Exploration Technology
This device helped sailors determine latitude by measuring the angle of stars.
What is the Astrolabe?
This Portuguese prince, who never actually sailed himself, is known as the patron of exploration.
Who is Prince Henry the Navigator?
This country bordering Portugal and the Mediterranean Sea sponsored Columbus’s first voyage in 1492.
What is Spain?
This explorer, who founded the French trading post that became Quebec, is now known for the Canadian lake that shares his name.
Who is Samuel de Champlain?
This term describes the sea route enslaved Africans took across the Atlantic to the Americas, during which 20% did not survive.
What is the Middle Passage?
This technological advancement in sails, already in use in the Indian Ocean, allowed European ships to sail against the wind.
What are triangular sails?
This explorer reached the southern tip of Africa, proving a sea route to the Indian Ocean was possible.
Who is Bartolomeu Dias?
The presence of this resource was exaggerated by Columbus, but became the primary motivation for Spanish exploration and conquest in the Americas.
What is gold?
This English colony, established in 1607 and named for the newly crowned king of England and Scotland, was the first permanent settlement in the New World.
What is Jamestown?
This former enslaved African, who learned to read and write English in captivity, became famous for his autobiography describing the horrors of slavery.
Who is Olaudah Equiano?
This type of ship, developed by the Portuguese, was faster and more maneuverable.
What is the caravel?
This Portuguese explorer was the first European to reach India by sea.
Who is Vasco da Gama?
This Spanish conquistador is known for his defeat of the Aztec Empire, and later became the Governor of New Spain.
Who is Hernán Cortés?
"Discovered" during La Salle's voyage down the Mississippi River, this territory was claimed and named for the French king, Louis XIV.
What is Louisiana?
This crop was a primary driver of the slave trade, especially in Portuguese Brazil, due to its high demand in Europe.
What is sugar cane?
This hand-drawn improvement in navigation tools, which became more accurate with time, was crucial for helping explorers find their way during long sea voyages.
What are maps?
This treaty, later used by the Portuguese to try and claim Africa, divided newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal.
What is the Treaty of Tordesillas?
This animal, introduced by Europeans, revolutionized transportation for Native Americans, and convinced others that the Spanish were gods.
What is the horse?
This trade item, the focus of French economic efforts in the New World, came at the cost of overharvesting of wildlife, and the exploitation of Native Americans.
What are furs?
This group of peoples was initially used by the Spanish for slave labor in the Americas, before disease drastically reduced their population.
Who are indigenous peoples?
This geographer’s semi-accurate, ancient world map was used by explorers to guide their journeys throughout the Old World (Europe, Africa, & Asia).
Who is Ptolemy?
The treatment of African slaves was particularly brutal in this Portuguese colony, requiring constant shipments of newly enslaved peoples.
What is Brazil?
This intangible (non-physical) "product" traveled to the New World with the Euroeans, killing far more indigenous peoples than any manufactured weapon.
What is disease?
This English economic policy encouraged colonies to provide raw materials to the mother country, without trading between one another.
What is Mercantilism?
The fact that Europeans traded these to West Africans for slaves has convinced some to blame the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade on African peoples themselves.
What are weapons?