Age of Exploration · 1492-1522

Around the world in three years

Columbus sails west, Magellan's crew circles the globe. Students follow the journeys layer and discover how the world map itself was the discovery.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
10–13
On the map
3 steps, AD 1490 to AD 1550
Live lesson
7 rounds, 4 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live
The ChronoAtlas map in AD 1530, with the places this lesson visits a The world beforeAD 1490 b Follow MagellanAD 1520 c A connected worldAD 1550
Plate 287Age of Exploration, AD 1530. The letters mark the three map steps of this lesson.

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
4 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Columbus sails west, Magellan's crew circles the globe. Students follow the journeys layer and discover how the world map itself was the discovery.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Follow Magellan's expedition route on the map and name the oceans it crossed.
  • Explain why European kingdoms paid for these risky voyages.
  • Describe how the world map changed between 1490 and 1550.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

The map in AD 1490 a

AD 1490

The world before

Open the map in 1490 and zoom out. Which parts of the world do European maps barely know at this point?

Open this view on the map
The map in AD 1520 b

AD 1520

Follow Magellan

Open Stories (top left) and play the journey of Magellan & Elcano (1519-1522). Where does the journey get dangerous? Count how many of the five ships made it home.

Open this view on the map
The map in AD 1550 c

AD 1550

A connected world

Jump to 1550. Look at the trade routes crossing the Atlantic and Pacific. What is new compared to 1490?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Why sail west to reach the east? Explain the plan - and what nobody in Europe knew yet.
  2. Only 18 of about 270 men survived Magellan's expedition. Why did rulers keep funding such voyages?
  3. What did the "discovery" of the Americas mean for the people already living there?
  4. Spices were worth more than gold by weight. Why?
  5. How did these voyages change what a "world map" even looks like?
4

Game round

9 min

Rule History: rule as a Spanish or Portuguese monarch around 1500. Would you fund an expedition or invest in your army? Let students defend their budget.

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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