Vasco da Gama was the first European to reach Asia by sailing around the southern tip of Africa and east, bypassing the need to travel overland. Christopher Columbus sailed west hoping to reach Asia but landed in the Americas instead, mistakenly believing he had reached Asia. Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean while sailing on the Atlantic. Magellan was the first to circumnavigate the globe by sailing from the Atlantic to the Pacific by passing through the narrow strip of land at the southern tip of South America. Cortez and Pizarro found gold and silver in the Americas without needing to travel to Asia, though this was devastating for the Aztec and Inca civilizations they encountered.

1. Searching for Asia
1. The explorers wanted to reach Asia, especially India and China.
Can you guess why Europeans wanted to reach Asia?
2. The explorers sailed to India and China. Why not go overland?
Vasco da Gama
3. Vasco da Gama was the first European to reach Asia by sea.
From Europe, he sailed east.To get to Asia, what continent did he have to go around?
4. What is the cape at the southern tip of Africa?
5. What is the “East Indies”?
Columbus
6. Christopher Columbus sailed west.
He was not aware of two continents.What were they?
7. When he landed in the Americas, what continent did he think he had discovered?
8. What is the “West Indies”?
Balboa
9. Every explorer sailed on the Atlantic Ocean. Balboa found what ocean?
10. What narrow strip of land separates the Atlantic and Pacific oceans?
Cabot & Cartier
11. Cabot and Cartier sailed to Canada and tried to find the Northwest Passage.What is that?
12. Does the Northwest Passage exist?
Magellan
13. Magellan sailed west. He was the first person to sail around the world.
How did he get from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean?
14. What do you call the southern tip of South America?
Cortez and Pizarro
Explorers did not need to go to Asia to find riches.
15. Cortez in Mexico and Pizarro in Peru found valuable minerals. What minerals?
16. This was a sad experience for the Aztecs and the Inca. Why?