Age of Exploration and Enlightenment Lecture Notes

Flashcards covering vocabulary and key figures from the Age of Exploration, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment.

Portuguese route to India

The route sailed from Portugal, down the west coast of Africa, around the southern tip of Africa, across the Indian Ocean to reach India.

Christopher Columbus

An explorer who in $1492$ sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean hoping to reach Asia, instead landing in the Caribbean islands and making $4$ total voyages.

Monsoon winds

Seasonal winds where during the summer they blew east towards Asia, and during the winter they blew west towards Africa.

East Indian Ocean Trade Network

A trade network connecting East Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and China using monsoon winds for the exchange of goods, ideas, and customs.

Zheng He

A Chinese explorer, admiral, and diplomat of the Ming Dynasty known for his $7$ voyages to southwest Asia, India, Arabia, and eastern Africa.

Kilwa

A coastal city on the Swahili Coast known for its coral stone mosques and easy harbor used for trade.

Swahili

A language that is a blend between Arabic and Bantu.

Dry masonry

A construction technique used in Great Zimbabwe involving the stacking of stones to create walls without using mortar.

Great Zimbabwe

A large, advanced city built by the Shona people between $1100-1400$ AD that supplied gold to Kilwa.

Tokugawa Shogunate

The final feudal military government of Japan that ruled from $1603-1868$.

Closed Country Edict

A law and series of policies during the $1630s$ that restricted foreigners from entering Japan, prevented Japanese citizens from leaving, and limited trade to the Dutch and Chinese.

Triangular Trade

An intercontinental trade network connecting North America, South America, Europe, and Africa involving the exchange of manufactured goods, enslaved people, and raw materials.

Mercantilism

An economic system where nations sought to increase power by accumulating wealth, achieved through gold and silver supplies, a favorable balance of trade, and establishing colonies.

Favorable balance of trade

A component of mercantilism where a nation seeks to sell more goods than it buys.

The Middle Passage

The horrifying journey enslaved people were forced to endure as cargo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Olaudah Equiano

An enslaved person captured in Africa who survived the Middle Passage and later wrote a narrative about his experiences.

Printing Press

A machine created in the $1450s$ by Johannes Gutenberg that could mass produce books using movable metal type.

Gutenberg Bible

The first major book printed using the printing press.

Vernacular

The everyday native language or dialect used in a specific region instead of Latin.

Scientific Revolution

An era of developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, and biology that replaced superstition-based explanations with the scientific method.

Heliocentric theory

The theory that the sun is the center of the universe with planets, including Earth, orbiting around it.

Nicolaus Copernicus

The scientist who developed the heliocentric theory.

Galileo Galilei

A scientist who supported the heliocentric theory using a telescope and was eventually forced to recant his findings.

René Descartes

An Enlightenment thinker known for the phrase "I think therefore I am" and the use of skepticism as proof of existence.

Francis Bacon

A scientist who developed the scientific method, a formal process for gathering data and testing hypotheses through inductive reasoning.

Isaac Newton

A scientist known for his work on gravity, physics, acceleration, and inertia.

Absolute ruler

A leader who holds complete and unlimited power.

Louis XIV

The King of France who built the Palace of Versailles, strengthened the monarchy, and used parties and rituals to control the nobles.

Catherine the Great

The Empress of Russia who wanted to enlighten Russia through education and law reform while maintaining complete control and expanding territory.

Akbar the Great

A leader known for religious tolerance, removing non-Muslim taxes, and sponsoring discussions of religion and philosophy.

The Enlightenment

An intellectual movement in the $17th$ and $18th$ century also known as the "Age of Reason" that focused on natural rights and progress.

John Locke

An Enlightenment thinker who believed humans are naturally good and that government exists to protect natural rights like life, liberty, and property.

Thomas Hobbes

An Enlightenment thinker who believed humans are naturally selfish and need a social contract with a strong ruler to ensure a peaceful society.

State of nature

A condition described by Enlightenment thinkers where people live freely and equally without a government, guided by natural law.

Voltaire

An Enlightenment thinker who advocated for the separation of Church and State, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech.

Baron de Montesquieu

The Enlightenment thinker who created the concept of checks and balances involving three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial.

Mary Wollstonecraft

The author of "Vindication of the Rights of Women" who fought for education for women.