Age of Exploration Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes about the Age of Exploration, covering key terms, people, and events.

Civilized

A term used by powerful societies to ascribe to themselves, indicating a highly developed society with moral and intellectual achievements and refined taste.

Olmecs

Mother Culture for the Mayans, giving them Religion, Writing, Farming (Slash and Burn), art, and architecture, developed in Mesoamerica 1500 BC - 900 BC.

Mayans

A highly developed society located in the Yucatan Peninsula that existed during the same time as Ancient Rome, Buddhism, and the Byzantine Empire and influenced the Aztecs and Incas.

Yucatan Peninsula

The geographical location where the Mayan civilization was situated.

Incas

Civilization located in Western South America, the largest empire of the Americas, in modern-day Peru-Chile.

Andes Mountains

Mountain range that isolated the Incan civilization and formed a natural barrier.

Quipus

Incan system of knotted colored strings used for record-keeping.

Macchu Picchu

Incan city and ceremonial center built in the high Andes Mountains, designed to withstand earthquakes.

Sapa Inca

The ruler of the Incan Empire.

Cuzco

Capital of the Incan Empire.

Ayllu

Incan system of organization based on background (tribe, ethnicity, etc.).

Mit’a System

Incan labor system based on the ayllu system, requiring all farmers to work all land for long hours.

Aztecs

An ancient civilization inspired by the Mayans.

Lake Texcoco

The lake upon which the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan was built.

Tenochtitlan

Capital city of the Aztec civilization.

Chinampas

Floating land or gardens used by the Aztecs for agriculture.

Flower Wars

Wars fought by the Aztecs to gain prisoners for sacrifice.

Tributary States

Territories conquered by the Aztecs that had to make payments to the them in goods or humans.

Huitzilopochtli

Aztec god of war/sun god, who required human sacrifices.

Constantinople

Capital of the Byzantine Empire, its fall was a cause of the Age of Exploration.

Hanseatic League

A trading system involving a collection of European city-states.

Mercantilism

An economic policy where a country sells more than it buys, exporting more than they import, to establish a favorable balance of trade.

Henry the Navigator

A Portuguese prince who gave Portuguese explorers access to curl sails to explore the Northwest coast of Africa and establish trading posts.

Bartholomeu Dias

Portuguese explorer who set sail to the southern tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope).

Vasco de Gama

Portuguese explorer who went around the Cape of Good Hope to India using trading posts.

Christopher Columbus

Explorer who sought to find an all-sea route to India by going West in 1492, and instead found the Caribbean, thinking it was India.

Ferdinand Magellan

Spanish explorer who sought to circumvent the world, embarking on a 3-year trip (1519-1521) to reach the Far East by going through the Americas.

John Cabot

British explorer who discovered Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, adding to the British Empire.

Martin Frobisher

British explorer in search of a Northwest Passage to Asia, who explored the Labrador coast of Canada for England.

Henry Hudson

Sailed to North America in 1609, Claimed NY for Canada Explored east coast and sailed up Hudson River

Jacques Cartier

Sailed up the Saint Lawrence River and Eastern Canada

Line of Demarcation

Line drawn by the Pope dividing the world for exploration between Spain and Portugal.

Treaty of Tordesillas

Moved the Line of Demarcation, solidifying the roles of Portugal and Spain

Hernando (Hernan) Cortes

Spanish conquistador who arrived in Mexico in 1519.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who invaded Peru in 1533, conquering the Incas.

Malinche

Native woman who helped the Spanish by leading them to Tenochtitlan and giving away Aztec tactics; her name in Mexican means traitor.

Moctezuma

Emperor of the Aztecs.

Atuhuallpa

Emperor of the Incas.

New Spain

Collection of territories, from Central America to South America, colonized by the Spanish in the 16th century.

Encomienda

Large tracts of land, usually plantations, where people were sold as encomienda and peasants were taxed; a system bordering on slavery.

Peninsulares

People born in Spain who resided in the New World colonies.

Creoles

Spanish people born in the New World, who were typically excluded from positions of power.

Mestizos

People of mixed Spanish and Native American descent.

Viceroys

Government representatives, always peninsulares, who ruled over viceroyalties in the New World.

Bartolome de las Casas

Advocated Christianizing the natives and stopping their abuse, suggesting replacing them with African slaves.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of goods, ideas, and diseases between the New World and the Old World.

Triangular Trade

A system of trade involving raw materials from America to Europe, manufactured goods from Europe to Africa, and slaves from Africa to America.

Middle Passage

The worst leg of the triangular trade, involving the transportation of slaves to America.

Small Pox

European disease that contributed to the decline of native populations.

Trading Posts

Establishments along coast of Africa

Cape of Good Hope

Southern tip of Africa

Maritime

Connected with the sea, especially in relation to seafaring commercial or military activity.

Mercantilism

Raw Materials -> Europe (manufactured goods) -> Africa(Slaves)

Balance of Trade

Exporting more than importing

Mother Culture

A culture that has great and widespread influence on other cultures.

Slash and Burn

A farming method involving the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field.