Major Explorers

Let’s Review the Major Explorers of the Northwest Passage

Explorer	Sailed For	Area explored
Giovanni Caboto (known as John Cabot) (Italian)	England	Northeast coastline of Canada North America
Giovanni daVerrazano (Italian)	France	New York Bay and mouth of Hudson River East Coast
Jacques Cartier (French)	France	St. Lawrence River Canada
Henry Hudson (English)	Netherlands	Hudson River New York Hudson Bay, Canada
Samuel de Champlain (French)	France	St. Lawrence River, Quebec Canada, and northern New York

          In 1493, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain from America with tales of his voyage to the islands he had discovered off the coast of what he thought was India. Soon other countries in Europe began sending ships to explore these new lands seeking the riches they might provide.  One of their primary goals was also to try to find a quicker trade route to Asia, the land of silks and spices.  This search for the Northwest Passage, lead to many new discoveries and claims.  By the early 16^th century (1500’s) France, Italy, and England had begun their explorations.

John Cabot 

(Giovanni Caboto)

John Cabot, like Columbus, believed that Asia could be reached by sailing westward.  Cabot, an Italian ship captain, made two voyages to the new world.  In 1497, he sailed for the King of England.  He reached the northern coast of North America in what today is part of Canada.  He sailed southward, exploring possibly as far as New York.
          In 1498, Cabot returned to explore more of this new land.  As a result of his voyages, the English king later claimed the land Cabot explored for England.

Giovanni da Verrazano:

In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian explorer, sailing for France, reached the eastern coast of North America.  He sailed up and down the coast looking for a passage that would take him west through the continent.  He reached the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Bay, and wrote "we found a very pleasant situation amongst some steep hills ..."
          After rowing ashore in a small boat Verrazano had a brief encounter with a group of Native Americans.  The friendly natives welcomed the strangers, giving them gifts and food.  Verrazano and his crew did not stay long however, due to uncertain weather.
          A bridge connecting Long Island and Staten Island today is named the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, after this early explorer.

Jacques Cartier

          In 1534, the French king, Francis I, sent Jacques Cartier, a French navigator and explorer to North America.  He wanted Cartier to search for gold and other precious metals, as well as to seek a water route through North America. Cartier sailed into what is now the Gulf of St. Lawrence, claiming the land along the river for France.
          Cartier encountered Native Americans along the shores of the St. Lawrence River.  He gave them gifts and established friendly relations with them.  Today the people of New York state enjoy a state park located on the St. Lawrence River named after Jacques Cartier.

Henry Hudson:

In 1609, an English sea captain, Henry Hudson sailed to America for a Dutch trading company.  Hudson and his crew aboard the ship, Half Moon, were searching for the Northwest Passage.  They sailed into a great river know today as the Hudson. The crew of the Half Moon fished, traded with the Native Americans, and explored the river.  They sailed up the river until it became too shallow to navigate near present-day Albany.  Hudson claimed the land they explored in the Hudson River Valley for Holland.

Samuel de Champlain:

          Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer who became known as the "Father of New France." In 1603 he went on his first voyage to North America on an exploration and fur-trading expedition. He returned a year later, to look for a place in which to make a permanent French settlement. He remained until 1607, exploring the Atlantic coast from Canada to Massachusetts.
          In 1608, Champlain brought a group of settlers to the area along the St. Lawrence River.  They built a trading post and settlement.  It was the first European settlement in Canada.  They called it Quebec. Today it is the oldest city in Canada.
          Champlain befriended the Huron Indians living near Quebec in 1609, and began trading for furs. This peaceful relationship helped make it easier to explore the area. Their friendship also made them allies in battle against the Huron's bitter enemies, the Iroquois. Champlain and his French companions helped the Hurons attack the Iroquois in what is now New York State.  They easily won the battle with their muskets.  It was during this raid that he discovered a lake on the border of northern New York State.  He named this lake, Lake Champlain.  

  

Definitions

Northwest Passage:  A water route through North America to Asia

Allies:  Partners or friends who help each other

Timeline

1450	Prince Henry the Navigator builds a school for sailors.
1453	The Turkish empire cuts off the land route from Asia to Europe. Search for a sea route begins.
1487	Bartholomeu Dias discovers the southern tip of Africa.
1492	Christopher Columbus lands on an island of the Bahamas.
1497	John Cabot discovers Newfoundland while he searches for a north-western passage to India.
1498	Vasco Da Gama finds a sea route to India by sailing around Africa.
1502	Amerigo Vespucci returns from his explorations of South America. A German mapmaker names the New World after him.
1513	Vasco de Balboa discovers the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean.
1519-1522	Magellan sails around the world.
1521	Hernando Cortez defeats the Aztec empire.
1533	Francisco Pizarro defeats the Inca empire.
1534	Jacques Cartier sails down the St. Lawrence River and discovers the Great Lakes.
1577	Sir Francis Drake is the first Englishman to sail around the world.
1607	The first settlement is called Jamestown.
1610	Henry Hudson discovers Hudson Bay.
1620	The Mayflower lands with pilgrims in the New World.
1673	Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet explore the Mississippi River.

Age of Exploration

By the end of the 15th century many things were changing in Europe. The population started to grow more quickly and a new class ofmerchants emerged. They wanted to buy and sell expensive and valuable products from Asia—like gold, jewels and silk.

In those days, people had no refrigerators to preserve their food. They dried meat and often used salt to make it last longer. To make food taste better they used spices , like pepper or cinnamon.

For centuries Europeans brought these goods on a land route from Asia over thousands of dangerous kilometres . In the 15th century theoverland routes were being controlled by the Turkish Empire, which made it even more difficult for European merchants to pass through.

As a result, some European countries, like Spain and Portugal, decided to find out if there was a sea route to India. With the help of new kinds of ships that could sail faster and instruments , like the quadrant, they started the Age of Exploration.

Portuguese exploration

At the end of the 15th century the Portuguese started to explore the west coast of Africa. They set up trading posts and collected gold and silver. They were convinced that by sailing around the coast of Africa they would find a route to India.

In 1487 , the Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias sailed around the southern part of the continent and got as far as the east coast of Africa, but a storm made him turn back. On his return voyage, he saw a piece of land that stretched out into the sea. The Portuguese named it the Cape of Good Hope because they were hopeful of finding a passageway to India.

In 1497 Vasco Da Gama set out from Lisbon, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean. He reached the west coast of India in May 1498. He took some spices and gold back with him to prove that he had reached India.

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was probably the most famous explorer of the era. He achieved fame by sailing west in search of a sea route to India. Instead of reaching India he discovered that there was an unknown mass of land in between, land that the Europeans knew nothing of.

Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451 and during his early years his father took him on various sailing trips and wanted to make amerchant out of him.

Like many navigators of that time, Columbus also wanted to sail to India and the Far East. He thought that if he sailed west he would alsoreach the Spice Islands of Asia and India. When he went to the king of Portugal to present his plan, but it was rejected. Queen Isabella of Spain admired young and brave men like Columbus and so she gave him three ships—the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria—and acrew of 90 men.

Columbus left Spain on August 3, 1492. After two months of sailing westward, he landed on an island of the Bahamas, San Salvador, on October 12, 1492. Because he thought he had reached the islands near India he called the natives Indians.

All together, Columbus made four voyages to the New World between 1492 and 1504. He explored the coasts of Cuba, Jamaica , Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. On his last two voyages, Columbus reached the mainland of Central and South America and travelled as far south as the mouth of the Orinoco River.

After he came home from his fourth voyage, Christopher Columbus fell ill and died in 1506.

Other Spanish Explorers

 
During the early 1500s Spanish explorers travelled across most of Central and South America. They founded colonies and brought settlers to the New World. They also made the native Indians work for them. The Spaniards brought new products to the Americas ,like wheat, horses, cattle and sheep. In exchange , they grew plants that were not known in Europe, like corn and potatoes and brought them back to the Old Continent.
In 1513 the Spanish explorer Vasco de Balboa landed in Panama, the part of Central America that is very narrow. With his men, he fought his way through 50 miles of jungle and was surprised to see a new sea , the Pacific Ocean.
One of the most important Spanish conquistadors was Hernando Cortes. He conquered the Aztec empire in 1521. In 1532 and 1533 Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas. These natives ruled an empire that expanded from Columbia to the northern parts of Argentina. The Incas had great riches, vast amounts of gold and silver. When the Spanish got there they took all of it away from the Incas.

French and English explorers

The French and the English concentrated their journeys on the northern part of the continent, because they thought that there also had to be a north-western route to India.
In 1497, John Cabot, an Italian who sailed for England, landed on the east coast of Canada. In 1534 Jacques Cartier sailed down the St. Lawrence River and reached the Great Lakes. He claimed this territory for the king of France.
During the 1600s the French and English began to set up colonies. The French concentrated on the St .Lawrence valley and the Great Lakes and founded towns like Montreal, or Detroit.
At the end of the century Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette sailed down the Mississippi River. The land near the Gulf of Mexico was called Louisiana, in honour of the French king. Settlements like St. Louis or New Orleans show French origin.
The first permanent settlement in North America was founded at Jamestown , Virginia in 1607. In 1610 Henry Hudson sailed around north-eastern Canada and discovered a huge body of water which he thought was the Pacific Ocean. Today it is known as Hudson Bay.

Magellan sails around the world

In 1519 the Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan set out to find India by sailing around South America. He sailed for Spain because the Portuguese didn’t give him any money for this expedition.
Magellan had 5 ships and a crew of 240. When he reached the southern tip of South America, he got into bad, stormy weather. Two of his ships were badly damaged and couldn’t continue the journey. With three ships he sailed through a strait, that later was named after him , the Strait of Magellan.
When he reached the Pacific Ocean, he sailed for three months without any sight of land. Finally , in April of 1521 he landed on the Philippine Islands. Magellan got into a fight with native islanders and was killed there.
Only one ship could continue the voyage. It crossed the Indian Ocean and sailed around the Cape of Good Hope. With only twenty people on board it reached Spain three years after it had set out.

Magellan's journey around the world

http://www.english-online.at/history/age-of-exploration/explorers-and-navigators.htm

Age of Exploration - A Short Documentary Film

Why Do People Move to New Places?

In order to prepare for our next dialogue circle, discuss the following questions with your parents:

1. Why do people move to new places, cities or countries?

2. Why do Brazilians leave the country?

3. What forces people to leave their own countries?

4. Is there anything on the news at the moment regarding this topic?

5. How do we choose the best place to move to?