Renaissance and Exploration (1450 - 1648) || 1.5-1.8

Joan of Arc & Charles II

Joan of Arc inspired French forces to victory in the Hundred Years’ War; Charles II later restored the English monarchy after the Civil War (1660).

Hundred Years War

1337

Wars of the Roses

English civil wars (1455

House of York & House of Lancaster

Rival English dynasties fighting in the Wars of the Roses; their union founded the Tudor line.

Tudors

English royal dynasty beginning with Henry VII after the Wars of the Roses.

Henry VII

First Tudor king of England (r.1485

Henry VIII

Tudor king who broke with the Catholic Church to create the Anglican Church so he could annul his marriage.

Catherine of Aragon

First wife of Henry VIII; their divorce prompted England’s break with Rome.

Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain

Monarchs who united Spain, completed the Reconquista, and funded Columbus’s voyage.

reconquista

Centuries-long campaign to drive Muslims (Moors) from the Iberian Peninsula, completed in 1492.

Conversos / New Christians

Jews and Muslims in Spain who converted (often forcibly) to Christianity.

Inquisition

Church court established to enforce Catholic orthodoxy and investigate heresy, notably active in Spain.

Holy Roman Empire

Loose confederation of Central European states under an elected emperor.

House of Habsburg

Powerful dynasty that ruled the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and other territories.

Edward VI

Protestant son of Henry VIII; ruled England 1547

Mary Tudor

“Bloody Mary,” Catholic queen of England (r.1553

Philip II

Powerful Spanish king (r.1556

Elizabeth I

Protestant queen of England (r.1558

Puritans

English Protestants who sought further reform of the Anglican Church.

Anglican Church

Church of England created by Henry VIII, combining Protestant doctrine with some Catholic practices.

Spanish Armada

Large fleet sent by Philip II in 1588 to invade England; defeated by English forces and storms.

Reconquista

Spanish Christian reconquest of Muslim-ruled lands, ending with Granada’s fall in 1492. (repeat key term)

Conquistadores

Spanish conquerors of the Americas, such as Cortés and Pizarro.

Caravel

Small, fast Portuguese ship ideal for ocean exploration.

astrolabe

Navigational instrument using stars to determine latitude at sea.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement dividing New World lands between Spain (west) and Portugal (east).

Inca Empire

Advanced Andean civilization conquered by Pizarro in the 1530s.

Mercantilist economic doctrine

Belief that a nation’s power depends on accumulating wealth and maintaining a favorable balance of trade.

Plymouth Colony, Pilgrims, Mayflower

English Separatists who founded a New England colony in 1620 aboard the Mayflower.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Larger Puritan settlement founded in 1630 seeking religious freedom.

Quebec

First permanent French settlement in North America, founded 1608.

Viceroyalties

Large administrative regions of Spain’s New World empire, such as New Spain and Peru.

New Spain and Peru

Two main Spanish viceroyalties governing Mexico/Central America and South America.

Viceroy

Royal governor representing the Spanish crown in the Americas.

Aztecs (Mexica Empire)

Powerful Mesoamerican empire conquered by Hernán Cortés in 1519

Encomienda system

Spanish labor system granting colonists the right to the labor of indigenous people.

hacienda

Large estate or plantation in Spanish America.

Indigenous People

Original inhabitants of the Americas before European colonization.

Columbian Exchange

Global transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and peoples between Old and New Worlds after 1492.

indigenous population

Native peoples of the Americas, greatly reduced by disease and conquest after 1492.

Potosi silver mines

Enormous silver deposits in present-day Bolivia that enriched Spain in the 16th century.

Dutch East Indian Company (Asian spices) - 1602

Dutch joint-stock company controlling Asian trade.

Dutch West Indian Company (the Americas) - 1621

Dutch trading company active in the Caribbean and North America.

transatlantic slave trade

Forced transport of enslaved Africans to the Americas from the 1500s onward.

abolition

Movement to end the Atlantic slave trade and slavery itself.

creole

Person of European descent born in the Americas.

mestizos (metis in French colonies)

People of mixed European and indigenous ancestry.

Printing Press

movable type - 1440

Indians

Term Europeans used for indigenous peoples of the Americas.

San Salvador

First landfall of Columbus in the Caribbean (Bahamas) in 1492.

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince who sponsored early voyages of exploration along Africa’s coast.

Bartholomeu Dias

Portuguese explorer who rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.

Vasco de Gamma

First Portuguese explorer to reach India by sea (1498).

Christopher Columbus

Genoese navigator who reached the Americas in 1492 while seeking a westward route to Asia.

Amerigo Vespucci

Italian explorer who demonstrated that the New World was a separate continent; the Americas are named for him.

Ferdinand Magellan

Led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe (1519

Hernando Cortez

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztec Empire.

Moctezuma

Aztec emperor at the time of Spanish conquest by Cortés.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire.

Atahualpa

Last emperor of the Inca, captured and executed by Pizarro.