Explorers
This explorer reached the Caribbean in 1492 while sailing for Spain.
Columbus
This empire conquered the Aztecs and Incas in the Americas.
This navigation tool helped sailors determine direction.
compass
This disease devastated Native American populations after European contact.
smallpox
This system relied on enslaved labor to produce cash crops like sugar and cotton.
plantation agriculture
This person sponsored early exploration along the African coast.
Prince Henry
This country focused on trade posts rather than large settlements in Asia and Africa.
Portugal
This instrument helped sailors calculate latitude using the sun or stars.
Astrolabe
This animal transformed transportation and warfare in the Americas.
Horse
This system allowed investors to share risk and profit in overseas trade.
joint-stock company
This explorer’s voyage demonstrated that European powers could reach Asia without relying on land-based Muslim trade routes.
Vasco da Gama
This nation controlled Indonesia and New Netherland through joint-stock companies.
Dutch
This type of ship was fast, maneuverable, and ideal for exploration.
Caravel
This explains why the Columbian Exchange benefited Europeans economically but devastated Indigenous populations.
immunity to disease
This labor system forced Indigenous peoples to work for Spanish colonists
encomienda system
This explorer’s voyages led to Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire and massive silver extraction.
Hernán Cortés
This country focused on the fur trade and alliances with Native Americans in North America.
This advance allowed sailors to sail against the wind.
lateen sails
This American crop helped cause population growth in Europe.
Potato
This economic change increased trade, banking, and capitalism in Europe.
Commercial Revolution
This English explorer “discovered” Newfoundland in 1497.
John Cabot
This country established permanent settler colonies along the Atlantic coast of North America.
England
This is a large, multi-decked sailing ship from the 16th to 18th centuries, used by European states for both war and commerce, especially famous for Spanish treasure fleets carrying riches from the Americas, featuring three or more masts, square sails, and a flat stern, making them powerful and seaworthy vessels for long ocean voyages.
galleon
Historians estimate that this percentage of Native Americans died after European contact.
80-90%
This economic system explains why European powers competed fiercely for colonies and raw materials.
mercantilism