History: Age of Exploration

Hernan Cortez

Spanish conquistador that conquered the Aztecs

Portugal

Took the lead in European exploration

Vasco de Gama

First sea captain to make it around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean, thereby establishing trade connections with India directly. Established Portugal as a European sea power and trade giant for over a hundred years in south and southeast Asia before the Dutch and English ever used the Cape route.

Melaka (Malacca)

A thriving spice trade port on the Malay Peninsula

Christopher Columbus

After the vikings, the first European explorer to reach the Americas (Caribbean basin)

John Cabot

• John Cabot explored the northeast coast of North America in 1497 and 1498, claiming Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the Grand Banks for England.

Amerigo Vespucci

1454-1512 AD Italian explorer and navigator who, upon exploring the American mainland and the South American coast, concluded that Columbus' discovery was actually a new world. It was named "America" in his honor.

Encomienda

The right of landowners to use native Americans as slave labor

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants and animals between Europe and the Americas transformed economic activity in both worlds

Mercantilism

Economic policy common to many absolute monarchies. Government control of foreign trade is of paramount importance for ensuring the military security of the country. In particular, it demands a positive balance of trade and desires new sources of gold and silver bullion, thus fueling more colonialism. Emerged in the 17th century

Balance of trade

The difference in value between what a nation imports and what it exports over time

Triangular trade

A three way system of trade during 1600-1800s Aferica sent slaves to America, America sent Raw Materials to Europe, and Europe sent Guns and Rum to Africa

Middle Passage

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies

King Afonso

African King of Congo; converted to Christianity; wrote a letter expressing concerns about slave trade to Portuguese king

Benin

A powerful city-state in western Africa formed around the 14th century with a vibrant society that descended into corruption and brutality with the engagement of the slave trade

Java

Dutch established a fort here in 1619. Dutch economic and political influence over the year led to a formal colonial status in the Dutch Empire. Indonesia gained independence in 1949, with the city of Jakarta on the island of Java as its political heart.

Gold Coast

Name given by Portugal to the southern coast of West Africa. Approximately present-day Ghana.

Sumatra

Western-most island in the Indonesia archipelago. By the 19th century, Dutch Empire had almost a complete hold on the island, save for only one English port. Pepper, rubber and oil became major exports

Treaty of Tordesillas

established a line of demarcation between Spanish and Portuguese territories. 1494

Dutch colonies in the Americas...

first established in the Hudson River valley (now Southeastern New York)

Ibo

society in eastern Nigeria that lost the greatest number people to the slave trade

sugarcane plantations

the biggest application of slave labor in the America

Moluccas

Small scattered islands in what is now central Indonesia. Much coveted for their abundant and exotic spices (the spice islands) Portuguese and then the Dutch competed for control of this area through the 16th century.

Indonesia Archipelago & Malay Peninsula

direct European influence was limited to these area in SE Asia. Conversely, mainland SE Asia states maintained a strong deterrent to drive European influence out until the late 19th century

Buddhism

dominant religion of the Southeast Asian mainland

Dutch "clove market"

an attempt to control the cost and flow of cloves to Europe by restricting its cultivation to one Dutch controlled island

New Netherlands

17th century. Centered on New Amsterdam on the island of Manhattan in the Hudson River. Generally the name of the outlying areas into North Jersey and out to the northeast. By the end of the century it was taken by the English and renamed New York and New Jersey