The Explorations

Peoples beliefs about the World before the 1400’s The World is flat There are Sea Monsters which destroy ships The earth is at the Centre of the Universe

Dangers of Voyages Many waters were uncharted (unmapped) which made shipwrecks common If ships got lost at sea there was no means of communication with home. There were few instruments to give accurate positions of ships when at sea. Conditions on ships were cramped and rife with disease. Food was often gone bad Drinking water was scarce. A lack of fresh fruit and vegetables led to diseases like Scurvy. Ships were wooden and not very strong so were often destroyed by storms

New Ships and New Equipment The 1400’s saw many improvements in Ship building which made them better suited to long voyages. Up to this point there had been 2 types of ship, both which had advantages and disadvantages:

The Clinker Built Ship Clinker built meant that the ships were built using overlapping planks. These ships also had large square sails. These ships were strong and could withstand many storms but because they were so heavy they were hard to steer.

The Caravel Ship Caravel ships were built with their planks edge to edge. This made them lighter. They had triangular shaped sails. These ships were faster but more easily damaged by storms

The New Caravel Ship designers combined the good qualities of both other types of ships and came up with a new caravel design, which was strongly built but easy to steer, etc. This now made long voyages safer.

Equipment COMPASS: The new compass was suitable for use at sea. QUADRANTS & ASTROLABES: These helped sailors to calculate their latitude (distance from the equator)

Henry the Navigator Henry was Prince of Portugal and spent much of his early life fighting the Muslins in North Africa. In 1415 Henry’s ships discovered the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa and the island of Madera in 1418. When he returned from Africa, Henry settled in Sagres and set up a School to train Navigators (Sailors). Henry provided the students with the latest maps and equipment for their training. Many of Henry’s sailors continues to discover new parts of the coast of Africa. While Henry never accompanied any of his sailors on their voyages, he was responsible for them happening so was given the nickname HENRY THE NAVIGATOR