Age of Discovery

Today the world seems a small place because we know a lot about it. But this was not always the case. There was a time when we know little or nothing about the world beyond our own village or city. The desire to explore the unknown has been driving force for every explorer. The earliest explorers traveled by sea. Various reasons drove them - hunger for gold, establishing new trade routes and to spread their religion.

Eric the Red and Leif Erickson

The earliest known ships to cross the Atlantic Ocean were of the Vikings of Norway. This led to the discovery of Iceland by 860 AD. By the year 930 AD, about 10,000 Vikings had made Iceland their home. They are the once who named it Iceland. Eric the red, the father of Leif left Norway to settle in Iceland. While traveling he discovered a land which he called Greenland. He returned to Iceland to convince others to join him in

Vikings ship

Leif Erickson

Route Map of Leif Erickson

Greenland.A new colony was established with three hundred people. One of the colonist's son set sail from Iceland to join his father. On the way his ship was blown off course and he sighted a new land. However he did not land there and correcting his course and reached Greenland. When Leif came to know about this new land he set sail for this land in 1000 AD. He set foot at three places. The first he named Flat- stone land (now known as Labrador). The second he named Woodland (believed to be New Found Land). The third he named Vinland. However it has now been officially recognized that Leif Erickson was the first discoverer of the North America. It was believed for a long time that Christopher Columbus was the first settler there, which is incorrect.

Eric the Red on New Found Land

Marco Polo

Marco Polo, an Italian traveled all the way to China. On his way to China and back he was the first European to travel over most of the Asian continent.

They had traveled to far away China. The Mongol Emperor of China, Kublai Khan, liked them and kept them with him for most of three years.

Marco Polo's father was a merchant. Marco Polo was five years old when his father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo left home for another trip. They were away for 12 years. 

While they had been away Marco went to school. He found that he had a special talent for learning languages. He also hung around the shipyard listening to sailors about far away lands. When his father and uncle returned they heard about the death of Marco's mother.They decided to take Marco back with them.

They crossed modern day Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan to reach China. Kublai Khan was greatly impressed by Marco especially by his knowledge of languages. He made him an official of the emperor's court. He was sent on observation missions through out China. Marco was amazed by what he saw in China. He saw the Chinese using black stones that they used for fuel. European burnt logs and had never heard of the long burning coal. The Chinese used

marco polo his uncle and his father presenting the pope’s  latter at the court of kublai khan.

paper money whereas European used coins or traded items as currency. In fact, the Europeans did not have paper. They wrote on dried animal skins. Maffeo and Niccolo were getting old and wanted to see Venice before they died. They had been in China for 17 years this time. Kublai Khan was reluctant to see them go. Finally, he agreed when a Mongol princess was to be sent to Iran to marry a prince. Marco Polo agreed to guide the men from Persia across the sea. On the way back they had to stay in the island of Sumatra (in Indonesia) waiting for the monsoon season to end.After that they stopped at Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), India and east Africa. This journey lasted two years. When they landed in Venice at first no one believed Marco's tales. They called him Marco million because they thought he told a million lies. Three years after his return he was taken prisoner during a war. In prison he told a fellow prisoner who was a writer all about his adventures. The writer put it all down in a book about Marco and it became a best seller. People still thought it was all lies though some believed him enough to travel east. Because of him new and accurate maps were drawn of Asia.

Travel Route of polo family 

Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier, Morocco in 1304 AD. His passion was to travel over the earth and he almost did so.At the age of 22, he left home to perform Hajj. In the next 28 years he traveled almost 75,000 miles. He traveled first to Alexandria (Egypt).A sage man asked Ibn Battuta to give his greetings to some men in India, Sindh and China. This is when the desire to travel grew in him. From Alexandria he traveled through Cairo and Damascus. In Damascus he joined a caravan of pilgrims who were going to Makkah. On the way they were fed and sheltered by generous hosts. So much so that it was possible for Ibn Battuta to travel with very little money. After reaching Makkah he performed Hajj.

It was there he decided to travel around the world. He decided to proceed to Iraq. The Baghdad was in ruins, run over by the ferocious Mongols. Ibn Battuta decided to join the mobile court of the, Mongol leader. He returned to Makkah and stayed there for three years to study. The desire to travel returned and he traveled by sea to Aden (Yemen). From there he went to the coast of east Africa, Mogadishu (Somalia), Mombasa (Kenya) and Kilwa (Tanzania). He returned by way of Oman and the Arabian Gulf to Makkah. Once there he joined a caravan and traveled through Egypt and Syria. He boarded a ship and landed at Alaya (Turkey). From there he proceeded on horse back towards the Black Sea. After crossing he reached the Crimea ruled by Mongols. Traveling in the governor's caravan, he joined the mobile court of the Mongol ruler. From here he accompanied the ruler's third wife to Constantinople (Turkey), her homeland. He spent weeks touring the land as a guest of the emperor. He returned to the Mongol ruler in Sarai. From there he traveled towards India through Afghanistan.

Mongolia Fighting

In Dehli, he presented himself at Sultan's Muhammad Tughlaq's court. He found India to be very colourful land, he was fascinated by it. He was appointed as a judge in the sultan's shariah court. He stayed in India for more than seven years. The sultan sent him as an ambassador to the king of China. His party was attacked by bandits but he managed to escape. He have to live on roots and berries for eight days before he rejoined with his party. Instead of going back he first tried to track the ship and then landed on the Maldives Islands. After working there as a judge, he left for China after stopping over at Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Samatra (Indonesia).