Exploration Investigation

This investigation is to be completed during the class period.  Please spend some time to look through the pages on your own - use this as a learning opportunity, and not just an assignment to complete.  

Begin with a look at Exploration and Trade. 
1)  Describe two developments that enabled the explorers to sail and/or navigate much more effectively.
2)  List four valuable items the explorers were seeking to provide for the lucrative European markets.  Now click on the Spice Trader graphic – read through the narrative and start your travels!  What was your highest score (total profit)?

Is There a Doctor on the Ship? 
Click on the preceding link and read about the conditions (and health hazards) aboard many of these ships. 
3) Read about James Cook and list four health measures that he used on his expeditions.
Now click on Diseases at Sea and determine which diseases his crew has before they mutiny! (complete items 4 - 8)

Finally, go to Find Your Longitude (you will need Shockwave for the more interactive version).  Captain Cook was one of the first to use a chronometer (a watch), but for centuries the problem of determining your longitude was an enormous problem.  While the gentry of the 18th Century looked to the stars for the answer, an English clockmaker, John Harrison, toiled for decades to solve the problem (and earn around a million dollars!). His elegant solution (the chronometer) made him an unlikely hero and it remains the basis for the most modern forms of navigation in the world today.

Click on Play Find Your Longitude and Set Sail.  Before you determine your longitude, click on the Sextant hyperlink.
9)   Describe how the sextant enabled the navigator to determine the latitude.
10) Now, try to figure out your longitude. Did you figure it out?  Write down your answer.