Motives & Ocean Tech
What three-word phrase summarizes the primary motives driving European monarchs and explorers during the Age of Exploration?
God, Gold, and Glory.
Which Indigenous group in the Bahamas did Christopher Columbus first meet in 1492?
The Taíno.
What was the main goal of the Pope's Line of Demarcation in 1493?
To divide newly explored lands between Catholic rivals Spain and Portugal to prevent a war.
What made the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán unique when the Spanish arrived?
It was built on an island in Lake Texcoco with causeways, aqueducts, and floating gardens.
What two terms describe the brutal transatlantic ocean voyage and the legal system where human beings were bought, sold, and owned permanently as property?
The Middle Passage (the ocean voyage) and Chattel Slavery (the ownership system).
Which two major technological innovations—a lightweight Portuguese ship with lateen sails and a tool measuring star angles—allowed sailors to navigate open oceans and travel into the wind?
The caravel and the astrolabe.
How did European horses change the lives of Indigenous nations on the Great Plains?
Horses made hunting buffalo and traveling across the plains much faster and easier.
How did the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) change the Pope's original line?
It moved the line further west, allowing Portugal to claim Brazil.
How did Malinche (Doña Marina) help Hernán Cortés defeat the Aztecs?
She translated languages and advised Cortés on how to form alliances with anti-Aztec tribes.
How did Spanish colonial officials change the traditional Incan mita system?
They turned a community labor tradition into a forced draft requiring Native men to work in dangerous silver mines like Potosí.
Which captain's Spanish expedition achieved the first successful circumnavigation (sailing all the way around) of the globe between 1519 and 1522?
Ferdinand Magellan (and Juan Sebastián Elcano).
Which Old World cash crop introduced to the Americas became the primary driver of the profitable sugar plantation economy and forced labor?
Sugar cane.
Why was the new continent named "America"?
To honor Amerigo Vespucci, who wrote letters identifying it as a distinct "New World."
How was Francisco Pizarro able to capture the Incan emperor during their meeting at Cajamarca in 1532?
He launched a surprise ambush using cannons, horses, and steel weapons against unarmed Incan nobles.
What was the main difference between Peninsulares and Creoles in Spanish colonial society?
Peninsulares were born in Spain and held all top jobs, while Creoles were of Spanish descent born in the Americas and blocked from top offices.
Who was the Portuguese navigator who became the first European to sail around the tip of Africa and reach India by sea in 1498?
Vasco da Gama.
What strategy did Christopher Columbus use during his 1492 Atlantic crossing to prevent his anxious crew from panicking and rebelling?
He kept two separate ship logs—a secret real log recording the true, longer distance sailed and a fake log showing shorter distances to reassure his crew.
How did countries like England and France try to compete with Spain's trade monopoly in the 1500s?
By searching for a Northwest Passage and sending privateers (pirates) to attack Spanish trade ships.
Why did executing the Incan emperor completely paralyze and dismantle the Incan military and government?
Because the emperor was viewed as a divine, god-like figure with absolute authority, so his death completely destroyed the centralized command structure and left local forces without leadership or orders.
How did enslaved Africans actively fight back against slavery?
By staging ship revolts, keeping their cultural traditions alive in secret, and escaping to build independent free communities (quilombos).
How did finding a direct sea route to Asia help European kings meet the goals of mercantilism?
It allowed them to buy spices directly without paying high taxes to Ottoman middlemen, keeping gold and silver inside their own country.
Why did the Columbian Exchange cause Europe's population to grow while the Indigenous population in the Americas collapsed?
Nutrient-rich American crops improved European diets and boosted population, while European diseases like smallpox wiped out Native Americans who had no immunity.
What was the main disagreement between Sepúlveda and Las Casas at the Valladolid Debate in 1550?
Sepúlveda argued Native Americans were "natural slaves" who needed to be conquered, while Las Casas argued they were human beings with rights who should be treated peacefully.
What key factors allowed both Cortés and Pizarro to defeat massive Indigenous empires?
Both took advantage of devastating smallpox outbreaks, exploited internal political weaknesses (Cortés made alliances with rival tribes like the Tlaxcalans, while Pizarro exploited an Incan civil war), and captured the ruler to paralyze leadership.
How did European guns create a "survival trap" for West African kings during the slave trade?
West African kings needed European guns to protect themselves from neighbors, but the only way to get guns was to capture and trade prisoners to Europeans.