Chapter One Flashcards
Who were the Aztecs?
Highly sophisticated Native American civilization in central Mexico.
What was the Bubonic/Black Plague?
A disease that killed 1/3 of the European continent’s population in the 14th century/
Who was John Cabot?
A Venetian sea captain who explored North America for England in 1497 and 1498 in search of the Northwest Passage.
What was a Clovis point?
Paleo-Indian period tool developed by Native Americans.
What was the Columbian Exchange?
Exchange of flora and fauna between the Old and New Worlds.
Who was Christopher Columbus?
An Italian sailor who was on a quest to find a new passage across the ocean to the East Indies for Spain. Instead he discovered the East Indies, thus the Americas.
What is a compass and how is it important to the Age of Exploration?
The compass is an important navigational instrument invented by the Chinese that contained a magnetic needle that always pointed north (unless its Jack Sparrow’s compass). This invention revolutionized exploration because the compass is more reliable than maps and stars.
Who was Cortes?
Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec empire.
Who was Bartolome Dias?
The first European to round the Cape of Good Hope and see the Indian Ocean.
Who was Sir Francis Drake?
English explorer and privateer who became the foremost mariner of the Elizabethan Age.
What was the encomienda system?
In order to meet the labor shortages in their new conquests, the Spanish government rewarded conquistadors with titles to vast tracts of land and allowing them to enslave the Native Americans living there.
What was Fort Quebec?
A French trading post on the St. Lawrence River established by Samuel de Champlain in 1608.
Who was Martin Frobisher?
An English explorer who disgraced himself by bringing back iron pyrite (fool’s gold).
Who was Johannes Gutenberg?
Inventor of the printing press
Who was Prince Henry the Navigator?
The Portuguese leader who supported efforts to explore parts of the world previously unknown to Europeans.
