Age of Exploration

Causes for European Exploration

Gold, God, Glory

Mercantilism

Dominant Economic system during this time where resources were finite, and so economies were zero-sum games internationally, and the goal of an economy was to accumulate as much gold and silver as possible by having a favorable balance of trade, or more exports than imports

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

French Mercantilist who wanted France to be self-sufficient through Tariffs on imports, and claimed massive North American territories

Reconquista

Spanish drove out Jews and Muslims from their land

Religious Motivation for Exploration

Catholics wanted Catholicism to dominate Protestantism

Jesuits

Missionaries who converted indigenous peoples to Catholicism who also thought of the indigenous peoples as lesser peoples more suited to forced labor

Bartolome de las Casas

Jesuit who fought for the better treatment of Native Americans

Glory as a Cause of Exploration

Colonies were how states measure Imperial Power, it was the scoreboard of Europe

Cartography

Improved maps led to easier sea exploration

Caravel

New kind of Spanish/Portuguese ship which was faster, made only for shipping and trade, and used the Lateen Sail

Lateen Sail

New kind of Triangular Sail which could take wind from any side

Magnetic Compass/Astrolabe

Gave European explorers information about the direction they faced and their latitude, borrowed from China and the Middle East

Henry the Navigator

Portuguese royalty who sent ships around Africa looking for a sea route to India

Vasco de Gama

Portuguese explorer who went around Africa to India

Trading Post Empire

The Portuguese established trading posts and ports to dominate the Indian Ocean instead of actually conquering

Christopher Columbus

Spanish Explorer who claimed much of Central-South America

Hernan Cortes

Spanish Conquistador who conquered much of Central-South America with the help of new diseases like Smallpox and Measles

Samuel de Champlain

French Explorer who established permanent settlements in Quebec

Huron Confederacy

French-Native American alliance allowing the French to get in to the Fur Trade in America

Settler Colonies

Colonies where English people moved and settled for a new life

Treaty of Tordesillas

Drew a Vertical line in Central America, giving Portugal the West and Spain the East, after some territorial disputes with Columbus claiming southern Caribbean Islands which should have gone to Portugal due to prior agreements

Columbian Exchange

The global transfer of goods, flora, fauna, cultural practices, and disease between the Old World and the New World as a result of European Imperialism

Great Dying

Indigenous populations collapsed due to new European diseases like Smallpox or Measles

Foods that entered Europe from America

Maize, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Cacao

Foods that entered America from Europe

Rice, Wheat

Minerals that entered Europe from America

Gold, Silver

European Effects of the Columbian Exchange

Power shifted from Mediterranean to Atlantic states

Casta System

Spanish subjugation method in the Americas with a hierarchy based on race and origin; Peninsulares

Encomienda

Economic and social system in which Spaniards could by law exact tribute and labor from indigenous Americans

Plantation Economy

Economy centered around growing one or two Cash Crops to export in Central America, demanding lots of labor

Causes for African Enslavement on Plantations

Native slaves kept escaping with the helpful geography or dying due to Smallpox, so Europeans needed Africans, who had been in contact with Europeans for millennia