Which european is credited with ushering in the age of exploration

They are not well known and a reappraisal of their importance is warranted. During its centenary year the Royal Geographical Society commemorated the Elder Expedition by erecting a cairn at Warrina on the Oodnadatta Track in May at the point where the cavalcade had disembarked from the train in In conjunction with the Victorian Branch, the Society began to organize an expedition to explore the Lake Amadeus region of Central Australia in Returning east, the party determined the extent of Lake Amadeus, which Tietkens had first visited as second in command to Ernest Giles in The Expedition added much to the geography of Central Australia but the geological samples revealed no mineral prospects and the botanical specimens added little to the records of Central Australian flora.

Elder Scientific Exploration Expedition. Possibly the most ambitious Australian expedition of all time was the Elder Scientific Exploration Expedition. Sir Thomas Elder financed the Expedition which was organised and run by the Society. Elder had maintained an active interest in exploration over many years and although he knew there was little prospect of finding good pastoral country, he was aware that very little scientific work had been done in the Australian deserts.

Though many earlier expeditions into the interior had collected plant and animal specimens, and in some cases had naturalists in their parties, the rigours and demands of exploring had resulted in only limited scientific success. Elder believed that, properly organised and led, an expedition could fulfil bodily functions satisfactorily. The Expedition led by David Lindsay, left the railway at Warrina, south of Oodnadatta, on 2 May on a 6, kilometre journey that was to last 12 months.

The party was one of the strongest and best equipped expeditions ever sent into inland Australia and consisted of 14 men three of them scientists and 44 camels. Conditions for travel were favourable at first, with abundant feed and, fresh water. However, in mid July the Expedition crossed into Western Australia and experienced very difficult drought affected country. Many of the surface waters considered permanent by earlier explorers like Giles, Gosse and Forrest had dried up.

The Spring was reached on 23 September after one of the longest waterless forced marches in the history of Australian exploration, the camels having covered kilometres on an allowance of only 36 litres of water per animal.

They continued on to Fraser Range Station and recuperated before heading north to the Murchison River and the second phase of the Expedition. But the Expedition was dogged by psychological as well as physical problems and matters came to a head on 31 December with the resignation of the scientific officers. Lindsay went to Geraldton and telegraphed the Society for further direction and on 20 January he was recalled to Adelaide.

They discovered traces of gold at Lake Way which was soon to be the scene of the Wiluna Goldfield. Elder however, decided to terminate the Expedition on 4 March and Wells, returning to civilisation in the Murchison District, was notified by telegram that the Expedition was to be abandoned. The Elder Expedition has often been cited as a failure, but its achievements were not insignificant. The scientific results, though variable, were impressive in some disciplines.

More than new species of insects were collected and 19 new species of plants were included in the specimens collected by Richard Helms, the naturalist of the party. The mammals included several species now extinct in South Australia. Expedition geologist, Victor Streich, made a comprehensive collection of Rocks and minerals and described in detail the geology of the country traversed. In addition, Helms made some important ethnographic notes on the Aboriginal tribes encountered.

The Expedition had also mapped over , square kilometres of country previously unknown to Europeans. The Society published a journal of the expedition and the scientific results.

During its centenary year the Society commemorated the Elder Expedition by erecting a cairn at Warrina in The Calvert Exploring Expedition. In Albert Frederick Calvert, a London mining engineer and author of two books on Australian exploration who had struck it rich in the Western Australian goldfields, sponsored an expedition into the regions of Central Western Australia left unexplored by the Elder Expedition.

In the absence of a geographical society in that colony, the South Australian Branch was asked to organise and manage the expedition.

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Students progress at their own pace and you see a leaderboard and live results. Finish Editing. Delete Quiz. Question 1. Which European is credited with ushering in the Age of Exploration? Christopher Columbus. Prince Henry. Amerigo Vespucci. Ferdinand Magellan. Question 2. They were trying to escape the famine that was sweeping across Europe.

They wanted to initiate trade with the West Indies. They were looking for new trade routes to Asia. They were looking for places to settle that had a mild climate.

Question 3. Question 4. What were explorers hoping to find by searching for the Northwest Passage? Question 5.