The Age of Exploration Bellringer
The Age of Exploration
Reading, Text Annotation & Historical Synthesis
Name:
Task 1: Annotation Instructions Read carefully & code the text
VOCABULARY FOCUS: Highlight any unfamiliar words or terms or any words from our key terms vocabulary activity from last class.
WHO
Circle leaders, explorers & empires
WHAT
Underline ships, tech & trade routes
WHEN
Draw a box around dates & centuries
WHERE
Double-underline oceans & regions
WHY
Put [brackets] around motives & goals
Textbook Excerpt: Maritime Trade Routes and Iberian Expansion Historical Source Reading
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, European monarchs and wealthy merchants sought new maritime trade routes to reach the profitable silk and spice markets of Asia. For centuries, valuable luxury goods traveled overland along the Silk Road. However, after the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople in 1453, overland travel grew dangerous and burdened by heavy tariffs. Desiring to bypass Ottoman taxes on trade and eliminate the trading monopoly held by Italian merchants, the Iberian kingdoms of Portugal and Spain turned toward uncharted oceanic waters.
Portugal spearheaded oceanic exploration under Prince Henry the Navigator, adopting the caravel—a swift, lightweight sailing ship built to navigate shallow coastal waters and sail into strong winds—along with navigational instruments like the magnetic compass and the astrolabe, a handheld brass tool that used the position of the stars to help sailors determine their location at sea. Portuguese sailors charted southward along the western coast of Africa. In 1498, navigator Vasco da Gama successfully rounded the Cape of Good Hope, sailed into the Indian Ocean, and reached Calicut, India. This breakthrough established a lucrative Portuguese maritime empire across South Asia. Eager to secure their own trade dominance, the Spanish Crown funded Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus in 1492. Columbus attempted to reach Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean, instead making landfall in the Caribbean. Spain quickly developed expansive transoceanic trade routes connecting the Americas to Europe, mining massive amounts of silver and establishing a global empire that reshaped world commerce.
Task 2: Synthesis Question
2–3 Sentences
Based on the information you highlighted, write a two to three sentence description of the Age of Exploration. Your response should include information related to who, what, when, where, why, and how:
