Download The Age of Exploration

The Age of Exploration
Unit 1: Which nations had the most
impact on exploration?
Norway - Norge
- Viking explorers sailed the
North Atlantic Ocean as early
as the 1100’s -1200's
- They searched for wealth and
new settlements. Believed to
be the 1st Europeans to cross
the Atlantic and discovered
Iceland, Greenland and
Canada
- Famous Norwegian Explorers:
Erik The Red, Leif Erikson,
Roald Amundsen (modern era)
Italy - Italia
• Cities such as Venice, Milan and Rome
helped to establish the Silk Road
between Europe and Asia c. 1200
• Famous Explorers: Marco Polo
China -中國
• Chinese explorers began
to sail the Pacific Ocean,
Indian Ocean and
Southeast Asia as far as
India and Madagascar
(c. 1300 - 1400's)
• Searched for new lands
and new trade partners
• Famous Explorers:
Zheng He
Portugal
• Portuguese explorers sailed
the Atlantic Ocean off the
coast of Africa towards
India and the lands along
the African coast (early
1400's)
• Searching for evidence that
the world was not flat and
a faster trade route to Asia
• Famous explorers:
Prince Henry the Navigator,
Bartholomew Diaz, Vasco
De Gama, Ferdinand
Magellan
Spain - España
• The Middle to Southern Atlantic
Ocean between Europe to present
day southern United States, the
Islands of the Caribbean and the land
known as Central and South America
(c. 1492 - 1700's)
• 1st Europeans to enter Central and
South America, searching for gold
and trade route to China
• Famous explorers:
Christopher
Columbus,
Amerigo
Vespucci,
Hernando DeSoto, Juan Ponce De
Leon, Francisco Pizzaro, Hernan
Cortez
France
• French explorers sailed the
Northern Atlantic Ocean from
Europe to present day New
York, Maine into Canada (c.
1500 - 1700's)
• Looking for new trade routes
and wealth, got along with
natives better than most
because they were not here to
colonize or enslave the natives
• Famous explorers: Giovanni De
Verrazano, Jacques Cartier,
Samuel De Champlain, Jacques
Marquette and Robert De La
Salle
Holland
• Dutch explorers sailed the
Atlantic and Indian Oceans
between present day India
and Vietnam, NJ and NY (c.
late 1500 - 1600's)
• They were looking for trade
routes and wealth
• Established the Dutch East
India Company and became
one of the wealthiest
nations of all time in only a
few short years
• Famous explorers: Abel
Tasman
England
• English explorers sailed the
Middle Atlantic Ocean from
Europe to present day VA,
NC, GA, MD, PA, CT, RI, MA
(c. 1600 - 1700's)
• They explored to take land
before Spain and France
could get it all and to look
for the Northwest Passage
• Famous explorers: Henry
Hudson, Sir Walter Raleigh,
Sir Francis Drake, Captain
James Cook, John Cabot