Exploration and Early Settlements

Flashcards covering key explorers, their motivations, significant events, and important figures related to the Age of Exploration and early settlements.

Goal of early explorers in the New World

To find trade routes to Asia, acquire gold/wealth, expand their empires, and spread Christianity.

Christopher Columbus's primary goal

To find a western sea route to Asia.

Role of the Catholic Church in exploration and settlements

Funded expeditions, sent missionaries to convert people, and established religious institutions in new territories.

How the Spanish created a large empire

Through a large military, alliances with some indigenous groups, acquiring resources and labor, and the spread of diseases among native populations.

Christopher Columbus's three ships

The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.

Significance of the book written by 'Vasca'

It showed a new route to India, which helped trade.

Conquistador

A Spanish soldier/explorer.

Northwest Passage

A hoped-for sea route through the Arctic to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Theory about what happened at Roanoke

The colonists joined a local Native American tribe due to a lack of supplies from England.

Louisiana Territory

Named after King Louis XIV of France.

Unique aspect of Dutch colonies

They allowed people of different religions to live there.

French settlers' relations with Native Americans

They had good relations because they primarily traded fur, learned their languages, and adopted their customs.

Dutch policy for defeated Swedish people

They allowed them to stay but required them to join them as Dutch citizens.

Desire to find another way to Asia

To avoid high prices and controlled routes, and to access spices more easily.

Dare Stone

It is fake and not authentic.

Bartolomeu Dias (1450-1500)

Portuguese explorer, the first European to sail around the tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope) in 1488, opening a sea route to Asia.

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

Italian explorer sponsored by Spain, credited with the discovery of the Americas in 1492.

Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512)

Italian explorer who sailed for Spain and Portugal; demonstrated that Columbus's discoveries were a separate continent, not Asia. The Americas were named after him.

Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)

Sailed for Spain; led the first expedition around the world. Though he died before completing it, his journey proved the Earth was round and oceans are connected.

Hernan Cortes (1485-1547)

Spanish conquistador who caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and raided it for gold.

Francisco Pizarro (1471-1541)

Spanish conquistador known for the conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, leading to Spanish colonization of much of South America.

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618)

English explorer who attempted to establish colonies in the New World, sponsored expeditions including the Roanoke colony, and popularized tobacco in England.

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella

The Catholic monarchs of Spain who sponsored Christopher Columbus's trip, leading to the expansion of the Spanish empire.

Ponce de León (1474-1521)

Led the first European expedition to Florida, searching for the Fountain of Youth.

Cabeza de Vaca (1490-1559)

A Spanish explorer and one of four survivors of the 1527 Narváez expedition; his accounts provided valuable information about the American Southwest and its indigenous people.

Montezuma II (1466-1520)

The ruler of the Aztec Empire when Hernan Cortes arrived; he was taken hostage by Cortes and his team and later killed by his own people.