Background of Explorations and European Influence in Asia

Vocabulary flashcards covering the historical background of global explorations, key explorers, trade routes, and the arrival of European powers in Asia.

Silk Route

The trade route from the city of Constantinople to China through Persia and Central Asia.

Constantinople

A main commercial center and trade hub conquered by Muslim Turks in 1453, which led to the blocking of traditional trade routes for Europeans.

Nicolaus Copernicus

A mathematician and astronomer during the Renaissance who proved that the Earth is spherical.

Ptolemy's map

An ancient map that helped expand people's knowledge about the position of the world during the Renaissance.

Prester John

A ruler in a mythical Christian state in the East whom Europeans hoped to find to help spread Christianity.

Iberian Peninsula

The geographic region where both Portugal and Spain are situated.

Henry the Navigator

A Portuguese royal who started a school of oceanic navigation in the 15th century to train people in navigation, ship building, and astronomy.

Bartolomeu Dias

A Portuguese navigator who led a team to the southern end of Africa in 1488, originally naming it the 'Cape of Storms'.

Cape of Good Hope

The name given by the King of Portugal to the former 'Cape of Storms' to indicate it was a good sign for finding a sea route to Asia.

Vasco da Gama

The Portuguese navigator who followed the route around Africa and reached the City of Calicut in India in 1498.

Ferdinand and Isabella

The Spanish royal couple who provided patronage and a strong economy to support explorations in the latter half of the 15th century.

Christopher Columbus

An explorer who, under Spanish patronage, landed on Hispaniola Island in the Bahamas in 1492, mistakenly believing he had reached India.

Amerigo Vespucci

The explorer who followed Columbus's route and discovered the continent that was eventually named after him.

Ferdinand Magellan

A navigator born in Portugal who launched a Spanish-sponsored voyage in 1519 that resulted in the first sailing around the world.

Strait of Magellan

The strait discovered at the southern end of the North American Continent through which the Pacific Ocean can be reached.

Cabot Brothers

Explorers sponsored by England who explored the coastal areas of Canada.

Jacques Cartier

An explorer sponsored by France who explored the St. Lawrence area in North America.

Henry Hudson

An explorer sponsored by Holland who explored the area around the Hudson river and Hudson's Bay.

Feudal system

A social and economic system where elites held land ownership while common farmers cultivated the land.

VOC

The Dutch East India Company, established in 1602 by merging several smaller trading companies to handle all Dutch matters in Asia.

Batavia

The area in South-East Asia where the Dutch established their Eastern headquarters.

Goa

A city in India captured by the Portuguese to serve as their main center of operations in the East.