Colonizers and Colonialism

Flashcards covering key terms and concepts related to European colonizers, colonialism, and early exploration of the Atlantic World, including major explorers, treaties, empires, and economic structures.

Motivations for European Exploration

The primary drivers for exploration in the Atlantic World, often summarized as 'God, glory, and gold'.

Columbian Exchange

The widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Americas, West Africa, and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries, with significant impacts on diets, native economies, and disease spread.

Christopher Columbus

An explorer who made landfall in the Bahamas in October 1492, then explored Cuba and Hispaniola, initiating what would become the Columbian Exchange and inspiring hopes for colonies.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

An agreement between Spain and Portugal, brokered by the Pope, that divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe, giving Portugal control over Brazil and lands eastward, and Spain control over lands westward.

Hernán Cortés

A Spanish conquistador who, defying orders, reached the Mexican coast in 1519 and allied with some native peoples to conquer the Aztec Empire by 1521.

Montezuma II

The ruler of the Aztec Empire who was taken hostage by Hernán Cortés when Cortés was invited into the royal palace at Tenochtitlán.

Tenochtitlán

The capital city of the Aztec Empire, plundered by Hernán Cortés's soldiers.

Hernando de Soto

A Spanish conquistador who embarked on an expedition in 1538 to conquer Florida and whose men became the first Europeans to encounter and cross the Mississippi River in 1541.

Protestant Reformation

A religious revolution that took place in the Western Christian church in the 16th century, having far-reaching political, economic, and social effects and contributing to religious turmoil in the Atlantic World.

Roanoke

Known as the 'Lost Colony,' an English settlement established in 1587 that mysteriously disappeared, leaving only the word 'CROATOAN' carved into a tree.

Joint-Stock Companies

A type of venture where stock was sold to high net-worth investors who provided capital and had limited risk, often created to establish settlements in the New World.