Trade Before 1492
What is a textile?
Cloth made by weaving threads or fibers.
European explorers wanted to find new sea routes to which continent?
Asia
What region did Columbus reach in 1492?
The Caribbean
What was the exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Americas and other parts of the world called?
Columbian Exchange
What valuable metal was mined in the Americas and shipped to Europe and Asia?
Silver
What black volcanic glass was traded in Mesoamerica and used to make sharp tools?
Obsidian
What tool helped sailors find direction at sea?
Compass
What were Spanish conquerors called?
Conquistadors
What was a large farm that grew crops, such as sugar, for sale called?
Plantation
What Spanish system forced Indigenous communities to provide goods or labor?
Encomienda
What major trade routes connected parts of Asia, Europe, and Africa?
Silk Roads
What type of map showed coastlines and ports?
Portolan chart
Which major Indigenous empire did the Spanish conquer in central Mexico?
Aztec (Mexica) Empire
What was the forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean called?
Middle Passage
What type of company was funded by investors who bought shares?
Joint-stock company
How did the Inca move goods across their empire in the Andes Mountains?
Using roads and llamas
What type of sail helped ships travel at an angle to the wind?
Lateen sail
What do we call lands controlled by another country?
Colonies
What happened to many Indigenous communities when new European diseases reached the Americas?
Many Indigenous people died.
What economic system used government rules to control colonial trade?
Mercantilism
Archaeologists found shells from the Gulf Coast at Cahokia. What does this tell us about trade before 1492?
Indigenous communities traded goods over long distances.
How did a compass and an astrolabe help sailors navigate?
A compass helped sailors find direction. An astrolabe helped them estimate their latitude (how far north or south they were).
What event weakened the Inca Empire, making it easier for the Spanish to conquer?
A civil war
How did the demand for sugar increase the slave trade?
Sugar plantations needed more workers.
What special powers could a government charter give a trading company like the Dutch East India Company?
Build forts and use soldiers