Portugal and the Age of Exploration

The Age of Exploration began in Portugal. This is interesting because Portugal was a small
country and it was not as powerful as other countries like Spain and England. All the most
important explorers and the most important discoveries were made by Portugal from 1415
until 1492. Portugal was first to sail beyond the sight of European land, the first to sail
around the southern tip of Africa and the first to reach India and Asia.

Portugal had recently been conquered by Muslim from North Africa and had learned new
things about maths and science. They also learned ways to build better ships and about
navigation. Many Portuguese people lived near the sea and had very good sailing skills. All
these things made the Portuguese good explorers.

Point Portugal was better at exploring than other countries.

PEE Evidence

Example
Henry the Navigator

But one person had a big influence on Portugal’s decision to

begin exploring. He was the son of the King of Portugal. His
name was Prince Henry. He wanted to sail to Asia to find the
source of valuable spices. In 1420 Henry paid for a new type
of ship called a Caravel to be designed and built. He then
paid for voyages to explore and to see if it was possible to
sail to Asia.

Source A- A
Positive things about Henry Negative things about Henry
Description of Henry
the Navigator

Henry was a visionary,

seeing possibilities
that other people of
his time didn’t see. He
gathered together a
group of navigators,
map makers,
mathematicians and
inventors.

Henry has been

described as a person
with no luxuries, not
mean, speaking with
soft words and calm
gestures, a man of
many good qualities
that never allowed
any poor person leave
his presence empty
handed.

In 1431 he donated
money for a school to
teach grammar, public
 speaking, maths,

Glue in your map on this page:

Fill in the table using the information from the map:

Year Discovery
1271 Marco Polo travelled to China
Bartholomeu Dias travelled around Africa
1498
Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas
1500
Ferdinand Magellan sailed around South America into the Pacific Ocean
1616
James Cook discovered Australia