Colombian Exchange/ European Exploration

Christopher Columbus

his 1492 voyage, sponsored by Spain, led to the first sustained European contact with the Americas.

Triangular Trade

a system of trade that connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas during the Age of Exploration, using a three-legged route to exchange goods and enslaved people

Colonies

European powers established these in the Americas and other parts of the world, driven by a desire for new trade routes, resources like gold and silver, and religious freedom

Atlantic Slave Trade

a brutal system that took place from the 16th to the 19th centuries, As Europeans explored the Atlantic, they established a trade route that brought millions of enslaved Africans to the Americas to work on plantations.

Hernando Cortes

famous for his 1519 expedition that led to the conquest of the Aztec Empire and the founding of New Spain.

Encomienda

a Spanish colonial labor system during the Age of Exploration that granted Spanish colonists the right to demand labor and tribute from Native Americans in exchange for protection and religious instruction.

Dias

the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa

Dutch East India Company

established in 1602 to monopolize trade in Asia and becoming one of the first multinational corporations

Capitalism

the pursuit of profit motivated Europeans to seek new trade routes, markets, and resources

Joint Stock Company

they pooled capital from multiple investors to fund risky overseas voyages, sharing both the profits and losses.

Conquistador

Spanish and Portuguese explorers who participated in a period of exploration and conquest from the late 15th to the 16th centuries.

Mestizo

people of mixed Spanish and Indigenous American heritage who emerged due to the power imbalance of conquest and colonization.

Treaty of Tordesillas

a 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal to divide newly discovered lands outside Europe along a line of demarcation

prince henry

sponsored and organized early Portuguese voyages down the coast of Africa in the 15th century.

Mercantilism

the economic driver for the Age of Exploration

Favorable balance of Trade

A core principle of the economic theory of mercantilism, which held that a nation's wealth was measured by its holdings of gold and silver

Vasco de Gama

Led the first sea voyage from Europe to India by sailing around Africa's Cape of Good Hope in 1498. This established a direct maritime trade route, bypassing overland routes controlled by other traders.

Fracisco Pizarro

Led the expedition that conquered the Inca Empire in the 1530s. His conquests led to the establishment of Spanish colonial rule in South America and the founding of cities like Lima

Middle Passage

brutal, forced sea journey from Africa to the Americas that was part of the transatlantic slave trade during the Age of Exploration. enslaved Africans were packed into ships under horrific conditions, leading to high mortality rates from disease, starvation, and violence.

Columbian Exchange

the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, diseases, and people between the Old World (Europe, Asia, Africa) and the New World (the Americas) that began after Christopher Columbus's voyages in 1492 during the Age of Exploration.