| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Marco Polo | Italian explorer who traveled through China in the late 1200's |
| Kublai Khan | Emperor of China who met with Marco Polo in the late 1200's |
| Silk Road | network of major trade routes between China and other lands |
| magnetic compass | Chinese invention that aided navigation by showing which direction was north |
| Zheng He | Chinese explorer who made 7 major voyages to different parts of the world |
| Sahara Desert | largest desert in the world, located in North Africa |
| caravan | group of traders traveling together, especially in the desert |
| Ghana | country in Africa, named for early kingdom in West Africa, called the "land of gold" |
| Timbuktu | town in West African kingdom of Mali, important stop along caravan routes |
| Mali | Kingdom in Africa in the early 1300's; present day country in West Africa |
| Mansa Musa | King of African kingdom of Mali in the early 1300's |
| pilgrimage | journey taken for religious reasons |
| Mecca | city in Saudi Arabia, pilgrimage site for Muslims |
| Songhai | Kingdom in Africa that flourished from mid 1300's through 1500's |
| astrolabe | navigational tool that helped sailors use the sun and stars to find their way |
| Eric the Red | 900's Viking explorer who sailed to Iceland in about 965 and Greenland in about 982 |
| Greenland | Island in the northern Atlantic Ocean, largest island on Earth |
| Leif Ericsson | late 900's early 1000's son of Eric the Red; sailed to North America in about 1000 and explored what is today know as Newfoundland |
| Vinland | means "Land of Wine", given by Leif Ericsson to the present-day Canadian province of Newfoundland |
| saga | long, spoken tale repeated from one generation to the next |
| Renaissance | Period in Europe beginning in about 1350 during which there was a new desire to learn more about the arts, sciences, and other parts of the world |
| Johann Gutenburg | 1395-1468, German inventor of the printing press about 1450 |
| Portugal | Country in southwestern Europe, first to try and find new trade routes to Asia |
| Prince Henry | 1394-1460 Prince of Portugal who established school for sailors and navigators |
| navigation | science used by sailors to plot their course and determine their location |
| slave trade | buying and selling of human beings |
| Bartolomeu Dias | Portuguese explorer who sailed around the Cape of Good Hope |
| Cape of Good Hope | southwestern tip of Africa |
| Vasco da Gama | 1469-1524, Portuguese explorer who sailed to India in 1497 |
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