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Q: What are the 3 Gs of exploration?

A: God, Gold, Glory

Q: What was the Northwest Passage?

A: A hoped-for shortcut to Asia through North America (never found)

Q: What technology helped Europeans explore?

A: Astrolabe, compass, caravel, improved maps

Q: What is a caravel?

A: A small, fast ship that could sail long distances

Q: What does the astrolabe do?

A: Measures latitude using the stars

Q: Who was Zheng He?

A: Chinese explorer during the Ming Dynasty who sailed massive treasure ships to show Chinese power

Q: What did Portugal do during exploration?

A: Explored around Africa (Vasco da Gama), set up trading posts

Q: What did Spain do during exploration?

A: Sent Columbus west, conquered the Americas, built a large empire

Q: What is the Treaty of Tordesillas?

A: An agreement by the Pope to split the world between Spain (Americas) and Portugal (Africa/Asia)

Q: What is the Columbian Exchange?

A: The global swap of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds

Q: What came from Europe to the Americas?

A: Horses, pigs, wheat, smallpox

Q: What came from the Americas to Europe?

A: Corn, potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate

Q: What were the effects of the Columbian Exchange?

A: Native population dropped, European population rose, new foods became global

Q: What is mercantilism?

A: Economic system where colonies serve the mother country by providing raw goods and buying finished products

Q: What is a mother country?

A: The European power that controlled colonies (Spain, Portugal, etc.)

Q: What is a colony?

A: A territory controlled by a mother country

Q: What are cash crops?

A: Crops grown for money, not food (sugar, tobacco, cotton)

Q: What is the encomienda system?

A: Spanish forced natives to work in return for "protection" and Christianity

Q: What were the consequences of the encomienda system?

A: Native population declined, economic exploitation, eventual switch to African slaves

Q: What is the Triangular Trade?

A: A 3-part Atlantic trade system: Europe → Africa (goods), Africa → Americas (slaves), Americas → Europe (raw goods)

Q: What is the Middle Passage?

A: The brutal slave journey from Africa to the Americas

Q: Why did Europeans enslave Africans?

A: Native populations died out; Africans were resistant to disease and knew farming

Q: What is assimilation?

A: Forcing people to adopt the culture of another group

Q: What was the social hierarchy in the New World?

A: Peninsulares → Creoles → Mestizos → Natives + Africans

Q: Who were Peninsulares?

A: Spanish-born people living in the Americas; top of society

Q: Who were Creoles?

A: People of European descent born in the Americas

Q: Who were Mestizos?

A: People of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry

Q: What role did missionaries play?

A: Spread Christianity, especially in colonies

Q: What was the economic result of silver mining?

A: Massive inflation in Spain due to too much silver

Q: What was Potosí?

A: A major silver mine in Peru worked by natives under brutal conditions

Q: What was the Dutch East India Company?

A: A powerful Dutch trading company that dominated trade in Asia

Q: How did the Columbian Exchange impact Europe?

A: Better diets, population growth, more wealth

Q: How did it impact the Americas?

A: Disease, population decline, social structure changes

Q: How did it impact Africa?

A: Population loss, destabilized coastal kingdoms due to slave trade

Q: How did China respond to European traders?

A: Took silver, limited European trade to specific ports

Q: How did Japan respond to European traders?

A: Closed borders, only traded with Dutch

Q: What were staple crops in Meso and South America before colonization?

A: Corn, potatoes, beans, squash

Q: What are the effects of the Transatlantic Slave Trade?

A: Population loss in Africa, rise in plantation economies in the Americas

Q: What caused inflation in Spain?

A: Over-supply of silver from the Americas (especially Potosí)

Q: What is smallpox?

A: A deadly disease brought by Europeans that killed millions of Indigenous people

Q: What does maritime mean?

A: Related to the sea

Q: What were the West Indies?

A: Caribbean islands colonized by Europeans for sugar plantations

Q: What is Hispaniola?

A: Island in the Caribbean where Columbus first landed; now Haiti and the Dominican Republic

Q: What is the significance of Columbus?

A: His voyages began European colonization of the Americas