Age of Exploration: Early American

ExplorersBy: Kristi Walker 4th Grade

• Conquistador• Expedition• Cartographer• Compass• Circumnavigate

Words To Know

• Colony• Voyage• Columbian Exchange• Spanish Mission

• A soldier who conquered new lands for Spain.

Conquistador

• A journey made for a special purpose.

Expedition

• A map maker.

Cartographer

• A navigational instrument used to determine direction.

Compass

• To sail all the way around – particularly the earth.

Circumnavigate

• A settlement far away from the country that rules it.

Colony

• A long journey by sea.

Voyage

• The movement of people, plants, animals, and germs across the Atlantic Ocean.

Columbian Exchange

• Religious settlements built by the Spanish.

Spanish Missions

Why go exploring?• Foreign Goods – People went in search of

spices and other goods, such as silk, that could not be found in their country.

• Wealth – People wanted to find gold, silver, gems, and furs.

• Curiosity – People wanted to know what was out there.

• Expansion – To claim new lands for their country.

• Religion – Europeans were very religious and wanted to spread Christianity.

• Trade – To find better trade routes between other countries.

Explorers we will study:

Columbus

Balboa

Pizarro

De Soto

Christopher Columbus

Click image for Columbus Video

Columbus: When?

• In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue!

Was He First?

• NO! Viking explorers reached North America long before Columbus.

• However, Columbus receives the credit for discovering America.

Columbus: How?

• Columbus convinced King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to finance his expedition.

Columbus: Why?

• Columbus hoped to find gold, spices and other treasures.

• He also wanted to discover a western route to Asia.

Columbus• Columbus left Spain on

August 3, 1492.• He took 90 men and 3

ships.• They sailed for more

than 2 months before they saw land.

Columbus• The names of his ships were the Nina,

Pinta, and the Santa Maria.

Columbus• They landed in a

group of islands known as the Bahamas on October 12, 1942.

• He named the island San Salvador.

Columbus• He thought that

he had landed in the East Indies, so he called the people that he met Indians.

Columbus: Route

Columbus• Columbus thought that he had landed

in Asia (India is in Asia) but instead, he had found a “New World!”

• Columbus took three more trips from Spain to the New World and began European exploration to America.

Why It Matters?

• Columbus began the movement called the Columbian Exchange.

• Columbian Exchange is the movement of plants, people, animals and diseases across the Atlantic Ocean.

• The Columbian Exchange changed life on all five continents for good and for bad.

• Good changes: Foods and horses• Bad changes: Diseases that killed the Indians

Columbian Exchange

Click Brain Pop Logo for Columbian Exchange Video

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Balboa• Balboa was the first Spanish

Conquistador to conquer native civilizations.

• He is known for discovering the Pacific Ocean and adjoining lands and claiming them for Spain.

Balboa• After sailing on another expedition, Balboa

started a plantation on the island of Hispaniola.

• When his plantation failed he fled to San Sebastian, on the northern coast of South America.

Balboa• Upon arrival, he

discovered that the settlement had been destroyed by Native Americans.

• He persuaded the survivors to move to the Isthmus of Panama, along the Atlantic Coast, where he founded the settlement of Darien.

Balboa• Balboa was accused of treason. To save his

life, he would have to prove his loyalty to the king of Spain.

• He had heard about a great sea on the other side of the Isthmus of Panama so he set out to find the sea and claim it for Spain in 1513.

Balboa• With 190 Spanish soldiers and 1,000

Native Americans, Balboa crossed the thick Central American jungle.

• On the other side, he found the great sea. He named it Mar del Sur, or the South Sea.

• It was later renamed the Pacific Ocean by Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan.

Balboa: Route

Francisco Pizarro

• Pizarro is known for conquering the Incan Empire.

Pizarro

• After Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean for Spain, he set up a seaport in Panama. Expeditions began to sail up and down the Pacific Coast from this port.

• These expeditions had 2 main goals: find a water route through the Isthmus of Panama and to find the wealthy empire of the Inca.

Pizarro

• Pizarro and his men, 177 of them, would have to cross the dangerous cliffs of the Andes Mountains to reach the Incan Empire.

• Because Pizarro promised peace, his expedition was allowed to pass through this territory without being attacked.

Pizarro

• But Pizarro had other plans! He was going to attack the Incan leader, Atahaulpa and his army!

• Worried that he might be “walking into a trap,” Pizarro invited Atahaulpa to meet him at the main square.

Pizarro

• The main square had long, low buildings that had lots of doorways. Pizarro hid his army near these openings, ready to attack.

• The Incans showed up unarmed.

Pizarro

• Pizarro sent a religious leader (known as a friar) to talk to the Incan leader and try to get him to convert to Christianity.

• When they refused, Pizarro ordered an attack and all his men jumped out of their hiding spots.

• At least 2,000 Inca – and maybe more – were killed in the surprise attack.

Pizarro

Pizarro: Route

Hernando de Soto

• De Soto was the first European to explore Florida and much of the Southeast.

• He is credited with discovering the Mississippi river.

De Soto

• In May, 1539, Hernando de Soto landed near present day Tampa Bay Florida.

• His expedition included 9 vessels, an army of more than 600 men, and about 200 horses.

• He was in search of gold, silver, and other valuable natural resources but the expedition never found any riches.

De Soto

• De Soto and his army crossed the Mississippi River on rafts and spent the winter in the Arkansas valley near present day Little Rock.

• In the spring, they traveled eastward to the Mississippi River, where De Soto died in May, 1542.

De Soto

• After De Soto died, the rest of the expedition continued down the Mississippi River on rafts and along the Gulf of Mexico.

• The explorers never found what they were looking for but the 4 year trip helped the Spanish draw maps of much of southeastern North America.

De Soto

De Soto

De Soto: Route

Focus Questions:1. Why did Pizarro search for the Inca

empire?He wanted to take their riches. The Spanish were searching for gold and silver in the Americas. They wanted to conquer the Incas because they were weathy.

Focus Questions:2. When Columbus landed in the

Bahamas, what place did he think he discovered?

He thought he had found the East Indies but in reality he had found the West Indies and Central America.

Focus Questions:

3. What was Hernando de Soto hoping to find on his expedition?

Gold and other riches.

Focus Questions:

4. What did Balboa name the great sea?

The South Sea.