Motivations for Exploration
European interest in spices, silk, and porcelain from Asia intensified after this empire seized control of key land trade routes in 1453.
The Ottoman
Europe’s population tanked on account of this deadly disease and they experienced hard times
The black death
He was a leading figure in Portugal’s early exploration efforts.
Prince Henry the Navigator
This was the mistake Columbus made when he reached the Caribbean.
What is he believed he had landed in the East Indies?
This crop, introduced to Europe from South America, helped reduce famine and malnutrition in Europe and China, but also contributed to events like deforestation in China and a devastating famine in Ireland.
The potato
This type of political system, which consolidated power under a centralized government, helped European states fund exploration.
What is a nation state
This significant political shift supported exploration
political unification
Columbus sought Spanish sponsorship to find Asia by this method.
What is sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean?
This is what Columbus called the native people of the Caribbean.
What are Indians?
This deadly element of the Columbian Exchange flowed mainly from Europe to the Americas, wiping out up to 90% of indigenous populations and unintentionally aiding European conquest and the rise of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
disease
European states competed for colonies in the Americas largely to shift this toward themselves.
What is balance of power
This Spanish monarchal pair completed the Reconquista and later funded Columbus’s 1492 voyage.
Who are Ferdinand and Isabella
This global exchange began as a result of Columbus's landing.
What is the Columbian Exchange?
This crop, highly desired in Europe and profitable in the Caribbean, contributed to the rise of plantation slavery.
What is sugar cane
This 16th-century religious movement challenged the authority and corruption of the Catholic Church.
Protestant Reformation
This Italian explorer received Spanish funding to find a westward route to Asia in 1492.
Who is Christopher Columbus
European thinkers like Benjamin Franklin were inspired by the egalitarian and consensus-based political systems of indigenous groups such as the Iroquois, which helped influence this foundational document in U.S. history.
What is the U.S. Constitution
This 1494 agreement, brokered by the pope, divided the non-European world between Spain and Portugal.
What is the Treaty of Tordesillas?
This Portuguese explorer was the first to round the Cape of Good Hope and reach India by sea in 1498.
Who is Vasco de Gama
In the early centuries of the Columbian Exchange, European monarchs often granted monopolies to these privately-owned companies—such as the British East India Company—to control trade and maximize profits from cash crops like sugar and tobacco.
Joint stock companies