Vocabulary 1
a person who buys and sells goods for profit
merchant
Traders ship goods by sea because it was faster than traveling by . . .
land
a journey or voyage
expedition
a widespread disease
epidemic
a person who supports another financially
patron
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain sponsored
Christopher Columbus
a large group of states or countries
empire
a country or area under the control of another country
colony
the process of planning a route and finding one's location
navigation
explored the northern seas beginning in the ninth century
The Vikings
getting, transporting, and selling human beings as slaves
slave trade
he first to reach India
Vasco da Gama
a large farm on which a single crop is usually grown
plantation
the first to successfully sail around the tip of Africa
Bartolomeu Dias
a small, fast sailing ship
caravel
led an expedition to Mexico to conquer the Aztec empire
Hernán Cortés
a Spanish conqueror in the 1500s
conquistador
hoped to reach Asia by sailing west from Spain. He was the first to circumnavigate the world.
Ferdinand Magellan
an instrument used in navigation that measures the sun and stars
astrolabe
the movement of people, animals, plants, and cultures between Eastern and Western hemispheres
Columbian Exchange