Age of Exploration Study Guide

What are push and pull factors? Push factors are things that draw you away from an area.

Pull factors are things that draw you into an area.

What are the three G’s of Exploration?  Explain the significance of each “G.”

Gold -- wealth, fortune

God -- colonization, spreading of Christianity

Glory -- fame, status

Who was the Chinese who sailed for the Ming Dynasty and explored many areas in the Pacific?

Zheng He

What was a caravel?

Small, maneuverable ships used by European explorers in the age of exploration, Triangle sails were key

Who was Prince Henry the Navigator?  What areas did Prince Henry explore?

Prince Henry of Portugal, encouraged exploration. Portuguese had sailed as far as south of the Gold Coast of West Africa.

Who inspired Christopher Columbus to explore?

Marco Pole & Zheng He

What was Columbus’ theory about sailing to Asia?

Europeans could sail west instead of going around Africa

What were the names of Columbus’ ships?

Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria

What area of the world did Christopher Columbus actually discover?

The Caribbean

Who was Vasco Da Gama and what was he the first European to accomplish?

Portuguese explorer, first European to navigate around the tip of Africa and find a way to India

Ferdinand Magellan was the first person to do what?  Did he complete the voyage?  Why not?

First credited with circumnavigating the world. He died, but his crew finished the voyage.

What was the Columbian Exchange?

Period of cultural exchanges between the Old & New World

What was the animal that transformed the lives of Native Americans because of the Columbian Exchange?   

Horse

How did the Columbian Exchange affect the diets of throughout the rest of the World?

American foods, altered the diets of many drastically and the population 

What conquistador conquered the Aztecs?

Hernan Cortes

Who was the leader of the Aztecs when they were conquered?

Montezuma

What killed most of the Aztecs and other indigenous populations?

Disease & warfare

What areas of the New World did Spain conquer?

South America, Florida, Mexico, Central America

Where in the New World did France colonize?

Central North America, Louisiana

What was the Atlantic Slave Trade?  Why didn’t the Europeans use the indigenous populations as slaves?

Transport of African Americans across the atlantic. Europeans didn’t use indigenous populations as slaves because they wanted to make a profit

What was the Triangular Trade?

Pattern of trade that connected Europe, the Americas, Africa

What was the Middle Passage?

Leg of the triangle that brought Africans to America

Name at least 2-3 ways the slave trade had an impact on the Americas and Africa.

• Effect on bloodlines on families

• Wiped out populations

• Spread of disease

• Stigma