exploration in the 1500's

Our journey From Europe to Africa

Period: Sep 16, 1518 to Dec 14, 1537

The ship takes off to Africa Journal entry #1

Sep 23, 1518

We have loaded up our wine, spices, and wheat, and I am ready for all of our crew to come aboard and start doing their jobs. The first port we are expected to stop at is in Guinea, Africa. I will miss Europe while I'm gone, but it will be an adventure, and it will be worth it. My ship the Iron Canon is leaving from a port in Porto, Portugal. Goodbye land.

The food on the ship journal entry #2

Nov 28, 1520

The food on the ship is already limited to mostly some buiscuits, and fish. There's not much to do on the ship besides work. The sleeping was auful at first, but most of us are usded to it now. There are many crew members that have gotten sea sick, which isn't much fun to watch.

The caravel stops in Kamasar, Guinea

Apr 9, 1522

In Kamasar, Guinea the official language is French, but they don't have an official religion. In Guinea they have a custom where you can't eat while walking, it's considered impollite. If a visitor comes while a meal is in progress, then they will be invited to join the meal. In Kamasar they have lots of iron, gold, and diamonds.

Journal enry #3

Jul 25, 1523

The best thing about being on this journey is when we get to dock, and explore the places we visit. Last night hardly anyone got anysleep, because of the huge storm, and that we have to sleep on the deck. A few people have died so far from the contaminated food and water, I just hope I'm not next.

We arrive at Cape Coast, Ghana

Sep 24, 1524

The first thing that we saw when we reached Ghana was the countless amounts of castles lining the coast, it was a sight to see. One of the castles in cape coast held a slave trade. Slaves were very common to have in Cape Coast. The Swahili culture is in the midst of developing, which consists of merchants from Arabia, India, and Southeast Asia. In Cape coast they had vast majorities of gold to trade for our whine, and wheat.

Our arival to Ambriz, Angola

Nov 4, 1528

Today we arived in Ambriz, and I found out that the Swahili culture is prominaant here as well. Roman Catholicism is dominant in Ambriz. There were many Catholic missionaries willing to baptize you if you wished to convert. The town that we were at wasn't very nice, and many people live in poverty, and are malnurished.

Sickness Journal entry #4

Mar 28, 1529

The crew's legs are starting to turn purple, mine too, it is an awful site to see, but I am not sure what the problem is. The food is scarce, and tastes worse and worse each day from rat pee. My gums are plain rotted from the food given to me, and the only shower I get is when it rains. Disease has spread around the ship, and death isn't pretty.

Ariving in Tolira, Madagasgar

Jan 31, 1534

Madagascar is one of the most unique places we have been yet, about half or the people there are Christian, and the other half mostly belive in the living dead. There are many rainforrests in Tolira, and the weather is warm. The meals we ate consists of mostly rice, and some sort of Kabaka(some sort of fish, meat, chicken, or beans). The houses in Tolira were mostly made of mudbricks, and then painted.

We landed in Safaga, Egypt

Oct 19, 1536

The food in Safaga was delicious compared to what we had to eat on the caravel. They had dishes like humus, yogurt, rice, egg plant casserole, vegetable fritters, and meatballs. The current ruler of Egypt is Ottoman Turks. Egypt is considered rich because the flow of the nile river, while we were there locals told us that the anual flood of the nile had gotten over not long before we got there. We were thankful that we didn't get there any sooner. We saw the Egyptian pyramids, and they are huge.

Our journey is almost over Journal entry #5

Dec 14, 1537

I am so excited to be going home soon, our crew has been reduced, but I'm still here. We are hoping to make it home to Europe before Cristmas. This journey has been the hardest thing I have ever done and I will certainly never be doing it again. I can't wait to get home and see my family, and have a homecooked meal.