The Age of Exploration

WHY EXPLORE?By the late 1400's, Four major nations were taking shape in Europe.1. England2. France3. Portugal4. SpainLeaders encouraged exploration as a way to: *Find a sea route to Asia in search of spices*Gain land *Spread Christianity*Find gold, silver, and other riches to finance their armies and governments*Expand knowledge

F.Y.I.Many maps of the 1400's showed Europe in the center, surrounded by oceans full of sea monsters waiting to devour sailors.

The Age of Exploration

The Chinese actually discovered the first simple compass 2,000 years ago

Christopher Columbus

The Chinese actually discovered the first simple compass 2,000 years ago

VocabularyNavigation - The study of how to plan and control that course of a ship.Magnetic Compass - a tool that shows which direction is north.Cross Staff - a tool that measures the distance between the horizon and North Star to find latitude.Expedition - a long and carefully organized trip.Cartographer - a person who makes maps.Caraval - Smaller sailing ship that was able to explore shallow waters. It had triangular shaped sails that made it fast, and able to navigate in any direction.Carrack - Larger, stronger sailing ship that had square sails and only said with the wind. It was difficult to navigate.

Caravel

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