Vocabulary
A ______________ is a scientist who studies artifacts to learn about past cultures.
archaeologist
What were the "Three G's" that summarized why Europeans were motivated to explore the "New World?"
Gold, Glory, God
Why were cash crops called cash crops?
Once they found them in the Americas, the explorers brought them back to Europe and sold them to make a lot of money.
Why did many European explorers carry Bibles with them on their journey?
They wanted to spread Christianity to new people and parts of the world that they found.
How did Europeans use the gold and silver that they found in the New World?
They turned it into coins, bars, and other valuable objects that were then used to buy and trade.
Why was a compass an important tool for explorers?
It helped them figure out which direction they were traveling.
What three land masses were European explorers referring to when they talked about the Americas or the New World?
North America, Central America, South America
Explorers were hoping to find gold, silver, and other metals in the New World. Why were they searching for these things?
Many European countries were recovering from wars, so they needed valuable materials to repay debts and rebuild their wealth.
List 3 new foods that explorers discovered in the New World and brought back to Europe with them.
Corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, squash, tomatoes, pineapple, cacao (used to make chocolate)
True or False: A map of the land was a helpful tool by itself as explorers traveled across the ocean.
False: If they were in the middle of the ocean, there were no landmarks to look at, so the map was not helpful on its own.
What was an astrolabe?
It was an early scientific tool used by sailors and explorers to observe and calculate the position of the sun and other stars.
Why did the explorers fly flags on their ships during the journey across the ocean? What did they do with these flags once they arrived?
Explorers displayed their country's flag to honor their king and queen. Once they arrived, they planted the flags in the land to claim it for their country.
Explorers found tobacco growing naturally in the Americas. Name two reasons why tobacco became a very profitable cash crop when they brought it back to Europe.
1. Many people believed it was a medicine/good for you.
2. It became addicting, so many people wanted a lot of it.
How was an astrolabe helpful and important to explorers as they traveled across the ocean?
It helped them determine their latitude and general location to make sure they were still on course.
What is an artifact?
A material, object, or natural resource that we can study to learn about how people lived in the past.
When the Age of Exploration started, what were they hoping to find by going across the ocean instead of traveling over land?
They hoped to find faster, safer trade routes to Asia.
What did explorers do with the money they made from selling products from the New World?
They used it to buy goods and supplies in Europe for their next journey across the ocean.
Some maps showed ocean currents and wind currents. Others showed land features like rocky shores or whether a port was safe or not. Most maps included scales to help the sailors determine estimated distances from one place to another.