Chapter 2 Flashcards
Which technological advances aided European explorers by 1400?
The compass
How did Ferdinand and Isabella react to Columbus’s first voyage?
They believed Spain could challenge Portuguese dominance of the seas
Which European power dominated the New World during 1500s?
Spain, because it had the most colonial possessions
The distribution of conquered towns, the right to rule the Indians and the land around them, and the right to exact tribute and labor from the Indians was called…
Ecomienda
Portugal’s early interest in exploration and expansion stemmed from its desire to…
Expel Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula
How did Spain benefit from settling Florida in the mid-sixteenth century?
The settlement protected Spanish ships from pirates.
How did the Portuguese adapt to the demands of lengthy ocean voyages in the fifteenth century?
They developed a vessel known as the caravel
How did a sea route to Asia affect Europe?
The route allowed merchants to charge lower prices for imported Eastern goods
How did Malinali provide invaluable assistance to Hernán Cortés?
She served as an interpreter
In 1549, the Spanish government issued the repartimiento, which
limited the amount of labor Indians had to perform
What was the significance of Ferdinand Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe?
Europeans learned that a westward passage to the East was possible but not feasible
Like many other European colonies in the New World, New Spain developed a pattern of social organization in which
Europeans became a dominant minority
When Columbus first arrived in the New World, he believed he was in
the East Indies
When Catholic priests complained to the Spanish government about the brutal treatment of Indians, royal officials
replaced the cavalier conquistadors with royal bureaucrats
T or F: The Pueblo were the first Native Americans that Columbus encountered after making landfall in the New World.
False, it was the Taino
Which factor helped the Spaniards conquer the Mexicans in the sixteenth century?
A smallpox epidemic ravaged the Mexicans
The Treaty of Tordesillas, a 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal,
divided the Atlantic territories between the two countries
Christopher Columbus, like most educated Europeans, believed that
the earth was spherical and could therefore be circumnavigated
Why was Portugal an unlikely nation to lead Europe into the Age of Exploration?
It was a very small nation compared to the rest of Christian Europe
Who did Cortés enlist to help defeat the Mexicans in 1521?
Indians who resented Mexican rule
What was Francisco Vásquez de Coronado searching for when he ventured into the Southwest and Great Plains of North America?
The Seven Cities of Cíbola
During the 1500s, what was the most valuable export from New Spain?
Precious metals
T or F: The creole system fwas a way of governing that allowed a town’s Spanish “owner” to collect tribute from the town in return for providing law and order and encouraging “his” Indians to convert to Christianity.
False
The system of coerced labor in New Spain grew directly out of Spaniards’ assumption that
Spaniards were superior to Indians
Why did European exploration expand dramatically in the fifteenth century?
Trade with Asia began, new desires to get to Asia faster
How did Columbus’s discoveries help revolutionize Europeans’ understanding of world geography?
Started exchange of ideas and cultures, showed people that travel was possible, more routes opened, more land discovered = creation of map, Atlantic Ocean became an aquatic highway
How did New Spain’s distinctive colonial population shape its economy and society?
Used encomienda to enslave Indians, attempted to find gold but rarely did, just overworked Indians
How did Spain’s conquests in the New World shape Spanish influence in Europe?
Riches of New Spain helped make the 16th century the golden age of Spain , King Charles used wealth of New Spain to protect empire
How did the Spaniards defeat millions of Indians fighting in their home? (6)
- Superior military tech
- Muscles=Mexican warriors, guns and cannons=Spanish
- Viruses (smallpox) weakened the Mexican Empire
- Spain wanted to win, Mexica wanted to keep their tributes and captives
- Politics in Mexica were tense
- Spanish got Indian tribes that didn’t like the Mexica to help
