Advance history flashcards (cus history class is hard)
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Covers all of topic 2 in the book. Includes 20 questions
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20 Terms
Q: What was the Renaissance, and how did it spur the European Age of Exploration?
A: The Renaissance was a cultural and scientific rebirth in Europe (14th–17th centuries) that promoted curiosity, scientific inquiry, trade, and economic expansion, encouraging monarchs to fund oceanic voyages.
Q: Which instrument allowed sailors to determine their ship's latitude by measuring the position of the stars and sun?
The astrolabe (along with the quadrant).
Q: What technological features made the Spanish and Portuguese caravel superior to earlier vessels?
It was lighter, faster, had a shallow draft, and utilized triangular lateen sails to sail into the wind (tacking)
Q: Why did European nations seek a direct sea route to Asia in the 15th century?
A: To bypass Italian merchants and Ottoman Empire middlemen who controlled overland trade routes like the Silk Road, thereby reducing the cost of Asian spices and silks.
Q: How did improved cartography during the 15th century impact ocean navigation?
A: Mapmakers created more accurate portolan charts and world maps that detailed ocean currents, coastlines, and wind patterns, making long voyages safer and more predictable.
Q: Which Portuguese navigator was the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope) in 1488?
A: Bartolomeu Dias.
Q: Who completed the first all-water route from Europe to India in 1498?
A: Vasco da Gama.
Q: What was Christopher Columbus's primary theory regarding how to reach Asia?
A: He believed he could reach Asia faster by sailing directly west across the Atlantic Ocean rather than traveling south around Africa.
Q: What was the purpose of the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)?
A: To divide non-Christian lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal using an imaginary boundary called the Line of Demarcation.
Q: Which expedition was credited as the first to circumnavigate (sail around) the globe?
A: The expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan (completed by Juan Sebastián Elcano in 1522).
Q: Which Spanish conquistador led the overthrow of the Aztec Empire?
A: Hernán Cortés.
Q: Which Spanish conquistador conquered the Inca Empire in South America?
A: Francisco Pizarro.
Q: What single factor contributed most to the rapid decline of Native American populations following European contact?
A: Eurasian diseases (such as smallpox, measles, and influenza) to which Indigenous peoples had no natural immunity.
Q: What was the encomienda system in Spanish colonial America?
A: A system that granted Spanish settlers the right to demand forced labor and taxes from Native Americans living on specific lands.
Q: Who was Bartolomé de Las Casas, and what was his significance?
A: A Spanish priest who spoke out against the cruel treatment and enslavement of Native Americans, advocating for reformed colonial labor laws.
Q: What was the Columbian Exchange?
A: The global transfer of plants, animals, diseases, human populations, and technology between the Eastern (Old World) and Western (New World) Hemispheres.
Q: Name two major food crops native to the Americas that transformed European agriculture.
A: Potatoes and maize (corn).
Q: Name two domesticated animals introduced to the Americas by Europeans.
A: Horses and cattle (or pigs/sheep).
Q: What was the "Northwest Passage"?
A: A theoretical sea route through or around northern North America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Q: Which English explorer, sailing for the Dutch and English, explored the river and bay that now bear his name while searching for the Northwest Passage?
A: Henry Hudson.