Introduction: Many years ago, Europeans grew fresh produce within their own farms and villages. There was no reason for people to travel too far from their villages. Besides, roads were very rugged. Slowly, through wars, people learned about others in nearby lands.

One of the European groups was the Norse who lived in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Farmers had a difficult time growing crops because of the rocky areas. The northern areas usually had ice and snow throughout most of the year. So, some of the Norse became fishermen and traveled in their boats to places like Italy, U.S.S.R. (what used to be). Iceland, and Greenland.

Some Europeans went to Asia. The Europeans traveled to Palestine to worship. The Turks from Turkey conquered the Holy Land and started to kill or jail the Christians. The Christians decided to fight back. The Crusaders left home to fight in the Holy Land. On their adventures to Jerusalem, they learned about the new land and the goods and riches of the faraway lands. They learned about the Mideast and Asia. The Crusaders wanted the Asian goods like spices, jewels, perfumes, and fine silks. Merchants began buying these goods and selling them in the cities in Europe. Soon towns and cities grew. Cities like Venice and Genoa, Italy grew rich and powerful. The Crusaders bought ships and supplies from the merchants in Venice and Genoa.

With this beginning, the idea of trade began. By participating in this lesson, students will have an idea of how European exploration and trade began.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

1. Explain how trading began in Europe.
2. Track the routes of explorers on a map.
3. Distinguish and name a variety of spices.
4. Track the spice trade route on a map.
5. Locate the origin of various spices and other products on a world map.
6. Participate in a simulation on trading in a marketplace.
7. Create a game using information learned about explorers and trade.
8. Create a map of explorers and products they sought.

Geography Standards: The geographically informed person knows and understands:

1. How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.

4. The physical and human characteristics of places.

11. The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface.

17. How to apply geography to interpret the past.

Grade Levels: Grades 3-6

Materials:

• Laminated desk maps and pens for desk maps. Black and white copies of the world maps may be used.
• Spices packed in small containers (film containers are good)
• World maps
• Supplies

Assessment: Left up for individual teachers. Look for accuracy of information in maps and games.

Procedure:

1. Place spices in different containers. Number each container. Give each group of four students a set of spices.
2. Have each group match the number with the spice. Correct.
3. Find each "True" spices's (roots, bark, seeds, or fruit of aromatic plants normally grown in the tropics) "homeland" and mark the map.

   *Cloves: From Zanibar (Part of Tanzania) and Madagascar, Brazil and Argentina
   

   *Cinnamon: Ceylon, Indochina, and Java. (Also, India, Sri Lanka, SE Asia)
   

   *Nutmeg and Mace: East Indies (Indonesia and Malaysia) and the West Indies (including Mexico and Central America)
   

   *Ginger: Jamaica, Also in India, Sri Lanka, China, and SE Asia
   

   *Allspice: Mexico, Central America, West Indies

   Others that can be used are;
   

   Anise - Northern Mediterranean area, Turkey

   Basil - Egypt, Morocco, California

   Bay leaves - Northern Mediterranean. Turkey

   Caraway and Cardomon - Northwest Europe (Not British Isles)

   Coriander - Yugoslavia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Mexico, Central America, West Indies

   Dill - India, Sri Lanka

   Marjoram - Northwest Europe (not British Isles), Egypt, Morocco

   Mustard - Canada

   Oregano - Mexico, Central America, West Indies, Northern Mediterranean, turkey

   Paprika - Northern Mediterranean, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, California

   Saffron - Northern Mediterranean, Turkey

   Sage - Yugoslavia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria

   Sesame - China, SE Asia, Mexico, Central America, West Indies

   Tarragon - California, Northwest Europe (not British Isles)

   Thyme - Northwest Europe (not British Isles)

   Vanilla - Mexico, Central America, West Indies, Indonesia, Malaysia, Madagascar, Tanzania

   For student information: pepper is the most important commercial spice. It accounts for 60% of the total volume of the spice trade. Spices are still cultivated mostly by hand and are cleaned, washed, and sun-dried for five to ten days. After being shipped, they are held temporarily in the port of entry where they are examined by inspectors of the Food and Drug Administration.

4. Share some of the background on how trade began. Have students find the countries as you share the information. One of the earliest trades was black pepper. It was a major trade between India and Europe. The Crusaders bought ships and supplies from the Italian merchants in Venice and Genoa. The Italian merchants traded with the Arabs and Turks. These merchants kept their goods in the cities of Egypt, in the Holy Land (Palestine - Part of Israel and part of Jordan). and in Turkey. The merchants obtained jewels and pepper from India. From Arabia, they got sugar and cotton. From China and the islands of the Pacific Ocean, the goods that were obtained were porcelain, silk, tea, and spices. The Italians used lumber, wheat, and wine to pay for these goods. The goods from Asia were shipped to Venice and Genoa that the Italians carried over the Alps to France and Germany.

5. Read the following routes of trade aloud to the class. Have them follow along on the laminated maps. Explain to students that you will be sharing some of the routes of important European explorers.
   1. Marco Polo (born in 1254 in Venice). When Marco Polo was 17, his father and an uncle went to China. Their first stop was the Holy Land. There they received a gift of sacred oil for the Great Khan. They took a long road to Beijing. It took them three years. The route took them from Holy Land through Baghdad to Tehran, to Tashkent, to Schache, and on to Beijing. They stayed in China for 25 years. When they returned to Venice, they brought their jewels from the rich land and showed them to the people during a banquet. People started to believe that the Polos had been to a very rich land. Marco Polo was captured a few years later during a war between Venice and Genoa. Marco Polo told his stories to the prisoners. One of them wrote a book that was later published (when the printing press was invented around 1440) and sold. People learned about the riches of Asia. Label this route as M.P.

   2. Portugal's Search for the trade routes. The Italian merchants of Venice and Genoa sold their Asian goods for a high price. They stopped others from trading directly, so people began to search for routes that avoided the cities. Portugal was first to search for a sea route southward around Africa. Prince Henry, a member of Portugal's royal family, was a geographer who loved the sea. He set up a school for sailors and sent them to explore the coast of Africa. Prince Henry died but the voyages did not stop. In 1488, Bartholomew Dias started from Lisbon, Portugal and sailed in the Atlantic Ocean around the western coast of Africa, and traveled around the tip of Africa, Cape of Good Hope. Label this route as B.D.

      In 1497, Vasco da Gama, started from Lisbon, Portugal and he, too, sailed around the western coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, and on to the tip of India. The Portuguese explorers finally found a water route from Europe to Asia. Label this route as VdG.

   3. Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. He spoke Portuguese, Spanish, and Latin and studied geography and science books. He loved maps and often drew maps to make a living. He read and studied the writings of Marco Polo and learned of the Portuguese explorations. He sailed on Portuguese ships down the coast of Africa and later settled in Portugal to study Geography. He married the daughter of Prince Henry's captain who shared her father's maps with Columbus. He wanted to buy ships to sail west to Asia but Portugal would not financially help him.

      Queen Isabella from Spain helped Columbus finance his voyage. Columbus took 90 men on three ships. On Friday, August 3, 1492, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria left Palos, Spain. On Friday, October 12, 1492, Columbus and his crew reached San Salvador, one of the islands in the Bahamas. Columbus thought he found Asia and that they would be rich with gold, jewels, and spices. He thought that he had landed on the East Indian islands and expected the "Indians" to trade spices and jewels for things that he had brought. He was mistaken. They landed in the area called West Indies. The Santa Maria was wrecked on a reef. The Pinta went to look for treasure, and the Nina headed back to Spain. On the way back it met the Pinta and both ships headed home. Columbus was treated with honors by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Label this route as C-1.

      On his second, third, and fourth voyages, Columbus found other islands. He explored part of the coasts of South America and Central America. He found a few pearls and some gold but not the diamonds, rubies, gold, and spices that Marco Polo had described. The king and queen were angry and his honors were taken away. On his fourth voyage, Columbus reached Panama.

   4. Vasco Nunez de Balboa left Spain for the West Indies. He settled on Hispaniola. He had a large farm, on which he grew sugar cane. Indians worked for him. He wanted to see the land that Columbus had seen on his last voyage. He went with several hundred Spaniards and Indians and crossed the long isthmus connecting North America and South America. He climbed the ridge and from the top they saw the Pacific Ocean. He was the first European to see this shore. The Indians had used the Pacific for travel and trade for thousands of years. Marco Polo and other Europeans had seen it from China. Draw a line from Spain to Hispaniola and cross over the isthmus connecting North and South America. Label this as Balboa.

   5. Ferdinand Magellan sailed with five ships to complete Columbus's voyage of trying to reach the East by sailing west. He started in Spain in September 1519 and headed toward the eastern coast of South America. After trouble with his crew and captains and months at sea, Magellan found a passage near the southern tip of South America called the Strait of Magellan. He reached some islands in the Pacific called the Marianas. With fresh supply of water and food, he sailed west to the Philippine Islands. Magellan died in a fight. With two ships left, the Victory and the Trinidad, the men sailed on and reached the Spice Islands. They traded bracelets, beads, and belts for spices. The Trinidad leaked and sank. The Victory sailed across the Indian Ocean, around the southern tip of Africa, and north to Spain. It reached home on September 8, 1522, about three years after leaving Spain.

      Draw Magellan's route from Spain, through the Strait of Magellan, to the Marianas, to the Philippines, to the Spice Islands, to the southern tip of Africa, and on to Spain. Label this as Magellan's route.

6. Have students participate in a trading simulation. See lesson plan, "Trading in a Marketplace." Follow the directions as stated in the lesson plan.

7. Have students create games using the information on the explorers and trade.

8. Have students apply what they've learned about the trade routes by designing a map with all of the routes. Be sure they apply TODALS (title, orientation, date, author, legend, scale). Students can add the products to this map or design a separate map for products that were traded.

9. Extension: Students can dramatize the trade routes by portraying different explorers.

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