The Age of Exploration Quiz

The Age of Exploration and its Key Figures

• Prior to the Age of Exploration, beliefs included the world being flat, seas boiling in the south, the world being smaller, people in the south being stranger, and the sea being full of monsters.
• The Age of Exploration was caused by a desire for trade, wealth, religion, inspiration from Marco Polo, a questioning spirit from the Renaissance, and the potential for riches and titles for explorers.
• The caravel was a new ship with clinker-built overlapping wood, lateen and square sails, a rudder, and a raised platform to see enemies approaching.
• New navigation equipment included the astrolabe, quadrant, cross staff, compass, upgraded portolan charts, log and line to measure speed, and lead and line to measure water depth.
• Life aboard a ship was unpleasant, with mainly ship's biscuit for food, a firebox that posed a danger of fire, punishments for disobedience, and common diseases such as scurvy and typhoid.
• Portuguese voyages were motivated by rivalry with Spain, a desire to defeat Muslims, and a desire for wealth.
• Prince Henry set up a school of navigation in Sagres, gathered shipbuilders, astronomers, and map makers to share knowledge, sent ships along the African coast, and discovered various islands.
• Bartholomew Diaz reached the Cape of Good Hope, while Vasco da Gama reached India and was granted a pension, title, and land from the king.
• Ferdinand Magellan was a soldier and adventurer who believed in a strait that would take him to the South Sea, and he discovered the Pacific Ocean, but he died in a war before returning to Spain.
• Christopher Columbus, born in Genoa, believed in a round Earth and that sailing from the West to East would reach Asia, and he was sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, discovering San Salvador, Cuba, and Hispaniola.
• Columbus left 40 men in Hispaniola and returned to Spain with six "Indians" and strange plants and birds.
• These key figures and their discoveries proved that the world was round and opened up new trade routes and opportunities for wealth and power.