Study Guides

Unit Summary

This unit on explorers and seafaring gives students a clear sense of change over time, highlighting technological, economic, and cultural shifts. It covers the sea's role in trade and exploration and explores material culture, craftsmanship, and the influence of seafaring on language and art.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to describe how European seafarers sailed at the time of John Cabot.

Key Notes

• European sailors, like John Cabot, had begun to use boats more similar to those of Zheng He.
• The boats were pointed at the front and square at the back, with a rudder to help them steer.
• The boats had many sails and used rigging to support and control the sails to help them catch as much wind as possible.
• European sailors had also begun to use the compass to navigate, like the Chinese before them, and the astrolabe.
• European sailors, like John Cabot, used lead lines to work out how deep the water they were sailing in was.

Vocabulary To Learn

• rigging: a ship's sails are held up and controlled by ropes known as rigging
• astrolabe: sailors used a tool called an astrolabe to work out how far north or south they were
• lead line: a lead line is a length of rope with a piece of lead attached to it

Common Mistakes To Avoid

• Pupils may think because European seafarers were using the navigation tools, they invented them too.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

More Lessons In This Unit

• Brunel's race to cross the Atlantic Study Guide
• Chinese innovation in seafaring Study Guide
• Early explorers and their boats Study Guide
• From sail to steam power Study Guide
• How Polynesian explorers travelled and navigated Study Guide
• John Cabot's journeys across the Atlantic Study Guide
• Life aboard the SS Great Britain Study Guide
• Seafaring in the early Mediterranean world Study Guide
• The incredible voyages of Zheng He Study Guide
• The Vikings and their longboats Study Guide
• Viking navigation and expansion Study Guide