03 An Age of Explorations and Isolation, 1400-1800

Question 1

Bartolomeu Dias

Answer 1

Portuguese explorer who in 1488 led the first expedition to sail around the southern tip of Africa from the Atlantic and sight the Indian Ocean

Question 2

Prince Henry

Answer 2

Portuguese prince who started a school for sailors and sponsored early voyages of exploration; known as Henry the Navigator; gathered experts in science, mapmaking, and shipbuilding whose work led to a fleet of ships that explored the coast of west Africa.

Question 3

Vasco da Gama

Answer 3

Portuguese explorer who in 1497-1498 led the first naval expedition from Europe to India, opening an important commercial sea route.

Question 4

Treaty of Tordesillas

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Dutch East India Company

Answer 5

a company founded by the Dutch in the early 17th century to establish and direct trade throughout Asia; richer and more powerful than England’s company, they drove out the English and established dominance over the region

Question 6

Hongwu

Answer 6

commander of the rebel army that drove the Mongols out of China in 1368; founder of the Ming dynasty

Question 7

Ming Dynasty

Answer 7

Chinese dynasty that ruled from 1368 to 1644

Question 8

Yonglo

Answer 8

the son of Hongwu; moved the Ming capital to Beijing; built the imperial city, which became the Forbidden City; also a patron for oversea voyages and exploration

Question 9

Zheng He

Answer 9

an imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yonglo with a series of seven voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa.

Question 10

Manchus

Answer 10

a people, native to Manchuria, who ruled china during the Qing Dynasty

Question 11

Kangxi

Answer 11

one of the Qing dynasty’s most successful rulers; expansion; support of the arts; enjoyed learning from Jesuits

Question 12

daimyo

Answer 12

a Japanese feudal lord who commanded a private army of samurai

Question 13

Oda Nobunaga

Answer 13

ambitious daimyo who hoped to take control of the entire country; defeated his rivals and seized the Imperial Capital, Kyoto in 1568; first to use firearms effectively in battle in Japan; not successful in unifying Japan

Question 14

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Answer 14

general under Oda Nobunaga; daimyo who took control of almost all of Japan; constructed a series of military alliances that made him the military master of Japan in 1590; invaded Korea in 1592 but was unsuccessful in conquering them

Question 15

Tokugawa Shogunate

Answer 15

a feudal regime established by Tokugawa leyasu and continued by shoguns of the Tokugawa family that ruled a unified Japan from 1603 to 1868

Question 16

kabuki

Answer 16

a type of Japanese drama in which music, dance, and mime are used to present stories

Question 17

haiku

Answer 17

an unrhymed Japanese poem consisting of three lines with five, seven, and five syllables, respectively

Question 18

shogun

Answer 18

a hereditary commander-in-chief in feudal Japan

Question 19

“Warring States” Period (Sengoku)

Answer 19

from 1467 to 1568, Japan’s old feudal system was replaced by competing daimyo, who became lords in a new kind of Japanese feudalism