Christopher Columbus
He mistakenly discovered the Americas in 1492 while searching for a faster route to India.
Spice Trade
extremely profitable trade item from SE Asia
Cape of Good Hope
Southern tip of Africa; first circumnavigated in 1488 by Portuguese in search of direct route to India.
Treaty of Tordesillas
a 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain, declaring that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal.
Java
Dutch established a fort here in 1619
Sumatra
English influence on the spice market was reduced to a single port located here.
encomienda
A grant of land made by Spain to a settler in the Americas, including the right to use Native Americans as laborers on it
King Afonso
King of the Congo who was concerned about the effects of slave trade
Benin
african society that was ruined because of the slave trade
Middle Passage
the middle portion of the triangular trade that brought African slaves to the Americas
John Cabot
explored the New England coastline of the Americas for England
Gold Coast
Name given to the parts of the west coast of Africa by European imperialist due to the amount of gold found in the region.
God, Glory, Gold
Motives for European exploration
Took the lead in European Exploration
Portugal
Amerigo Vespucci
The Italian sailor who corrected Columbus's mistake, acknowledging the coasts of America as a new world. America is named after him
Vasco da Gama
in 1497 he sailed eastward past the Cape of Good Hope across the Indian Ocean and landed in India in 1498 and returned home with spices and jewels. His successful voyages represented a tremendous stroke of good fortune for the Portuguese.
Triangular Trade
A three way system of trade during 1600-1800s Africa sent slaves to America, America sent Raw Materials to Europe, and Europe sent Guns and Rum to Africa
Moluccas
Known to the Europeans as the Spice Islands; chief source of the spices that had originally attracted the Portuguese to the Indian Ocean
sugarcane plantations
african slaves supplied labor for them
Bartholomeu Dias
explored the southern tip of Africa
Ferdinand Magellan
first to circumnavigate the world
Hernan Cortez
Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico (1485-1547)
Francisco Pizarro
the Spanish conquistador who conquered the Incas
Columbian Exchange
The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.
Mercantilism
an economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and obtaining large amounts of gold and silver by selling more than they bought.
Prince Henry the Navigator
(1394-1460) Prince of Portugal who established an observatory and school of navigation and directed voyages that spurred the growth of Portugal's colonial empire
Conquistadors
Spanish conquerors who came to the New World in search of gold and other riches.
colony
a settlement ruled by another country
plantations
large agricultural estates