AP World History (Unit 4) Study Notes: Transoceanic Interconnections and the Making of a Connected World, 1450–1750

Transoceanic exploration

Long-distance ocean travel that became possible and repeatable (1450–1750) because improved ships, navigation, maps, and naval power lowered risk and cost.

Caravel

A small, maneuverable Portuguese sailing ship useful for reconnaissance and for tacking closer to the wind (important along the African coast and for return voyages north).

Galleon

A large ocean-going ship that combined significant cargo space with heavy guns, reflecting the need to trade globally and defend valuable cargo.

Lateen sails

Triangular sails (used widely in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean) that improved a ship’s ability to sail into the wind by tacking; adopted and adapted by Europeans.

Sternpost rudder

A rudder mounted on the sternpost that improved steering control, especially in rough Atlantic waters.

Magnetic compass

A navigational tool that helps sailors maintain a consistent direction (heading) when landmarks or clear skies are unavailable; it does not determine position by itself.

Astrolabe

An instrument used to estimate latitude by measuring the angle of the sun or stars above the horizon, helping sailors follow repeatable ocean routes.

Trade winds

Reliable wind patterns that sailors learned to exploit to make ocean routes more efficient and predictable (often more important than the “shortest” map distance).

Cartography

Mapmaking that compiled coastlines, hazards, ports, and sailing directions; maps functioned as commercial and imperial assets by reducing losses and aiding claims to territory.

Gunpowder weapons at sea

Ship-mounted cannon and related firepower that helped European states seize/pressure strategic ports, protect or prey on shipping, and enforce trading advantages along coasts.

State-supported, profit-seeking exploration

Early modern expansion in which monarchies (often with investors) backed risky voyages to gain wealth, strategic bases, and prestige—exploration as a competitive, imperial project.

Bartolomeu Dias

Portuguese explorer who rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, demonstrating that the Indian Ocean could be reached by sea from Europe.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese explorer who reached India in 1498, opening a direct maritime link between Europe and Indian Ocean commerce.

Christopher Columbus

Navigator backed by Spain who reached the Americas in 1492, initiating sustained contact between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire (1519–1521), aided by Indigenous alliances, disease impacts, and military advantages in certain contexts.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire in the 1530s (notably capturing Atahualpa in 1532), relying on more than just technology (alliances and disease mattered).

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

Papally backed agreement attempting to divide newly claimed lands between Spain and Portugal, showing exploration’s close ties to state rivalry and legal claims.

Circumnavigation (Magellan–Elcano, 1519–1522)

The first completed voyage around the world (begun by Ferdinand Magellan, finished by Juan Sebastián Elcano), proving a global maritime connection rather than creating an “easy” trade route.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, pathogens, people, and cultural practices between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after 1492, reshaping diets, environments, and populations (including massive disease-driven depopulation in the Americas).

Atlantic slave trade

The forced transatlantic movement of Africans that expanded with plantation demand and became central to Atlantic economies, creating African diasporas and intensifying/racializing slavery in colonial societies.

Encomienda

A Spanish colonial labor/tribute grant allowing holders to demand labor or tribute from Indigenous communities (often justified as protection and Christianization), but in practice enabling exploitation.

Mita

A Spanish-Andean labor draft adapted from Inca precedent that required Indigenous workers to provide labor (including in mines), supporting imperial extraction of wealth like silver.

Joint-stock company

A business organization in which multiple investors pool capital and share profit and risk; crucial for financing expensive, uncertain overseas voyages and expansion.

Maritime empire

An empire built mainly through naval power, overseas colonies, and control of trade routes (a transoceanic system of moving goods, people, and capital rather than contiguous land expansion).

Manila galleon trade

A Spanish transpacific trade network linking the Americas to Asia by shipping American silver to the Philippines and bringing Asian goods (such as silk and porcelain) into Spanish-American markets.