Iberian Race for Trade Routes

Question 1

Ferdinand and Isabella

Answer 1

Spanish rulers who commissioned Columbus’s voyage to the Americas
They unified Spain.

Question 2

Columbus’s Expedition 1492

Answer 2

Proposed sailing to markets of Asia by western route. He thought he could reach Japan, and sought royal sponsorship from Portuguese court, but was denied. Isabella of Spain commissioned him and he thought he reached the spice islands called the Indies, but he had actually reached the Bahamas. Significant because it paved way for conquest and exploitation of Americas by European people. Sailed from Castillian Colony on Canary Islands to Americas

Question 3

Cipangu

Answer 3

name of Japan to Columbus. Western Depiction of Japan.

Question 4

Treaty of Tordesillas 1494

Answer 4

Extended the line of demarcation to the west, previously signed in 1493, giving Portugal control of Brazil, and signed by spanish born pope Alexander VI. This was supposed to be to solution to series of tension after Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1400’s.

Question 5

Prester John

Answer 5

Fictional king said to be a great christian power in the Muslim east (asia). Many voyagers looked for his kingdom, believing it to be full of riches and strange things. He was suppose to be a fair and kind ruler

Question 6

Conspicuous consumption of spices

Answer 6

Spices were bought not to be eaten but to be displayed. There were different ways to display one’s spices, and this display was a way to prove one’s wealth. If one could afford to both season their food with these spices and display them, then they were very wealthy. This increased with the rise of nouveau riche middle class. This caused a huge increase in demand and the overall inflation in the cost of spices.

Question 7

Cape Bojador

Answer 7

Considered the point of no return on the west coast of Africa by the Portuguese due to the strong currents and prevalent winds, and it was not passed until Henry the Navigator made his expeditions .

Question 8

Prevailing Trade Winds

Answer 8

strong winds that were considered dangerous and blew in different circles around the coast. It took a while for the Portuguese to get over their fears and sail into the winds, and map them along the way. They used the winds to sail into open waters and sail forth and back during different times of the month

Question 9

Volta do Mar

Answer 9

“Return through the Sea”, with the breakthrough of the Compass in the 15th century, they began leaving the shoreline and realized the trade winds took them back to their destination more quickly. This process included zig zaging (tacking) through the ocean to make sure one didn’t get stuck in any specific current or prevailing wind.

Question 10

Raiding and trading along West Africa

Answer 10

Small, private ventures along African coast. By 1350s, the Canary Islands were “rediscovered”. By 1400, rediscovered Cape Verde islands. Most islands virtually uninhabited except for Guanche. Met stiff resistance from local chieftains. These raids provided money for later Portuguese expeditions

Question 11

Azores

Answer 11

Islands in the North Atlantic discovered in the early 14th century as uninhabited. Very important site of sugar plantations, but needed laborers. Many Guanche were enslaved and became laborers; decimated in the end because no immunity against mainland diseases. First island sugar plantation.

Question 12

Cape Verde Islands

Answer 12

one of the islands they “hopped,” along with madeira, azores, the canaries. was uninhabited save for the Guanches. Guanches inhabited the Canary Islands

Question 13

Canary Islands

Answer 13

Conquest of the Canary Islands provided the blueprint for Portuguese conquest in the Americas. Islands inhabited by 100,000 hunter-gatherers that had no contact with the mainland. Light-skinned due to relation to Berbers who came from North Africa. Prime example of the costs of disenclavement

Question 14

Disclavement

Answer 14

Taking indigenous peoples out of isolation. Many were found with no prior experience of leaving their islands. This exposed them to disease and social chaos.

Question 15

Guanche

Answer 15

Indigenous peoples of the Canary Islands visited since the early 14th century. Enslaved as sugar laborers. They had neanderthal-level technology

Question 16

Sugar Plantations

Answer 16

Demand for sugar was high (luxury good). Since 12th century, there existed plantations in Palestine and the Mediterranean islands. In 15th century, Italians worked with Portuguese to establish plantations in Atlantic islands. Went far south on the Atlantic.

Question 17

Blueprint for Conquest

Answer 17

The Portuguese used the people of the Canary Islands as a blueprint for eventual treatment of the indigenous people in the Americas