Topic 1.3 European Exploration in the Americas

Renaissance

• a rebirth of classical learning which prompted an outburst of artistic and scientific activity in the late 15th and 16th centuries

gunpowder

• originally invented by the Chinese, Europeans made improvements on gunpowder and used it

sailing compass

• adopted from Arab merchants who learned about it from the Chinese, made improvements & used it

printing press

• invented in the 1450s

• aided in the spread of knowledge across Europe

Roman Catholic Church & the pope

• dominated most of Western Europe for centuries

• In 15th & 16th centuries their power was threatened by Ottoman Turks (Muslims) & rebellious Christians, both who challenged the pope’s authority

Moors

• Islamic invaders from North Africa of the 8th century

• rapidly conquered most of what is now Spain

• ultimately reconquered by Spanish Christians who set up several independent kingdoms

Isabella

• queen of Castile

Ferdinand

• king of Aragon

Isabella & Ferdinand

• monarchs of two of the largest kingdoms who united

• married in 1469

• conquered the last Moorish stronghold in Spain in the city of Granada

• funded Christopher Columbus on his historic first voyage

Protestant Reformation

• a revolt in the early 1500s where certain Christians in Germany, England, France, Holland, and other northern European countries revolted against the authority of the pope in Rome

Henry the Navigator

• sponsored successful voyages of exploration which eventually opened up a long sea route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope

Vasco de Gama

• a Portuguese sea captain who was the first European to reach India by the route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope

nation-states

• countries in which the majority of people shared both a common culture and common loyalty to a central government

line of demarcation

• a vertical, north-south line the pope drew on a world map to resolve land disputes between Spain and Portugal

• granted Spain all lands to the west of the line, and Portugal all lands to the east

Treaty of Tordesillas

• signed in 1494, Spain and Portugal moved the pope’s line a few degrees to the west & passed through modern-day Brazil

• Established Portugal’s claim to Brazil, and Spain claimed the rest of the Americas

John Cabot

• an Italian sea captain who sailed under contract to England’s King Henry VII

• explored the coast of Newfoundland in 1497

Queen Elizabeth I

• under her rule, England challenged Spanish shipping in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the 1570s & 1580s

Sir Francis Drake

• attacked Spanish ships, seized the gold and silver that they carried, and also attacked Spanish settlements on the coast of Peru

Sir Walter Raleigh

• attempted to establish a colonial settlement at Roanoke Island off the North Carolina coast in 1587, but the venture failed

Giovanni da Verrazzano

• an Italian navigator the French monarchy sponsored, displaying their interest in exploration in 1524

• explored part of North America’s eastern coast, including the New York harbor