Module 1 Test Study Guide

Where was Columbus from & who did he sail for?

Where was Columbus from & who did he sail for?

Christopher Columbus was an (Italian) Genoese sailor that believed the route to Asia could be found by sailing West across Atlantic Ocean. He sailed for Queen Isabella of Spain

How many trips did Columbus make to the Americas?

4 total voyages

Where did Columbus believe he had landed initially?

Columbus believed he landed on islands off of Asia known as the Indies (or India)

What was the first plant grown in the Americas due to agriculture? Where was it grown?

Maize (corn) was the first plant grown in the Americas… it was grown in central Mexico

What religion dominated Western Europe for many centuries?

Roman Catholic Church (Christianity)

Who were conquistadors? What were they hoping to find?

Conquistadors are Spanish conquerors, who arrived in the Carribbean and later Mexico in search of gold and silver

Who were the first Europeans to purchase slaves?

Portugal

What was the African model of slavery and how it did differ from European model?

The African model of slavery is that you are not born into slavery and just because you were a slave did not mean a life of servitude. Slaves could escape their bondage, and be free by being adopted by or married into the family they served.

The difference between the African model of slavery and the European model of slavery is that in the Americas slavery continued from generation to generation and was based on race.

What is the West African religion and who did they worship?

In addition to Islam, West Africans believed nature was filled with spirit’s in both living and nonliving objects and that the spirits of ancestors spoke to elders in their dreams. However, most did believe in a single creator.

They worshipped their ancestors as well as nature they believed to be filled with spirits in living/nonliving objects.

What is Kente cloth and what is its purpose?

Kente cloth is a multicolored fabric used as a symbol of Africa

What is the capital of New Spain?

Mexico City

What was the Treaty of Tordesillas? Who was involved?

The Treaty of Tordesillas was an agreement initiated by the Pope, that split the Western Hemisphere between Spain and Portugal because of the tension between the countries (most of the Americas went to Spain and Portugal got Brazil)

What is the oldest European-founded city in present-day U.S.?

St. Augustine

What empire was defeated by Hernando Cortes?

the Aztec empire

What was the first European country to make contact with and begin trade West Africa?

Portuguese

Why did the Spanish turn to using African slaves in the Americas?

The diseases brought to the Americas by the Spanish, devastated the Native American population (because no immunity), causing the native workforce to be reduced. This led the Spanish to turn to Africa for slaves

What was the largest West African empire in history?

Songhai

What inventions allowed sailors to leave the coastline and enter open seas ?

compass and astrolabe

What event led to the Spanish losing their dominance over the Americas?

Spain and England came into conflict, and Spain sent an armada (or fleet) to attack England. Storms helped destroy most of the fleet, leaving the British to finish off the rest of the fleet. This caused Spain to lose its military power, and now other European countries could now venture into the New World

plantation

farm on which a single crop, usually one that requires much human labor, is grown on large scale

Songhai

gained power and wealth by controlling trans-Sahara trade and were the largest West African empire in history. used army/cavalry to dominate the savanna

savanna

region of dry grassland

lineage

line of common decent

Renaissance

period of investigation of the physical world, term means “rebirth”

Prince Henry

known as “Henry the Navigater”, sent Portuguese ships to explore the west coast of Africa

hierarchy

what the European society was based on; it goes down according to rank

nuclear family

household made up of mother and father and their children

Crusades

series of military expeditions to the Middle East in the name of Christianity

Reformation

reform movement that divided Christianity between Catholicism and Protestantism

Christopher Columbus

Genoese sailor that believed route to Asia could be found by sailing West across Atlantic Ocean

Taino

“noble ones”

colonization

establishment of distant settlements that are controlled by the parent country

Columbian Exchange

transfer of living things (plants/animals) between Americas, Europe, and Africa

Treaty of Tordesillas

split Western Hemisphere between Spain and Portugal

conquistadors

Spanish conquerors, arrived in Caribbean and later Mexico in search of gold and silver

Hernando Cortes

conquistador that learned a of great wealth of the Aztec in modern Mexico

New Spain

the colony founded by Cortes, with its capital of Mexico City, built on the ruins of the former Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan

mestizo

mixed Spanish and Native American population due to marriages between settlers and native women

encomienda

labor system where natives farmed, ranched, or mined for Spanish landlords

Juan Ponce de Leon

Spanish explorer made landfall on Easter Sunday, a day Spaniards called pascua florida, or “feast of flowers”

New Mexico

became the name of Spain’s northern holdings

Popé

Native American religious leader who was badly beaten by the Spanish for refusing to convert to Catholicism, and organized a rebellion that drove the Spanish out