Unit 1B: New Monarchy, State-Centralization, and European Exploration

Flashcards testing key terms, key historical figures, motivations, and economic/political developments from Unit 1B.

Louis XI

French king who strengthened the French monarchy and avoided invading Italy.

Charles VIII

French king who invaded Italy in 1494 to claim Naples by taking advantage of Italy's divided city-states, demonstrating the growing power of France and political weakness of Italy.

Ferdinand & Isabella

Spanish monarchs who used marriage to unite forces and centralize the Spanish monarchy, completed the Reconquista in 1492, strongly promoted Catholicism, and sponsored Columbus's voyages.

Emperor Charles V

Habsburg ruler of a large European empire who also ruled Spain; fought to maintain Catholic unity during the Protestant Reformation and opposed Protestant leaders.

Henry VII of England

English king who strengthened the monarchy after the Wars of the Roses by weakening powerful nobles and creating a more centralized government through taxation and increased royal revenue.

Golden Bull

A 1356 decree establishing a seven-member electoral college of German electors to choose the Holy Roman Emperor, which strengthened the political power of German princes within the empire.

Machiavelli

Italian political thinker who authored The Prince (1513), advocating secular political values and arguing that it is safer for a ruler to be feared than loved because humans are ungrateful, fickle, and deceitful.

Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince who sponsored and encouraged voyages along the African coast, helping Portugal develop new navigation techniques and expand maritime exploration.

Navigation Technology

Tools such as the compass and astrolabe that made long-distance sea travel easier and more accurate, enabling Europeans to establish new trade routes.

Bartolomeu Dias

Portuguese explorer who rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa in 1487, demonstrating that a sea route to the Indian Ocean by sailing around Africa was possible.

Ferdinand Magellan

Explorer who led the 1519 expedition that began the first voyage around the world, proving that the world could be circumnavigated by sea.

Amerigo Vespucci

Explorer who argued that the lands reached by Columbus were a new continent rather than Asia, helping Europeans understand the existence of the Americas.

Christopher Columbus

Explorer who sailed under Spanish sponsorship and reached the Caribbean, initiating sustained contact between Europe and the Americas.

Portuguese Coastal Forts and Trading Posts

The primary focus of Portuguese expansion, which prioritized establishing coastal trade posts and forts rather than conquering large landmasses.

Columbian Exchange

The ongoing transfer of plants, animals, people, pathogens, and commodities between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres that reshaped global diets, economies, environments, and population patterns.

Cortés and the Aztecs

The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire led by Hernán Cortés using a small Spanish force, indigenous allies opposing Aztec domination, and the disruptive impact of disease.

Pizarro and the Inca

The conquest of the Inca Empire by Francisco Pizarro using a small Spanish force that intersected with internal Inca conflict and epidemic destabilization.

Bartolomé de las Casas

Spanish priest who was an early and prominent critic of Spanish mistreatment of Indigenous peoples, arguing that they deserved better treatment and protection.

Encomienda System

A Spanish colonial labor system that granted Spanish colonists control over Indigenous labor and tribute.

Hacienda

A large landed estate in Spanish colonies, typically owned by wealthy colonists and worked by laborers.

Price Revolution

A period of major inflation across Europe during the 1500s driven by population growth and the increased supply of gold and silver.

Capitalism

An economic system involving private investment, banking, credit, and profit that grew through expanding trade and elevated the influence of wealthy merchants and bankers.

Motivations for Exploration

Factors driving European expansion including breaking the Italian spice monopoly, mercantilist acquisition of gold reserves, direct access to slaves, and gaining land and power.

Unit 1B Learning Target Review Questions

A review question set asking to explain monarchical centralization in Spain, England, and France; the shift toward secular Machiavellian political justifications; European motivations for global exploration; and the long-term impacts of European contact with the world.