Chapter 14,15 Flashcards
conquistador
Spanish for “conqueror”; Spanish soldier-explorers, such as Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro, who sought to conquer
the New World for the Spanish crown.
caravel
A small, maneuverable, three-mast sailing ship developed by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century that gave the
Portuguese a distinct advantage in exploration and trade.
Ptolemy’s Geography
A second-century-c.e. work that synthesized the classical knowledge of geography and introduced the concepts of
longitude and latitude. Reintroduced to Europeans about 1410 by Arab scholars, its ideas allowed cartographers to
create more accurate maps.
Treaty of Tordesillas
The 1494 agreement giving Spain everything to the west of an imaginary line drawn down the Atlantic and giving
Portugal everything to the east.
Aztec Empire
A large and complex Native American civilization in modern
Mexico and Central America that possessed advanced
mathematical, astronomical, and engineering technology.
Inca Empire
The vast and sophisticated Peruvian empire centered at the capital city of Cuzco that was at its peak from 1438 until
1532.
viceroyalties
The name for the four administrative units of Spanish possessions in the Americas: New Spain, Peru, New Granada, and
La Plata.
encomienda system
A system whereby the Spanish crown granted the conquerors the right to forcibly employ groups of Indians in exchange
for providing food, shelter, and Christian teaching.
Columbian exchange
The exchange of animals, plants, and diseases between the Old and the New Worlds.
“Black Legend”
The notion that the Spanish were particularly ruthless and cruel in their conquest and domination of the Americas, an
idea often propagated by Spain’s rivals.
Peace of Westphalia
The name of a series of treaties that concluded the Thirty Years’ War in 1648 and marked the end of large-scale religious
violence in Europe.
Fronde
A series of violent uprisings during the early reign of Louis XIV triggered by growing royal control and increased taxation.
mercantilism
A system of economic regulations aimed at increasing the power of the state based on the belief that a nation’s
international power was based on its wealth, specifically its supply of gold and silver.
Peace of Utrecht
A series of treaties, from 1713 to 1715, that ended the War of the Spanish Succession, ended French expansion in
Europe, and marked the rise of the British Empire.
Junkers
The nobility of Brandenburg and Prussia, they were reluctant allies of Frederick William in his consolidation of the
Prussian state.
