Chapter 15 - The Maritime Revolution, to 1550 Flashcards
Zheng He
An imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming emperor Yongle with a series of state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa.
Arawak
Amerindian peoples who inhabited the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean at the time of Columbus.
Henry the Navigator
Portuguese prince who promoted the study of navigation and directed voyages of exploration down the western coast of Africa in the fifteenth century.
caravel
A small, highly maneuverable three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in the exploration of the Atlantic.
Gold Coast
Region of the Atlantic coast of West Africa occupied by modern Ghana; named for its gold exports to Europe from the 1470s onward.
Bartholomeu Dias
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.
Vasco de Gama
Portuguese explorer. In 1497–1498 he led the first naval expedition from Europe to sail to India, opening an important commercial sea route.
Christopher Columbus
Genoese mariner who in the service of Spain led expeditions across the Atlantic, reestablishing contact between the peoples of the Americas and the Old World and opening the way to Spanish conquest and colonization.
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese navigator who led the Spanish expedition of 1519–1522 that was the first to sail around the world.
conquistadors
Early sixteenth-century Spanish adventurers who conquered Mexico, Central America, and Peru.
Hernán Cortés
Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the conquest of Aztec Mexico in 1519–1521 for Spain.
Moctezuma II
Aztec emperor who died while in custody of the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.
Atahualpa
Last ruling Inca emperor of Peru. He was executed by the Spanish.
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish explorer who led the conquest of the Inca Empire of Peru in 1531–1533.
