Exploration, Colonization, and the Age of Discovery: Key Concepts and Figures

Motives for exploration

To acquire spices and make a profit, to discover new places and establish profitable trade routes.

Bartholomew Dias

Voyaged in 1488 to the Cape of Good Hope.

Vasco da Gama

Voyaged in 1497 to Calicut in India.

Christopher Columbus

Voyaged in 1492 from Spain to the Caribbean.

Challenges explorers faced at sea

Disease like scurvy, lack of food and fresh water, storms and rough seas, shipwreck, navigation problems.

Treaty of Tordesillas

Divided the New World into two sides between the Portuguese and Spain by Pope Alexander VI.

Conquistadors

Spanish conquerors in the New World.

Hernan Cortes

Formed alliances with indigenous groups who opposed Aztec rule and defeated the empire in 1521.

Francisco Pizarro

Led a Spanish expedition against the Inca Empire and conquered them in the 1530s.

Old World diseases

Smallpox, influenza, and measles that devastated indigenous populations.

Encomienda system

Spanish colonial system granting colonists the right to demand labor from Indigenous people in exchange for protection and religious instruction.

New France

Located in modern-day Canada, developed fur trade with Indigenous peoples.

New Spain

Settlers from Spain and Catholic missionaries spread Spanish language and culture.

Dutch and British exploration

Netherlands became wealthy through manufacturing and international trade; Jamestown, VA was the first permanent English settlement.

Voyages of James Cook

Mapped and circumnavigated New Zealand in 1769 and charted Australia's eastern coast.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of goods, crops, and diseases between the New World and the Old World.

Plantation system

Estates in the New World where crops like sugar, tobacco, and rice were cultivated.

Transatlantic slave trade

Enslaved Africans were marched to the African coast and held in prisons; the Middle Passage lasted from 6 weeks to several months.

Scurvy

A disease caused by a lack of Vitamin C in one's diet.

Smallpox

An ancient disease caused by the variola virus with early symptoms including high fever and fatigue.

Plantation

An estate on which crops such as coffee, sugar, and tobacco are cultivated by resident labor.

Caravel

A small, highly maneuverable ship used by Portuguese and Spanish in Atlantic voyages.

Cartography

Map making.

Astrolabe

Allowed sailors to determine their location at sea by measuring the position of the sun or the stars.

Compass

Used by mariners to determine their location and direction while at sea.

Indigenous

Means originating or occurring naturally in a particular place.

Circumnavigate

To travel all the way around something, such as the Earth.

Mercantilism

Promotes overseas trade between a country and its colonies and accumulates precious metals.

Taino

Indigenous peoples from Hispaniola.

Maori

Indigenous people from New Zealand.

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince who promoted the study of navigation.

Abolitionist movement

A movement that publicly spoke out against the slave trade.