Age of Exploration: Pushing “the Limits”

Essential Question:Why would people take such great – and often dangerous!

– risks to explore places they know little about?

FreedomWealthReligionLandCuriosityAdventureTradeFame

Vocabulary Terms• Explorer• Leif Erikkson• Vinland• The Silk Road• Marco Polo• Prince Henry the

Navigator• Caravel• Bartholomeu Dias• Vasco da Gama

• Christopher Columbus• King John of Portugal• Queen Isabella and King

Ferdinand• Vasco Nunez de Balboa• Isthmus of Panama• Ferdinand Magellan• Circumnavigate• Amerigo Vespucci

What obstacles might an explorer

encounter?

The Earliest ExplorersLeif Erikson

(aka The Viking!)

- Eriksson, Ericson, Leif the Lucky

- Believed to be the first European to reach North American soil, called Vinland, in 1000 A.D.- Converted to Christianity by King Olaf I with a mission to spread the word of Christ

Video: Leif Erikkson (3:32)https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=R3GM3F7JZ2c

The Silk Road

Spices and Luxuries• Trade route/s from Eastern

Europe (present day Turkey) to China– Over 4,000 miles and very

dangerous!

• Increased commerce ($$$) between many important kingdoms and empires

• Helped spread new ideas, cultures, inventions, and unique products– Also spread disease like the

bubonic plague, otherwise known as the Black Death

• Traded silk cloth, prized for softness and luxury– China = “land of silk”

• Traded teas, salt, sugar, porcelain, carpets, and spices – mostly expensive “high-end” products, as well as cotton, ivory, wool, gold, and silver

• Traveled in large caravans with many guards

• Marco Polo one of the most well-known explorers– Italian merchant who traveled

the Silk Road most of his life– 1254 to 1324

The Portuguese

Prince HenryBartholomeu DiasVasco da Gama

Prince Henry the Navigator

• 1444-1446• Established a school for the

study of the arts of navigation, mapmaking, and shipbuilding

• Designed the caravel, a lighter and faster ship

• Persuaded his captains to sail beyond the “Green Sea of Darkness”

• Sought new sources of gold while mapping western Africa

• Goal of spreading Christianity to western Africa

Prince Henry’s Caravel Design

Bartholomeu Dias– 1488 - Rounded the

southern tip of Africa– Came closest to

discovering a water route to Asia

Vasco da Gama

-1498 - Rounded the southern tip of Africa AND reached India! - Found a water route to Asia, brought back a small (but impressive!) collection of jewels and spices, encouraged further exploration

Monument to the DiscoveriesPadrão dos Descobrimentos

The Spanish ExplorersChristopher

Columbus• 1492• Rejected by his friend, King

John of Portugal• Sought a new trade route to

China• Sailed for King Ferdinand and

Queen Isabella of Spain• “Discovered” many of the

Caribbean Islands, South America, and Central America

Vasco NÚÑEZ

de Balboa

- 1513 – Additional exploration of the Caribbean Sea

- Discovered the Isthmus of Panama, the small strip of land that connects Central America and South America, which then led to his discovery of the Pacific Ocean

- You Tube: Vasco Nunez de Balboa (1:31) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggtksTWwl60

Isthmus of Panama

Ferdinand Magellan• 1519• Led the first expedition to

circumnavigate the world• Sailed through the Straits of

Magellan and into the Pacific Ocean

You Tube: Animaniacs: Ballad of Magellen

Amerigo Vespucci- Columbus had already

“discovered” several Caribbean and Central American islands

- Early accounts of Vespucci’s voyages, now believed to have been forgeries, had quickly spread throughout Europe

- In 1507, using these letters as his guide, a German cartographer created a new map, naming the territory now known as South America in Vespucci’s honor

- For the first time, the word

“America” was in print.

Review & Discussion1. What problem might there be with using Viking myths as historical

sources?

2. What was the importance of the Silk Road?

3. Why would explorers take such dangerous risks?

4. What were some of their fears or obstacles? Dangers?

5. How did the achievements of Balboa and Magellan change the way in which people viewed the world?

6. Why do you think coastal European countries, such as Spain and Portugal, sent explorers to North America, but inland countries did not?

7. Who funded these explorations? Why?

8. Why were Europeans unaware of what they might find on their voyages of discovery? What do we know now that they wouldn’t have known then?