The Age of Exploration Flashcards
In the 15th century, powerful states began to develop with significant power concentrated in the hands of monarchs. This deck covers the growth of these powerful monarchies and their exploratory efforts in both Asia and the New World.
Which 1469 marriage resulted in the creation of modern Spain?
In 1469, Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of Castile, joining together their two kingdoms. Uniting the two houses left only three independent states in the Iberian Peninsula; Portugal to the west, the Kingdom of Navarre along the border with France, and Andalusia, a Moorish enclave to the South.
In 1492, Ferdinand’s and Isabella’s forces conquered the last Moorish territory in Spain, _____.
Granada
Granada was the last independent Moorish city in Spain, and its conquest ended Islamic presence in Spain.
The modern-day territorial limits of Spain were completed following the conquest of the Kingdom of Navarre in 1512.
What was the Alhambra Decree?
Announced in 1492, the Alhambra Decree announced that all Jews must leave Ferdinand’s and Isabella’s territory unless they renounced Judaism and became Roman Catholics.
Between 130,000 to 800,000 left, mostly for Portugal or the Ottoman Empire, whose Sultan, Bayezid II, sent ships to rescue them. Those who remained behind were nicknamed marranos, a Spanish term meaning pig.
How did Ferdinand and Isabella weaken the power of Spanish nobles?
During the 14th and 15th centuries, Spanish nobles had sufficient power to constitute a threat to the free action of their monarchs. Most of the nobles lived in the countryside. To counter their threat, Ferdinand and Isabella allied with the Hermandades, a league of cities and towns opposed to the old nobility.
What efforts did Ferdinand and Isabella take to ensure the religious purity of their united territories?
With the cooperation of the Catholic Church, they announced the Spanish Inquisition, designed to root out Muslims and Jews. Under the command of Grand Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada, the Spanish Inquisition burned some 2,000 suspected Muslims and Jews at the stake between 1480-1530.
Amongst their weaponry were such diverse elements as fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope, and nice red uniforms.
Which French King conquered Burgundy, eliminating a longstanding threat from France’s east?
Louis XI (1423-1483) conquered Burgundy, a duchy to the east of his territories. With the exception of Brittany and the English-controlled city of Calais, most of France was under the control of France’s Valois monarchy.
Louis XI was one of the first modern French monarchs who devoted significant attention to France’s road network and internal trade.
What two events highlighted the reign of Charles VIII (1470-1498) of France?
In 1491, Charles contracted a bold marriage with Anne of Brittany while she was formally engaged to the Holy Roman Emperor. The marriage cemented the territory of modern France.
In 1494, Charles’s forces invaded Italy in alliance with the Duchy of Milan, shattering 50 years of peace on the Italian peninsula.
What was the Concordat of Bologna?
In 1516, the Pope and French King Francis I reached an agreement known as the Concordat of Bologna. The Concordat gave the French King the power to name French bishops, strengthening the French monarchy at the expense of the Pope’s temporal power.
What were the Wars of the Roses?
The Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) were a long-running English civil war between two noble families, the House of Lancaster and the House of York, for control of the English Crown. In 1485, Lancastrian Henry Tudor (Henry VII) defeated Richard III and seized the Crown, inaugurating the Tudor Dynasty that would rule England for 117 years.
Each of the two warring houses had a rose as their heraldic symbol, hence the term “Wars of the Roses.”
What efforts did Henry VII take to reduce the power of the English nobility?
In addition to eliminating private noble armies, Henry VII, whose reign lasted 1485 to 1509 used the Court of the Star Chamber to break the power of the landed gentry.
The Court of the Star Chamber acted in secret with no indictments and no witnesses against anyone to whom Henry was opposed.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, how was the Holy Roman Empire governed?
The Holy Roman Emperor was typically from the Habsburg familial line and ruled directly over his hereditary lands in Austria. He also ruled over the 300 small nations that comprised Germany, but was able to exercise little direct control over the German states.
Whose forces sacked Rome in 1527?
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s forces sacked Rome as part of the Italian wars which had begun in the 1490s. A Habsburg ruler, Charles V was Europe’s most powerful monarch; in addition to being Holy Roman Emperor, he was the Spanish King, ruled the Netherlands, and held his Austrian hereditary lands.
What prompted Portugal and Spain to begin their voyages of exploration?
Portugal and Spain were both eager to break the Italian monopoly on the profitable Asian and Middle Eastern trade. Hence, the Portuguese circumvented Africa and the Spaniards sought a Western route to the Indies.
What inventions allowed the Age of Exploration’s sailors to better determine their location?
The compass was invented around 1300, and it allowed sailors to determine which direction was North, an exceedingly useful tool for long ocean voyages. Both the quadrant (1450) and the astrolabe (1480) enabled sailors to determine latitude by measuring the altitude of heavenly bodies, and thus better chart their course.
Martin Behaim created the first _____ in 1492.
globe
Behaim’s globe demonstrated a renewed interest in cartography. He worked for the Portuguese King, and while his globe contained no depiction of the Americas, it did show lines of longitude and latitude, and depicted the Earth rotating at an angle.
