Age of Exploration and Columbian Exchange

Practice flashcards covering the causes, key explorers, and global effects of the Age of Exploration and the Columbian Exchange.

Mercantilism

Economic system where colonies provide resources and goods for the "mother" country.

Cartography

The science of making maps.

Caraval

A type of ship that, along with the lateen sail, made long sea voyages possible.

Prince Henry the Navigator

An individual who expanded Portuguese exploration by funding many expeditions.

Bartolomeu Dias

The first European explorer to reach the Southern tip of Africa.

Vasco de Gama

The first European explorer to reach India to trade for spices.

V.O.C. (Dutch East India Company)

A corporation dedicated to establishing trade routes in Southeast Asia, often using force to establish trading ports.

British East India Company

The company that took over trade in India by defeating the Portuguese and establishing a strong military presence.

Ferdinand Magellan

The first explorer to circumnavigate (sail around) the globe in $1519$, where only $1$ of his $3$ ships and $18$ of $270$ explorers returned.

Treaty of Tordesilla

An agreement where the Pope split the world in half with the line of demarcation.

Line of Demarcation

A boundary established by the Pope giving everything to the East to Portugal and everything to the West to Spain.

Conquistadors

Spanish Explorers/conquerors who claimed land for Spain in the new lands.

Hernando Cortez

The explorer who conquered the Aztec in $1520$ by making alliances with neighboring states.

Francisco Pizarro

The explorer who conquered the Incas in the Andes Mountains in $1532$.

Triangle Trade

The Atlantic Ocean trade route where Europeans traveled to Africa for slaves, took them to the Americas, and returned to Europe with goods.

Columbian Exchange

The term used to describe the exchange of people, plants, animals, ideas and technology between the "Old World" (Europe) and the "New World" (North and South America).

Cultural Diffusion

The exchange of goods and ideas between civilizations, for which the Columbian Exchange is considered the ultimate example.

Middle Passage

The crowded and dangerous sea journey from West Africa to the Caribbean where many slaves died.

Smallpox

A disease brought from Europe that killed up to $50\%$ of the native population who lacked immunity.

Encomienda System

A labor system in which Native Americans were forced to work on Spanish farming plantations and in gold and silver mines under the total control of landowners.