Explorers and their Voyages
Who was Henry the Navigator?
A Portuguese man who established a center for exploration in 1420 that brought together astronomers, geographers, and mathematicians to advance exploration.
What are conquistadors?
Spanish explorers who searched for gold and wanted to convert people to Christianity.
What is a compass?
A navigation tool that shows which direction is magnetic north and helped sailors navigate during the Age of Exploration.
What was New Amsterdam?
Dutch colony was built on the tip of Manhattan Island, purchased from the Manhattos people for about $24 worth of goods, and is known today as New York City.
What body of water was discovered by Vasco Nunez de Balboa in 1513 after he heard of great waters beyond the mountains of Panama?
The Pacific Ocean
Who was Amerigo Vespucci?
This Italian explorer mapped the coastline of the Americas and determined that South America was its own continent, and the New World was eventually named after him.
Who was Hernan Cortes?
He landed in present-day Mexico in 1519, made alliances with natives who opposed the Aztecs, took Montezuma prisoner, and conquered the Aztec Empire within 2 years.
What are the carrack and the caravel?
These two types of ships made the long voyages of explorers possible.
Carrack: large and sturdy
Caravel: small and easy to handle
What is the Northwest Passage?t
the hoped-for water route through or around North America that would provide easier access to Asia and the Indies, searched for by explorers like Cabot, Cartier, and Hudson
What was the Cape of Good Hope?
the southern tip of Africa that Bartholomeu Dias became the first European to sail around in 1487
Who was Vasco de Gama?
In 1497, this explorer became the first person to reach India by sailing down and around Africa.
What are missions, pueblos, and presidios?
Three types of Spanish colonial infrastructure that were established in the Americas.
Missions: religious communities
Pueblos: trading towns
Presidios: forts
What was the Columbian Exchange?
the transfer of people, plants, animals, and diseases between Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas following European exploration
Who was Martin Luther?
The German Priest who started the Reformation in 1517 by questioning the authority of the Catholic leaders. He believed that faith rather than actions got you into Heaven and that people could learn everything they needed from the Bible.
Which two bodies of water are connected to New Orleans and made New Orleans a prominent port city after it was founded by France in 1718?
The Mississippi River and the Gulf.
Who was Jacques Cartier?
Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River and discovered the area that became Montreal, Canada.
Who was Bartolome de Las Casas?
The Spanish priest who condemned the cruel treatment of Native Americans, pushed for protective laws, and helped make enslaving Native Americans illegal in New Spain in 1542.
What are the astrolabe and quadrant?
navigation instruments measured the positions of the sun and stars, allowing sailors to determine distances north and south of any given point
How did the conflict between France and Spain over Florida end?
With a French defeat after the Spanish governor, Pedro Menendez de Aviles sent forces to attack Fort Caroline in Jacksonville
Who was Henry Hudson?
explorer that had both a major river and a large bay in North America named after him after he explored the area while working for the Netherlands
Who was Ferdinand Magellan?
Starting with 5 ships in 1519, his crew became the first to circumnavigate the world; he was killed during the journey, and only 1 ship with 200 men completed the 3-year voyage.
What are the five levels of the Spanish American social class system?
Peninsulares, Creoles, Mestizos, Native Americans, and Enslaved Africans
What are the four reasons why Spanish conquistadors were able to successfully defeat the powerful Aztec Empire?
superior weapons (guns, cannons, iron), horses and dogs, help from Native American allies who opposed the empires, and diseases that killed natives who had no immunity
What is the Dutch West India Company?
Dutch trading company operated between the Americas, Africa, and the Netherlands, and established New Amsterdam as its main colony in the Americas
Who were Joliet and Marquette?
In the 1670s, these two explorers traveled down the Mississippi River thinking they had found the Northwest Passage, but learned it flowed into the Gulf of Mexico instead