Grade 8 · Social Studies · Unit 8 of 10
Spain & the Age of Exploration
Why Spanish explorers crossed the Atlantic
What your child practises
What motivated Spain's rulers and explorers (faith, wealth and glory), the technology they brought, and how plants, animals and diseases crossed the Atlantic in both directions.
Alberta Curriculum learning outcome: 8.3 · the Spanish worldview and motives for exploration, and the Columbian Exchange
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Why did the Spanish crown support explorers?
- To gain wealth and power, and to spread Christianity.
- To stay inside Spain.
- To give land to the Mexica.
- To end all trade.
Show answer
To gain wealth and power, and to spread Christianity.
Hint: Rulers expected to gain resources and new territory.
Question 2
Many Spanish explorers wanted gold, wealth and…
- to learn Nahuatl
- to spread the Catholic faith
- to set up Buddhist temples
- to find the North Pole
Show answer
to spread the Catholic faith
Hint: Motives were often described as 'God, gold and glory'.
Question 3
Which way did each travel in the Columbian Exchange?
Sort into: 🌽 From the Americas to Europe · 🐎 From Europe to the Americas
- 🥔potatoes
- 🐎horses
- 🍅tomatoes
- 🍫cacao (chocolate)
- 🐖pigs
- 🌽maize (corn)
- 🐄cattle
- 🌾wheat
Show answer
🌽 From the Americas to Europe: potatoes, tomatoes, cacao (chocolate), maize (corn) · 🐎 From Europe to the Americas: horses, pigs, cattle, wheat
Hint: Maize, potatoes, tomatoes and cacao were first grown in the Americas. Horses, wheat, cattle and pigs came across the Atlantic with Europeans.
Question 4
How did the worldview of many Spanish people in the 1500s differ from the Mexica worldview?
- They had different beliefs, languages, governments and ideas of land and wealth.
- Neither had any beliefs.
- They shared the same language.
- They were exactly the same.
Show answer
They had different beliefs, languages, governments and ideas of land and wealth.
Hint: Differences in worldview led to misunderstanding and conflict.
Question 5
In Spain in the 1500s, who had the most authority?
- the merchants only
- the farmers
- the artists
- the monarch and the Catholic Church
Show answer
the monarch and the Catholic Church
Hint: Spain was a monarchy closely tied to the Church.
Question 6
What is meant by the Columbian Exchange?
- a Spanish election
- the movement of plants, animals, people and diseases between the Americas and the Old World
- a sports competition
- a trade of paintings
Show answer
the movement of plants, animals, people and diseases between the Americas and the Old World
Hint: Contact after 1492 changed the diets and lives of people on both sides of the Atlantic.