Modern World History Final 2026

Catalan Atlas

a map that helped the Portuguese reach India

Henry the Navigator

explored all the way to Sierra Leone, initiated trade

Bartolomeu Dias

successfully sailed around the cape of good hope

what did the Portuguese trade?

spices, gold, and converts

The Treaty of Tordesillas

line dividing the planet between Spain and Portugal. Spain got the west, Portugal got the east

Columbian Exchange

exchange of animals, plants, diseases, and cultural products between Europe and the Americas

cash crop

crops grown purely to make money

what were examples of addictive cash crops?

chocolate, tobacco, and coffee

Taino

group of native people who lived on Hispaniola

who were the major European powers during the age of exploration?

Spain and Portugal

what diseases did the Europeans bring to the Americas?

smallpox, yellow fever, malaria, and influenza

Vasco de Gama

Portuguese; first person to sail from Europe to Southeast Asia

Ferdinand Magellan

“circumnavigated” the globe

conquistadors

men in the new world looking for gold, taking slaves, and converting people

encomienda system

enslavement of native peoples by conquistadors in South America

who were the three countries, other than Spain and Portugal, who wanted to explore the new world?

England, France, and the Netherlands

The Black Legend

the idea that the Spanish were committing inhumane cruelty against the Indigenous people

commodity

a raw material or agricultural product that has value. very important in capitalistic society

nutmeg

believed to have healing properties, can be toxic, war fought over it, Dutch stole control over it

Dutch East India Company

used to expand and get spices. Instead of one person funding, stockholders funded

tea

this came from China. VERY popular in England. due to climate, it grows in Asia and is transported

coffee

mainly grows in Africa and South America

chocolate and sugar

addictive, LUXURY products that are global commodoties

tobacco

have been used for medicinal and religious purposes. VERY deadly and addictive. cash crop

Enlightenment

late 17th-18th centuries. Thinkers began asking questions about life and society and is inherently Eurocentric

The Reformation + the Scientific Revolution

The Enlightenment =

Magna Carta

“Great charter”, 1215, result of negotiations about rights, English

The English Civil War (1642-1651)

wars that broke out between Charles I and parliament. issues on taxes, religion, and ruling by divine right

natural rights

by nature, cannot be given or taken away

identity

location, vocation, family

it became an issue when it transformed from where you lived and what you did to WHO YOU ARE

how did views on identity change?

piracy

the act of forcibly taking something that doesn’t belong to you

sea bandits

part time pirates that were usually farmers/laborers

Barbary Corsairs

pirates based in North Africa and worked in the Mediterranean

1650-1720

What was the Golden Age of Piracy?

privateer

private citizen who is given permission to attack enemy ships during times of war

private code

rules and punishments for captain and crew

Grace O’Malley

pirate who worked off the coast of Ireland

Ching Shih

most successful Asian pirate. had 70,000 men she controlled and hundreds of ships

liberte, egalite, y fraternite

what was the slogan for the French Revolution?

The Great Fear of 1789

in serious debt after American revolution, droughts, and poor harvests, many beheadings

first: clergy

second: aristocracy

third: common people

who were the first, second, and third estates comprised of?

National Assembly

met from the third estate to draft a new list of rights for the people

The Reign of Terror

time when the Jacobins, led by Robespierre, beheaded over 20,000 people

Napoleon Bonaparte

military leader who was the dictator of France and surrendered at Waterloo

gave religious freedom and gets rid of privileges of noble birth

what did Napoleon do for France?

Santo Domingo

what is the most prosperous colony in the West Indies?

Vincent Oge

led uprising in Santo Domingo to convince the National Assembly to give equal rights to all free men

the Spanish Crown, the Catholic Church, the patriarchy

what were the three institutions that exercised control over the population in South America?

Spanish Fifth

20% tax on everything

transculturation

Native Americans, Peninsulares, black slaves, Creoles

Simon Bolivar

liberator, Bolivia named after him, idealist

nationalism

the support and promotion of the interests of that nation to the exclusion of other nations

steam engines

ran on coal, used iron and later steel to improve

Industrial Revolution (1750-1850)

transition from widespread agriculture to manufacturing

imperialism, colonialism, nationalism, urbanism

what were some unintended consequences of the industrial revolution?

Suez Canal

connected the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean

canals and water transport

how did goods and people move more easily?

spinning jenny and flying shuttle

name two inventions that revolutionized the textile industry

the cotton gin

what invention helped grow the cotton industry and revitalize slavery?

the scramble for Africa

the division and rapid colonization of Africa by Western European nations

worker rights, environmental problems, child labor

name 3 problems with industrialization

The Suez Canal

was built in 1869 by a French company. it linked the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean

The Berlin Conference of 1884

divided African continent between major European powers

isolationism

the practice of secluding your country from the rest of the world

Ghana

educating the citizens backfired because they learned more about the world