1. Unit 1: Which nations had the most impact on exploration?
The Age of Exploration
Unit 1: Which nations had the most impact on exploration?

2. Norway - Norge
Viking explorers sailed the North Atlantic Ocean as early as the 1100’s -1200's
They searched for wealth and new settlements. Believed to be the 1st Europeans to cross the Atlantic and discovered Iceland, Greenland and Canada
Famous Norwegian Explorers: Erik The Red, Leif Erikson, Roald Amundsen (modern era)

3. Italy - Italia
Cities such as Venice, Milan and Rome helped to establish the Silk Road between Europe and Asia c. 1200
Famous Explorers: Marco Polo

4. China -中國
Chinese explorers began to sail the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia as far as India and Madagascar (c 's)
Searched for new lands and new trade partners
Famous Explorers: Zheng He

5. Portugal
Portuguese explorers sailed the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa towards India and the lands along the African coast (early 1400's)
Searching for evidence that the world was not flat and a faster trade route to Asia
Famous explorers: Prince Henry the Navigator, Bartholomew Diaz, Vasco De Gama, Ferdinand Magellan

6. Spain - España
The Middle to Southern Atlantic Ocean between Europe to present day southern United States, the Islands of the Caribbean and the land known as Central and South America (c 's)
1st Europeans to enter Central and South America, searching for gold and trade route to China
Famous explorers: Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Hernando DeSoto, Juan Ponce De Leon, Francisco Pizzaro, Hernan Cortez

7. France
French explorers sailed the Northern Atlantic Ocean from Europe to present day New York, Maine into Canada (c 's)
Looking for new trade routes and wealth, got along with natives better than most because they were not here to colonize or enslave the natives
Famous explorers: Giovanni De Verrazano, Jacques Cartier, Samuel De Champlain, Jacques Marquette and Robert De La Salle

8. Holland
Dutch explorers sailed the Atlantic and Indian Oceans between present day India and Vietnam, NJ and NY (c. late 's)
They were looking for trade routes and wealth
Established the Dutch East India Company and became one of the wealthiest nations of all time in only a few short years
Famous explorers: Abel Tasman

9. England
English explorers sailed the Middle Atlantic Ocean from Europe to present day VA, NC, GA, MD, PA, CT, RI, MA (c 's)
They explored to take land before Spain and France could get it all and to look for the Northwest Passage
Famous explorers: Henry Hudson, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, Captain James Cook, John Cabot