Exploration Geography

This worksheet is designed for students in Grades 4, 5, and 6 to build understanding of how physical geography influenced historical exploration during the Age of Exploration. Students read an informational passage explaining Spain’s geographic advantages-such as Atlantic Ocean access, natural harbors, the Canary Islands, and prevailing winds and currents-and then answer comprehension questions in complete sentences that connect geography to exploration, trade, and global interaction.

Learning Goals

• Age of Exploration (Grades 4-6): Understand Spain’s role in early global exploration and overseas expansion.
• Geography & Human Activity: Analyze how location, coastlines, islands, and ocean access supported exploration and navigation.
• Cause & Effect Reasoning: Explain how physical geography influenced historical events and decision-making.
• Informational Reading & Writing: Practice identifying key details and responding with clear, evidence-based explanations.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource: Designed to align with upper elementary social studies and ELA standards.
• Content-Rich Passage: Connects geographic features to real historical outcomes and global connections.
• Structured Written Responses: Requires complete sentences that reinforce clarity and accuracy.
• Flexible Use: Ideal for history units, geography lessons, homework, assessments, or guided reading.

This printable worksheet helps students see how geography shapes history by examining Spain’s natural advantages during the Age of Exploration. By connecting landforms, oceans, winds, and currents to exploration and empire-building, learners strengthen geographic literacy, historical understanding, and critical thinking. It’s a practical, no-prep resource that works well in both classroom instruction and homeschool learning, supporting meaningful connections between geography and world history.

This worksheet is part of our Spain Worksheets collection.