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In Europe, there was a huge plague that was carried by rats and fleas. It killed 25 million people which was one-third of the population. Once you were infected it spread very rapidly, so it killed many fast.
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The first guns appear in Europe, there is though information as a bombard type thing appearing in a cave in China back in the 1200's. Along with the Europeans, the Arabs and Koreans obtained firearms towards the middle of the 1300's. Other countries soon followed in the Europeans footsteps. And by the 1800's almost everyone had developed some time of firearm.
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The long-lost map of the world by the geographer Ptolomey is redsicovered in Europe. It soon becomes the best existing map of the world. His map made Columbus believe that Asia can be reached by sailing west from Europe.
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Henry the Navigator organized a School of Navigation for explorations on Cape St. Vincent in Portugal. In this school people were trained in navigation, map making, and science. This helped them to be able to sail down west of Africa.
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Prince Henry the Navigator ordered that the Moors who had been captured be returned to their homeland and in return their countrymen gave them 10 black slaves.The first auctioning of black slaves occurs in Portugal. This lead to a whole new system of trade and slavery.
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In earlier eras navigators followed the stars using an astrolabe but then the navigators needed a better tool so they invented the sextant. They invented it because they needed a better angle-measuring tool. This results in navigation being greatly improved.
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A guy by the Christopher Columbus discovered the West Indies in the New World in 1492. He had originally planned to sail to Asia (the Indies) where the riches or gold, pearls, and spice awaited. But the lack of wind had pushed him steadily westward which eventually led him to what is now known as America today.
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Portuguese explorer, Vasco de Gama, reached India by rounding the Cape of Good Hope. He was not warmly welcomed in the port of Calicut. In fact, he had to fight his way out of the harbor just to get home.
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In 1498, Christopher Columbus discovers the American continent. He believed he was on his way to the Indies. So he believed that what he had found was indeed part of Asia.
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In the year 1499, a man named Amerigo Vespucci went exploring along the coast of South America. At the time it wasn't called South America people believed it was still part of the original America. But, Vespucci decided it was a new continent and it wasn't part of Asia.
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In 1507, a new map of the world is made and uses the name "America" for the newly discovered southern continent in honor of Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci was an Italian navigator and cartographer. At first the name America was only intended for South America and then was used for both.
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Balboa led an expedition across Panama looking for gold, but discovered the Pacific Ocean instead. It took 24 days for his group of 190 Spaniards and 1000 natives to cross the 45 miles of jungle. On September 29, 1513 they reached the Pacific Ocean and claimed all the land that touched the Pacific Ocean for Spain.
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Smallpox has been said to be one of the greatest killers in human history. When the Europeans began to travel to North America, they brought along with them smallpox. The native peoples of these lands were not prone to small pox and instead easily contacted it. This then began to wipe out whole populations because they were not prone to it.
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Dutch explorers discover Australia. At this time they believed that they had found the last continent, except Antartica. They also discovery that the world is round.
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Galileo, was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy". The name "telescope" was coined for Galileo's instrument by a Greek mathematician, Giovanni Demisiani, at a banquet held in 1611.
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I picked these 15 events because they directly reflect the defintion of exploration which is, the action of traveling in or through an unfamiliar area in order to learn about it. I believe that all they events are/were key turning points in exploration. Not only were the voyages important but also the discoveries and technology that helped make them up.
