The Age of Exploration

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key explorers, geographical terms, historical dates, and navigational concepts from the Age of Exploration lecture notes.

Age of Exploration

The historical period (15th and 16th centuries) when Europeans began exploring the world via sea travels in search of new trading routes, wealth, and knowledge.

Circumnavigate

To sail completely around the Earth.

Expedition

An organized journey undertaken for a particular purpose, especially to an unfamiliar place.

Cape

A large piece of land extending into a body of water.

Strait

A narrow body of water that connects two larger water bodies.

Navigator

A person who plans and directs the course or direction of a ship or vessel.

Native

A person living in a particular country, area, or city since birth.

Bartolomeu Dias

A Portuguese explorer and knight at the court of King John II of Portugal who became the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa in 1488 CE.

Cape of Storms

The original name given to the Cape of Good Hope by Bartolomeu Dias after sailing around the southern tip of Africa.

Cape of Good Hope

The name given to the Cape of Storms by King John II of Portugal because it marked the opening of a direct sea route to the East, bypassing Middle Eastern land routes.

Vasco da Gama

A Portuguese explorer and navigator who became the first person to sail directly from Europe to India via the Cape of Good Hope in 1498 CE.

Calicut (Kozhikode)

The port city on the Malabar Coast of India reached by Vasco da Gama in 1498 CE.

Cochin (Kochi)

The place in India where Vasco da Gama died during his third voyage in 1524 CE.

Christopher Columbus

An Italian navigator backed by King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain who set sail west across the Atlantic in 1492 CE and opened the Americas to European settlement.

Niña, Pinta, and Santa María

The three ships with which Christopher Columbus set sail across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492 CE.

Amerigo Vespucci

An Italian explorer, navigator, and cartographer after whom the Americas are generally believed to have been named.

Ferdinand Magellan

A Portuguese-born explorer who set out on behalf of Spain in 1519 CE with five ships, discovering the passage between the Atlantic and Pacific and leading the first expedition to circumnavigate the world.

Strait of Magellan

The narrow body of water at the southern end of South America navigated by Ferdinand Magellan in November 1520 to enter the Pacific Ocean.

Juan Sebastián Elcano

Ferdinand Magellan's deputy who took command after Magellan was killed in the Philippines, returning to Spain with one ship and cloves to complete the first successful circumnavigation of the globe.

Spice Islands

The historical name for the Moluccas or Malaku Islands, renowned in olden times for producing valuable spices such as nutmeg and cloves.

Ceylon

The historical name for Sri Lanka during the Age of Exploration, known as a major source of spices.

Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince recorded as an early patron of voyages and the first to direct sailing expeditions toward Asia.

Astrolabe and Quadrant

Navigational instruments used by sea explorers to calculate their latitude and determine the location of their ship at sea.

Anno Domini (A.D.)

A Latin phrase meaning 'in the year of our Lord,' used to denote calendar years in the Christian era.