APUSH European Exploration

Marco Polo

an explorer that returned from Asia with exotic goods and detailed accounts of his travels, inspiring future explorers and expanding European interest in trade with the East

Prince Henry the Navigator

a Portuguese prince who significantly advanced the exploration and maritime technology in the 15th century, promoting voyages along the western African coast and establishing a school for navigation

Bartholomeu Dias

rounded the southern tip of Africa (the Cape of Good Hope)

Amerigo Vespucci

an Italian explorer who played a key role in the exploration of the Americas, recognized for demonstrating that Brazil and the West Indies did not represent Asia's eastern riches as initially thought, leading to the naming of the continent in his honor

Ferdinand Magellan

a Portuguese explorer known for leading the first expedition to successfully circumnavigate the globe, proving that the Earth is round and that the oceans are connected

Vasco da Gama

went all around the Cape of Good Hope to India

Pedro Cabral

“discovered” Brazil in 1500, becoming the first European to establish a claim in South America

Christopher Columbus

completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, famously landing in the Americas (Bahamas) in 1492 while seeking a westward route to Asia; believed he had arrived in the Far East for all his life

Vasco de Balboa

first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas by fighting across the isthmus of Panama

Conquistadors

Spanish explorers and soldiers who conquered territories in the Americas, often seeking wealth and expanding Spanish influence

Hernando Cortes

Spanish Conquistador who led the expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and claimed Mexico for Spain

Montezuma

the ninth ruler of the Aztec Empire, known for his dramatic confrontation with Hernando Cortes during the Spanish conquest of Mexico

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish Conquistador who led the expedition that conquered the Inca Empire in South America, claiming significant territories for Spain

Hernando de Soto

Spanish explorer and conquistador known for his expeditions in the southeastern United States; first European to cross the Mississippi River

Francisco Coronado

Spanish explorer known for leading an expedition into the southwestern United States, traveling north from Mexico

Age of Conquest

The period characterized by Spanish military forces establishing their dominion over large territories in the Americas, driven by exploration, wealth acquisition, and the spread of Christianity

Ferdinand and Isabella

Spanish monarchs who financed Christopher Columbus's voyages and supported the establishment of Spanish colonies in the Americas; bowed to wishes of the Church and and required that all new territories be Catholic

Prestidos

fortified military outposts established by Spanish colonizers in North America to support exploration and settle new territories, defending colonists from protesting Native people

Missions

religious outposts established by Spanish colonizers in the Americas to convert Native Americans to Christianity and promote Spanish territorial claims

St. Augustine

the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the continental United States, founded by Spanish explorers in 1565. It served as a military outpost and mission.

Don Juan de Onate

a Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the first major Spanish expedition into the American Southwest and is known for establishing the colony of New Mexico.

encomiendas

land grants that allowed Spanish colonizers to demand labor and tribute from Native Americans, effectively enslaving them

ranchos

large estates or land grants used for raising livestock, particularly cattle, by Spanish settlers in the American Southwest

Pueblo Revolt of 1680

an uprising of Pueblo people against Spanish colonizers in New Mexico, driven by oppression and cultural suppression; also sparked by a drought and series of raids by the Apache tribes which produced instability; led by Pope

Pope

a religious leader of the Pueblo people who led the revolt against Spanish colonizers in New Mexico, aiming to restore native traditions and religious practices

mestizos

people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry, often occupying a social class between Spaniards and Indigenous peoples in colonial Spanish America

Guinea

a region in Africa that was home to a great variety of peoples and cultures and from which most enslaved African men and women came

John Cabot

An Italian explorer who sailed under the English in the late 15th century, credited with the discovery of parts of North America, specifically Newfoundland; sponsored by King Henry VII

Utopia by Thomas More

a work that described a nearly perfect place in the New World on an imaginary island discovered by Amerigo Vespucci in the New World; encouraged English colonization

enclosure movement

the legal process in England of consolidating small landholdings into larger farms, largely due to an increased focus on land being used for sheep, which led to increased agricultural efficiency and displacement of peasant populations; encouraged English colonization in the New World

chartered companies

business entities formed with royal approval to manage trade in specific regions, playing a crucial role in European exploration and colonization

Richard Hakluyt

an English writer and geographer who wrote pro-colonial propaganda arguing that colonies would both create a new market for English goods and alleviate poverty and unemployment by siphoning off the surplus population

John Calvin

a French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation, he emphasized the doctrine of predestination and founded Calvinism, which influenced religious thought and practices in the New World

Queen Elizabeth I

adopted a form of Protestantism after Mary Tudor’s reign that was disconnected from the Catholic Church, which angered Catholics, and was not Protestant enough for some Puritans

Seperatists

a group of Puritans who broke away from the Church of England, seeking to establish their own independent congregations and practices, often facing persecution for their beliefs

James I

and English and Scottish monarch who antagonized Puritans, leading to a desire in nonconformists to seek refuge in the Americas.

Ireland

a region where England’s first attempts at colonization occurred, developing prejudices about the people they aimed to conquer that they would carry to the Americas

Sir Humphrey Gilbert

an English explorer and soldier who served as governor of an Irish district and violently suppressed rebellions; considered native people less than human; carried these ideas to the Americas where he attempted a venture in Newfoundland (the first British colony in the New World)

pale of settlement

a term used by English colonizers to describe an area physically separated from the Native population

French Jesuit missionaries

among the first Europeans to penetrate Native societies, establishing some of the first contacts between the two peoples

Coureurs de bois

adventurous fur traders and trappers who lived among Native Americans in Canada and the Great Lakes region; developed trade relationships and often intermarried with indigenous tribes; became one of the underpinnings of French colonial economy

seigneuries

land grants in New France given to French nobles, allowing them to manage and settle the land and cultivate resources, integral to the French colonial system; contributed to the French’s ability to compete with the more numerous British in NA

Algonquin

A Native American tribe that allied with French colonists in the fur trade and held a rivalry with the Iroquois (who contributed to the British fur trade) which sparked conflict

Samuel de Champlain

founded Quebec; led a 1609 attack on a band of Mohawks for Algonquin trading partners

Henry Hudson

An English employed by the Dutch who explored parts of North America, including the river that now bears his name, seeking a northwest passage to Asia; his voyages contributed to Dutch claims in the New World

Dutch West India Company

A trading company established by the Dutch in 1621, aimed at managing Dutch trade in the Americas and capturing Spanish and Portuguese territories. It played a significant role in the colonization of the Caribbean and North America, particularly in the fur trade.

patroons

vast feudal estates granted to landlords by the Dutch West India Company on the condition that they bring more immigrants to America

New Netherland

a small, diverse, weakly-lead, loosely united Dutch colony created from patroons

Jamestown

the first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in 1607 in Virginia, known for its role in the early development of the American colonies.

sea dogs

English privateers who raided Spanish ships and settlements during the late 16th century, playing a significant role in England's naval power

Sir Francis Drake

an English sea captain and privateer (“sea dog”) known for his circumnavigation of the globe and raiding Spanish possessions.

Phillip II

King of Spain known for his role in the Spanish Armada and attempts to spread Catholicism (and to restore it to England)

Spanish Armada

a fleet sent by King Phillip II of Spain in 1588 to invade England, ultimately defeated by the English navy, marking a significant shift in naval dominance

Sir Walter Raleigh

an English explorer and writer known for popularizing tobacco in England and attempting to establish a colony in Virginia in Roanoke

Sir Richard Grenville

an English sailor and military leader known for his role in establishing the Roanoke colony and commanding the sail to the New World; harshly treated the Native Americans there

John White

an English artist and governor of the Roanoke colony who found the colony deserted three years after his leaving