We just wrapped up our project on early explorers and the discovery of America by the Europeans.

One of the big things we did was a comic book on the Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. I was in a group of four with Emily, Syrah, and Sophia we all did a page (or two). We did a few drafts to get it to look as good as it good be while also researching Cabrillo. Here is the final draft of our comic then I’ll talk about the learning of this project.

I think we did a great job on the art as well as establishing the context and applying the history.

My page!

Alright now to talk about the learning and all the research that went into the making of this comic book. We started by researching who came to North America first and to do that we had to learn about Beringia

Beringa was a landbridge between Asia and North America (specifically Alaska and northern Russia). People who were in Asia at the time decided to cross and continue to expand. These people would go on to become the  First Nations of America and would span from the northernmost part to the southernmost part of this land.

Now we are going to talk about the first Europeans to come to America. That’s right we are talking about the Vikings! That’s right they were the first group of people to come into contact (aside from the First Nations) with North America. They made amazing discoveries but everyone forgot about them later because of the dark ages.

Up next we have the Europeans who sent many expeditions over to America while looking for a route to India so they could get spices. Many people did make it over and tons of exploring ensued but the first person to find this “new world” or at least who they thought did was none other that Christopher Columbus. We have all heard about this mans journey but he never actually landed on mainland America instead he landed on some Caribbean islands. there were tons of exploration voyages and people found so many different places and were so fascinated by this entire new land.

Now to tackle the big question of “why do people explore”, so let’s begin! Throughout all of mankinds history there have been people who wanted to go out into the uncharted lands and find whatever waits there. We have explored the globe starting back to when humans first evolved (probably in Africa) people spread out from Africa and went up North, down South, far West and far East. We spread across Europe through Asia over Beringa to America, basically everywhere. However a lot of tribes discovered farming (therefore allowing them to build settlements) and settled down and a lot of people did not know of other tribes. You would then have people seeking new land or just being curious and setting off to explore. People later began to trade with others so exploration was important to unlock new trade routes. People trying to find new ways of reaching others would be essential in finding new land. People also wanted to be known for their amazing discoveries named after them or their country!

So overall the things that I think make people explore are: money (trade), curiosity, power and fame!