European Motivations & Key Explorers
This was the main economic reason European countries wanted to explore new trade routes.
What is to gain wealth / gold?
He opened a navigation school in Portugal to advance exploration.
Who is Prince Henry the Navigator?
Spain and Portugal divided the New World using this agreement.
What is the Treaty of Tordesillas?
Spanish missions were established mainly for this purpose.
What is to convert Native Americans to Christianity?
This is the name for the exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between Europe and the Americas.
What is the Columbian Exchange?
This explorer sailed for Spain in 1492 and landed in the Americas.
Who is Christopher Columbus?
This invention made it easier for sailors to find their direction at sea.
What is the compass?
The Spanish conquerors of the Americas were called this.
Who are the conquistadors?
These were communities built around churches in Spanish colonies.
What are missions?
This animal, introduced by Europeans, changed Native American hunting.
What is the horse?
This term refers to spreading Christianity during exploration.
What is religious motivation (God)?
This tool helped sailors determine their latitude by measuring the stars.
What is the astrolabe?
This empire was defeated by Hernán Cortés in modern-day Mexico.
What is the Aztec Empire?
This priest spoke out against the mistreatment of Native Americans.
Who is Bartolomé de las Casas?
These deadly things were brought by Europeans and killed many Native Americans.
What are diseases?
He was the first European to sail around the Cape of Good Hope to India.
Who is Vasco da Gama?
These new, faster ships allowed explorers to sail farther.
What are caravels?
Francisco Pizarro defeated this empire in South America.
What is the Incan Empire?
This system forced Native Americans to work for Spanish landlords.
What is the encomienda system?
This crop from the Americas became a staple in European diets.
What is the potato?
This English explorer tried to find a Northwest Passage but ended up exploring parts of Canada.
Who is John Cabot?
This field of study greatly improved maps and navigation during the Age of Exploration.
What is cartography?
This Spanish system gave colonists land and Native laborers.
What is the encomienda system?
This was one result of religious conflict in the colonies.
What is forced conversion or blending of religious beliefs?
This sweet crop from the Americas drove demand for enslaved labor.
What is sugarcane?