Download Age of Exploration: Day 1 Web quest Name: Rachel Hoare Date: 26

Age of Exploration: Day 1 Web quest
Name: Rachel Hoare
Date: 26/3/10
Directions: Go to this website: http://www.mrnussbaum.com/explorersflash.htm You will look at the
four categories listed below. For each category, take notes on the information you learned or found
interesting. In addition, you must look and take notes on the sections I outline. *Notes do not have to
be in complete sentences, but they do need to be complete and understandable.
Category
Explorers Main
Age of
Exploration
Notes
Portugal: Silk Road
In 1274 Marco and Niccolo Polo set out on a 4,000 mile journey from Italy to China
on the Silk road. Marco Polo wrote a book explaining all of his findings along the
way including paper money, the printing press, gunpowder and more.
Spain: Spices
Europeans found spices very valuable as they were used to preserve meat, take
away the unpleasant taste of spoiled food and to make the people themselves smell
better. Common spices include pepper, ginger and cinnamon. This meant they
wanted a sea route to acquire these goods cheaply since they were quite expensive.
France: The Indies
The first country that sent an explorer to the East Indies and actually had success
was Portugal. They did this by sailing east; around Africa and through the Indian
ocean. Columbus however thought he could do this by sailing west but instead he
discovered the Americas and got lots of new land for Spain.
France: Pirates
During the 1500s you had to be aware of storms, disease and pirates while sailing.
Pirates would attack and steal from ships or coastal towns. Quite a lot of pirates
were located on the Barbary Coast like the Islamic pirates who robbed the English
ships near African coasts. English and French pirates often robbed the Spanish ships
around the Caribbean. Sir Francis Drake, quite a famous pirate, robbed the Spanish
so much the Queen of Spain wanted the Queen of England to behead him, but
instead she knighted him.
Spices were used to:
Keep food from spoiling.
Before ships, countries got spices by using:
The Silk Road; a land route that traders took to carry goods from Asia to Europe or
Europe to Asia.
Which country was the first to explore a sea route:
Portugal.
Spain tried to find a westward route to Asia led by what explorer?
Christopher Columbus.
Instead of finding the Indies, where did Spain end up and colonize?
North America.
Who crushed the Aztecs in Mexico?
Hernando Cortes.
What empire was conquered in South America and by whom?
Age of Exploration: Day 1 Web quest
Name: Rachel Hoare
Date: 26/3/10
The Incan Empire was conquered in South America by Francisco Pizarro.
France and England explored what region?
North America.
Which country, France or England, eventually controlled most of North America?
England.
Legends,
Converting Natives:
Destination,
In the New World most royals and explorers believed it was crucial to spread
and Goals
Christian faith to the Native people. For example Ferdinand Magellan. Some
indigenous people looked at the power the European countries had and were told
that their armies would become undefeatable. This convinced them to switch.
Others switched by force and those who still resisted converting were killed or had
their village burned down. Magellan was actually killed by natives after burning
down a village.
Life on Ship:
Sailors dealt with sea storms, malnutrition, lack of privacy and fetid living quarters.
It was difficult to keep food from spoiling or getting dirty and sometimes sailors had
to eat it anyway. Once food was completely gone, sailors resorted to leather or saw
dust. A common disease they would catch was Scurvy, which was caused on behalf
of lack of Vitamin C. The effects included the person’s tongue and gums going black
and swollen. Also their bodies would have sores all over. Another common disease
was insomnia.
Pirates:
Information already written above at the heading Explorers Main, sub-heading
France: Pirates.
Sea Monsters:
People believed in sea monsters, that the water near the equator boiled, and that it
was possible to sail off the edge of the Earth. Some maps even came with little
pictures of sea monsters in the water. For example the Kraken, a huge monster that
could toss a ship in the air had some sights recorded. However some sighting for
monsters could have been a glimpse of a giant squid or basking sharks. Books were
even written about these monsters.
Explorer Profiles
Vasco de Gama:
He lived from 1460 to 1524. He was from a wealthy family in Portugal. Vasco’s
father was also an explorer but died before completing a route from Portugal to
India. King Manuel the First financed Vasco’s journey in 1497 although many
thought it was impossible. De Gama and his ship full of criminals were successful
sailing around the Cape of Good Hope and through the Indian ocean. When he
collected all the goods he traded for about to bring them back Indian people
stopped him and told him to leave it all. He eventually left with hostages and the
goods. He sailed back to India but armed with much more ships.
Prince Henry:
He was a Portuguese explorer, soldier and prince. He hardly ever was in expeditions,
but sent many to Africa. His expeditions succeeded in mapping most of west Africa,
spreading Christianity, defeating Muslims and finding new trade routes. He also
started a school to train people map making, navigation and science. This school
sent 14 expeditions to “The Sea Of Darkness” since now people were less afraid of
navigation (sea monsters, etc.).
Age of Exploration: Day 1 Web quest
Name: Rachel Hoare
Date: 26/3/10
Ferdinand Magellan:
Lived from 1480 to 1521. He was a Portuguese explorer. Once he gained the captain
rank in expeditions he wanted to find a route to the Spice Lands (Indonesia) but King
Emmanuel of Portugal wouldn’t finance his trip so Charles the First of Spain did
instead. Finally after bad weather, threat of Portuguese ships, dying crew members
and a crashed ship Magellan reached one of the straits on the tip of South America,
now called The Straits of Magellan. They made a few more stops and got to the
Philippine Islands where Magellan and his crew attempted to convert the natives to
Christianity. When he was trying to convert their chief, Mactan, Mactan ordered his
warriors to kill them and Magellan died. Most of his crew including their new leader,
Juan Sebastian Del Cano, survived and returned to Spain making the first
circumnavigation of the world.
Giovanni da Verrazano:
He was born in Italy and hoped to pursue his dream of exploring but he also spent
many years as a pirate. Soon enough he was chosen by King Francis the First of
France to find a route from North America to Asia. He reached North Carolina and
thought he saw the Pacific Ocean but he really saw Pamlico Sound which is part of
the Atlantic Ocean. This error took over a century to correct on maps and such. He
also traveled up the coast more discovering, New York Harbor, Block Island and
Narragansett Bay. He would have made 2 more trips to America however natives
killed him on his next expedition.
Additional Notes -Explorer’s journeys need to be financed by someone like a King or Queen for
example.
-If that country does not have anyone willing to finance the explorer’s journey
sometimes someone from another country will.
- Verrazano stole about 2 million dollars worth of gold from Spanish ships while he
was a pirate.
-New York Harbor's Verrazano Narrows Bridge honors Giovanni da Verrazano in
America today.