Starter quiz
- Where did seafarer John Cabot travel?
- to the Americas
- across the Atlantic Ocean ✓
- Canada
-
- Where did seafarer Zheng He travel?
- around England
- across the Pacific Ocean
- around Asia ✓
-
- Where did John Cabot think he was travelling to?
- the Americas
- Africa
- Asia ✓
-
- Which type of boat does not have sails?
- galley
- longboat
- canoe ✓
- junk
-
- What feature of Chinese junks helped them to turn around or change direction easily?
- oars
- rudder ✓
- sails
-
- Chinese junks were known for being very...
- big ✓
- small
-
Exit quiz
- On a ship, what is rigging?
- all the ropes that control the sails ✓
- all the sails
- all the oars and oarsmen
-
- Which of these is a type of star chart?
- compass
- map
- astrolabe ✓
-
- Which of these did sailors use to measure how deep water was?
- a lead line ✓
- a metre ruler
- a tape measure
-
- Who first used a compass to navigate at sea?
- Vikings
- Chinese explorers ✓
- European explorers
-
- 550 years ago, what did European sailors add to their boats to help them to turn more easily?
- more sails
- rigging
- a rudder ✓
-
- Sailing boats from 550 years ago had many large ______ to catch the wind.
- 'sails' ✓
Worksheet
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Presentation
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- 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.
Common misconception
Pupils may think because European seafarers were using the navigation tools, they invented them too.
European seafarers didn't invent the astrolabe or compass. Many ancient people navigated by the stars like the Polynesians and Vikings.
Keywords
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
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