This is a simple presentation on some of the very popular world travellers. You can use it to study a chapter included in your course, as well as just to enhance your general knowledge.

1. Chapter 17, Text pages 135–138

2. Today, when we want to travel from one place to
another, we can easily do so by plane, train or most
probably by a bus. But, do you know that it was not
easy to travel distances 5-6 centuries ago. It took a
long long time to travel on foot, horseback, or
through sea. Yet many travellers covered
unbelievingly long distances. We are going to study
about them today.

3. This presentation introduces the students to some
famous travellers from the past. They are important,
besides being interesting, because they opened up
the routes to remote places for later travellers,
merchants, and adventurers. They also brought
back amazing accounts of distant places and
different peoples and their way of life. Remember
the value of such information at a time when it took
months for news to reach people. Their voyages
ultimately resulted in opening up business links
between various countries and also brought an
exchange of cultures and knowledge.

4. The three figures that will be discussed in this presentation are notable
because of the impact of their travels and discoveries on life in Europe.
They are Marco Polo, who went East to China along with his father and his
uncle. They travelled overland, along the Silk Route. This opened up
trade with China and the Far East and also many new and useful systems
and practices. Another voyager who made a very important discovery for
his time was Bartholomeo Diaz, who sailed along the African coast and
around the Cape of Good Hope on the way to India and the east.
However, he had to turn back because his men rebelled. The next, and
most famous, voyager was Christopher Columbus who set out seeking a new
route to India, but landed on the islands off the east coast of the
American continent. Believing they had reached their destination, they
named these islands West Indies. The new land discovered was named
America by Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian navigator who made a map of the
new continent and named it after himself! The other explorer of this
period, who was most successful and made an important contribution,
was Vasco da Gama (1469–1524). He was a Portuguese sailor, who
ventured to find the sea route to the East.

6.  Marco Polo (1254–1324): Marco Polo was an Italian merchant, a little
before Ibn Batuta’s time. He travelled through Central Asia to China using
the Silk Route which was in use by a large number of merchants and
businessmen.
 He travelled eastward, to Central Asia, Afghanistan, Tibet, and Mongolia.
 It took him three and a half years to reach the capital of China (now near
where Beijing stands). If we look at the distance from Italy to China that is
5079 miles, today it would hardly take 10 hours, 33 minutes by plane.
 Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler, refused to give them permission to return
to Europe. So they stayed in China for 20 years. But in 1292 permission
was given for them to return Italy accompanying a princess to Persia, where
she was to marry a prince.
 Marco dictated his adventures to his fellow prisoner, when he was
imprisoned in Europe. This way, the Europeans learnt about the postal
service with a series of riders, the use of coal as a fuel, and about paper
money in China.

8.  As a result of Marco Polo’s adventures merchants and explorers tried to
find a route to the East by sea, one of them being Christopher Columbus.
He was an Italian working in Portugal, for his brother who was a
mapmaker. Columbus believed that the Earth was round and that he could
reach Asia by sailing westward across the Atlantic Ocean.
Columbus hoped that the monarch would help him in finding an alternate
route, but the Portuguese king refused. However, the king and queen of
Spain agreed to help him and provided the ships.
Where did they reach? A small island in the present Bahamas. As he
believed he had reached his destination, these islands were called ‘West
Indies’, a name they have to this day. He actually saw the mainland of South
America but believed it was the coast of India!
Columbus died in 1506 and never realized that he had discovered a new
continent. He believed that he had discovered a quick route to China and
India.

10.  He was an Italian explorer who, at the invitation of the Portuguese king,
participated in several Atlantic voyages and sailed along the east coast of
South America, between 1499 and 1502.
Having reached the American continent, Vespucci may have realized that
the lands were not India or China perhaps because the people were totally
different with a totally different lifestyle. The difference in flora, fauna,
and people may have convinced him that this was not Asia or India, but a
new land mass.
In 1507 Martin Waldseemuller made a world map showing the new
continent which he named America after Vespucci’s first name, Amerigo.
In 1508 Vespucci was appointed the chief navigator of Spain. Vespucci
died in 1512.

12.  The other explorer of this period, who was most successful and made
an important contribution, was Vasco da Gama (1469–1524). He was a
Portuguese sailor, who ventured to find the sea route to the East.
 When he reached Kenya, he was guided to India by an Arab sailor. He
reached Malabar Coast in India.
He died in 1524 in India during a later voyage as the envoy of the
Portuguese king.
Envoy: A messenger or representative, of a country/ city.

14. Common belief about the Earth in those days was that people thought,
the Earth was flat like a plate. But there were a few who started to think
that it was round like a ball. The people also believed that the Sun revolved
around the Earth and anyone who denied this was punished!
 Bartolomeo Diaz (1450–1500), also spelt Bartholomew, was a Portuguese
explorer who tried to find a route to the east, to India and further on. He
sailed down along the African coast and rounding the southernmost tip, he
realized that the Sun was rising from the right instead of the left as when
they were moving south. This meant they were sailing north. He was the
first man to circumnavigate the Earth.
However, he could not continue further because of mutiny among his
men.
Mutiny: Refuse to obey the orders of a person in authority.

16. The results of these discoveries were very important for trade between
Europe and the East because:
• The Europeans now had access to the eastern countries without having
to go through lands controlled and taxed by the Turks and other Muslims.
• The kind of goods that were traded changed because ships could now
carry heavy weights in large quantity.
• goods were carried directly from Asia to Europe.
• The centre of trade moved from northern Italy to the Atlantic coast—
Spain, Portugal, England, and France.
• Trade between East and West increased rapidly.
• Europeans wanted extremely rare and expensive items like spices,
jewels, silk, fine cotton, high quality steel for weapons, rice, oranges and
lemons, and fine pottery, while the Asians wanted guns, which were more
developed in the West.
• Asians wanted payment in gold and silver of which America and Europe
had plenty because of the huge reserves in the American colonies.

18. Q. Fill in the blanks. Think first, and then answer.
a) Marco Polo was a/an _____________
i) Englishman iii) Dutch
ii) Portuguese iv) Italian
b) It took Marco ______ to reach China.
i) 3 months iii) 13 years
ii) 3.5 years iv) 6 weeks
c) The Mongolian ruler of China when the Polos were
there was _________
i) Mao Zedong iii) Kublai Khan
ii) Changez Khan iv) Timur

19. d) Diaz was a/an _____________
i) Thinker iii) Explorer
ii) Scientist iv) Astronomer
e) Christopher Columbus was searching another route
to ________
i) The North Pole iii) Antarctica
ii) Australia iv) China & India
f) America is named after ______.
i) Vasco Degama iii) King of Spain
ii) Amerigo Vespucci iv) Columbus
g) Malabar coast is in _____.
i) Kenya iii) China
ii) Indonessia iv) India

20. Q. Answer them in a descriptive manner.
1. What was the name given by Columbus to
Bahamas, and why?
2. Where was Marco Polo imprisoned? What did he
do there?
3. Why were the Europeans desperate to find a
new sea route to the East?