People Flashcards
1
Q
Marco Polo
A
- Born to a Venetian merchant family
- Age 17, he accompanied his father along the Silk Road through Mongolia to China.
- Left in 1271 and returned in 1295.
- Dictated his book, Discourse Concerning Various Experiences, which became the basis for maps and travel guides.
2
Q
Amerigo Vespucci
A
- Born in 1454 in Florence
- Went on three voyages and explored the coast of South America and the mouth of the Amazon River.
- First modern person to calculate longitude.
- Contracted Malaria on his third voyage and died in Spain in 1512.
- His name was the basis for the word, America.
3
Q
Prince Henry the Navigator
A
- Born in 1394 as the third son of the king of Portugal.
- His shipbuilders invented a faster ship, called the caravel.
4
Q
Christopher Columbus
A
- Genoese by birth.
- Went on four voyages to the Western Hemisphere.
- Became governor of Hispaniola, but fell out of favor with the Spanish Crown for mismanagement.
- Died in 1506 in Spain.
5
Q
Vasco de Gama
A
- Sailed from Portugal, around the African Continent to India, and returned in 1498.
- Established regular trade with the Spice Islands and India.
- Named Viceroy of India where he died in 1524.
6
Q
Hernando Cortes
A
- 1519, He landed and quickly subdued two Indian tribes.
- Met with Montezuma, the Aztec emperor.
- The Aztecs killed Montezuma and revolted.
- Cortes crushed the revolt and destroyed the Aztec empire.
7
Q
Francisco Pizarro
A
- Took Atahualpa, the Incan ruler, captive, held him for ransom, then killed him anyways.
- Pizarro quickly conquered the rest of Peru.
- Assassinated by his own men in 1541.
8
Q
Cabeza de Vaca
A
- One of four survivors of an expedition to explore Florida in 1528.
- Crossed the Gulf of Mexico on rafts.
- First European to see the Southwest.
- Drew further expansion into what became New Mexico.
- Provincial governor of New Mexico until he was deposed.
9
Q
Hernando de Soto
A
- First Spaniard to successfully explore Florida.
- Landed with six hundred men in 1539 and surveyed most of the Southeast.
- Discovered the Mississippi river, but died in 1542.
10
Q
John and Sebastian Cabot
A
- Venetians that worked for the English Crown.
- John died before the journey began.
- His son, Sebastian claimed fishing beds off the coast of Canada in 1509.
- Responsible for the first English claim of the New World.
11
Q
Giovanni de Verrazano
A
- Francis I sent him to claim land for France.
- Landed near the Carolinas in 1523, then went up the coast to Nova Scotia.
- Only North American explorer known to have been killed and eaten by American Indians in 1528.
12
Q
Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
A
- Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile united the Spanish Nation.
- Drove out the Moors, Muslims who had conquered the Iberian Peninsula.
- Patrons of Christopher Columbus.
- model for other European Nations to start explorers.
13
Q
Bartolome de las Casas
A
- Dominican friar and priest, who travelled back and forth between Spain and the New World.
- Lobbied the Spanish Crown for reforms in the treatment of Native Americans.
- His efforts largely failed.
- Slavery advocates used las Casas’s writings to justify it as a means of helping American Indians.
14
Q
Junipero Serra
A
- Franciscan friar.
- Founded nine missions in California and San Diego.
- Responsible for spreading civilization to the west.
- An example of harsh treatment from the Spanish Crown, which was one reason for the collapse of the Spanish empire.
15
Q
Jacques Cartier
A
- First French explorer of Canada.
- Made three voyages and was responsible for naming Canada.
- 1534, sailed 1,000 miles up the St. Lawrence River.
