1. Ragsdale Elementary School
The Age of Exploration
Ragsdale Elementary School
Angela Barnett

4. Vocabulary Navigation
The science of plotting or directing the course of a ship.
A new small community of people in a new place.
Settlement
To sail completely around.
Circumnavigate
A journey with a specific goal in mind.
Expedition

5. Northwest Passage A water route connecting the
Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific
Ocean across northern North
America.
Constellation A group of stars that forms a
particular shape in the sky and has
been given a name. There are 88.
Pole Star A pole star is a star that is located
almost due north or due south,
which makes it useful for
navigation. Polaris is the pole star
of the Northern Hemisphere.
Silk Road The silk road consisted of a few
over-land trading routes between
China and the West (Europe).

6. Marco Polo and the Silk Road
At 17, Marco Polo traveled to China with other merchants from Venice, Italy. It took them 3 years to get there.
Marco Polo saw many things on his way, and wrote about them. Other merchants became interested in all of the new inventions, silk, and spices that were found on the Silk road to China.
Those inventions include paper, gun powder, and printing.
The Silk Road is not one road, but many trade routes that merchants used between Europe and China. .

7. The trade and travel brought people together throughout
Asia, Europe, and Africa. The trade brought new products
and ideas, and it also inspired other explorers.

8. The Silk Road
The Silk Road and Spice trade routes later blocked by the Ottoman Empire in 1453 spurring exploration to find alternative sea routes

9. Why do you think Europeans wanted to explore new lands?
To find a water
passageway to
Asia for trade
Develop new colonies
Find gold and riches
Fame and fortune
Technological Advances

10. Christopher Columbus * He was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy
* Italian, but sailed for Spain.
* His goal was to sail west and reach
Asia.
*His achievements were that he made 3 voyages, and
settled in Central and South America.
*His obstacles were a scared crew, and no maps to sail
by.
*It took several times over several years for
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to agree to pay for
the voyage.

12. Christopher Columbus Journal Entry
Thursday, 11 October, 1492.
I sailed to the west-southwest. The crew of the Pinta spotted reeds
and a small board. A stick was found that looks man-made, perhaps
carved with an iron tool. These made the crew breathe easier; in fact,
the men have even become cheerful. A special thanksgiving was
offered to God for giving us renewed hope through the many signs of
land.
About ten o’clock at night I saw a light to the west. It looked like a
wax candle bobbing up and down. It had the same appearance as a
light or torch belonging to fishermen or travelers who raised and
lowered it. I am the first to admit I was so eager to find land that I
did not trust my own senses so I called Gutierrez and asked him to
watch for the light. After a few moments, he too saw it. I then
summoned Rodrigo Sanchez. He saw nothing, nor did any other
member of the crew. It was such an uncertain thing I did not feel it
was adequate proof of land. Then, at two hours after midnight, the
Pinta fired a cannon, my signal for the sighting of land.
I now believe the light I saw was truly land. When we caught up with
the Pinta, I learned Rodrigo de Triana, a seaman, was the first to sight
land. I lay-to till daylight. The land is about six miles to the west.

13. Columbus’ Four Voyages

14. John Cabot John Cabot sailed for England in 1497.
His goal was to find a Northwest Passage to Asia.
His achievement was that he found rich fishing waters in what we know as Canada, and Europeans set up fishing companies.
Obstacles – Cabot did not have any maps to follow.
This encouraged other explorers to look a water passage through the North America continent to find a faster route to Asia.
His son, Sebastian, sailed with him.

15. John Cabot’s Voyages

16. Vasco Nunez de Balboa He sailed for Spain.
His goals were to find new land for Spain, and he wanted to find a land route to the Pacific Ocean.
He landed in Central America, Panama, and his achievement was that he became the first European to reach the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean.
His obstacle was the fighting with the Native Americans.
After he settled in South America, he married a local Native American chief’s daughter.

17. Vasco Nunez de Balboa

18. Juan Ponce de Leon Sailed for Spain.
Goal was to find gold and the legendary “fountain of youth.”
Achievement was that he was the first European to reach Florida.
His obstacle was fighting with the Native Americans.
He named Florida after the Spanish word for flower.

19. Juan Ponce de Leon’s Voyages

20. Henry Hudson *He sailed for England.
*His goal was to discover athe Northwest Passage to
Asia.
*His achievement was that he sailed up the Hudson River
in what we now call New York.
*His obstacles were that his crew mutinied in the cold
climate.
*His crew kicked him off of the ship, and he was never
seen again.

21. Henry Hudson’s Voyages

22. Jacques Cartier *He sailed for France
*His goal was to find a water route to Asia.
*Achievements- Cartier sailed over 1,000 miles
along the St. Lawrence River in Canada.
*The obstacle to his mission was that the sailors
caught diseases.
*He named the area “Kanata,” the Iroquois word for
village.

23. Jacques Cartier’s Voyages

24. Exploration

25. The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of plants, food, and animals between the Americas and Europe. Some unintended exchanges were diseases and the buying and selling of people (slaves).

27. Document Based Questioning
Write an essay using the documents to address the positive and negative effects of European exploration using this webquest.
How do the documents connect to this cartoon?

30. Resources