PL HELP ME i begging YO What countries sent the First Explorers?
Portugal
The Portuguese were the first successful explorers because of their guns and seamanship. With their large cannons, their fleet was able to defeat most ships and armies they came across. Beginning in 1520, Portuguese fleets probing south along the western coast of Africa. There, they discovered a new source of gold. For this reason, the southern coast of West Africa became known as the Gold Coast. The explorer Vasco da Gama sailed around the southern tip of Africa, called the Cape of Good Hope, and cut across the Indian Ocean to reach India. After people heard about de Gama’s profits, many more Portuguese sailed the same route to India, setting up posts in Africa along the way.
Spain
Educated Europeans knew the world was round, but they had no idea of how big it was. The Spanish thought that they could find new routes to India and China by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean. Christopher Columbus persuaded the king and queen of Spain to pay for his voyage sailing west to reach Asia. With his three ships, Columbus reached the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola (which would later become Dominican Republic and Haiti). As he traveled to most islands in the Caribbean, Columbus thought he had reached Asia. This false belief is why the Europeans called the people they found “Indians” they thought they were in India.
Another important explorer for Spain was Ferdinand Magellan. Magellan succeeded in reaching Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic by going around the southern tip of South American and continuing west across the Pacific Ocean. Magellan reached the Philippines in Asia, where he was killed by local natives. However, one of his ships continued on to Spain, and Magellan is given credit as being the first to sail around the entire world.
The Spanish and Portuguese began competing for the territories they found in the “New World.” Eventually they would sign a treaty, agreeing which lands each country would be allowed to take over. The new lands were given the general name America, after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. After the success of Spain and Portugal in exploring the Americas, the Dutch, the English, and the French began sending expeditions to find new places to trade in the Americas.
The European explorations would change life not only for Europeans, but also for the native peoples of South America, North America, and Africans as well.

7. In the chart below, list the two European nations that sent the first explorers, which explorers they sent, and what lands they explored.
EUROPEAN NATION
EXPLORERS
LANDS EXPLORED

8. What continent did Vasco da Gama sail around to get to India?

9. What islands did Christopher Columbus reach first?

10. Why did he call the people he met “Indians?”

11. Where did the name “America” come from?

12. What countries began sending ships to the Americas after Spain and Portugal?

13. Who would be affected by these expeditions besides Europeans?

DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTIONS
WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN AN EXPLOER IN THE 16TH CENTURY?
Document 1
The following account comes from a sailor aboard the voyage of Magellan, who sailed around the world
“We remained the final three months and twenty days without taking in provisions or other refreshments and ate only old biscuits that had been reduced to powder, full of grub sand stinking from the dirt that the rats had made on it. We drank water that was yellow and stinking. We also ate the ox hides from the main sails which we softened by soaking it in seawater for several days. On our return to Spain, however, the royal family, as well as the people, hailed us as the bravest and most daring sailors the world had ever known. Everyone came to know the voyages of Magellan.”
14. Explain some problems that Magellan’s expedition faced:

15. Explain one positive result of Magellan’s voyage:

WRAP-UP QUESTIONS
1. What were the reasons why Europeans explorers sailed to unknown parts of the world in the 16th century?

2. What were they hoping to find? Did they find it? Why or Why not?

3. Prediction: What do you think these voyages would mean for people in the Americas? Explain why you think this.