Explorers:Christopher Columbus

Neil Armstrong was an explorer, an astronaut who went to explore the moon

Christopher Columbus was also an explorer. He was a sailor and lived hundreds of years before Neil Armstrong and even before the Great Fire

of London!

But what did Christopher want to explore?

Let’s find out by watching the clip below:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zhpchbk/articles/znchkmn

Why is Christopher Columbus famous?

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in

Italy.

He first sailed when he was 13 to sell wool

with his family.

When he grew up he became an explorer

hoping to find a route to China and India.

But why did he want to go there?

China and India were veryimportant because they

had beautiful fabrics and spices.

They used these spices in cooking, for medicine, to dye their clothes and lots

of other things.

People in Europe wanted these beautiful silk fabrics and yummy spices.

Columbus needed money to sail to India to get the spices, so he asked the King and Queen of

Spain for money.

They gave Columbus the money and he set sail in 1492 with 3 ships: the Niña, the Pinta and

the Santa Maria.

He took about 90 crew members.

• Columbus had only a map and a compass to find his way. A long time ago, there were no computers!

• In 1492, he sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean instead of east towards India!

• They sailed for 36 days and got very worried that they would never see land.

• They had nuts, cheese, honey, rice and salted meats to eat but they were running out of food and water.

• THEN, someone spotted land! “Tierra Tierra!” they shouted, meaning “Land, land!”.

Columbus got lost!

Columbus thought he had found India, but he had infact sailed to America instead!

U.S.AItaly

Ireland and

England

India

This is where he thought he had landed

This is where he actually landed!

In October 1492 Columbus and his 3 ships landed on coast of America at San Salvador.

They were met by the native people who already lived there. Columbus thought he had discovered India but

he had not! He called the country the Indies and called the people Indians.

Many of these people were captured by Columbus' men and later sold as slaves.

Columbus brought back slaves, plants, tobacco, potatoes and tomatoes from America.

The part of the world that Columbus landed on became known as the new World.

In 1506, Columbus fell ill and died.

Activity time!

Your first activity is to draw a picture and write a sentence about 4 different facts about Christopher

Columbus and his voyage.

You can choose your own facts by downloading the blank worksheet (or use your own paper) or you can write about

the 4 pictures by downloading the other worksheet.

Hand in by 8th May 2020

Comparing Explorers!

• Start by sorting the pictures on the sheet, you can draw them yourself in 2 columns (one for each explorer) or cut them out from the sheet and stick them on. Label each picture.

Now that we know about 2 different explorers, lets think about how they are similar and how they are different.

Now write sentences about the pictures explaining how Neil Armstrong and Christopher Columbus were

similar and different. Like this:

Both explorers ate food on their voyage, but Neil Armstrong ate space food and Christopher Columbus ate cheese, honey and salted meats.

Try writing sentences for these then choose your own:

Rocket ship map computer

Hand in by 8th May 2020