Name______________________________________ Date _______________

Document Based Question

(D.B.Q.)

Exploration and Conquest of the New World

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: The first Europeans to explore the United States, Canada, and
Latin America were looking for a water route to places like China and India. Though few
explorers found a water route to Asia, their voyages led to the discovery of “new land” in the
Western Hemisphere. Once it was discovered, more and more explorers continued to venture
out to this New World.

DIRECTIONS: Study the documents in the packet and answer each question that follows. Then
use your responses to write a well-organized and detailed essay answering the following
question:

What are the reasons why the European explorers came to the New
World, what did they find, and what did they do when they got here?
Document 1: An explanation of the Northwest Passage from www.americanhistory.com.

History of the Northwest Passage

In the mid 1400s, the Ottoman Turks took control of the Middle East. The
Turks and Europeans were not friendly with each other. This prevented the
Europeans from traveling to Asia over land and so people began to wonder
about a water route to Asia. Asia was known for its high quality spices,
silks, and other riches. The first to attempt a water voyage was Christopher
Columbus in 1492. In 1497, King Henry VII of Britain sent John Cabot to
search for what began to be known as the Northwest Passage.

All attempts over the next few hundred years to find the Northwest
Passage failed. Sir Frances Drake and Captain James Cook, among others,
attempted the exploration. Henry Hudson attempted to find the Northwest
Passage and while he did discover Hudson Bay, has crew mutinied and set
him adrift.

Finally, in 1906 Roald Amundsen from Norway successfully spent three

years traversing the Northwest Passage in an ice-fortified ship. Since then,
many ships have made the trip through the Northwest Passage.

1. Why were the Europeans interested in a Northwest water route to Asia?

The Europeans and the Turks, who controlled the middle east,
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were not on good terms so Europeans could not cross into Asia,
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which was famous for its spices, by land.
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Document 2: The following writings are from Christopher Columbus’s diary from August
to October in the year 1492.

…Following the light of the sun, we left the Old

World. You can never cross the ocean unless
you have courage to lose sight of the shore…

…Tomorrow morning before

[two months later]
we depart, I intend to land and see what can
be found in the neighborhood...
… Their houses are all built in the shape
of tents, with very high chimneys. These
people are very unskilled in [weapons]…

…We viewed trees all along the river,

beautiful and green, and different from
ours, with flowers and fruits each according
to their kind, many birds and little birds
which sing very sweetly…
…Gold is a treasure, and he who possesses it
does all he wishes to in this world…

2. What was Christopher Columbus looking for? What did he see?

The Europeans and the Turks, who controlled the middle east,
_____________________________________________________________________________
were not on good terms so Europeans could not cross into Asia,
_____________________________________________________________________________
which was famous for its spices, by land.
_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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Document 3: The chart below lists some of the explorers from Spain, what their goals
were and what happened on their expedition.

Explorer / Year Goal Result

Ponce de Leon 1523 To find a “fountain of youth” Explored Florida

To reach the Rio Grande River Failure; four survivors (out of 300)
Narvaez 1527-1528
and find gold who were lost and then enslaved
Survivors of Narvaez expedition
Cabeza de Vaca 1528-1536 Traveled across the Southwest
looking to find other Spaniards
To find the 7 Golden Cities of
De Soto 1539-1542 Explored the Southeast
Cibola
To find the 7 Golden Cities of Explored the Southwest and
Coronado 1540-1542
Cibola learned that Cibola did NOT exist
To find the 7 Golden Cities of
Cabrillo 1542-1543 Explored as far north as Oregon
Cibola

3. What did De Soto, Coronado and Cabrillo have in common?

De Soto, Coronado, and Cabrillo all tried to find the 7 Golden
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Cities of Cibola
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4. How was their expedition a failure? What good came out of their journeys?

None of the explorers found Cibola, but they did all

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explore different parts of the Americas.
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Document 4: Precious metals exported [shipped] from the New World to the Old World.

Grams of Gold and Silver Exported from the New World to

Spain
700,000

600,000

500,000

400,000

300,000

200,000

100,000

0
1506-1525 1526-1545 1546-1565 1566-1585 1586-1605 1606-1625 1626-1645 1646-1665

5. Between what years where the greatest amounts of gold and silver exported from the
New World to Spain? How much gold and silver was exported during this time?
Between 1586 and 1605 around 650,000 grams of gold and silver
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was exported from the New World to Spain. The greatest amount.
_____________________________________________________________________________

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6. Describe how the amount of gold exported to Spain changed from 1506 to 1586.
From 1506 to 1586 the amount of gold exported to Spain increased
_____________________________________________________________________________
greatly.
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Document 5: Below is a map of the New World and the missionary churches set up by
priests from Europe.

Many Catholic priests joined the

European explorers. They worked to
convert the Native Americans into
Christians. Some priests even took
over the local temples of the Indians

+ ++ turning them into churches.

+ ++
+ +
+ +
+
+ = missionary church

7. Who else came on board the explorers’ ships? Why did they come?
Catholic Priests Joined in order to convert Native Americans to
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Christianity.
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