Key Terms in Age of Exploration and Colonial Systems

Astrolabe

Instrument used by sailors to determine latitude by measuring the angle of stars above the horizon; improved navigation during the Age of Exploration.

Astronomical Charts

Maps of stars and planets used by navigators to determine direction and improve maritime travel accuracy.

Caravel

A small, fast, and maneuverable Portuguese or Spanish ship with lateen sails used for long-distance exploration in the 15th-17th centuries.

Carrack

A large, multi-masted European trading ship developed in the 15th century for oceanic voyages; used by Portugal and Spain.

Casta System

A racial hierarchy in Spanish America that classified people based on ancestry (European, Indigenous, African); reinforced social inequality.

Chattel Slavery

A system in which individuals are treated as property that can be bought, sold, or inherited; common in the Americas.

Coerced Labor

Work forced upon people through pressure, threats, or laws, including slavery, serfdom, and encomienda systems.

Eastern Hemisphere

The half of Earth east of the Prime Meridian, including Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

Encomienda System

Spanish colonial labor system granting settlers control over Indigenous people in exchange for protection and Christianization.

Fluyt

A Dutch cargo ship built for maximum storage and minimal crew, key to Dutch dominance in global trade during the 1600s.

Hacienda System

A Spanish colonial agricultural system where large estates were worked by Indigenous laborers or peasants, often in debt servitude.

Indentured Servitude

Labor system where individuals worked for a fixed term (often 4-7 years) in exchange for passage to the Americas.

Isolationist

A policy or practice of avoiding contact or involvement with other nations; notably used by Tokugawa Japan and Ming China.

Joint-Stock Company

A business owned by shareholders who invest money and share profits and losses; used to fund colonial ventures (e.g., British East India Company).

Lateen Sails

Triangular sails that allowed ships to sail against the wind; revolutionized navigation and helped expand maritime empires.

Magnetic Compass

Chinese invention that uses Earth's magnetic field to show direction; improved maritime navigation and global exploration.

Maritime Empire

An empire based on control of sea routes and coastal territories for trade and resources (e.g., Portuguese, British, Dutch).

Maroon Society

Communities of escaped enslaved people who formed independent settlements, often in the Caribbean and the Americas.

Mercantilism

Economic theory that wealth is finite and nations should export more than they import; colonies existed to benefit the mother country.

Middle Passage

The brutal transatlantic voyage that brought enslaved Africans to the Americas as part of the triangular trade.

Northwest Passage

A hoped-for sea route through North America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans sought by European explorers.

Religious Syncretism

The blending of different religious traditions or beliefs (e.g., Vodun combining African, Catholic, and Indigenous elements).

Stern Rudder

A steering device at the back of a ship that made navigation and maneuvering more precise.

Trading-Post Empire

Type of empire built to control trade routes rather than large territories; used by the Portuguese and Dutch.

Transatlantic Slave Trade

The forced transport of millions of Africans across the Atlantic to labor in the Americas from the 16th-19th centuries.

Western Hemisphere

The half of Earth west of the Prime Meridian, including the Americas and parts of western Europe and Africa.