Tools & Technology
This tool helped European sailors know which direction they were going.
Magnetic Compass
This explorer was the 1st to sail around the world.
Ferdinand Magellan
The year Ericsson founded a settlement in North America in what is now Canada.
1001
This explorer started a navigation school
Prince Henry the Navigator
The direction Christopher Columbus sailed when trying to find a new route to Asia
West
This tool measures the height of the sun or a star above the horizon.
Astrolabe
This explorer was the 1st to sail around the tip of Africa and called it the Cape of Good Hope.
Bartlolomeu Dias
The year Columbus landed in America.
1492
This explorer went in search of the mythical land Cíbola but never found it.
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
The reason why some expeditions are still important even though they didn't discover gold, riches, or fountains of youth.
New discoveries, lands, land marks
This was a new kind of sailing ship that was smaller and lighter than other ships.
Caravel
This Viking and his crew were likely the 1st Europeans to land in North America.
Leif Ericsson
The year Hernando de Soto started to explore the southeastern United States.
1539
This explorer imprisoned Moctezuma and conquered his people.
Hernan Cortes
The Europeans introduced this to Native Americans and it killed many of them because their bodies didn't know how to fight it.
Disease
The caravel used this to better control the wind when sailing.
Triangular Sail
This explorer founded the 1st European town in North America - La Isabela
Christopher Columbus
The year New Spain was established
1535
This explorer thought he landed near India and named the region West Indies, but really he landed in North America.
Christopher Columbus
Portuguese set up these to create a central location to buy and sell goods.
Trading Posts
This tool helped sailors know how far north or south of the equator they were.
Astrolabe
This explorer was most likely the 1st European to visit Florida.
Juan Ponce de Leon
The year Cortes and Magellan left Spain. Cortes headed to Mexico to find the Aztecs and Magellan sailed west for a new route to Asia.
1519
This explorers voyage to India allowed Portugal to take the leading position in the Spice trade.
Vasco da Gama
The item the Spanish introduced to Native Americans that had the biggest positive impact on Native American lives.
Horses