Explorers A to Z

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In 1539, when Ulloa discovered it, he named it the Vermillion. Sea because it was full of red plankton. .... Zambezi Riv
Explorers A to Z The world is a big place. That doesn’t come as a surprise to you and me. All of our lives, we’ve had maps that show us where we are compared with every single nation on earth. We can count the time zones and know what time it is in a country on the opposite side of the world. We can even look at online maps and webcams and see what is happening a hundred or a thousand miles away. But have you ever stopped to think about the men and women who have made all that knowledge possible? Explorers, cartographers, and record keepers who left everything familiar and set off to discover something new? Maybe it was a continent. Maybe it was a hidden treasure. Maybe it was a lost city or a mythical land. Sometimes it was simply to know what lay beyond what was known at the time. They didn’t have satellites, cell phones, or GPS. Some of them never returned. But because of the ones who did, and the ones who recorded their stories, trade routes were formed, lands were settled, nations were founded, and the Gospel was preached. We’re going to look at the stories of twenty-six of these explorers and record keepers, moving through the alphabet from A to Z. We’re going to skip over some of the better-known explorers like Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama and learn about men like Antonio Alaminos, Fabian von Bellingshausen, Jacob Roggeveen, and Francisco Xeres. On the next several pages, you’ll learn about six of these men. Every few weeks, we’ll discover a few more until we’ve worked our way from A to Z. There are a few questions to get you thinking and some space to record your answers. There are also some notebooking pages at the end of the printable to write down other things you learn about the explorers and their destinations. One page is blank; the other four are themed so you can give each explorer a sheet that is related to the types of places he visited, if you’d like. Before we get started, keep in mind one important thing. There is still more exploring to be done. There are still hidden places, forgotten lands, and lost peoples. There are languages to be translated, cultures to discover, and stories to be recorded. Is there something God is calling you to discover?

©2014 Bonnie Rose Hudson WriteBonnieRose.com

Abel Janszoon Tasman: Tasmania (Netherlands) Abel Janszoon Tasman was already an experienced sailor in 1642 when he was given the job of solving a mystery that Dutch navigators had been trying to solve for years. Navigators knew there was land in the Southern Hemisphere that had not been explored. They theorized there was a southern continent in the Pacific Ocean but were not sure. Several pieces of coastline had been spotted, but it had not yet been proven if the pieces were all connected and part of a southern continent or not. That was the job the Dutch East India Company gave to Tasman. Tasman left Indonesia in August, 1642, and traveled south and east. In November of that year, he discovered land and named it Van Diemen’s Land in honor of the governor of the Dutch East India Company. He continued on his journey and came to South Island, New Zealand. He headed north and traveled the strait between North and South Island. As he continued his journey, he also discovered the islands of Tonga and Fiji. Later, Van Diemen’s Land was renamed Tasmania. Even though Tasman had sailed around Australia, proving that it was not connected to the mythical continent navigators had speculated about for years, the Dutch East India Company wasn’t satisfied with his work and sent him back two years later to investigate further. How do you think Tasman felt when he had discovered things no one else had seen but found out the people who sent him still weren’t happy? How would you feel? How would you react?

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Francisco de Ulloa: Gulf of California (Spain) It may seem strange to think about now, but did you know that explorers haven’t always known that Baja California was a peninsula? Some thought it was an island. They didn't know for sure if it connected to the mainland or not. It took Spanish explorer Francisco de Ulloa to prove that Baja California was really a peninsula. Ulloa made his discovery in 1539 when he discovered the Gulf of California. The Gulf of California is a large inlet of the Pacific Ocean. It sits between Mexico on the east and Baja California on the west. The Gulf of California is known for exceptionally good fishing grounds and is a great place to catch shrimp and tuna. In 1539, when Ulloa discovered it, he named it the Vermillion Sea because it was full of red plankton. Even though Ulloa proved that Baja California was a peninsula, some people refused to believe his reports and believed for hundreds of years that it was an island. What other explorer’s discoveries can you think of that were not believed by everyone right away? Why do you think people were resistant to believe these ideas?

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George Vancouver: Pacific Coast of North America (England) It was not a mission for the impatient or the reckless. When the expedition to explore the northwest coast of North America came up, there was one man who could do the job. George Vancouver had been exploring since he was 13 when he joined the British Royal Navy. A few years later, he joined Captain James Cook on his second and third voyages. In 1791, at the age of 33, he took the job of surveying the Pacific Coast of North America. But before he could explore the coast, he had to get there. He left England and sailed to the tip of Africa. He went around the Cape of Good Hope and on to Australia. He did some surveying in Australia, visited Tahiti and Hawaii, sailed northward, and finally completed his crossing of the Pacific Ocean when he reached Vancouver Island just over one year after leaving England. Once in North America, Vancouver spent two years exploring and mapping the coast from Vancouver and Puget Sound south to the region of San Francisco, California. He documented numerous plants and animals, recorded some of the knowledge of the native peoples, and created detailed maps of everything he surveyed. If you could go exploring and record the history and stories of a people group, where would you go and why?

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Samuel Wallis: Tahiti (England) Samuel Wallis was another explorer who was given the task of finding the large continent in the South Pacific that explorers believed had to exist. In 1766, British explorer Samuel Wallis left on a mission to find it. As he journeyed westward across the Pacific Ocean, he traveled further southwest than any other European explorer had up until that time. But, he was blown off course before he completed his exploration of the South Pacific. He didn’t accomplish his original mission of finding the southern continent, but because of the area he did explore, it made the area where this hypothetical continent might exist much smaller. And, while he was exploring, he discovered Tahiti as well as several other islands. Today, Tahiti is part of French Polynesia and is a popular tourist destination. Can you think of other times in history when an explorer didn’t find what he set out to find but discovered other wonderful and beautiful places?

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Francisco Xeres: The History of Pizarro Francisco Pizarro is remembered for leading the Spanish in defeating the Inca Empire and founding the city of Lima, Peru. But how much of his story and the history of what happened remains today because of the work of another Francisco, a man by the name of Francisco Xeres. Xeres was Pizarro’s secretary and accompanied him on his expeditions, acting as a chronicler and recording the details of what happened. Each of us make history every day by how we live and what we do or do not do. But have you ever stopped to consider the importance of the job of recording history? Whether it is with a pen and paper, a computer, a phone, or something else entirely, each piece of history is a piece of the story we preserve for the generations that will come after us. What part of your family’s history is recorded? Is there something you can do today to help chronicle your family’s legacy for tomorrow?

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Yermak Timofeyevich: Siberia (Russia) Siberia is not a land friendly to inexperienced explorers. Covering more than two-and-ahalf million square miles, its name today is synonymous with vast, frigid lands. It is a well-deserved reputation. In the republic of Sakha in northeastern Siberia, temperatures of –90F have been recorded. For hundreds of years, the khans and their descendants ruled the land. During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, permission was given to take as much of the land of Siberia from the hands of the Mongols as possible. Despite its harsh climate, Siberia was also a land of untold potential riches including furs and ivory. Exploring and conquering the land would not be an easy job. It fell to Russian Cossack Yermak Timofeyevich. Much of Yermak’s life is lost to history and hidden by legend. But what is known is that around 1582, Yermak recruited an army of around 800 fighters, many of them who are believed to be men who were on the wrong side of the law at the time, and began battling his way into Siberia. The subsequent conquest of the land marked a turning point in the area’s history. In addition to the potential wealth of furs and ivory, what do you think the motivations were for Yermak and his men to risk their lives in Siberia?

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Zambezi River and David Livingstone Men have made great journeys for countless reasons, each one unique to the man undertaking the mission. For David Livingstone, one of his driving reasons was a desire to help end the terrible slave trade going on in Africa. In 1853, he set out on a journey deep into the heart of Africa in an attempt to find a route that would enable fair trade and business but bypass the slave trade. He needed to find a safe, economical way to move people and goods through Africa without depending on slave labor or traveling through the lands controlled by the slave traders. During his lifetime, Livingstone made three great journeys to Africa, making expeditions into the Zambezi region on both his first and second journeys. On his first journey, he discovered the breathtaking waterfall he named Victoria Falls. On his third journey to Africa, Livingstone disappeared for several years, which led to Henry M. Stanley’s expedition and the now famous question, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Livingstone and Stanley traveled together for a while. When Stanley left Africa for England, he begged Livingstone to return with him. Livingstone refused and died in the African land that he loved a year later at the age of 60. Why do you think David Livingstone opposed the slave trade with the passion that he did, and why do you think he was willing to risk everything to fight it?

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