Atlantic Exploration, Settlement, and the Columbian Exchange Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering European exploration, religious upheavals, colonization strategies, mercantilism, and the Columbian Exchange based on lecture notes.

Portugal

The country that initiated the era of Atlantic exploration.

Sugar

The food item that fueled the Atlantic Slave Trade.

Spain

The country that established the first colonies in the Americas.

The 3 G's

Gold, God, and Glory; the three reasons why the Spanish explored the New World.

San Salvador

The place where Christopher Columbus first landed.

Reconquista

Military campaigns in which Christian kingdoms fought to recapture the Iberian peninsula.

Probanzas de méritos

Documents written and designed specifically to win royal favors.

95 theses

The document that Martin Luther mailed to a church door outlining complaints against the Catholic Church.

Indulgences

Certificates sold by the Catholic Church that promised to shorten a person's time in purgatory.

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement that began in Germany.

Calvinism

A major branch of Protestantism whose founder wanted to simplify Christianity.

Anglican church

The church created by King Henry VIII.

Pilgrims

Separatists who wanted to completely leave the Church of England and landed at the tip of Cape Cod in 1620.

Puritans

A group of 16th and 17th century English Protestants who believed the Church of England was too similar to the Catholic Church.

Privateers

State-sponsored private sailors or ships.

Joint stock companies

Organizations where private investors pooled their money together to fund a voyage or colony.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement, founded in 1607 for money.

English Colonization Goals

Economic profit and geopolitical power.

Dutch Colonization Goals

Trade, commerce, and economic profit.

French Colonization Goals

Economic profit and finding water passages to Asia.

Encomiendas

Grants obtained by Spaniards by securing a direct decree from the Spanish crown.

Black Legend

A heavy wave of anti-Spanish propaganda started by Spain's European rivals.

Mercantilism

The dominant economic system in Europe.

Colonial Mercantilism

The specific application of mercantilist economic theory to the relationship between a colonizing country and its colonies.

Spanish Mercantilism

Spain's specific version of colonial mercantilism.

Commodification

The process of turning something that had no commercial value into a commodity.

Columbian Exchange

A massive transfer of plants, animals, food, and deadly diseases across the Atlantic.

Native American Disease Vulnerability

The reason diseases like smallpox severely affected Native Americans, caused by biological isolation and the compounding trauma of colonial warfare.

New World to Europe Food Transfer

Food items sent from the New World to Europe, including potato, corn, and tomato.

Europe to New World Food Transfer

Food types sent from Europe to the New World, including wheat, rice, and coffee.

Africa to New World Food Transfer

Food types sent to the New World from Africa, including yams, watermelon, and African rice.