Can you write down as you come in, on a new page: Title: The Age of Discovery Game Date :

Can you write down as you come in, on a new page: Title: The Age of Discovery Game Date: Today we are playing a game, in groups, about who discovered ‘new worlds’

How to play the Discovery Game • Work in teams of 3. Each team will have a scaled world map, a list of ‘discovery names’ and a score sheet. • There are seven rounds. In each round, you will be given: • A set of instructions of where to ‘travel’ to on the map – where do you end up? • Three options of what to do when you get to the country or territory. • You will be given points for correct identification of the country you have travelled to, and the explorer who travelled there. You will also be given points for good decision making. • The group with the most amount of points at the end wins! • There will be a chance to gamble some or all of your points at one point during the game…

SCALE: 3cm = 1500 miles The Age of Discovery

The Age of Discovery: List of names • Christopher Columbus • Cecil Rhodes • John Cabot • Captain James Cook • An Unnamed Viking • Vasco de Gama • John Newton

The Discovery Game

Journey 1 It is 1000 AD. Begin in Norway. Travel 3,000 miles West-Southwest (WSW) to an island. • Who are you? • What country did you find? • What do you decide to do next? • Use the indigenous forests to build boats and make wine from wild grapes, then return to Scandinavia to tell the others. Return with men and women to make a permanent settlement. • Find a native, (one of the ‘Dorset People’) and ask him to teach you how to hunt seals so that, when you return with people who’d like to settle here, you have adequate food supplies. • Return home to sign a treaty with the Anglo-Saxons so that they can’t claim your new land for themselves.

SCALE: =c.1500 miles horizontal & c.2500 miles vertical

Journey 1 • An unnamed Viking/Norseman (1 point) • Newfoundland, Canada (1 point) • Use the indigenous forests: a great idea! These forests can provide some sustenance all year round, and provide wood for shelter in your new settlement: ‘L’ Ance Aux Meadows’ (2 points) • Find a native and ask him to teach you how to hunt seals: you eat very well during the summer, but in winter, there is no game to hunt. You didn’t explore the forests in summer when you could have found the best plants to eat. You starve to death after a year. (1 point) • Return home to sign a treaty with the Anglo-Saxons so that they can’t claim your new land for themselves. Don’t be ridiculous! The Anglo-Saxons don’t have the ships to make such a journey.

Journey 2 It is 1492. Begin in Spain (the Portuguese wouldn’t fund your journey, because they have enough explorers of their own, thank you very much, and they want to keep their conquests to themselves). Travel c.3,750 miles West-Southwest (WSW) to some islands. • Who are you? • What country did you find? • What do you decide to do next? • Start a new colony with the sailors aboard your ship. • Demand that the natives give you their gold jewelry and weapons, then return home, to prove that you have reached a ‘new world’. • Return home to claim your reward and sign a treaty to divide the world into two regions of exploration between Spain and Portugal.

Journey 2 • Christopher Columbus (1 point) • The Bahamas / The West Indies/Carribean/Cuba - so named, because Columbus was determined that he should have found Asia! (1 point) • Start a new colony: You are unable to survive alone, without any other contact with European countries (who have no idea where you are, anyway). You die. • Demand that the natives give you their gold jewelry and weapons: your swords are no match for the natives’ arrows! You die. • Return home to sign a treaty: A sensible decision, avoiding conflict between the two countries. This was called the Treaty of Tordesillas (2 points).

Journey 3 It is May 1497. Begin in Bristol. Travel c.2,750 miles due West. • Who are you? • What country did you find? • What do you decide to do next? • Go exploring on the new land, trying to find some native peoples to trade with or communicate with. This would impress the British crown, and Henry VII needs to impress having just fought the Wars of the Roses – there is still a threat of civil war in England. • Advance no further than a crossbow’s shooting distance on the shore, and then spend time exploring the coastline by boat, eating the abundance of cod in the sea. There are enough sailors on the ship to vouch for the fact you found a new territory. • Try to find a second new territory by travelling North along the coastline, to try to double your reward at home. England would be doubly-impressed with a second find, which would improve their international standing.

Journey 3 • John Cabot (1 point) • Newfoundland, Canada (1 point) • Go exploring on the new land: you don’t find very much, just a few seals and evidence that some natives had probably camped near the coast recently (1 point). • Explore the coastline by boat, eating the abundance of cod in the sea: this allows you to give fairly accurate details to the wannabe-explorers back home, which helps a later group of people establish a colony here (2 points). • Try to find a second new territory by travelling North: oh dear! You are shipwrecked off the coast of Greenland. No one knows where you are, so you die alone, clutching a bottle of grog, singing rude shanty songs at the moon.

Journey 4 It is July 1497. Begin in Portugal. Travel c.1750 miles South-Southwest (SSW), then turn to a South-Easterly direction, and travel another c.3750 miles. Sail due East past the southern tip of the land-mass, then travel another c.3,500 miles North-East to a country bordering China, avoiding the island to the West of you. • Who are you? • What country did you find? • What do you decide to do next? You have brought with you four cloaks of scarlet cloth, six hats, four branches of corals, a box with seven brass vessels, a chest of sugar, two barrels of oil and a cask of honey. They fail to impress the King, who demands gold. • Worried by not being able to impress the king, you get back on your boat and make for home as quickly as you can. • Annoyed with the king’s lack of gratitude, you take the spices you have bought and some native men by force back with you to Portugal. • Angry with the king’s bad attitude, you continue along the coastline of this unfamiliar land until you find someone worthy of your gifts.

Journey 4 • Vasco de Gama (1 point) • India (Goa) (1 point) • You get back on your boat and make for home: no one believes that you actually went to India! You receive no rewards and you are now bankrupt. You die, penniless and heart sick (sea sick?) • You take the spices you have bought and some native men: despite a difficult journey back, the Portuguese crown is able to sell the spices at huge profit, and you are showered with rewards. Despite a difficult beginning, this is the start of a lucrative spice trade with Calcutta, which eventually benefits both England and India. Well done! (2 points) • You continue along the coastline of this unfamiliar land: oh dear! In your urgency to leave, you didn’t check with locals about weather patterns. A monsoon hits, and you die.

Gamble…?* (C/O Russell Tarr) Since the discovery of the Americas, and continued communications with Africa, the slave trade has become big business. One day, a friend of yours suggests that you invest in the "Trade Triangle". He explains that this is named after a journey made by a ship in three stages: • You buy goods to put onto a ship, which sails to Africa. There, the goods are traded for slaves. • The ship then sails to the West Indies. There, the slaves are sold for sugar, rum and spices. • The ship then sails for England, where the sugar, rum and spices are sold at a massive profit! You agree. Your friend slaps you on the shoulder and laughs: "That's the spirit! You know you shouldn't let your conscience get in the way of profits! "You now have to decide how many of your points you want to spend on goods to put onto the ship (called "Zong") which will go on the "Trade Triangle". The more you invest, the more profit you can make (points are doubled if your ship makes it): but be warned that there is a 33.3% chance that the ship could sink in a storm during its long, dangerous journey! DICE ROLL: 1-2 = THE SHIP SINKS IN A STORM, WITH ALL ITS CARGO. 3-6 = THE SHIP MAKES IT.

Journey 5 It is 1748. You begin in Liverpool. You travel c.2000 miles South-Southwest (SSW), and stop here to trade. Then you travel West-Northwest (WNW) for c.3,100 miles where you stop again to trade. Finally, you travel another 3,500 miles North-East, stopping just off the coast at an island within 50 miles of England. • Who are you? • Where are you? • A severe storm hits. Your ship, called the Greyhound, nearly sinks as you awake in the middle of the night to find water in your cabin. The cargo just about manages to slot into the holes and you drift to safety. What do you do next? • Think nothing of it. Things like this happen all the time. You won’t let it get in the way of your profits. • You get out of the business straight away, and set yourself up as a slave trade abolitionist. If it’s this terrifying for a white man, what must it be like for slaves? You campaign, hard, and deliver emotional speeches on the topic to Parliament. • You don’t do anything rash. Instead you reflect for many years on your experiences and, eventually, after speaking to many other traders, you decide to join those people in Parliament who are against the slave trade.

Journey 5 • John Newton (1 point) • Ireland (Donegal) (1 point) • Think nothing of it. You continue to make a lot of money, and then get fat and rich. But then a slave rebellion takes place on a ship you are travelling on, and you are too heavy and old to get away from the slave upstarts. You die after being made to walk the plank. • You get out of the business straight away, and set yourself up as a slave trade abolitionist. What a shame! No one listens to you – a lone voice crying out. You are shunned as a weirdo and people move to the other side of the road when they see you in town. You stop going to the opera , and live a lonely life in your dressing gown, with only two cats for company (1 point). • You don’t do anything rash. Eventually you join those people in Parliament who are against the slave trade. Success! Your voice is more powerful when you speak with others. You are able to play a part in stopping the slave trade in 1807, working with William Wilberforce. You write a hymn, ‘Amazing Grace’ about how God saved you in the storm. It goes to the top of the charts and you become such a popstar that you are mugged in the streets by screaming girls asking you to sign their petticoats (2 points).

Journey 6 It is 1770. Begin in England. Travel c.7,500 miles South-Southwest (SSW). Go round Cape Horn, then travel c.6,000 miles West-Northwest. At an island in this remote part of the ocean, you open some sealed instructions, which tell you to travel to try to find a much larger island that should be nearby. They think it should be within 1,500 miles of your current location. • Who are you? • What country did you find? • What do you decide to do next, after mapping the territory? • You return home, pleased with your new maps, and claiming the lands for the British crown. • Before returning home, you allow two men (who are not sailors) to explore one of the bays so they can write up the journey. You go home to claim the lands for the British crown. • You decide to explore the island, wanting to meet some of the native peoples that you spied from your ship, and bring your shipmates (sailors and non-sailors alike) with you.

Journey 6 • Captain James Cook (1 point) • New Zealand, and then Australia (1 point) • You return home, pleased with your new maps: you are well-received by the crown, but the scientific community (who are growing since the Enlightenment) is disappointed. You didn’t explore any flora or fauna! (1 point) • You allow two men to explore one of the bays: these men are scientists who write up their discoveries and make you a hero of the scientific community. Well done! (2 points) • You decide to explore the island, wanting to meet some of the native peoples that you spied from your ship: Oh dear! Some of the people you brought with you to meet the natives have brought smallpox with them. You spread this disease to the Aboriginal community, who then chase you off Australian lands. You arrive home, racked with guilt. You managed to find out some interesting things about the natives – but at a heavy human cost (1 point)

Journey 7 It is 1870. You are a sickly seventeen year old boy from Essex. Start in Bristol. Travel c.1750 miles South-Southwest (SSW), then turn to a South-Easterly direction, and travel another c.3750 miles. • Who are you? 2. Where are you? • The climate in this new country (called the ‘Transvaal’) improves your health. You return to Oxford to complete your education, then come back to this place to become a politician. At this point, the Transvaal is ruled by the Dutch, rather than the natives. You don’t like the Dutch, and think that the British are the greatest nationality on earth. There are ongoing wars between the British, Dutch and natives. You decide to increase British influence and control in the area. Therefore you decide to: • Wage war against the natives to set up a new state called ‘Rhodesia’, taking no prisoners and using your police force (from the British South Africa Company – BSAC) to stop any rebellions. • You walk, unarmed, into native territory, and set up a local school to educate both Dutch settlers and natives in British values. You use the BSAC to set up other schools. • You walk, unarmed, into native territory to try to persuade the natives to lay down their weapons. You then take control of the BSAC in the area to try to make yourself popular with both settlers and natives.

Journey 7 1. Cecil Rhodes (1 point) 2. South Africa (1 point) • Wage war against the natives: the natives retreat, and you are in control for a few years, but then make a deal with the Dutch to overthrow you because they hate your oppressive policies. You are assassinated by a Dutchman (1 point) • You walk, unarmed, into native territory, and set up a local school: natives and Dutch settlers (the ‘Boers’) are completely uninterested in British values. They want to know what you are going to do for them instead! The schools fail, but you stay, stubborn and determined, until you have read ‘Great Expectations’ so many times that you think that you are Pip and you decide to walk back to Northern England. You are killed by an elephant stampede after 45 minutes of setting out on your trip. • You walk, unarmed, into native territory and make yourself popular with both settlers and natives: a good idea to make yourself popular with both sides, preventing them from making an alliance against you. Well done. (2 points)

Do these ‘laws’ for empire building work? Can you find evidence for or against them? • “The Age of Discovery began in the fifteenth century” • “In building an empire, you have to use force” • “The impact of empire was always negative on the natives” • “Empire led to conflict between European states, not co-operation” • “Britain was the greatest empire builder”

Can you write down as you come in, on a new page: Title: The Age of Discovery Game Date :