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Explorers and the Age of Exploration

Famous explorers, their voyages, routes and the effects of European exploration.

71 cardsGrades 3–5, Grades 6–8#explorers#columbus#magellan#age of exploration

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71 cards
  • Age of ExplorationExplorer or term
    Period from about 1400 to 1700 when Europeans sailed across oceans
  • Prince Henry the NavigatorExplorer or term
    Portuguese prince who sponsored voyages along Africa's coast
  • Bartolomeu DiasExplorer or term
    First European to sail around Africa's southern tip, 1488
  • Vasco da GamaExplorer or term
    Portuguese explorer who reached India by sea in 1498
  • Christopher ColumbusExplorer or term
    Italian sailor who crossed the Atlantic for Spain in 1492
  • Columbus's shipsExplorer or term
    The Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria
  • Isabella and FerdinandExplorer or term
    Spain's rulers who funded Columbus
  • San SalvadorExplorer or term
    Island in the Bahamas where Columbus landed in 1492
  • Columbian ExchangeExplorer or term
    Movement of plants, animals, people and diseases between the Americas and the Old World
  • Diseases in the AmericasExplorer or term
    Smallpox and other European illnesses killed many Native people
  • Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)Explorer or term
    Spain and Portugal divided newly found lands
  • Amerigo VespucciExplorer or term
    Explorer whose first name gave America its name
  • John CabotExplorer or term
    Italian explorer sailing for England who reached North America in 1497
  • Vasco Nunez de BalboaExplorer or term
    First European to see the Pacific from the Americas, 1513
  • Ferdinand MagellanExplorer or term
    Led the first voyage to sail around the world, 1519-1522
  • Juan Sebastian ElcanoExplorer or term
    Completed Magellan's voyage after Magellan died in 1521
  • Strait of MagellanExplorer or term
    Passage near South America's southern tip
  • CircumnavigationExplorer or term
    Sailing all the way around the world
  • Hernan CortesExplorer or term
    Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire in 1519-1521
  • Francisco PizarroExplorer or term
    Spanish conquistador who defeated the Inca in the 1530s
  • ConquistadorExplorer or term
    Spanish soldier-explorer who conquered lands in the Americas
  • Ponce de LeonExplorer or term
    Spanish explorer who explored Florida in 1513
  • Hernando de SotoExplorer or term
    Spanish explorer who traveled through the southeastern US, 1539-1542
  • Francisco CoronadoExplorer or term
    Spanish explorer who searched the Southwest for cities of gold
  • Jacques CartierExplorer or term
    French explorer who explored the St. Lawrence River in the 1530s
  • Samuel de ChamplainExplorer or term
    Founded Quebec in 1608
  • Henry HudsonExplorer or term
    English explorer who explored the Hudson River in 1609 for the Dutch
  • Northwest PassageExplorer or term
    Hoped-for water route through North America to Asia
  • La SalleExplorer or term
    French explorer who traveled down the Mississippi in 1682
  • Marquette and JolietExplorer or term
    French explorers who traveled the upper Mississippi in 1673
  • Walter RaleighExplorer or term
    English courtier who sponsored the Roanoke colonies
  • Francis DrakeExplorer or term
    English sea captain who sailed around the world, 1577-1580
  • James CookExplorer or term
    English navigator who mapped Pacific coasts including New Zealand and Hawaii in the 1700s
  • Abel TasmanExplorer or term
    Dutch explorer who sighted Tasmania and New Zealand in 1642
  • Zheng HeExplorer or term
    Chinese admiral whose fleets reached East Africa in the early 1400s
  • Ibn BattutaExplorer or term
    Muslim scholar who traveled across Africa and Asia in the 1300s
  • Marco PoloExplorer or term
    Venetian merchant who traveled in Asia in the late 1200s
  • Leif EriksonExplorer or term
    Norse explorer who reached North America about 1000
  • Viking VinlandExplorer or term
    Name the Norse gave to the land they reached in North America
  • L'Anse aux MeadowsExplorer or term
    Norse site in Newfoundland, proof of an early landing
  • SacagaweaExplorer or term
    Shoshone woman who guided Lewis and Clark
  • Lewis and ClarkExplorer or term
    Explored the Louisiana Purchase and reached the Pacific, 1804-1806
  • Matthew HensonExplorer or term
    Black explorer who traveled with Robert Peary to the Arctic
  • Robert PearyExplorer or term
    Led expeditions toward the North Pole in the early 1900s
  • Roald AmundsenExplorer or term
    Norwegian explorer, first to reach the South Pole, 1911
  • Ernest ShackletonExplorer or term
    Led the Endurance expedition to Antarctica (1914-1917); all his men survived
  • Edmund Hillary and Tenzing NorgayExplorer or term
    First climbers confirmed to reach Mount Everest's summit, 1953
  • Jacques CousteauExplorer or term
    French ocean explorer who co-invented the Aqualung
  • Neil ArmstrongExplorer or term
    First person on the Moon, 1969
  • Sally RideExplorer or term
    First American woman in space, 1983
  • Mae JemisonExplorer or term
    First Black woman in space, 1992
  • Valentina TereshkovaExplorer or term
    First woman in space, 1963
  • Yuri GagarinExplorer or term
    First human in space, 1961
  • Gold, God and gloryExplorer or term
    Three motives often given for European exploration
  • CaravelExplorer or term
    Small, fast Portuguese ship used for exploring
  • AstrolabeExplorer or term
    Tool for finding latitude using the stars or Sun
  • CompassExplorer or term
    Magnetic tool for finding direction
  • LatitudeExplorer or term
    Distance north or south of the equator
  • LongitudeExplorer or term
    Distance east or west of the prime meridian
  • NavigatorExplorer or term
    Person who plans a ship's course
  • CartographerExplorer or term
    Mapmaker
  • Mercator mapExplorer or term
    1569 map by Gerardus Mercator, useful for sailors
  • Spice IslandsExplorer or term
    Islands in today's Indonesia that produced cloves and nutmeg
  • MercantilismExplorer or term
    Idea that colonies exist to enrich the home country
  • ColonyExplorer or term
    Territory settled and controlled by another country
  • Transatlantic slave tradeExplorer or term
    Forced movement of millions of Africans to the Americas
  • PotatoesExplorer or term
    Crop from the Americas that spread to Europe and fed millions
  • Tomatoes, corn and chocolateExplorer or term
    Foods that came to Europe from the Americas
  • Horses in the AmericasExplorer or term
    Spanish brought horses, which changed life on the Plains
  • Wheat and sugar to the AmericasExplorer or term
    Old World crops carried across the Atlantic
  • SmallpoxExplorer or term
    Disease that devastated Native communities after contact

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