Famous Explorers
This famous explorer traveled to India and Asia and brought back stories of riches and adventure.
Marco Polo
The Age of Exploration began with a search for new trade routes to what part of the world?
Asia (that includes India).
What nation led the way in the voyages of discovery?
Portugal
Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator designed the caravel, a new type of ship that was able to do what?
Caravels could sail against the wind
How many voyages did Christopher Columbus take to the Americas?
Total of 4
This famous explorer landed in the Bahamas in 1492, giving Europeans their first foothold in the Americas.
Christopher Columbus
What were some of the trade items Europeans were interested in during the Age of Discovery?
Spices, cloth and dyes.
This nation conquered all of Central America and most of South America. In North America, they took Florida, the Southwest, and much of present day western United States.
Spain
The Portuguese also designed the carrack, a sailing ship with three or four masts. What was an advantage of the carrack?
Carracks were large enough to be stable in heavy seas and wide enough to carry supplies for long voyages.
What were common problems sailors faced on long ocean voyages?
Scurvy and disease
Getting lost because maps were basically guesses
Running out of food and fresh water
This famous explorer is credited with being the first person to circumnavigate the world even though he was killed during the voyage and it was his crew that completed the voyage.
Ferdinand Magellan
What was a major reason for European Nations to get involved in exploration?
Increased wealth, increased political power, spread their religions. Any of these are acceptable.
Many people from this nation wanted a place to build new lives and new communities. They established colonies along the east coast of North America.
England
What does a compass do and why was it so important to the voyages of discovery?
The compass indicates direction. Explorers used the compass to find headings or directions when sailing on the open ocean.
Why did Christopher Columbus call the First Americans Indians?
Christopher Columbus referred to the Native Americans as "Indians" because he mistakenly believed he had reached the East Indies (Asia).
This man explored South America and was the first to conclude that America was not part of Asia but a whole new undiscovered continent. A German map maker named this new lands after him.
Amerigo Vespucci
What were the three 'G' ? that explained the reasons that nations competed with each other during the Age of Exploration?
God
Gold
Glory
People from this nation were usually men looking to earn money in the fur trade and then return home. They settled mostly in present day Canada. Those who stayed usually became fur trappers.
France
What were two other important inventions that helped sailors navigate during the voyages of discovery?
Cross-Staff
Astrolab
The Columbian Exchange was the massive transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, and diseases between the Europe, Africa and The Americas after 1492. What were some of the items being shipped from America to other nations? Name at least three.
Potatoes, pumpkins, and tobacco, turkeys, peppers and corn.
After exploring an important bay and river (both named after him) this famous explorer was set adrift by mutineers in 1611.
Henry Hudson
There were a couple very negative items being exchanged on the Columbian Exchange. Please name one.
slavery
disease