1. (15th – 16th Centuries) Misty Nichols
Age of Exploration
(15th – 16th Centuries)
Misty Nichols

2. Social Studies 4th Grade
Summary: The purpose of this instructional PowerPoint is to give students a visual of the actual routes taken by early explorers to the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Learning Objective: Students will be able to name the explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries and identify each route taken to the Americas.
Content Standard: 4.4 Trace the routes of early explorers and describe the early explorations of the Americas, including: (C, E, G, H, P, TN)
Christopher Columbus
Ferdinand Magellan
Amerigo Vespucci
Robert de La Salle
Hernando de Soto
Henry Hudson
Jacques Cartier
Accomplishments: Given important facts concerning each explorer’s travels, the students will be able to correctly match each explorer to the corresponding key facts with 100% accuracy.

3. Christopher Columbus August 3, 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue…..
The ships: the niña, Pinta, and Santa María

4. Christopher Columbus
1st voyage: Made landfall on October 12th on San Salvador Island, Bahamas.
2nd Voyage: September 25, 1493, Around 17 ships, around 1,500 men, and a small troop of cavalry.
Made landfall on November 3, 1493 in the Lesser Antilles.

5. Christopher Columbus
3rd Voyage: May 30, 1498, 6 ships left with explorers to establish the flag of Spain.
Columbus was sent back to Spain in chains due to poor leadership.
Columbus was released and sent on his 4th and final voyage on May 9, 1502 with 4 ships.

6. Ferdinand Magellan
Left Spain in 1579 with 5 ships to discover a western sea rout to the Spice Islands
1st European to cross the Pacific Ocean and proved that the globe could be circled by sea.
Only 1 ship and 18 crew members survived the trip back to Spain 3 years later. Magellan was killed in battle.

7. Amerigo Vespucci 1st Voyage: Sailed under the Spanish flag
2nd Voyage: Sailed under the Portuguese flag and reached the coast of Brazil.
In 1507 the name “America” was put on the first map in honor of Vespucci.

8. With a partner:
Think of 3 similarities and 3 differences between Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, and Amerigo Vespucci.

9. Hernando de Soto Spanish conquistador
In 1538 began an expedition to conquer Florida for the Spanish crown.
He and his men traveled nearly 4,000 miles fighting off Native American attacks along the way.
1st Europeans to find and cross the Mississippi river.

10. Jacques Cartier
Led 3 expeditions along the St. Lawrence River in what is now Canada.
Discovered Prince Edward Island.

11. Henry Hudson
1st & 2nd Voyage: Departed from England in 1607 to find a route to Asia through the Artic Ocean.
3rd Voyage: 1609 discovered what is now the Hudson Bay.
4th Voyage: was killed by crew members.

12. Robert de la Salle
French explorer who led an expedition down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.
Claimed all the region watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries for King Louis XIV and named the area “Louisiana.”
Last expedition was to secure the mouth of the Mississippi.

13. Who did it?

14. Students will have completed a thorough lesson on the age of exploration in the Americas. They will know key facts concerning each of the seven explorers’ travels including the routes that were taken, which country (or countries) each explorer sailed for, and what each of these explorers contributed to the Age of Exploration.