The Age of Exploration and Conquest

Cartographers

people who drew maps

Portolan charts

mapped harbours and coastlines

Log and Line

measured a ship's speed in knots

Astrolabe/quadrant

helped determine a ship's latitude (distance from equator) by using the position of the stars and sun

logbook

used to record speed

Compass

used to identify the north

Caravel

large and sturdy ship used to make long voyages and able to sail in all winds

Carvel-built hulls

Planks fitted edge to edge rather than overlapped

Rudders

made it easier to steer caravels

Naos

bigger versions of the caravels - used when sailing the Atlantic

Lateen Sails

triangular sails added to the ships to help steer through wind

Scurvy

lack of vitamin C - loss teeth

Mutiny

sailors rebelling against their captain

Execution

killed as punishment

The Great Silk Road

trade route to China

Henry the Navigator

set up the school of navigation at Sagres

Bartolomeu Dias

1487; sailed to the Cape of Good Hope along the coast of Africa

Vasco da Gama

1497; sailed to Calicut in India around the coast of Africa

Christopher Columbus

discovered America in 1492; thought he was in Asia so called the natives Indians

Ferdinand Magellan

1522; proved the world was round

Circumnavigation

Sailing around the globe

Conquistadores

Spanish for conquerors: soldiers who conquered the native peoples of South America

Hernán Cortés

Conquered the Aztecs

Aztecs

a tribe in central Mexico who owned an empire

Tenochtitlan

capital of the Aztec's Empire

Montezuma II

Aztec King who was tricked by Cortés, killed during conquest

New Spain

built on the remains of Tenochtitlan

Colonisation

when a country takes over another territory and settles some of its own people there to control it

Colony

a country controlled by another

Disease

Smallpox, measles and influenza killed most natives in colonised areas

Slavery triangle

ships sailed to African slaving ports and took slaves to the Americas

Brazil

Portugal colonised Brazil - why they still speak Portuguese there

British Empire

colonised east North America, India, Australia, New Zealand ad sections of Africa

French Empire

conquered parts of North America, parts of Africa and Asia

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494; divided the New World between Spain and Portugal

New World

South America

Columbian exchange

the exchange of foods and animals between Europe and the Americas