Age of Exploration, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and the French Revolution

Practice vocabulary flashcards covering the Age of Exploration, early European trade, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the estates system of France, the French Revolution, and the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Old Silk Road

The ancient trade route connecting East Asia to Europe, fueled by European demand for Eastern silk, perfume, and spices.

Fall of Constantinople (1453)

The capture of Constantinople that disrupted the Old Silk Road, forcing European powers to search for new maritime routes to reach Asia.

Conquistadores

Spanish military explorers whose armor, horses, and firearms allowed them to conquer American civilizations like the Aztecs in search of gold.

Colonialism

The system accelerated by European powers in the Americas to extract natural resources and generate wealth for European monarchs using forced and enslaved labor.

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

The forced transport of between 10 million and 12 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas from the 1500s through the 1800s.

Middle Passage Mortality Rate

The loss of approximately 1,800,000 enslaved Africans who died during the maritime journey across the Atlantic, accounting for 14.4% of all transported captives.

Regulated Slave Trade Act of 1788

A British law establishing legal maximums and spatial dimensions per captive (e.g., 6' by 1'4" for an adult male) aboard slave transport ships.

Brookes

A British slave ship legally capped at carrying 454 enslaved people under the Regulated Slave Trade Act of 1788, having reportedly carried up to 609 individuals previously.

First Estate

The social class in pre-revolutionary France comprising approximately 130,000 members of the Clergy (1% of the population) who owned vast lands, received tithes, and paid only 2% of their income in taxes.

Second Estate

The hereditary French nobility comprising roughly 300,000 people (2% of the population) who held 30% of the land and were exempt from paying taxes.

Third Estate

The French social order consisting of peasants and wealthy commoners comprising 97% of the population; they formed 100% of the army, lacked political privileges, and paid around 50% of their income in taxes.

Tennis Court Oath

The agreement made by Third Estate peasant representatives inside an indoor tennis court to draft a new constitution after finding the town hall locked against them.

Storming of the Bastille

The armed assault on the royal Paris prison by French revolutionaries, resulting in the beheading of the fortress warden after King Louis XVI prepared the military for war.

Reign of Terror

A radical revolutionary phase led by Maximilien Robespierre that led to the capture and execution of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, alongside 25,000 to 40,000 other French citizens.

Guillotine

A mechanical decapitation device used to execute thousands during the French Revolution, serving as a prominent symbol of the revolutionary cause.

First Consul

A supreme political title established by Napoleon Bonaparte for himself, conferring unilateral power to appoint ministers, generals, civil servants, magistrates, and legislators.

Napoleonic Code

A civil legal system instituted by Napoleon that abolished birth-based privileges, recognized freedom of religion, and required government offices to be staffed based on qualifications.

French Satellites

Client states across Europe placed under the control of Napoleon's friends and relatives following military victories to secure direct command of their armies.

Scorched Earth

A defensive military tactic involving the destruction and burning of all usable tools, food, and shelter to starve and deplete advancing enemy forces.

Treaty of Fontainebleau (1814)

The surrender document signed by Napoleon Bonaparte on March 30, 1814, yielding to allied forces and committing him to his initial exile on Elba.

St. Helena

A remote island in the southern Atlantic Ocean where the British permanently exiled Napoleon following his 1815 return and subsequent defeat, and where he died six years later of stomach cancer.