Name:______________________

The Age of Exploration Webquest

Directions: Use the websites below to answer the questions. Type your answers in complete sentences if
needed.

Go to: http://mrnussbaum.com/explorers/age/

1) When did the Age of Exploration begin? What were Europeans desperate to get from
Asia?

2) Why did European rulers pay explorers to search for a sea route to Asia?

3) What country first sent explorers to search for a sea route to Asia?

4) Who started a school of navigation and financed the first voyages to the west coast of
Africa?

5) Who was the first person to make it to Africa’s Cape of Good Hope? Who sailed around
Africa and reached India?

6) What country sponsored Columbus to sail west to find a shortcut to the Indies?

7) What did Jacques Cartier claim France?

Vasco da Gama
Go to: https://mrnussbaum.com/vasco-da-gama-biography

8) What did Vasco da Gama successfully sail around on November 22, 1497? What was the
effect of his conquests in India?

Christopher Columbus
Go to: https://mrnussbaum.com/christopher-columbus-biography

9) What islands did Columbus’ crew members sight on October 12, 1492? Where did
Columbus believe he landed?

10) What was the effect of Columbus’ discoveries in the New World?

De Soto
Go to: https://mrnussbaum.com/hernando-de-soto-biography

11) Why was De Soto hoping to find a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean?

12) What was De Soto unsuccessful in finding in the southeastern region of the United
States?

13) What river did De Soto discover during his expeditions in the southwest?

Magellan
Go to: https://mrnussbaum.com/ferdinand-magellan-biography
14) What country sponsored Magellan’s trips? What shortcut was he trying to find?

15) What made Magellan and his crew famous?

Jacques Cartier
Go to: https://mrnussbaum.com/jacques-cartier-biography

16) What country sponsored Cartier’s voyages?

17) What was Cartier searching for in the New World?

18) What was the effect of Cartier’s explorations in the New World?

Henry Hudson
Go to: http://www.ducksters.com/biography/explorers/henry_hudson.php

19. What country sponsored Henry Hudson’s explorations in the New World?

20. What was Hudson looking for in the New World?

21. Why did Hudson search for a Northwest Passage during the summer?
22) Why did Hudson’s crew mutiny against him? What eventually happened to Hudson?

Bartolomeu Dias
Go to: http://famous-explorers.org/bartolomeu-dias/

23) What country sponsored Bartholomeu Dias’ explorations?

24) Why is Dias famous?

Amerigo Vespucci
Go to: http://exploration.marinersmuseum.org/subject/amerigo-vespucci/

25) What did Amerigo Vespucci discover?

26) Who is North and South America named after?

Henry The Navigator

Go to: http://www.biography.com/people/henry-the-navigator

27) What did Henry the Navigator sponsor?

28) What period is Henry the Navigator credited with beginning?

29) Who did Henry the Navigator employ at his school for navigation in Portugal?
Spanish Colonies in America
Go to: https://www.learner.org/series/interactive-us-history-map/

Click on the tab “Colonists”

Click on “Learn more about European colonies”

30) What areas in the United States did Spain control from the mid-16 th century to the
19th century?

31) What religion did most people in Spanish colonies practice?

Click “Next: British Colonies”

32. What area in the United States did Britain colonize during the 16 th century?

Click “Next: Dutch Colonies”

32. What areas in the United States did Henry Hudson claim for the Dutch?

Click “Next: French Colonies”

33. What areas in North America did the French establish colonies?

Columbian Exchange (Effect of Exploration)

Go to: https://thecolumbianexchange.weebly.com/index.html
34) What was Columbus the first person to initiate between the New and Old Worlds?

35) Name five items brought from the Old World to the New World.

36) Name five items brought from the New World to the Old World.

Click on “Maize”

37) How did the introduction of maize to the Old World change the lives of Europeans?

Click on “Potato”

38) What was the effect of the introduction of the potato to some countries in the Old
World?

Click on “Rice”

39) What was the negative effect of rice being introduced to the New World?

Click on “Germs”

40) What was the negative effect of diseases being brought to the New World?