Chapter 4: How and Why Europeans Came to the New World

What did explorers take to and from the New World during the Age of Exploration?
In Chapter 4, students will learn about the first European explorers of the late 1400s. Students will explore a "sunken ship" to learn about different artifacts that explorers used to get to the New World, such as compasses and astrolabes, as well as new products that they found when they arrived, including potatoes and tobacco. This chapter will also focus on the motivations of early explorers, or the "Three Gs": God, glory, and gold.

Chapter 4 Content Vocabulary

  • New World
  • Age of Exploration
  • Explorer
  • Archaeologist
  • Astrolabe
  • Compass
  • The Americas
  • Cash crop
  • Nation-state
  • Motive
  • Product
  • Technology

Chapter 4 Guiding Questions

  • What were the motives of the explorers during the Age of Exploration? (Why did they explore?)
  • What technologies (or tools) did the explorers use to help them on their journeys?
  • What types of products did explorers find (or hope to find) on their journeys?

Underwater Archaeology

In section 4.2, we will read about the scientists, called underwater archaeologists, who study sunken shipwrecks and the artifacts they find on them, to learn more about our past. Shipwrecks have given us a lot of insight into the Age of Exploration and the European explorers who left Europe for the "New World." In the video to the right, they show underwater archaeologists discovering and studying artifacts from a loyalist ship that sunk around the time of the Age of Exploration.

​Review the Age of Exploration with Cheesy (and Less Cheesy) Videos!:

Videos from past A-010 historians!