Read the passages “Early Traders” and “Museums of the Sea” and
then answer Numbers 7 through 12.
Passage 1: Early Traders
1 For thousands of years, people have traded with each other to get the things they need. For example, more than two thousand years ago, people traveled by road from Asia to Europe. This network of roads was called the Silk Road. The travelers brought tea, spices, and other precious items to places where they could sell them. Then, they would return, bringing different products back with them.
Goods and Services
2 The exchange of goods and services is called trade. Goods are products that you can touch. Examples of goods are food, cars, and clothing. Services are actions that one person does for another person. Services include car repairs, haircuts, and going to see the doctor.
Imports and Exports
3 In the early days, people grew much of their own food. They also made many of the things they needed in life. But some things, such as spices and tea, can only be grown in certain places in the world. Other countries had special skills and knowledge, such as how to make silk. Still, other countries had valuable natural resources, such as tin and copper.
4 To get things they needed, people would trade goods. An import is a product bought from another country. When you sell your product to another country, it is an export. For example, some countries grow a lot of wheat. But they might not grow rice. The wheat-growing country can sell its wheat as an export. Then, it can buy rice from another country.
Trade in the American Colonies
5 Trade in the American colonies took place at seaports and along rivers. In the North, people exported fur, wood, maple syrup,
and fish.
6 In the South, people exported tobacco, cotton, sugar, and other types of farm products.
7 The colonies traded these raw materials for finished goods. Examples of finished goods are machinery and tools. They also imported food products, such as tea.
Passage 2: Museums of the Sea
8 Between the middle of the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, many ships came to explore the New World. The Spanish wanted to claim Florida as a colony. They were also looking for new places to trade.
Precious Cargo
9 The Spanish ships brought clothing, food, and household goods to the colonists. They returned to Spain with gold, silver, and gemstones. They also carried tobacco, animal hides, sugar, spices, and dyes.
10 The Spanish required all of their merchant ships to sail in large groups because England, France, and the Netherlands tried to steal their cargo. These countries competed for the same resources.
Dangerous Waters
11 The eastern coast of Florida is sometimes called the Treasure Coast. Many Spanish treasure ships sank there. The return trip to Spain was the most dangerous part of the journey.
12 The Spanish fleet sailed from Spain down the coast of Africa. Then, they sailed to the Caribbean. The fleet would then split up. Some ships went to South America, others to the Gulf of Mexico. Then, they would ride the Gulf Stream before crossing the Atlantic
Ocean.
13 The ships faced many dangers. Hurricanes caused many shipwrecks. The high winds and water caused ships to hit the coast and reefs.
Famous Shipwrecks
14 Many shipwrecks happened off the coast of Florida. In 1559, the Spanish colonists were anchored near Pensacola Bay. Then, a hurricane hit. They lost a large number of ships. The wreckage from the 1559 hurricane was discovered in 1992.
15 In 1622, the Tierra Firme Fleet was preparing to return to Spain. But it lost two of its ships in the Florida Keys during a hurricane. At least 380 people died on board. The ships had gold pieces, silver from Peru and Mexico, gold and emeralds from Columbia, and pearls from Venezuela. One of the ships was found in 1985.
Undersea Adventure
16 Finding Florida’s lost ships has been very popular since the 1800s. People competed to find the cargo in these wrecked ships.
17 The shipwrecks have become important in other ways, too. They can teach the public about history. They also provide habitats for marine life. Some shipwrecks are protected now. Divers go down to the ships to do archaeological research. And some tourists even come to Florida to tour the famous wrecks.
