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Spanish Explorers Activity Sheet


Spanish Explorers Name:



Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus first came to the New World
from Spain in 1492.

He believed the world had three continents: Europe,
Africa, and Asia. China, Japan and the other Asian
countries were known as the Indies.

He wanted to find a sea route to the valuable spices,
gold, jewels and silk of Asia, so he sailed west from
Spain thinking he would arrive at the far side of Asia.

He stopped briefly in the Canary Islands and then
sailed into the unknown. When he finally hit land, he
thought he was in the Indies, but actually he landed A portrait of Christopher Columbus
on an island in the Caribbean.

Although Columbus made three trips to the New World, he never understood that he had
found a new continent.


Columbus' Map

Columbus might have drawn a
map similar to this one.

Let's help him by labeling each
of the continents.

(1) Write the name of the three _A_
continents on the black lines.

(2) From which country did
Columbus set sail? Write your
answer on the red line on the
map.
A map of the world
A map of the world


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Aerial Photography: Florida








Spanish Explorers Activity Sheet


The compass at the bottom of the map shows cardinal directions:


Abbreviation


Arrow representation


Look carefully at the map.

(3) If Columbus had wanted to visit Africa, he would have sailed in which direction?

ANSWER:

(4) Label Japan with a capital J.



Ponce de Le6n -

Historians believe that Juan Ponce de Le6n, a soldier of Spain,
sailed with Columbus on his second voyage to the New World. ,

Ponce helped to subdue the native peoples on the Caribbean ..-.
islands of Hispaniola and San Juan. Hispaniola is now called ,
Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and San Juan is Puerto Rico.
He became the governor of Puerto Rico.

In 1512, Spain's King Ferdinand commanded Ponce to find and
settle a legendary island named Bimini. Supposedly, Bimini had
a fountain of youth with waters that kept people forever young.

In 1513, Juan sailed north from Puerto Rico. He sailed through
the islands of the Bahamas and then spied what he thought A portrait of Ponce de Le6n
was another extremely large island. On April 2, 1513 he went
ashore and formally claimed the island for Spain. He named it La Florida (the flowery land)
because it had "many refreshing trees."


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Direction


North

South

East

West


Aerial Photography: Florida







Spanish Explorers Activity Sheet


I Ponce's journey

pa Ponce added more pieces
/ J to the world puzzle.

'TBh S 1 (5) On the blue line, write the
name of the large "island"
Spanolahe found.

-erto Ri o (6) We know that this "island"
: is, in fact, part of which
Canary Islands continent?
Ponce's New World discoveries ANSWER:

(7) Which of the fifty states is it these days?

ANSWER:

(8) Draw a dotted line (.........) to represent Columbus' 1492 trip to the New World.

(9) Draw a straight line (__ ) to show Ponce's 1513 expedition to La Florida.


Ponce's map of Florida

Historians believe that Ponce's landing site was at,
or near, Melbourne Beach, south of Cape
Canaveral.

Ponce wanted to know how big his island was so
he followed the coas southward, rounded the tip,
and turned north again along the western edge.
He traveled partway up the coast and then turned
back.

Historians think he got as far north as the present
day Fort Myers. There he encountered hostile
Calusa Indians and quickly sailed away home.


Ponce brought ships and soldiers with him


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Aerial Photography: Florida







Spanish Explorers Activity Sheet


Historians believe that Ponce's landing site was at or near Melbourne Beach, south of Cape
Canaveral.

He wanted to know how big his island was so he followed the coast southward, rounded the
tip and turned north again along the western edge. He traveled partway up the coast and then
turned back.

Historians think he got as far north as the present day Fort Myers. There he encountered
hostile Calusa Indians and quickly sailed away home.







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..B 'J- ,A- a .-F .
-._ . .-





















island.

(11) Place an X at the site where he first landed near Cape Canaveral.
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=- =._. ,, ."-. ,d,,.. -._

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(i0)Staring t th Baama slans drw a ineinicaingPnesiiilepoaino i
island.~i;;
()Pae; an~ XathsieweehfisladdnaCpeaavr l.


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Aerial Photography: Florida








Spanish Explorers Activity Sheet


The map gives us clues as to where Fort Myers might be. The Spanish word for river is
rio (R.) and canoe is canoa.

(12) Whom did he encounter that might have used canoes?

ANSWER:

(13) Put another X at the point where he might have abandoned his west coast exploration.



A modern, birds-eye view


Five hundred years after the Spanish explorations, we now have modern technologies to help
us explore the world's lands.

The modern map to the left shows us where Melbourne is relative to Cape Canaveral. If we
look at the aerial photograph on the right, we can see more details.


--




4'4
Ml\ born
III

-- _. _.-"


Melbourne


(14) Put an X on the aerial
photograph to indicate where
Melbourne is.


Aerial photograph of the Melbourne area


(15) Why would aerial photographs have been helpful to the early Spanish explorers?

ANSWER:


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Aerial Photography: Florida