Chapter 2 Test Study Guide

Marco Polo

An Italian explorer who traveled the Silk Road from Europe to Asia from 1271-1295.

Bartolome Las Casas

A Spanish priest who was one of the first to settle in the Americas in 1502.

John Cabot

A Italian navigator and explorer who was one of the first explorer coastal North America in 1497.

Giovanni Verrazzano

A French explorer who in 1523 explored eastern coastlines of North America.

Vasco da Gama

A Portuguese explorer who sailed to India completing an eastern sea route to Asia in 1498.

Montezuma

The Aztec emperor in 1519.

Hernando de Soto

A Spanish explorer who led an expedition to the west from 1539-1541. He died of fever in what is now present day Oklahoma.

Hernando Cortes

A Spanish explorer/conquistador who conquered the Aztec region in 1519.

Henry Hudson

A English explorer who in 1609 he was sent by the Netherlands to find a passage through the Americas and discovered a river that now bears his names. The following year he was sent by England and discovered a huge bay, he thought that he had reached the Pacific Ocean.

Samuel Champlain

A French explorer who found a settlement in Quebec, Canada and he also discovered Lake Champlain in 1608.

Prince Henry

Prince Henry also known as Henry the Navigator had set the ground work for the era of exploration. In 1408 he began a school for navigation.

Bartholomeu Dias

A Portuguese explorer who had sailed to the southern most point of Africa in 1488.

Atahualpa

Was an Inca ruler in 1532. He was falsely accused by the Spanish a year after he was captured by Pizarro and he was executed.

Ferdinand Magellen

A Spanish explorer who was one of the first people to circumnavigate or sail around the world in 1520.

Francisco Pizarro

A Spanish conquistador who gained control over the Inca empire after capturing and executing their ruler Atahualpa from 1531-1533.

Mansa Musa

Was Mali's greatest king and ruled from 1312 to 1337. He was Muslim, and in 1324 he made a grand pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Makkah (Mecca) in western Saudi Arabia.

Amerigo Vespucci

A Spanish explorer who in 1499 to 1502 sailed along South America's coast. He concluded that South America was a continent and not apart of Asia. European geographers soon began calling the continent America in honor of him.

Ponce de Leon

Was the first Spanish explorer to land on the North American mainland, he arrived on the east coast of present-day Florida in 1513. He also led the exploration to the first Spanish settlement. He was also looking for not only gold but the mythical fountain of youth.

Jacques Cartier

A French explorer who in 1535 sailed up the St. Lawrence River, hoping it would led to the Pacific. In the process he named a mountain next to Huron village on the river. He named the peak Mont-Royal, which means Royal Mountain.

Mestizo

A person with Spanish and Native American parents.

Caravel

A faster sailing ship created by the Portuguese that could carry more cargo and food supplies.

Quran

The holy book of Islam

Mission

Religious communities that usually included a small town, surrounding farmland, and a church.

Northwest passage

A direct water route between the Americas to Asia.

Line of Demarcation

An imaginary line running down the middle pf the Atlantic Ocean from the North Pole to the South Pole dividing the Americas between Spain and Portugal.

Encomienda

System of rewarding conquistadors with tracts of land and the right to tax and demand labor from Native Americans who lived on the land.

Columbian Exchange

Exchange of goods, ideas, and people between Europe and the Americas.

Circumnavigate

To sail around the world.

Why did the Europeans begin exploring?

Gold, God, Glory

Why were the Spanish able to defeat the Native Americans?

The Spanish had guns and horsepower. The Natives also thought of the Spanish as gods, but another factor that led the Spanish to their success was disease.

Why were the French invested in exploring North America?

They had saw it as an opportunity to profit from fur trading and fishing.

Why did Europeans explore the Americas?

European nations were seeking fir a direct trade route to Asia. Also nation-states in Europe had been competing fir power based on wealth. Trade and Gold = Wealth. While they were exploring they could also spread religion.

What is mercantilism?

The theory that a state's or nation's power depended on its wealth.

Which countries explored eastern North America?

The European countries that explored North America was Spain and England.

How did the Crusades have a influence on trade with Asia?

Goods in like spices, sugar, and silk came frim China and India to the Europeans once the Europeans made contact with the Middle East during the Crusades. Merchants knew they could make a fortune selling goods with Asia.

What role did religion play in European exploration and settlements?

Europe used religion to justify its expansion and tried to convert people. Some of the voyages were for expanding religion. The church had a lot of power and wealth during the age of exploration.

How did the arrival of Europeans affect Native Americans?

The Native American people were introduced to many new things including spices and animals but they had also been introduced to diseases and lots of violence.

What was the Renaissance?

The rebirth of Europe through art and intellectual creativity.

What did the printing press influence?

It allowed news and other things to spread quickly in a short amount of time back then.

Why was Columbus's voyage funded by the King and Queen of Spain?

Christopher Columbus had promised that he would bring Christianity to any lands he found and if he found a way to Asia, Spain would become very wealthy due to the trade routes that would open.