UNIT 4 AP WORLD MARITIME EMPIRES

Transoceanic Interconnections

Portugal

The first European country to explore and create a trading post empire focused on trade routes.

Trading Post Empire

An empire that controls trade by establishing ports and forts rather than settling land.

Spanish Empire

A European empire that colonized the Americas and used forced labor and religion to control people.

Encomienda System

A labor system where Spanish forced Indigenous people to work in exchange for protection and conversion.

Creole

A person of Spanish descent born in the Americas.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of goods, people, animals, and diseases between the Old World and New Worlds.

Smallpox

A deadly disease brought by Europeans that killed large numbers of Indigenous people.

Great Dying

The massive population decline of Indigenous people due to disease after European contact.

Jesuits

Catholic missionaries who spread Christianity in the Americas and Asia.

Mercantilism

An economic system where countries gain wealth by controlling trade and using colonies.

Silver Trade

The global trade of silver from the Americas, especially to Asia.

Charter Company

A business given government power to trade, colonize, and control territory.

Dutch East India Company

A powerful Dutch trading company that controlled trade in Asia and became extremely wealthy.