European Exploration and Settlement Flashcards

Flashcards covering European exploration, Christopher Columbus, the Columbian Exchange, and the regional characteristics of early American colonies.

What were the "3 g's" of European exploration?

Gold, god, and glory.

Whose writings inspired Christopher Columbus to discover a faster route to Asia?

Marco Polo's writing.

What is the Columbian Exchange?

The exchange of animals, plants, disease, and people across the Atlantic Ocean.

What four European groups came to North America?

England, Netherlands, France, and the Spanish.

How did France's acquisition of American territory differ from Spain's?

France made Native Americans business partners instead of using conquest to make them work.

Where was the first permanent colony located?

Jamestown, Virginia.

Which colony was known as the Lost Colony?

The Roanoke.

What four colonies made up the New England Colonies?

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire.

What were the physical geography and resource traits of the New England Colonies?

The land was rocky, hilly, and wilderness, with many resources from farming, forests, and the sea.

What four colonies made up the Middle Colonies?

New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

What five colonies made up the Southern Colonies?

Georgia, Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland.

What climate and agricultural features were characteristic of the Southern Colonies?

A hot and wet climate very good for farming, where cash crops were very important.

In 1492, across which ocean did Christopher Columbus sail west to reach the Americas?

The Atlantic Ocean.

Why did Christopher Columbus name the native people in the Americas "Indians"?

He mistakenly believed he had reached the land of the Indies.

What is the definition of a colony?

A new settlement established and governed by a country in another land.

What is the definition of missionaries?

People who travel to a territory in order to convert people into their religion.

Where did the French first start discovering land in present-day North America?

Canada (Quebec).

What skill did the French learn from Native Americans?

Fur trapping (coureurs de bois).