Age of Exploration
This time period from the mid-1400s to the mid-1500s saw Europeans searching for new sea routes to Asia.
What is the Age of Exploration?
This Portuguese prince funded voyages along the African coast and encouraged navigation research.
Who is Prince Henry the Navigator?
This system dominated Europe after Rome fell and was based on land exchanged for loyalty and military service.
What is Feudalism?
This doctrine states that the Pope has supreme authority over the Christian Church.
What is Papal Supremacy?
These peasants worked the land and could not leave without permission under feudalism.
Who were Serfs?
European nations explored partly because Muslim empires controlled land routes to Asia and raised prices.
What were the spice trade routes (or Asian trade routes)?
This Portuguese explorer sailed around the southern tip of Africa in 1488.
Who is Bartholomeu Dias?
In 1066 this duke defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings and became king of England.
Who is William the Conqueror?
These communities of monks lived simple lives of prayer and helped copy manuscripts and educate people.
What are Monasteries?
This document forced King John to accept limits on his power in 1215.
What is the Magna Carta?
This ship design with triangular sails allowed Europeans to travel farther across oceans.
What is a Caravel?
This explorer reached India by sea in 1498 and helped Portugal gain access to valuable spices.
Who is Vasco da Gama?
This English king strengthened royal authority by creating traveling judges and a royal court system.
Who is Henry II?
This monastic order founded by Benedict of Nursia became the most common in Western Europe.
What are the Benedictines?
This legal system developed from royal court decisions and traditions in England.
What is Common Law?
This 1494 agreement divided newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal.
What is the Treaty of Tordesillas?
This Italian explorer sailing for Spain reached the Caribbean in 1492 while searching for Asia.
Who is Christopher Columbus?
This French dynasty began with Hugh Capet and ruled France for over 300 years.
What is the Capetian Dynasty?
This Roman emperor legalized Christianity with the Edict of Milan in 313.
Who is Constantine?
This economic system taught that a nation’s wealth depended on gold and silver and that colonies existed to benefit the mother country.
What is Mercantilism?
This global transfer of plants, animals, and ideas between the Americas and the Old World reshaped diets and societies.
What is the Columbian Exchange?
This Spanish conquistador conquered the Aztec Empire in 1519.
Who is Hernán Cortés?
This emperor attempted to restore Roman imperial power and fought city-states in northern Italy.
Who is Frederick Barbarossa?
This pope administered church reforms after the fall of the Western Roman Empire and helped strengthen papal authority.
Who is Pope Gregory I?
This conflict between emperors and popes over church authority weakened the Holy Roman Empire.
What is the Investiture Controversy?