AGE OF EXPLORATION
In 1492, this Italian explorer sailing for Spain made a very famous landing in the Americas.
Who was Christopher Columbus?
This German monk is credited with starting the Protestant Reformation in 1517.
Who was Martin Luther?
This French king famously declared, "L'état, c'est moi" ("I am the state").
Who was Louis XIV?
This English mathematician and physicist formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation.
Who was Isaac Newton?
This precious metal, looted from the Americas, caused massive inflation in 16th-century Spain.
What was silver?
His crew completed the first circumnavigation of the globe, though he died en route in the Philippines.
Who was Ferdinand Magellan?
This English king started the Church of England after the Pope refused to annul his marriage.
Who was King Henry VIII?
He was the Tudor monarch who established the Church of England and had six wives.
Who was King Henry VIII?
He is known for the philosophical statement "I think, therefore I am."
Who was René Descartes?
This company, founded in 1600, was given a monopoly on English trade with Asia.
What was the (British) East India Company?
This term, meaning "conqueror," refers to the Spanish explorers and soldiers who conquered territories in the Americas.
Who were the conquistadors?
This French Protestant group was granted rights by the Edict of Nantes in 1598.
Who were the Huguenots?
This Russian czar was known as "the Great" for his efforts to modernize and westernize Russia.
Who was Peter the Great?
He developed a theory of a sun-centered, or heliocentric, solar system.
Who was Nicolaus Copernicus?
This Japanese policy, instituted in the 1630s, severely restricted foreign trade and contact with the outside world for over 200 years.
What was Sakoku (or the Closed Country Edict)?
This Chinese admiral led seven massive treasure fleets on diplomatic voyages decades before the European Age of Exploration.
Who was Zheng He?
This was the name of the Christian church in Western Europe before the Reformation, led by the Pope in Rome.
What was the Roman Catholic Church?
This "Sun King" built the magnificent Palace of Versailles to control his nobility.
Who was Louis XIV?
This Italian scientist used a telescope to provide evidence for the heliocentric model and faced opposition from the Church.
Who was Galileo Galilei?
This term describes the three-legged trade route that connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
What was the Triangular Trade?
This Spanish conquistador is infamous for conquering the Inca Empire in Peru.
Who was Francisco Pizarro?
This French theologian further developed Calvinist theology and was a key figure in the Reformed tradition.
Who was John Calvin?
This powerful European royal family was known for its practice of "inbreeding" in order to consolidate family power resulting in genetic deformities, most famously a specific jaw deformity.
Who are the Habsburgs?
This tool, invented during the Scientific Revolution, allowed scientists to measure temperature accurately for the first time.
What is the thermometer?
This valuable red dye, made from insects found in Mexico, became a major Spanish export to Europe.
What was cochineal?