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Age of Exploration Resources
There are very few times in history when one little tiny event changes the entire course of the entire world. The invention of electricity is one. The printing press is another. When the Ottomans took down the walls of Constantinople, the course of history changed very, very dramatically.... and most people have no idea.
In May of 1453, the Ottoman came into the land of the Byzantine empire. Seems insignificant today, right? People are always in and out of different empire and kingdoms. But here, in 1453, the Ottoman took over the Byzantine empire and beheaded the leader. Pretty serious, but beheading someone is kinda par for the course in the 1400s. But now, the Ottoman's controlled trade. And that, my friends, is where history took a little pivot. The Ottoman's apparently were not the nicest to do business with so, to avoid them, everyone else kinda of.... looked for alternates. That is when the Age of Exploration really began.
Everyone now wanted to find new trade routes to avoid those Ottomans. Everyone started paying anyone willing to try to find a new route. Columbus took up the offer. In 1492, the other half of the world opened up. Too bad someone was already there. In fact, there were a lot of somebodies: the Cherokee, the Yokuts, Shawnee. But Columbus found a continent. The others explorers found other things. Now, one continent is talking to another continent and the world was never the same. That is all because the Ottoman's brought down a wall.
What you want to do is START HERE, with an injury set from TeachCalifornia. There are primary sources you can click on and start exploring, follow the lead of your class... What do you notice? What do you wonder?
This image here is definitely worth a good discussion... Notice the captions, notice the dates, notice the counties, notice who has power and when... And we can even talk about the power of the Panama Canal in modern times.... Very interesting conversations...
This a great time in your class to discuss world geography. Where is Spain located? Where is England located? Is Africa long and wide, or tall and skinny like the Americas? Does geography matter at all when talking about why one civilization was advanced in 1500 BCE and the other didn't even come to fruition until 1200 AD?
There is a reason that Africa, Europe and China developed way ahead of the Americas… It has to do with those lines of longitude and latitude. Have your students explore the world map and see what they notice. Then take a look at this website here. It shows you all the ship routes at the time. Students can start to see how England started to rise in power in the world, the world we live in today. Students can also see how the lines of latitude, and the climate, effect the development of civilization!
(The climate along a line of latitude is close to the same. Continents with a LOOOONG latitude, have people that travel more easily, and therefore spread ideas and wealth more easily. This is true for Africa, Asia, and Russia. Continents with a long line of longitude, such as the Americas, have a vastly different climate from one side to the other. Therefore, those people travel less, spread their ideas less, and remain more isolated. That one random fact of geography is what makes one civilization advance faster than another one.)
Fun Activities
This website has a plethora of fun ideas! The image you see to the left is just their printable activities... Totally worth checking out.
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