Columbus Crosses the Atlantic
In what year did Christopher Columbus make his first voyage across the Atlantic?
1492
What were the Native Americans Columbus first encountered called?
The Taino
From which continent were enslaved people transported to the Americas?
Africa
What was the early transfer of goods across the Atlantic called?
The Columbian Exchange
Which European country financed Columbus’s voyages?
Spain
Name one European disease that caused deadly outbreaks among Native Americans.
Measles, mumps, chickenpox, smallpox, or typhus
Why did Spanish colonizers begin bringing enslaved Africans to the Americas?
Many Native Americans had died, so colonizers wanted additional workers for their plantations and settlements.
Which two countries signed the Treaty of Tordesillas?
Spain and Portugal
What three things did Columbus promise the Spanish monarchs in exchange for their support?
He promised to find a western trade route to Asia, claim new lands for Spain, and convert the people he encountered to Christianity.
Why were European diseases especially deadly to Native Americans?
They had no natural immunity to the diseases brought by Europeans.
How did the Atlantic slave trade damage societies in West Africa?
It took away many of their fittest people and destroyed or weakened numerous African societies.
According to the Treaty of Tordesillas, which country could explore and colonize lands west of the dividing line?
Spain
Why did Columbus call the Native American people he encountered “Indians”?
He mistakenly believed that he had reached islands near Asia, which Europeans called the Indies.
Identify two methods Europeans used to control Native Americans during colonization.
They forced people to work, used weapons and violence, established controlled settlements, or created plantations.
Explain the connection between the deaths of Native Americans and the growth of the Atlantic slave trade.
The deaths of Native Americans created a demand for additional labor, leading the Spanish to transport enslaved Africans to the Americas.
Explain what moved between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres during the Columbian Exchange.
Plants, animals, trade goods, people, and diseases moved among the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Although Columbus failed to accomplish his primary goal, why are his voyages considered historically significant?
They connected Europe and the Americas, encouraged colonization and trade, and began major cultural, economic, and demographic changes around the Atlantic.
Evaluate Columbus’s voyages by identifying one effect on Native American population and one effect on Native American culture or freedom.
European diseases and brutality killed thousands, while colonization forced many survivors to work and threatened their land, freedom, and culture.
By the 1800s, approximately how many enslaved Africans had been taken to the Americas, and what was one long-term effect on Africa?
Approximately 12 million; African societies lost large portions of their population and many of their strongest or fittest people.
How did the movement of Native American, African, and European peoples create a new kind of society in the Americas?
Their cultures interacted and blended, creating a multicultural society that retained Native American, African, and European cultural elements.