Chapter 1 - Explorers & Fortune Seekers - People, Places and Ideas

Cristoforo Colombo

Genoese mariner who attempted to shorten the journey to the Asian trade markets by traveling directly west across the Atlantic. His miscalculation led him to uncharted land he believed to be were Asian islands, which in fact were the Caribbean Islands.

Prince Henry the Navigator

(1394-1460) Prince of Portugal who established an observatory and school of navigation at Sagres and directed voyages that spurred the growth of Portugal's colonial empire.

Cipangu

The name given in the 1500s to Japan

Canary Islands

Archipelago in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa, the "last stop" before sailing west across the Atlantic

Enterprise of the Indies

Columbus' proposal to sail west across the Atlantic to Japan and China. In 1492 Columbus gained support for the venture from Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.

Silk Road

Connected China, India, and the Middle East. Traded goods and helped to spread culture.

What was the main trade item that Europeans desired that spurred the Age of Exploration?

Spices

middleman

a trader who buys goods from producers and sells them to other traders and consumers

What allowed sailors to sail against the wind?

caravels

The Gold & Ivory Coasts

West coast of Africa, known for its trade centers, especially the trade of gold, ivory (from elephants) and slaves

What did the astrolab use to help sailors?

stars

King Fernando and Queen Isabel

Funded the westward voyage of Christopher Columbus

Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria

Columbus's three caravels

October 12, 1492

Columbus and his men landed on small Caribbean island

Guanahani

Native name of island Columbus landed on

Bartolomeu Dias

Portuguese explorer who in 1488 led the first expedition to sail around the southern tip of Africa from the Atlantic and sight the Indian Ocean.

Vasco de Balboa

First European to reach the Pacific Ocean, 1513.

Fernando Magellan

Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who organized the Spanish expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, resulting in the first circumnavigation of the Earth.

Juan Sebastian Elcano

Spanish explorer who completed Magellan's voyage.

Balboa, Magellan & Elcano

The work of their expeditions proved Columbus' Grand Mistake

Amerigo Vespucci

Italian explorer who was the first person to realize that the Americas were separate from Asia, stating that the Americas were not the East Indies. In 1507, a mapmaker named the Americas after him.

Juan de Grijalva

Spanish explorer to first explore the Yucatan Peninsula

Hernan Cortes

Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the conquest of Aztec Mexico in 1519-1521 for Spain.

Juan Ponce de Leon

Spanish Explorer who discovered and named Florida while searching for the "Fountain of Youth"

Hispaniola

First island in Caribbean settled by Spaniards; settlement founded by Columbus on second voyage to New World; Spanish base of operations for further discoveries in New World. (Haiti and the Dominican Republic)