Explorers

1. Explorers By Maanav Patel November 16, 2012 Room 227

2. Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery was when Europeans began to explore the world. Prince Henry was a navigator from Portugal who set off the Age of Discovery. He had a school of navigation and trained many sailors. The reason there were a lot of explorers is because they were greedy for riches. Some famous explorers were Columbus, Magellan, Cabot, Cartier, Vespucci, Coronado, de Soto, and Drake.

3. Life of An Explorer EXPERIENCES Many explorers had to deal with storms, scarce amount of food, shipwrecks, and more. For example Magellan had to deal with a little amount of food. They had to eat biscuits with rats and drink putrid water. CHARACTER TRAITS Many explorers shared traits. Many were greedy and curious. For example Hernando Cortés was greedy for gold and silver from the Aztec empire. That is part of the reason he conquered them.

4. Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan left Seville, Spain with five ships and 270 men, for the Spice Islands. He soon reached South America. There was a tribe of cannibals, but he left quickly enough to save himself. When landed in another place in South America he found a nude giant who was dancing. Ferdinand Magellan turned back then decided to sail around the world. It was a horrible voyage they missed every island between South America and Guam. When they reached Guam, most men were dead of hunger. Magellan ended up getting in a fight there and died, but one of the ships made it around the world. There was 18 men on the ship which means over 250 men died in the voyage.

5. Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus sailed sea In 1492 he sailed with three ships In 1492 he sailed with three ships He found what he thought was Asia He found what he thought was Asia But is was America Christopher Columbus sailed sea

6. Hernando Cortés In 1519 he sailed to Mexico, he wanted to conquer the Aztecs for adventure, gold, and silver. The Aztecs thought he was a attacker so they gave him gold to convince him to leave. He visited the capital, Mexico City. When the emperor invited in Cortés, Cortés took the emperor prisoner. After six months Cortés took a trip and when he returned the Aztecs attacked him and his allies. This caused them to fall back, but they took gold with them. A year later in 1521 Cortés conquered them once and for all.

7. Hernando de Soto He explored Florida in 1539.Fortunatley he found a Spaniard who became their guide. Unfortunately they couldn’t find gold. Fortunately they conquered a village. Unfortunately they got sick and some people died from the battle. Fortunately they used the village as shelter. Unfortunately after more exploring Hernando de Soto died.

8. Quadrant and Compass A quadrant is an instrument for measuring altitude of celestial bodies. It has a 90 degrees arc with a movable radius for measuring angles. A compass is an instrument whose metal needles aligns itself with the magnetic fields of Earth. One needle points north. Sailors use this to help with navigation.

9. Conclusion The Europeans gained gold, land, wood, new foods, information, syphilis (a disease), and other things too, however the explorers themselves didn’t gain much. They ended up sick and some dead. The Native Americans ended up on the bad side of things. They lost land, gold, freedom, and lives. They also got a disease called smallpox.