Important People
This explorer's voyages helped connect Europe with the Americas and started widespread contact between the two hemispheres.
Christopher Columbus
Name the three regions typically involved in the Triangle Trade routes between the 1500s–1800s
Europe, Africa, and the Americas
The forced movement of millions of Africans across the Atlantic to work in the Americas is commonly called the Transatlantic _______.
Slave Trade (Transatlantic Slave Trade)
Name one major Mesoamerican civilization
Maya, Aztec, or Olmec
The Ottoman Empire grew from people known as Turks and eventually controlled parts of three continents. Name one continent under Ottoman control.
Europe, Asia, or Africa
He was a West African king whose empire grew wealthy from gold and trans-Saharan trade; one famous city in his empire was Timbuktu.
Mansa Musa
This item (a product of the Americas) was often sent to Europe and was highly valued.
Cotton or Tobacco
What was the Middle Passage?
The Middle Passage was the sea voyage that transported enslaved Africans from Africa to the Americas; conditions were cramped and brutal
The Maya developed advanced knowledge in two fields; name one.
Astronomy, mathematics, writing
The Ottomans captured this important city in 1453, marking a major turning point in world history (name the city)
Constantinople
This Italian merchant and traveler wrote about his journeys to Asia and inspired Europeans to seek trade routes to the east.
Marco Polo
Ships leaving Europe often carried these to West Africa to trade for enslaved people.
Manufactured goods (textiles, guns, metal goods)
Name one way enslaved Africans resisted or survived the harsh conditions on the Middle Passage or on plantations.
Examples: covertly keeping cultural traditions, learning skills to increase chances of survival, resisting capture, rebellions on ships or plantations.
This large city-state, located on an island in a lake, was the center of the Aztec Empire.
Tenochtitlan
What role did the control of trade routes by the Ottomans and other Muslim empires play in European exploration?
Example answer: Their control made overland trade more difficult or expensive for Europeans, encouraging explorers to find sea routes to Asia.
This individual was the first person to circumnavigate the earth. Who was he and where was he from?
Vasco De Gama from Portugal
Explain, in one sentence, why the Triangle Trade increased the movement of goods and people across the Atlantic.
Example answer: Because ships could carry European goods to Africa, enslaved people to the Americas, and American products back to Europe, creating regular routes and exchanges.
Explain one reason European colonists turned to African slave labor rather than other sources of labor.
Indigenous peoples were prone to disease and knew the land around them so could escape more easily, whereas the African people brough over were disease resistant and did not know the surrounding land.
Describe one technological or agricultural achievement of a Mesoamerican civilization.
chinampas, calendar systems, pyramids
Name one cultural or scientific achievement associated with the Ottoman Empire or the broader Islamic Golden Age that students can recognize.
Examples: Distinctive architecture (e.g., mosques), advances in medicine and translation centers, literature and learning in universities and libraries
This religious and political leader founded the Ottoman Empire and became its first sultan in the late 13th / early 14th century.
Osman I
Describe one long-term economic effect the Triangle Trade had on the Americas or Europe.
Example answer: Growth of plantation economies in the Americas that produced cash crops for European markets; increased European wealth and growth of merchant economies.
Describe one social or cultural impact the Transatlantic slave trade had on West African societies (one or two sentences).
Depopulation and disruption of many West African communities; changes to political systems and increased warfare in some regions due to European demand for captives.
Explain how geography influenced where Mesoamerican civilizations developed
Example answer: Fertile river valleys and lakes provided water and rich soil for farming; mountains and forests led to varied environments that supported diverse crops and cities.
Explain how the expansion of the Turks and Ottomans affected European and Asian interactions between 550–1450 (one or two sentences).
Example answer: Ottoman expansion changed trade routes and political power, contributed to the end of some old trade paths, and encouraged Europeans to seek new sea routes, increasing contact between Europe and Asia.