1. Explorer Trading Card
During the Age of Discovery, Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French explorers made voyages across most of the known world. These men sought to find something of value which would both increase the wealth of their nations as well as their personal wealth.
Kind of like a modern-day baseball player: they play for the benefit of their team and also make money for themselves at the same time.
Task: Choose an explorer from the list on the next slide. Complete research to collect the “information” for your chosen explorer. Create a Trading Card to present his stats, home country, and accomplishments similarly to the example on the third slide.
Include:
A representative picture or portrait of the man.
A short biography of the man; include his country of birth and background.
An inset map, showing his discovery (or discoveries). Where did his boat leave from, and where did his expedition go?
A flag of the country for which he worked.
A short description of what he hoped to find and a description of what he actually found.
A character rating. On a scale of 1-5, rate the man regarding his effectiveness as a professional explorer. 1 would be an absolute failure at finding what he aimed to find…5 would place him on the Age of Exploration’s All-Star Team.
Appearance:
Be creative and colorful
Locate accurate information. Double check your information against at least two other sources.
Spell all of your written information correctly.
Accurately present your person’s voyage (voyages) on a map. Provide a caption for the map. Example: from Spain to Peru.
You may use the Trading Card Creator:
Assessment: See Rubric

2. -Landed in San Salvador (Bahamas)
Explorer
Years
Nationality
Achievement
Christopher Columbus  
 Italy
-Landed in San Salvador (Bahamas)
-Central, South America, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Virgin Islands.
John Cabot
 1497
Italy
-Discovered Newfoundland in present day Canada.
Amerigo Vespucci
 1499
 -Navigator who gave his name to the new world, America
Vasco Nunez de Balboa   
 1513
Spain
 -Crossed the isthmus of Panama
Ponce de Leon
 Spain
 Discovered Florida
Hernando Cortes
 1539
-Mexico , conquered Aztecs and won gold and silver treasures.
Ferdinand Magellan
 1522
 Portugal
 Reached Asia by sailing west
Francisco Pizarro 
 1535
-West coast of South America. Defeated the Incas capturing the largest silver mine in the world.
Jacques Cartier  
 France
 Explored St. Lawrence River and gave Canada its name.
Hernando De Soto
 1539 -
Landed in Florida and explored Georgia