the age of discovery Flashcards
conquistador
a conqueror, especially one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century.
colony
a country or area under the full or partial political control of another country, typically a distant one, and occupied by settlers from that country.
mercantilism
belief in the benefits of profitable trading; commercialism.
balance of trade
the difference in value between a country’s imports and exports.
the compass
an instrument containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it.
joint stock company
a company whose stock is owned jointly by the shareholders
triangular trade
a multilateral system of trading in which a country pays for its imports from one country by its exports to another.
columbian exchange
to give up (something) for something else; part with for some equivalent; change for another.
middle passage
the part of the Atlantic Ocean between the west coast of Africa and the West Indies: the longest part of the journey formerly made by slave ships.
treaty of tordesillas
a town in NW Spain, SW of Valladolid: treaty (1494) defining the colonial spheres of Spain and Portugal.
henry the navigator
Prince, 1394–1460, prince of Portugal.
christopher columbus
Christopher (Sp. Cristóbal Colón; It. Cristoforo Colombo) 1446?–1506, Italian navigator in Spanish service: traditionally considered the discoverer of America 1492.
vasco de gama
(c.1469–1524), Portuguese explorer. He led the first European expedition around the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, sighting and naming Natal on Christmas Day before crossing the Indian Ocean and arriving in Calicut (Kozhikode, in India) in 1498.
hernan cortes
Altamirano, Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (Spanish pronunciation: [erˈnaŋ korˈtes ðe monˈroj i piˈθaro]; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of …
zheng he
Zheng He (1371–1433 or 1435), formerly romanized as Cheng Ho, was a Hui court eunuch, mariner, explorer, diplomat, and fleet admiral during China’s early Ming dynasty. Born Ma He, Zheng commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433.
ferdinand magellan
Ferdinand Magellan (/məˈɡɛlən/ or /məˈdʒɛlən/; Portuguese: Fernão de Magalhães, IPA: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃w ðɨ mɐɣɐˈʎɐ̃jʃ]; Spanish: Fernando de Magallanes, IPA: [ferˈnando ðe maɣaˈʎanes]; c. 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer who organised the Castilian (‘Spanish’) expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, …
spice trade
The spice trade refers to the trade between historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, and turmeric were known and used in antiquity for commerce in the Eastern World.
encomienda system
Encomienda, in colonial Spanish America, legal system by which the Spanish crown attempted to define the status of the Indian population in its American colonies. It was based upon the practice of exacting tribute from Muslims and Jews during the Reconquista (“Reconquest”) of Muslim Spain.
dutch east india company
The United East Indian Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie; VOC), referred to by the British as the Dutch East India Company, was originally established as a chartered company in 1602, when the Dutch government granted it a 21-year monopoly on Dutch spice trade.
arawak
a member of a people originally of the Greater Antilles and adjacent South America, now living mainly in Guiana. They were forced out of the Antilles by the more warlike Caribs shortly before Spanish expansion in the Caribbean.
the philippines
of or relating to the Philippines.
fort jesus mombasa
Fort Jesus is a Portuguese fort located on Mombasa Island. It was built between 1593 and 1596, by order of King Philip I of Portugal, to guard the Old Port of Mombasa, Kenya. It was built in the shape of a man, and was given the name of Jesus.
kongo kingdom
Basin of the Congo (Zaire) river, conglomeration of several village alliances, participated actively in trade networks, most centralized rule of the early Bantu kingdoms, royal currency: cowries, ruled 14th-17th century until undermined by Portuguese slave traders.
menin tribe
a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognized leader.
