Final answer:
Zheng He, Vasco DaGama, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, and Samuel de Champlain were key figures in the Age of Discovery, exploring unknown territories to expand their nations' power and trade. They utilized advanced naval technologies like the caravel and contributed to early globalization.
Step-by-step explanation:
Zheng He, Vasco DaGama, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, and Samuel de Champlain were all pioneering explorers who greatly impacted the Age of Discovery. They share similarities in that they were all commissioned by powerful leaders of their respective countries to navigate unknown territories for the purpose of expanding their nation's influence, trade, and knowledge. Zheng He led massive expeditions on behalf of the Chinese Ming emperor to demonstrate China's power and to establish tributary relationships, while DaGama, Columbus, Magellan, and Champlain, on behalf of European monarchs, sought to find new trade routes and lands which culminated in the European discovery of the Americas and the circumnavigation of the Earth. Their voyages utilized advanced navigational technologies of the time, like the caravel ship design and the magnetic compass, which were crucial for their long sea voyages. These explorers contributed to the early forms of globalization by connecting distant parts of the world through maritime exploration and trade.