Age of Exploration (Old Imperialism) ID Terms

Christopher Columbus

He mistakenly discovered the Americas in 1492 while searching for a faster route to Asia for gold, silver, and spice. He was sponsored by Spanish monarchs Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand.

Columbian Exchange

The widespread sharing of animals, plants, cultures, ideas, technology, and diseases between Afro-Eurasian cultures (Old World) and the native peoples of the Americas (New World).

Conquistadores

Spanish 'conqueror' or soldier in the New World. They were searching because of the 3 G's: gold, glory, and God. These included Francisco Pizarro, Hernán Cortés, and Columbus.

Smallpox

A pathogen that spreads through the respiratory system. When Europeans, who were largely immune, had face-to-face contact with indigenous populations, they infected these populations with the deadly disease. Historians estimate that the indigenous population fell by more than 50 percent through disease alone in less than a century. It was one of the greatest demographic disasters in history.

Encomienda

A coercive labor system, notorious for its brutality and harsh living conditions, that was established by the Spanish in the early 1500s. It was created to gain access to gold and other resources of the Americas. Landowners compelled indigenous people to work for them in exchange for food and shelter.

Transatlantic slave trade

The brutal system of trading African Slaves from Africa to the Americas. It changed the economy, politics, and environment in Africa, Europe, and America.

Hernan Cortes

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico by 1521. He was aided by smallpox and the tributary states of the Aztecs.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish explorer who conquered the Incas in what is now Peru. He captured Inca ruler for ransom, but killed him anyway.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain, declaring that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal.

Viceroy

Governor of a country or province who rules as the representative of his or her king or sovereign.

Audiencias

Courts appointed by the king who reviewed the administration of viceroys serving Spanish colonies in America, where Spanish could appeal.

Creoles

Term used to describe someone of European descent born in the New World who had political dominance. Second in social pyramid.

Peninsulares

People living in the New World Spanish colonies but born in Spain; at the top of the social pyramid.

Castas

People of mixed ancestry; middle-level status.

Mestizos

A person of mixed Native American and European ancestry; top of the castas

Mulattoes

A person of mixed African and European ancestry; middle of castas

Zambos

A person of mixed indigenous and African ancestry; bottom of the castas

Jacques Cartier

French explorer who explored the St. Lawrence river and laid claim to the region for France.

New France

French colony in North America, with a capital in Quebec.

John Cabot

English explorer who claimed from Newfoundland south to the Chesapeake Bay for England while looking for a northwest passage.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, found in East Virginia 60 miles inland on the James river. Named after the ruling king, James I.

London Company

A joint-stock company chartered in 1606 and was responsible for founding the first permanent English settlement in America, Jamestown, in 1607.

Tobacco

A native plant grown by several tribes of American Indians, that proved profitable for the colony.

Indentured servitude

A worker bound by a voluntary agreement to work for a specified period of years often in return for free passage to an overseas destination.

Henry Hudson

Claimed what today is known as the Hudson River and all the surrounding area for the Dutch even though he was originally from England. He was looking for a northwest passage through North America.

Sunni Ali

In 1464, he became ruler of the Songhay people and began to aggressively conquer territory on both sides of the Niger River, creating the Songhay Empire.

Vasco da Gama

In 1498, this Portuguese explorer invaded the Swahili city-states of East Africa, most of which were thriving commercial centers in the Indian Ocean trade.

Triangular trade

A three way system of trade during 1600-1800s Africa sent slaves to America, America sent Raw Materials to Europe, and Europe sent Guns and Rum to Africa

Barracoons

Small wooden shacks where slaves were kept before arrival of slaves ships. "Slave Castles" or "Points of No Return".

Middle Passage

A grueling voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies. 25% of slaves died before even reaching America.

African Diaspora

The separation of Africans from their homeland through centuries of forced removal to serve as slaves in the Americas and elsewhere.

Creole (language)

A language set that results from the mixing of a colonizer's language with the West African languages and grammar.

Polygyny

a form of marriage in which men have more than one wife

Abolition

The movement to make slavery and the slave trade illegal.

St. Domingue

a Caribbean French colony and the site of a slave revolt, ending slavery in 1804 and making it independent.