Download Johannes Gutenberg - St. Anastasia School

Lesson 1
Marco Polo
 traveled to China and stayed for 16 years
 friend/advisor to Chinese leader
 writes about his experience
 his stories inspire many others to establish trade relationships in China
Admiral Zheng He
 explored southeast Asia
 explored the east coast of Africa
 Chinese explorer
 discovers many new places
 inspires other countries to send out explorers
Mansa Musa
 leader of Mali
 wants Timbuktu to become a center for trade
 travels to Mecca to set up trade agreements
 ends up also creating Timbuktu as a center for art and learning
 encouraged the sharing/spreading of cultures
 makes Mali stronger
Silk Road
 trade routes between Europe and China
 Europeans get goods they don't have in Europe--mostly luxury items
 increase in trade = merchants make more money
 more money = more merchants
 both encourage European countries to explore
Kublai Khan
 leader of China
 friends with Marco Polo
 expands the trade relationships with Europe
Lesson 2
Johannes Gutenberg
 invented the printing press
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allowed people: to learn more, spread ideas
because it makes it faster, easier, and cheaper to print books
books other than the Bible are available
more people can learn more things
Renaissance
 time of rebirth and/or renewal
 1300s-1400s
 huge interest in science, arts, writing
 lots of new inventions, stories, art work
 less focused on everything being religious
New Technology (astrolabe, compass, gunpowder, sextant)
 astrolabe: measures the distance of the sun from the horizon
 compass: magnetic instrument that allowed sailors to know where they
were based on knowing which was way North
 gunpowder: used in guns and cannons
 sextant: more accurate than the astrolabe for finding distance from the
horizon
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tools make sailing/exploring:
easier
safer--gunpowder for defense, can find way home
people were more willing to explore when they knew they would have a
better chance of finding their way home, and being able to defend
themselves as they explored
Prince Henry
 Portugal
 "Henry the Navigator"
 wants to make Portugal a center for art and learning--mostly focused on
maritime activities (shipbuilding, navigation, sailmaking, etc.)
 school for explorers to learn how to be successful
 leads to finding a sea route to Asia
 invention of the caravel
Bartolomeu Dias
 exploring off west coast of Africa
 gets blown off course
 finds out you can sail around the tip of Africa
 calls it the Cape of Good Hope
Vasco da Gama
 follows Dias' route
 first Portuguese sailor to reach India
 opens up new trade routes for Europe and Asia
Lesson 3
Christopher Columbus
 1492
 explores for Spain
 trying to find a sea route to Asia across the Atlantic Ocean
 ends up in Caribbean Sea islands
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discovers those islands
expands the world's knowledge of what is there
responsible for the Columbian Exchange
he is also responsible for the deaths of many Native people
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
 leaders of Spain
 eventually agree to fund Columbus's exploration
 thinking they will get lots of money/gold
 because they continue to fund Columbus, the Columbian Exchange
develops
Columbian Exchange
 movement of goods between the Americas and Europe
 America to Europe: tomato, corn, squash, potato, cacao
 Europe to America: animals, beans, bananas, coffee; also diseases
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new resources for Europe
new trade partners/routes
new/expanded exploration for others in Europe
spread of culture--language, dress, religion (some good, some bad)
many Natives were killed (battles/fighting and disease)
Pedro Alverez Cabral:
 explored for Portugal
 explored eastern coast of South America (Brazil)
Vasco Nunez de Balboa:
 explores for Spain
 explores modern day Panama
 claims the Pacific Ocean and all the land it touches for Spain
 first European to see the Pacific Ocean
Ferdinand Magellan:
 explores for Spain
 crew is responsible for circumnavigating the globe
 almost don't make it
 he is killed in the Philippines
 18 men and 1 ship finally make it back to Spain
Lesson 4
Hernan Cortes
 Spanish conquistador--looking for a city of gold
 conquered the Aztec empire
 puts Montezuma in jail to take control
 had 500 conquistadors with him
 able to take control of Tenochtitlan because:
1. allied with other enemies of the Aztecs
2. conquistadors were brutal and were better prepared
3. disease killed off many of the Aztecs
Montezuma
 leader of the Aztecs
 welcomes Cortes and thinks he is going to be a guest, but Cortes puts
him in jail
 thrown in jail so Cortes can take over the empire
 Aztecs fight back but are ultimately done in by disease
Juan Ponce de Leon
 Spanish explorer
 explores Florida
 looking for a fountain of youth
Hernando de Soto
 Spanish explorer
 explores Georgia, Florida, all around the southeast
 first European to reach the Mississippi River
 enslaves/fights many native Americans on his way
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
 Spanish explorer
 explores Mexico and southwest and central North America
 looking for more cities of gold
 first to see the Grand Canyon
 travels more than 3,500 miles