Download Voyages of Exploration: Years 1000-1609

Voyages of Exploration:
Years 1000-1500’s
What was the Age of Exploration?
• A time period when Europeans began to
explore the rest of the world.
• Improvements in mapmaking, shipbuilding,
rigging, and navigation made this possible.
• Blue water sailing, not just coastal boats.
An Exciting Time!
Columbus may be the best
remembered explorer of the Americas
– but he was not the first – or the last!
Use the map provided to document
early explorers during your own
“voyage of discovery”!
The Explorers:
Vikings
Bjarni Herjulfsson
• First European to see
the Americas.
• Blown off course on
his way to Greenland.
• Sighted land in 986
that was later
determined to be the
Americas.
• Did not stop to
explore.
Leif Erikson
• Searched for land
Herjulfsson reported
seeing.
• Sailed to Americas in
the Year 1000.
• Other Viking explorers
may have traveled
inland as far as present
day Minnesota. (Hence
the team name:
Minnesota Vikings).
Use the map below to trace the routes of Herjulfsson and
Erikson on your world map.
The Explorers:
Portugal
Bartolomeu Dias
• 1487-1488
• Sailed around Cape of
Good Hope at
southern tip of Africa.
• Found route to Indian
Ocean
• Trade can go from
Europe to Asia by sea.
Vasco da Gama
• Landed in India in
1498.
• Important trade route
from Europe to India
and East Indies.
Ferdinand Magellan
• His crew made first
round-the-world
voyage from 1519 to
1522.
• Proved for certain
that the world was
round.
• Magellan was killed
in the Phillippines,
did not make it
home.
The Explorers: Spain
Christopher Columbus
• Believed a shorter route
to Asia could be found by
sailing westward instead
of around Africa.
• Found the Americas
instead.
• Was an Italian.
Columbus’ First Voyage: 1492-1493
What was the Columbian Exchange?
• Massive exchange of plants, animals and
diseases.
• These things moved between the New and
Old Worlds.
• Started with Columbus.
• To the Americas: cows, horses, wheat,
smallpox, plus much more.
• To Europe: potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco,
corn, plus much more.
Ponce De Leon
• Sailed to the
Americas with
Columbus on his
second voyage.
• Explored Florida in
1513.
• Was looking for the
Fountain of Youth.
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
• First European to
cross the isthmus of
Panama and reach
the Pacific Ocean.
• Was searching for
gold when he
crossed the isthmus
in 1513.
The Explorers:
Italians
Amerigo Vespucci
• Mapped the coast
of the Americas.
• Americas may
have been named
after him.
• Voyages from
1499 to 1504.
Giovanni da Verrazzano
• Explored for the
king of France.
• Explored the east
coast of North
America in 1524
Your Voyage of Discovery has come to an end.
Complete the following activities to show
what you have learned.
1. Complete your map by adding a title and a
key with the routes of each explorer clearly
labeled.
2. Use the 4-column chart to organize the
information from your map. Make sure you list
the explorers in chronological order.