Age of Exploration
These three motivations drove Europeans to explore new lands.
Gold, God, and Glory
In 1519, this Spanish conquistador led the conquest of the Aztec Empire with help from Indigenous allies.
Hernán Cortés
This was the name for the global transfer of plants, animals, and diseases after 1492.
Columbian Exchange
This was the name of the brutal voyage Africans endured across the Atlantic.
Middle Passage
European nations wanted this kind of trade balance—selling more than they bought.
Answer: Exporting more than importing (a favorable balance of trade)
This Portuguese explorer found a direct sea route to India, making a 27,000-mile journey.
Vasco da Gama
This Spanish labor system granted land and Indigenous workers to Spanish settlers, leading to widespread exploitation.
Encomienda System
This animal revolutionized Native American hunting on the plains.
Horse
About this percentage of Africans perished during the Middle Passage.
20%
Colonies were primarily used as sources of these.
Raw materials
Name the three main nations leading early exploration (besides Italy).
Portugal, Spain, and England/France
The Spanish relied on Indigenous labor in mines, which produced massive amounts of this precious metal — fueling European economies.
Silver
Two major crops from the Americas that became staples in Europe.
Potatoes and Corn
Enslaved Africans were primarily sent to work on these kinds of farms.
Sugar plantations
This new type of business organization allowed investors to pool money together, share risks, and fund overseas ventures like exploration and colonization.
Joint-stock companies
This ship type had triangular sails and a shallow draft, ideal for exploration.
Caravel
This institution helped Spain control Indigenous people by spreading Christianity and supporting colonial government.
The Catholic Church
Along with plants and animals, Europeans brought diseases like smallpox and measles to the Americas. These diseases wiped out an estimated what percentage of the Native population?
90% of the Native population
This system in Peru forced Native Americans to work in silver mines.
Mita System
These English trade laws (first passed in the mid-1600s) restricted colonial trade so that only England could benefit, increasing its wealth at the expense of rivals.
Navigation Acts
The 1494 treaty dividing Spanish and Portuguese claims in the Americas.
Treaty of Tordesillas
Massive silver exports from Mexico enriched Spain but had this major economic consequence back in Europe, weakening Spain’s economy over time.
Inflation — the huge influx of silver caused rising prices and decreased the value of money in Spain
These two Spanish conquistadors used smallpox to weaken powerful American empires and ultimately conquer them. Who were they, and what major internal factor within each empire also helped ensure their victory?
Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro — both used smallpox to devastate populations and exploited civil wars and internal divisions within the Aztec and Inca empires to take control
The Atlantic slave trade had long-term impacts on both Africa and the Americas. Name one major effect on African societies and one major effect on the Americas.
In Africa, the slave trade tore apart families, led to population loss, and introduced guns, destabilizing regions. In the Americas, it boosted economic power through forced labor and led to lasting cultural influences such as African music, religion, and food
European colonization reshaped the world politically, economically, and culturally. Identify 3 major long-term global impacts of colonization that can still be seen today.
Spread of European languages and religions
Creation of global trade networks
Lasting social hierarchies and inequality in colonies
Cultural blending and displacement of Indigenous populations
Shifts in global power toward Europe