Age of Exploration
What were the three major motives for European exploration often summarized with three G's?
gold
glory
God
What country led the earliest sustained European exploration down the western coast of Africa?
Portugal
What country sponsored Christopher Columbus's famous 1492 voyage?
Spain
Which explorer's first name became associated with the name "America"?
Amerigo Vespucci
What were Spanish conquerors in the Americas commonly called?
Conquistadors
What term describes the exchange between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres following sustained European contact?
Columbian Exchange
What economic system encouraged nations to use colonies to increase national wealth and power?
Mercantilism
Which English king broke with the Roman Catholic Church?
Henry VIII
Which queen ruled England when the Spanish Armada attacked?
Elizabeth I
What was England's famous "Lost Colony"?
Roanoke
What valuable Asian products encouraged Europeans to search for new trade routes?
Spices, silk, and other luxury goods.
Which Portuguese prince became famous for encouraging exploration?
Henry the Navigator
Where was Columbus born?
Italy
What important conclusion did Vespucci reach about the lands across the Atlantic?
They were part of a previously unknown continent rather than simply Asia.
Which conquistador is associated with the conquest of the Aztec Empire?
Hernan / Hernando Cortez
Name one crop that traveled from the Americas to Europe.
Corn, potatoes, tomatoes, cacao, peppers, squash, etc.
Under mercantilism, what was one major purpose of colonies?
To provide raw materials and markets that benefited the mother country.
Who was Henry VIII's first wife?
Catherine of Aragon
Which Spanish king sent the Armada against England?
Phillip II
Why is Roanoke called the "Lost Colony"?
When English supply ships eventually returned, the colonists had disappeared and their ultimate fate remains uncertain.
Why did Europeans want a direct sea route to Asia?
To gain easier/direct access to Asian goods and reduce dependence on existing trade routes and middlemen.
How many voyages did Prince Henry make?
0
Which 2 monarchs supported Columbus' journey?
What is a cartographer?
a mapmaker
Which conquistador is associated with the conquest of the Inca Empire?
Francisco Pizarro
Name one animal Europeans brought to the Americas.
Horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, etc.
What was the Middle Passage?
The forced Atlantic voyage that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas.
What major personal and political problem contributed to Henry's conflict with Rome?
He wanted his marriage annulled and was concerned about producing a male heir/succession.
Was Elizabeth's England primarily Catholic or Protestant?
Protestant
What mysterious word was found associated with the abandoned settlement of Roanoke?
Croatoan
Which two European countries initially became leaders in overseas exploration?
Portugal and Spain
What/where did Prince Henry encourage Portuguese sailors to explore?
The western coast of Africa and routes farther south.
What/Where was Columbus actually trying to reach by sailing west?
Asia
Why did maps become increasingly important during the Age of Exploration?
Explorers and governments needed increasingly accurate geographic information for navigation, trade, claims, and future voyages.
The Aztec Empire can be found mostly in what current/present day country?
What devastating disease was introduced into the Americas from the Old World
smallpox
What ocean was crossed during the Middle Passage?
The Atlantic
What law declared Henry VIII supreme head of the Church of England?
The Act of Supremacy
Was Philip II's Spain primarily Catholic or Protestant?
Catholic
Was Roanoke England's first successful permanent American colony?
No
What technological instrument helped sailors determine direction?
The Compass
Which Portuguese explorer first sailed around the southern tip of Africa?
Bartolomeu Dias.
What ocean did Columbus cross?
The Atlantic
What German cartographer placed the name "America" on a famous 1507 map?
Martin Waldseemüller.
Peru
How did horses change life for some Indigenous peoples?
Horses transformed transportation, hunting, warfare, and patterns of life for some groups, particularly later on the Great Plains.
What Spanish priest became famous for criticizing mistreatment of Indigenous peoples?
Bartolomé de las Casas.
What church emerged from England's break with papal authority?
The Church of England / The Anglican Church
Who was the famous English sailor and privateer who attacked Spanish shipping?
Francis Drake
What does Roanoke's failure demonstrate about early colonization?
Establishing a distant colony was extremely difficult because settlers depended on supplies, food, relationships with Indigenous peoples, communication, and reliable transportation across the Atlantic.
How did improved maps and navigation contribute to exploration?
They allowed sailors to navigate longer voyages more accurately and safely.
What name became associated with the southern tip of Africa that the explorers rounded?
The Cape of Good Hope
Where did Columbus actually arrive?
The carribean (Bahamas)
How did exploration change European maps?
New voyages provided information about coastlines, oceans, continents, and distances that corrected and expanded earlier geographic knowledge.
Name TWO advantages or circumstances that helped Europeans conquer large American empires.
Disease, Indigenous allies, steel weapons, horses, firearms, internal political divisions, or civil war.
Who was the Columbian Exchange named after and why?
Columbus
What did Las Casas argue about Indigenous peoples?
He argued that they were human beings who should not be brutally exploited or enslaved and criticized Spanish abuses against them.
Who succeeded Henry VIII and moved England further toward Protestantism?
Edward VI
What is a privateer?
A privately owned sailor or ship authorized by a government to attack enemy shipping during conflict.
Who was the first English person born in the United States / early colonies?
Virginia Dare
What type of ship became particularly useful for Portuguese exploration?
caravel
Which Portuguese explorer successfully sailed from Europe to India around Africa?
Vasco de Gama
Did Columbus realize that he had encountered continents previously unknown to Europeans? Elaborate
No. He continued to believe the lands were connected to Asia.
Why was Vespucci's conclusion historically significant?
Recognizing that the lands were a separate continent fundamentally changed Europeans' understanding of world geography.
Why is it inaccurate to say that Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire simply with a few hundred Spaniards?
Cortés relied heavily on thousands of Indigenous allies who opposed Aztec rule.
Why were European diseases particularly devastating to Indigenous Americans?
Indigenous populations had not experienced many of these Old World diseases previously and lacked population-level immunity.
How did European demand for colonial products contribute to Atlantic slavery?
Labor-intensive colonial agriculture and mining created enormous demand for coerced labor, contributing to the expansion of the transatlantic slave trade.
Which English queen attempted to restore Roman Catholicism?
Mary I
In what year did the Spanish Armada attempt its invasion?
1588
Why did England become increasingly interested in North American colonies?
England wanted trade, resources, territory, strategic advantages, opportunities for settlement, and greater power in competition with Spain and other European nations.
Explain how economic, religious, and political motives worked together to encourage exploration.
Europeans wanted profitable trade and resources, sought to spread Christianity, and competed with rival nations for territory and power. These motives reinforced one another and encouraged governments to finance exploration.
Why was Dias's voyage important even though he did not reach India?
He demonstrated that ships could sail around the southern end of Africa, opening the possibility of a sea route to the Indian Ocean and Asia.
Why was Columbus's voyage historically significant even though he did not accomplish his original goal?
His voyages initiated sustained contact between Europe and the Americas and helped begin a massive era of exploration, colonization, and exchange.
What does the Waldseemüller map demonstrate about the relationship between exploration and knowledge?
Information brought back by explorers changed European geographic understanding and was incorporated into new maps.
How did disease assist European conquest?
Diseases such as smallpox devastated Indigenous populations that had little previous exposure or immunity, weakening societies politically and militarily.
How did American crops affect populations in Europe and elsewhere?
Nutrient- and calorie-rich crops such as potatoes and corn increased food supplies and eventually helped support population growth.
Explain the connection between mercantilism and colonization.
European governments viewed colonies as sources of raw materials, wealth, trade, and markets that could strengthen the mother country's economy and power.
Which ruler followed Mary and established a lasting Protestant settlement in England?
Elizabeth I
Give TWO reasons Spain and England became enemies.
Religious conflict, competition for trade and overseas power, English attacks on Spanish shipping, English support for Dutch rebels, and Philip's opposition to Elizabeth.
Where was Roanoke located?
on an island ////off the coast of present day North Carolina
Why was da Gama's voyage economically important to Portugal?
It established a direct maritime route connecting Portugal with the valuable Indian Ocean trade.
What present day country in South American did Portugal claim.
Brazil
Give one major positive development and one major harmful consequence resulting from the era initiated by Columbus's voyages.
Positive answers: exchange of crops, animals, ideas, technology, and expanded global trade.
Harmful answers: disease, conquest, forced labor, displacement, slavery, and destruction of Indigenous communities.
Columbus and Vespucci are both associated with the Americas, but what was fundamentally different about their understanding?
Columbus believed he had reached areas associated with Asia, while Vespucci recognized that the lands represented a separate part of the world previously unknown to Europeans.
Why were internal divisions within American empires important to Spanish success?
Spaniards exploited rivalries and resentment among Indigenous groups. Cortés gained allies among peoples opposed to Aztec rule, while Pizarro encountered an Inca Empire weakened by civil war.
Explain why the Columbian Exchange was a turning point in world history.
It permanently connected the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, creating global networks through which people, plants, animals, diseases, goods, cultures, and ideas moved on an unprecedented scale.
Why was Henry VIII's break with Rome about more than just his marriage?
It fundamentally changed the relationship between the English monarchy and the Church, transferred religious authority and property, and had major political and religious consequences.
Why was the defeat of the Spanish Armada important for England?
It prevented the planned Spanish invasion, helped preserve Elizabeth's Protestant government, increased English confidence at sea, and became an important milestone in England's development as an Atlantic maritime power.
Explain how Elizabeth I, Francis Drake, the Spanish Armada, and Roanoke all fit into England's rise as an Atlantic power
Elizabeth supported England's growing maritime ambitions; Drake challenged Spanish power and demonstrated English naval capabilities; England's resistance to the Spanish Armada strengthened national confidence and preserved Elizabeth's government; and Roanoke demonstrated England's growing desire to establish permanent overseas colonies even though that particular attempt failed.