Chapter 16: The Maritime Revolution, to 1550

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical figures, technologies, and events of the Maritime Revolution from Chapter 16 (to 1550).

Maritime Revolution

The expansion of ocean exploration and overseas connections between 1450 and 1550 that transformed global trade, politics, and cultural interactions.

Zheng He

Chinese Muslim admiral who commanded seven major Ming naval expeditions between 1405 and 1433 across the Indian Ocean to project imperial prestige, gather intelligence, and expand trade and diplomacy.

Ma Huan

A Chinese interpreter on Ming expeditions who recorded detailed observations about foreign societies, customs, and environments.

Polynesian Explorers

Pacific seafarers who navigated using winds, currents, and stars to explore and colonize widely dispersed islands from the Marquesas to Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island.

Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince (1394–1460) who sponsored expeditions along the western coast of Africa and promoted navigational research at Sagres to spread Christianity and access trade wealth.

Astrolabe

A navigational instrument of Arab or Greek origin that allowed mariners to calculate their position using the sun or stars.

Caravel

A small, maneuverable three-masted ship capable of open-ocean travel and shallow coastal sailing, equipped with lateen or square sails and small cannons.

Bartolomeu Dias

Portuguese navigator whose 1488 expedition became the first to round the southern tip of Africa from the Atlantic and reach the Indian Ocean.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese mariner who led the first direct European sea expedition to India from 1497 to 1498, arriving at Calicut.

Christopher Columbus

Genoese mariner sailing for Spain who led a 1492 transatlantic voyage intended to reach Asia, establishing sustained European contact with the Americas.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement dividing overseas discoveries between Spain and Portugal via an imaginary Atlantic meridian, giving Portugal lands east of the line and Spain lands west.

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese-born navigator whose 1519 Spanish expedition crossed the Atlantic, rounded South America, and crossed the Pacific, ultimately completing the first circumnavigation of the globe.

Victoria

The sole remaining vessel of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition that successfully completed the globe's first circumnavigation and returned to Spain in 1522.

Elmina

A fortified Portuguese trading settlement (Saint George of the Mine) established in 1482 on the West African Gold Coast to trade for gold and other goods.

Caramansa

The West African ruler on the Gold Coast who negotiated terms with the Portuguese permitting the construction of the Elmina trading fort in 1482.

Oba

The monarch of the Kingdom of Benin who regulated commerce with the Portuguese, exchanging goods such as pepper, ivory, and captives.

Malindi

An East African coastal trading city that allied with Vasco da Gama in 1498 and supplied an expert pilot to navigate to India.

Queen Helena

Ethiopian ruler who proposed a military alliance between Christian Ethiopia and the Portuguese fleet in 1509 to resist Muslim adversaries.

Samorin

The ruler of the Indian commercial port of Calicut who received Vasco da Gama in 1498 and was unimpressed by Portuguese gifts and trade goods.

Arawak

Indigenous inhabitants of the Caribbean islands, including Hispaniola and the Bahamas, who were devastated by Spanish forced labor, violence, and Old World epidemic diseases.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who led an expedition of approximately 600 fighting men into Mexico in 1519, conquering the Aztec Empire with the aid of Indigenous alliances and smallpox.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of the Inka Empire, capturing and executing emperor Atahuallpa.

Atahuallpa

The Inka ruler captured and executed by Francisco Pizarro and Spanish forces despite paying an immense ransom of gold and silver.

Manco Inka

Inka ruler who organized and led a major Indigenous uprising against Spanish rule at Cuzco in 1536.