Explorers
This Chinese admiral led voyages from 1405–1433 with huge treasure ships to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Africa, showing Ming power and wealth.
Zheng He
This Spanish conquistador defeated the Aztec Empire in 1519 after making alliances with indigenous groups in Mexico.
Hernán Cortés
This "Renaissance Man" was an artist, scientist, and inventor whose notebooks show many ideas; he painted the Mona Lisa.
Leonardo da Vinci.
Name one musical change of the Renaissance: music moved from mostly monophonic chant to this style featuring several simultaneous melodies
Polyphony
The Renaissance began after this major world pandemic.
Bubonic Plague
This Italian sailed for Spain in 1492 intending to reach India and instead landed on San Salvador in the “New World.
Christopher Columbus
This conquistador conquered the Incan Empire in 1533 and later founded the city of Lima, Peru.
Francisco Pizarro
From an Italian banking family, this artist apprenticed with the Medici family's workshop and later painted and sculpted famous works such as the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Michelangelo
This type of Renaissance dance was formal and performed by trained dancers, often at court.
Court dance
Who were the first known people to travel from Europe to the "New World"? (THIS WAS A LONG TIME BEFORE THE AGE OF EXPLORATION)
Vikings
This Portuguese explorer commanded the first European ship to sail directly from Europe to India in 1498, rounding the southern tip of Africa
Vasco da Gama
Bringing back immense wealth in precious metals, these Spanish conquests helped make Spain very powerful. Name one economic effect on Spain from these treasures.
Influx of silver/gold led to inflation and stronger Spanish economy then long-term problems (inflation, dependence).
This English playwright wrote Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet and lived during the height of the Renaissance in England under Elizabeth I
William Shakespeare
Two common new painting media in the Renaissance produced richer colors and detail. Name one.
Oil paint (or water-based paints)
Where did the Renissance begin in Europe? What nation?
Italy
The crew of this Portuguese-born explorer completed the first circumnavigation of the world (1519–1522); the explorer himself died in the Philippines
Ferdinand Magellan
Explain how alliances with some indigenous groups helped Spanish conquistadors conquer large empires. (How/Why?
Spanish used native rivalries, military technology, and disease to overpower larger empires.
This German inventor developed a movable metal type printing press around 1455, which allowed books to be printed more widely.
Johannes Gutenberg
Describe one reason theater grew in popularity in England during the Renaissance
Because more people could afford leisure, theaters had cheap admission and popular appeal; also patronage and relative stability under Elizabeth I supported the arts.
Describe the difference between a pirate and privateer.
Pirate is an actual outlaw; Privateers are hired by a sovereign nation for a period of time.
This French explorer claimed modern-day Canada for France in 1534 and was the first to sail and map the St. Lawrence River.
Jacques Cartier
Describe one way the Age of Exploration contributed to global trade networks and one effect on African or Asian societies. (Explain.)
New Atlantic trade routes exchanged goods, people, and ideas — increased trade in African goods and led to disruption (and later the Atlantic slave trade); in Asia, European presence altered local trade but often integrated into existing networks.
Define "vernacular" and explain why writing literature in the vernacular during the Renaissance mattered for more people learning to read.
Vernacular = the everyday language of ordinary people; using it made literature accessible beyond the elite who read Latin, boosting literacy and spread of ideas.
Compare one difference between Northern Renaissance art techniques (like engravings and woodcuts) and Italian Renaissance painting (one medium or goal).
Northern artists often used engravings and woodcuts to reproduce images and emphasize detailed textures and moral themes; Italian painters emphasized frescoes, perspective, and classical ideals using oil for depth and color.
What does Renaissance mean?
"Rebirth" of art, science, invention, literature, and ideas.