AGE OF EXPLORATION – Study Guide

There are EIGHT (8) sections in this unit on the Exploration of the New World.
You should finish one section per day to stay on track., and it will take you approximately 30 minutes.
A. Exploration Mapwork 5. The Columbian Exchange
1. Reasons and Opportunity to Explore 6. Colonial Societies
2. Portuguese and Spanish Exploration 7. Mercantilism
3. English and French Explorers 8. The Trans-Atlantic / Triangular
4. New Views of the World SlaveTrade

You also have a Materials Packet loaded into your work for this week, that has all of the things you
will need to complete this Study Guide.
Each section in the Materials Packet will have a combination of three kinds of materials: a short
reading passage, possibly some maps or diagrams, and perhaps a video (or several) to watch.
Once you have completed the readings, plus the additional resources, you are to complete the
corresponding sections in this Study Guide, save it in Word on your computer and when you are
finished, you will submit this completed Study Guide to the Assignment in Google Classroom for
grading.
You will not turn in your Materials Packet.

AGE OF EXPLORATION MAP

MAP #1 Using Map #1 in your Materials Packet, complete the following:

 Label Spain, Portugal, England, France, Netherlands.

 Trace the trade routes to the New World for each country. (We will do this together)

The contents of this packet were borrowed in large part from Clinton High School, Teacher Robert Pitman
https://chs.clintonokschools.org/264469_3
 AGE OF EXPLORATION – Study Guide
Section 1 Reasons and Opportunity to Explore
I. Read the Passage.
A. Which three things allowed sailors and Explorers to go further than they had ever
gone before? Don’t forget to talk about caravels!
1.
2.
3.

B. What were the two main reasons why European explorers and their monarchies
wanted to explore the world in the 15th century? Make sure to tell me about
spices, Asia and Islam!
1.
2.

II. Watch Video #1, “The Need for Trade Routes”

1. Where were the Europeans trying to get to during the 1500s and why couldn’t
they get there?

2. Based on your knowledge of medieval Islamic caliphates, who was in charge

of Muslim-controlled trade routes during the 15th century?

Watch Video #2, “Caravels”

1. Which country invented the caravel?

2. What was it about this kind of ship that made it perfect for exploring faraway
places?

END OF SECTION 1

Section 2 PORTUGUESE & SPANISH EXPLORATIONS

I. Read the Passage.
A. Who was Portugal’s most accomplished explorer?
The contents of this packet were borrowed in large part from Clinton High School, Teacher Robert Pitman
https://chs.clintonokschools.org/264469_3
 AGE OF EXPLORATION – Study Guide

B. Who was the first explorer to sail around the southern tip of Africa (he was
heading to Asia). He was Portuguese!

C. Who was the first explorer to reach India by sea (as he was trying to reach
Asia)? He was also Portuguese!

D. There was a Spanish explorer who thought there was a faster way to get to
Asia than going the way the Portuguese had gone. When he went the other
way, he found a whole New World. Who was he? (Hint: he was Spanish
conquistador!)

E. Name his three ships.

F. Did he actually know where he was?

G. Which explorer found Brazil? Which country was he from and how do you
know?

H. Who led the first expedition all the way around the world? Which country did
he sail for?

II. Watch Video #3, “Age of Exploration, Magellan”

1. Where are the Straits of Magellan.

2. Who named the Pacific Ocean and why was it named that?

3. On a voyage that long, what did they have to eat when they ran out of food?

4. How did the trip around the world take?

5. How many people died on the voyage?

6. What did this expedition prove to the world?

The contents of this packet were borrowed in large part from Clinton High School, Teacher Robert Pitman
https://chs.clintonokschools.org/264469_3
 AGE OF EXPLORATION – Study Guide
Watch Video #4, “The Voyage of Columbus”
1. Christopher Columbus was Italian, but who did he sail for?

2. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had plenty of money to fund Columbus’s
expedition, because they had just conquered who?

3. How long did it take Columbus to reach the New World?

4. Where did he land, exactly?

5. What happened to all the colonists he left behind?

END OF SECTION 2

The contents of this packet were borrowed in large part from Clinton High School, Teacher Robert Pitman
https://chs.clintonokschools.org/264469_3
 AGE OF EXPLORATION – Study Guide

Section 3 ENGLISH AND FRENCH EXPLORERS

I. Read the Passage.

A. By the time England France sent explorers to find Asia, Europeans already
knew about the New World. So what is it that England and France were trying
to do by that time?

B. In 1587, England defeated the Spanish Armada and gained control of the seas.
What was the Spanish Armada?

II. Map #2
A. Where did John Cabot sail to and what how long after Columbus did he reach
it?

_________________________________________________________________________

END OF SECTION 3

Section 4 NEW VIEWS OF THE WORLD

The contents of this packet were borrowed in large part from Clinton High School, Teacher Robert Pitman
https://chs.clintonokschools.org/264469_3
 AGE OF EXPLORATION – Study Guide
I. Read the Passage.
A. List 5 things that the world learned as a result of the Explorations of the
1500s
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

III. Map #3
A. What is a cartograph?

B. When was this cartograph drawn?

C. What is missing from this map of the world?

Map #4
A. What are some things that cartographers still were not drawing correctly AT
ALL in 1500?

END OF SECTION 4

The contents of this packet were borrowed in large part from Clinton High School, Teacher Robert Pitman
https://chs.clintonokschools.org/264469_3
 AGE OF EXPLORATION – Study Guide

Section 5 THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE

I. Read the Passage. (You may also use Diagrams #1 and #2 to help with these
questions)

A. What was being ‘exchanged’ in the Columbian Exchange?

B. List FIVE things that came from the Old World to the New World for the first
time during the Columbian Exchange.

C. List FIVE things that came from the New World to the Old World during the
Columbian Exchange.

D. How were religion and technology also spread using the Columbia Exchange?

II. Watch Video #5, The Age of Exploration, European Crops

How was the European honey bee different from the North American
honeybee?

III. Watch Video #6 The Age of Exploration, Diseases

Coronavirus isn’t the first OR the worst disease to ever spread so quickly.
What disease killed approximately 90% of all Native Americans
when it came over during the Exploration and Colonization of the New World?

END OF SECTION 5

The contents of this packet were borrowed in large part from Clinton High School, Teacher Robert Pitman
https://chs.clintonokschools.org/264469_3
 AGE OF EXPLORATION – Study Guide

Section 6 COLONIAL SOCIETIES

I. Read the Passage.

A. How did the Spanish, the Portuguese, and the English treat the Native
Americans?

B. Since Natives were dying so rapidly from disease, a new race of people
were brought to the New World to work as slaves and to grow crops for the
Europeans. Who were they?

C. Which European country first brought them over?

II. Using Diagram #3, where did most slaves go?

Using Diagram #4, explain what a slave ship was like.

END OF SECTION 6

The contents of this packet were borrowed in large part from Clinton High School, Teacher Robert Pitman
https://chs.clintonokschools.org/264469_3
 AGE OF EXPLORATION – Study Guide

Section 7 MERCANTILISM

I. Read the Passage.

Define “mercantilism”.

II. Referencing Diagram #5, explain how the Europeans exploited their colonies.

END OF SECTION 7

The contents of this packet were borrowed in large part from Clinton High School, Teacher Robert Pitman
https://chs.clintonokschools.org/264469_3
 AGE OF EXPLORATION – Study Guide

Section 8 - THE TRIANGULAR TRADE

I. Read the Passage. WE WILL DO THIS IN CLASS TOGETHER.
On the map below, draw the triangular trade and number the legs of the route #1, #2,
#3, according to the correct order.

The contents of this packet were borrowed in large part from Clinton High School, Teacher Robert Pitman
https://chs.clintonokschools.org/264469_3
 AGE OF EXPLORATION – Study Guide

II. Referencing Diagram #6, What was the Middle Passage?

III. Watch the Video #7, The Age of Exploration, Slavery.

This video is actually a clip from the movie Amistad. It is a true portrayal of how Africans were
kidnapped from their homelands and transported on slave ships to the New World and sold.
After you watch it, please write down your thoughts about the slave trade in the space below.

The contents of this packet were borrowed in large part from Clinton High School, Teacher Robert Pitman
https://chs.clintonokschools.org/264469_3
 AGE OF EXPLORATION – Study Guide

END OF SECTION 8

The contents of this packet were borrowed in large part from Clinton High School, Teacher Robert Pitman
https://chs.clintonokschools.org/264469_3