Explorers A to Z
The world is a big place. That doesn’t come as
a surprise to you and me. All of our lives,
we’ve had maps that show us where we are
compared with every single nation on earth.
We can count the time zones and know what
time it is in a country on the opposite side of
the world. We can even look at online maps
and webcams and see what is happening a
hundred or a thousand miles away.
But have you ever stopped to think about the men and women who have made all that
knowledge possible? Explorers, cartographers, and record keepers who left everything
familiar and set off to discover something new? Maybe it was a continent. Maybe it was a
hidden treasure. Maybe it was a lost city or a mythical land. Sometimes it was simply to
know what lay beyond what was known at the time.
They didn’t have satellites, cell phones, or GPS. Some of them never returned. But because
of the ones who did, and the ones who recorded their stories, trade routes were formed,
lands were settled, nations were founded, and the Gospel was preached.
We’re going to look at the stories of twenty-six of these explorers and record keepers, moving through the alphabet from A to Z. We’re going to skip over some of the better-known
explorers like Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama and learn about men like
Antonio Alaminos, Fabian von Bellingshausen, Jacob Roggeveen, and Francisco Xeres.
On the next several pages, you’ll learn about six of these men. Every few weeks, we’ll
discover a few more until we’ve worked our way from A to Z. There are a few questions to
get you thinking and some space to record your answers. There are also some notebooking
pages at the end of the printable to write down other things you learn about the explorers
and their destinations. One page is blank; the other four are themed so you can give each
explorer a sheet that is related to the types of places he visited, if you’d like.
Before we get started, keep in mind one important thing. There is still more exploring to be
done. There are still hidden places, forgotten lands, and lost peoples. There are languages
to be translated, cultures to discover, and stories to be recorded. Is there something God is
calling you to discover?
©2014 Bonnie Rose Hudson WriteBonnieRose.com
Marie Joseph Garnier:
Explored Southeast Asia
(France)
Marie Joseph Garnier had an idea. He knew how important trade with China was to the
nation of France in the 1800s, and he thought traveling the Mekong River would open a
trade route between Vietnam and China. The French government agreed his idea was a
good one, but they put someone else in charge. Marie was still in his 20s, and the
government thought that was simply too young to lead an expedition. They made him
second in command to Doudart de Lagrée.
Even though he wasn’t in charge, Marie got to go, and I imagine that made him very
happy. The team left Saigon in a steamer and began the trip up the Mekong River. After a
while, they had to switch to canoes. Then they had to walk. They ran into rapids, sickness,
and even a war. When Doudart de Lagrée died from illness, guess who had to take charge
of the expedition and make sure they made it home safely? Marie Joseph Garnier. And he
did. In all, he traveled through more than 3,600 miles and surveyed an area more than
100,000 square miles.
Why do you think the government thought Marie was too young? Why do you think he was
able to lead his men safely?
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©2014 Bonnie Rose Hudson WriteBonnieRose.com
Sven Hedin:
Explored Central Asia
(Sweden)
Sven Hedin was born in 1865. He knew from the time he was young that he wanted to
explore Central Asia. There was a vast area that no one had ever mapped before, and he
wanted to be the one to do it. He knew it would take a lot of work and planning, so he
studied the sciences he knew he would need.
He got his first taste of exploring when he was twenty years old. Sven was given a job as
an interpreter for the Swedish on a mission to meet with the ruler of Iran. A few years
later, he left on his first real exploratory mission. He explored part of China and the Ural
and Pamir mountains. On his next mission, he explored the Gobi Desert. From 19051908, he explored Tibet and made the first detailed map of the country. But Sven wasn’t
done exploring, not yet.
He continued to explore various parts of China and discovered some important
archaeological artifacts. He also discovered the sources of the Brahmaputra, Indus, and
Sutlej Rivers. In 1927, he returned to Tibet and led an expedition to further map the area.
Do you think it was wise of Sven to learn the skills early in life that he knew he would
need later on? What would have been wise skills to learn if he hadn’t known he wanted to
be an explorer?
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©2014 Bonnie Rose Hudson WriteBonnieRose.com
Italian Explorers
Let’s look at four of the many explorers who were from Italy:
John Cabot: traveled to North America in 1497. He left Bristol, England, with the support
of the English (the only one he could find to support his idea). It is believed he landed in
Maine or Nova Scotia. He was disappointed that he didn’t find treasures and wealth there.
The following year, he sailed again, but that’s where history gets complicated. Some
sources say he disappeared with his ship. Some say people saw him in England years
later. We may never know exactly what happened to John Cabot.
Giovanni da Verrazano: sailed for France in 1523. Like many of the explorers of the day,
he wanted to find a way to sail from Europe to Asia. His journey led him to travel the
eastern coast of the United States, from northern Florida all the way north to
Newfoundland. Along the way, he discovered New York Harbor. In the end, he returned to
France, not having found the passage he had hoped for.
Sebastian Cabot: the son of John Cabot. Sebastian sailed with the backing of Spain in
1526. Like his father, he was attempting to find riches in the Orient. Unlike his father, his
journey took him south, to the coast of Brazil. He traveled inland in search of wealth. He
never found the golden treasures he wanted, but he did gain a wealth of knowledge about
the interior of South America.
Alejandro Malaspina: an explorer and a researcher. The treasure Alejandro sought was
knowledge. In 1789, he took the job of studying all of Spain’s colonies. He traveled to
South America and Alaska. He traveled the southwestern Pacific and eastern Indian
Oceans. He studied the land, the weather, and the resources of all the places he went. But
when he suggested Spain change some things about the way they were colonizing lands,
they were not happy. They locked him up and then later sent him out of the country for
good.
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©2014 Bonnie Rose Hudson WriteBonnieRose.com
Japan
Japan was a destination on the minds of many explorers. Marco Polo wrote about it
(though he called it Cipangu and thought it would be found between China and Europe).
Christopher Columbus had it mind when he made his historic voyage in 1492. The
Portuguese succeeded in reaching Japan in the 1500s but were not allowed to explore. For
hundreds of years, Japan kept her interior and her ways closely guarded secrets, allowing
only small numbers of merchants and priests to live among her people.
In 1853-54, things began to change when Matthew C. Perry, an American naval officer, led
a force whose mission was to deliver a letter from the President of the United States that
requested a treaty with Japan. The decades that followed brought great changes to the
ancient land of Cipangu, a land that is still mysterious to many today.
What can you discover about Matthew Perry’s mission to Japan? Do you think the
government was right to send him? What kind of changes resulted from his trip?
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©2014 Bonnie Rose Hudson WriteBonnieRose.com
Kublai Khan
You may be wondering what Kublai Khan is doing in a book about explorers. After all,
wasn’t he a ruler and conqueror? You’re partly right. He was a mighty ruler, and he did
conquer a lot of land. But there is more to Kublai Khan’s story than that.
When the famous explorer Marco Polo traveled to China, who do you think was in control?
It was Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan. Kublai Khan even gave Marco Polo a
job for part of his stay in China.
Kublai Khan, who was from Mongolia, also conquered China and became the first emperor
of the Mongol dynasty that his grandfather had begun. During its history, the Mongol
dynasty would rule areas from Mongolia to China and Russia to Persia.
Kublai Khan also encouraged learning and brought scholars and religious men from all
over the world to his country. In all these ways, Kublai Khan encouraged exploration,
discovery, and the spreading of knowledge. What do you think? Was Kublai Khan an
explorer? Why or why not?
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©2014 Bonnie Rose Hudson WriteBonnieRose.com
Jakob Le Maire
Explored trade routes
(Netherlands)
Jakob Le Maire is remembered, not for what he discovered (someone else spotted it first)
but for showing others how to use it. Jakob was born in 1585 in the Netherlands. When
he decided to go exploring, he decided to try to find a trade route that would take ships
from the Atlantic to the Pacific so European nations could more easily trade with
Indonesia and other Asian nations. At the time, ships had to sail through the Strait of
Magellan, which was a very complicated route between the tip of mainland South America
and the island of Tierra del Fuego.
In 1615, Jakob Le Maire and Willem Schouten led an expedition to find a passage that
would be easier to navigate. They knew of a passage spotted earlier by Sir Francis Drake
that might be the answer. By sailing farther south than the Strait of Magellan, they were
able to travel through Drake Passage. It lies between Cape Horn and the South Shetland
Islands (which are only about 100 miles north of Antarctica). They continued on their
expedition and eventually reached Indonesia. They discovered that traveling Drake
Passage was not only possible but much easier than going through the Strait of Magellan.
This made a huge impact on trading for hundreds of years.
In a way, you could say the Drake Passage was discovered by a team. Sir Francis Drake
found it, but it took men like Jakob Le Maire and Willem Schouten to show people how to
use it. What are some other things you can think of that have been discovered or invented
by a team?
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©2014 Bonnie Rose Hudson WriteBonnieRose.com
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©2014 Bonnie Rose Hudson WriteBonnieRose.com