to Asia in the 1400s and 1500s.
What is bypass expensive overland trade networks, eliminate foreign intermediaries, and capture the massive wealth of the Eastern spice and silk trade?
The natural hazards and weather conditions that frequently wrecked wooden sailing ships or stranded crews.
What are hurricanes, fierce storms, rough seas, lack of fresh water/food (leading to scurvy), and freezing Arctic ice?
The first European to cross Panama and reach the Pacific Ocean.
Who is Vasco Núñez de Balboa.
The Renaissance changed the way Europeans viewed the world and sparked exploration by doing this.
What is shifting the focus from medieval dogma to human potential, critical inquiry, and direct observation?
The internal danger that often threatened captains when voyages ran out of food or dragged on too long.
What is the mutiny (crew rebellion), as faced by Henry Hudson and nearly by Christopher Columbus?
The major river that Hernando de Soto discovered and explored in North America.
What is the Mississippi River?
The religious motivation that drove many Spanish and French missions into the Americas.
What is the desire to convert Native American populations to Christianity?
Navigational limitations that early explorers faced before the widespread use of advanced instruments.
What are inaccurate maps, fear of sea monsters, and not knowing exact longitude until better tools (like the astrolabe or updated compasses) were mastered?
The explorer who mapped parts of the St. Lawrence River while searching for France's claim in Canada.
Who is Jacques Cartier?
The "Northwest Passage" and reasons nations were obsessed with finding it?
What is a sea route running through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean through the Canadian Arctic archipelago?
The encounters with Indigenous peoples sometimes turned from trade into severe obstacles for explorers.
What are language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, warfare, and resistance to European colonization or forced labor
The Columbian Exchange, and its massive legacy of these explorations.
What is the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, and diseases between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres?