European Expansion and the Conquest of the Aztecs

Vocabulary practice cards covering European expansion, the technological advancements of the Age of Exploration, and the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Age of Exploration

A period from the $1400s$ to the $1700s$ during which European nations grew powerful and spread their influence throughout the world, fostered by Renaissance curiosity and a desire for trade.

Gold, God, Glory

The three primary motivations for European exploration: the desire for new wealth/direct trade routes to Asia, the urge to spread Christianity and stop the spread of Islam, and the pursuit of personal prestige and national power.

Magnetic compass

A navigation technique introduced during the Renaissance that made sailing more accurate for European explorers.

Astrolabe

A navigation tool that used the position of the stars to show direction, enabling explorers to sail farther from Europe.

Caravel

A strong, maneuverable ship developed by European shipbuilders that featured a moveable rudder, cannons for protection, and triangular lateen sails allowing it to sail into the wind.

Zheng He

The leader of the Chinese treasure fleet who conducted $7$ expeditions to Southeast Asia, India, and Africa between $1405$ and $1433$ during the Ming Dynasty.

Prince Henry

Known as 'The Navigator', he started a school of navigation in Portugal in the $15th$ century to train sailors and map-makers, aiming to find a trade route to Asia.

Vasco da Gama

The first explorer to find a direct trade route to Asia by sailing around Africa to reach India, bringing great wealth to Portugal.

Christopher Columbus

A Renaissance explorer sponsored by Spain who reached the Bahamas in $1492$, mistakenly believing he had reached islands off the coast of India.

Ferdinand Magellan

The explorer whose expedition became the first to circumnavigate the Earth by sailing west to reach Asia.

Conquistadors

Spanish explorers sent to the New World to find gold, claim land, and spread Christianity.

Joint-stock companies

Private investment groups formed by English citizens to fund overseas colonies, rather than the colonies being paid for by the king.

Dutch East India Company

A private company that dominated trade in Asia for the Netherlands during the Age of Exploration.

Hernan Cortés

The leader of a small group of conquistadors who traveled to the Americas in $1519$ and eventually conquered the Aztec Empire.

Moctezuma (Montezuma)

The Aztec emperor who controlled life for $10$ million people and was initially captured as a hostage by Hernan Cortés.

Tenochtitlan

The Aztec capital city built on an island in Lake Texcoco, described as a thriving city of $300\,000$ people and five times the size of London.

Chinampas

Floating gardens created by Aztec farmers to grow crops on the swampy, uninhabited island that became Tenochtitlán.

Quetzalcoatl

An ancient Aztec god prophesied to return to Earth; Moctezuma initially believed Hernan Cortés was this god.

La Noche Triste

The 'Sad Night' when Aztec rebels forced the Spanish out of Tenochtitlan following a massacre of thousands of Aztecs by Spanish leaders, resulting in high casualties for Cortés.

Tlaxcalan

An indigenous group that hated the Aztecs and cooperated with Cortés to help defeat the Aztec Empire.

Doña Marina (La Malinche)

An indigenous woman given to Cortés as a slave who served as a vital interpreter, secretary, and negotiator between the Spanish and the Aztecs.

Council of Indies

A governing body created in $1524$ by Spain to rule the Americas through appointed viceroys.

Peninsulares

The highest social class in Spanish colonial society, consisting of white individuals born in Spain.

Criollos

White individuals in Spanish colonial society who were born in Mexico rather than Spain.

Mestizos

People in Spanish colonial society with mixed ancestry from both Spanish and Indian parents.

Enconmienda system

A labor system in New Spain where settlers were permitted to tax American Indians or force them to work on plantations.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

A priest who condemned the encomienda system's harsh treatment of American Indians.