What you must do in this unit
- Review chapter 12 in the textbook.
- Briefly review all of the applicable chapters in the textbook since the midterm exam.
- Read the excerpt from the Columbus Journal, my notes on the Age of Exploration and watch the short video on exploring the jungles of Reston.
- Check out Professor Campbell's video, Was Columbus B.S.?
- Study the Questions to Consider and the Key Terms for the Unit.
- Take the Final Exam (250 points). IMPORTANT, as we come to the end of the course: To earn a grade of A, B, C or D, you must complete all required assignments, including the group project, and the two exams and earn the required number of points in the course.
What you can do in this unit
- Listen to some further information about this unit as a mp3 file. You can also read the information as a txt file.
Some videos that you can watch for this unit
- The Great Age of Exploration
- Christopher Columbus (biography)
- Columbus, de Gama, and Zheng He! 15th Century Mariners. Crash Course: World History #21
- The Columbian Exchange: Crash Course World History #23
- Discovery of the New World
- Ferdinand Magellan
- Ferdinand Magellan Voyages of Discovery - Circumnavigation Part 1/4
- For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a relevant video for this unit of the course. Send the title of the video, the URL and a brief explanation of why you find the video interesting and applicable to the material that is being studied in this unit.
Extra Credit Options
- For up to 10 points of extra credit, after reading The Discovery of North America by Leif Ericsson, c. 1000 (from The Saga of Eric the Red, 1387), write a paragraph in which you assess whether it really matters who "discovered" America first.
- For up to 10 points of extra credit, choose one of the famous quotes about the study of history--scroll down that page to find a list of quotes--(Get permission from your instructor first.) and write a long paragraph in which you explain who the author of the quote was, what he/she meant by the quote and then your evaluation of the quote's accuracy. You can also use the material on these two links, Historians and Why We Study History. Don't forget to cite your sources.
- For up to 5 points of extra credit, you can submit the answers to the Columbus Journal study questions. Please write in formal, complete sentences.
- For extra credit, please suggest a relevant website for this unit of the course. Send your instructor the title of the site, the URL and a brief explanation why you find the information interesting and applicable to the material being studied this unit.
Unit Learning Objectives
- Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to (1) identify some of the motivations for European to undertake the voyages of of exploration, (2) describe the characteristics of America, Africa and Asia when these areas were "discovered" by European and (3) analyze a historical primary source.