The Age of Exploration and Conquest

Question 1

What were the problems of sea travel?

Answer 1

⇒Ships could not navigate accurately, often ending up very far from where they had planned to go
⇒Many sailors were afraid of the unknown. Some believed that the earth was flat and that they would sail off the edge if they went to far and others believed their were sea monsters

Question 2

Why did people want to explore?

Answer 2

⇒Influence of the Renaissance
⇒Marco Polo
⇒New trade routes
⇒Fall of Constantinople
⇒Desire for empire
⇒Spread of Christianity

Question 3

Explain how the Renaissance influenced people to explore.

Answer 3

People were eager to learn and were questioning their existing beliefs.

Question 4

Explain how new trade routes influenced people to explore

Answer 4

Silks and spices were needed to help preserve and flavour food and their trade from the East was very profitable.
Explorers and traders could grow very rich if they could find ways to get more goods to Europe more quickly.

Question 5

Explain how the fall of Constantinople inspired people to explore.

Answer 5

The Great Silk Road was the main overland route for spices and other goods from the East to reach Europe.
It was cut off in 1453, when Constantinople was conquered by the Turks.
New routes between Europe and Asia were needed.

Question 6

Explain how the desire for empire influenced people to explore.

Answer 6

Many European rulers sponsored voyages of exploration so that they could expand their territory to any newly discovered lands.
Countries on the Atlantic Coast (Portugal, Spain, France and England) wanted to undermine Italy’s power by bypassing the Mediterranean as the centre of trade.

Question 6

Explain how the desire for empire influenced people to explore.

Answer 6

Many European rulers sponsored voyages of exploration so that they could expand their territory to any newly discovered lands.
Countries on the Atlantic Coast (Portugal, Spain, France and England) wanted to undermine Italy’s power by bypassing the Mediterranean as the centre of trade.

Question 7

List the technology of Exploration

Answer 7

⇒Portolan Charts
⇒Quadrant
⇒Astrolabe
⇒Compass
⇒Log and line
⇒Line and lead weight
⇒Caravels
⇒Lateen sails
⇒Carvel-built hulls
⇒Rudders

Question 8

What did quadrants and astrolabes do?

Answer 8

They helped determine a ship’s latitude by using the position of the stars and the sun.

Question 9

What was a compass used for?

Answer 9

Used to identify North

Question 10

What did a log and line do?

Answer 10

It measured a ship’s speed in knots

Question 11

Name the new design of ship at this time.
Explain.

Answer 11

A caravel
It was a large and sturdy ship that could make long voyages and be able to sail in all winds

Question 12

Life on board a ship:
1. sleeping arrangements?
2. Food?
3. Health?

Answer 12

1. The captain had his own cabin, but most sailors slept on the deck in the open air or below decks, in hammocks
2. When the crew ran out of meat and vegetables, they ate a ship’s biscuit.
3. Ill health was common. Lack of fresh water led to typhoid and the lack of foods rich in vitamin C led to scurvy

Question 13

What was a ship’s biscuit?

Answer 13

flat hard bread made from water, flour and salt

Question 14

Bartolomeu Dias:
1. When did he voyage?
2. Where did he go?

Answer 14

1. The southern tip of Africa, now called the Cape of Good Hope
2. 1478

Question 15

Vasco da Gama:
1. When did he voyage?
2. Where did he go?
3. how long did it take?

Answer 15

1. 1497
2. Calicut, India
3. 2 years altogether

Question 16

What did Ferdinand Magellan do?

Answer 16

from 1519-1522, he led a fleet on a voyage to finally prove that the world was round by circumnavigating the globe

Question 17

Who were conquistadores?

Answer 17

Spanish soldiers who conquered the native peoples of South America

Question 18

What is colonisation?

Answer 18

When a country takes over another territory and settles some of its own people there to control it

Question 19

What were the impacts of colonisation on the peoples of South America?

Answer 19

⇒Native population decimated due to diseases from Europeans, e.g. measles. 90% of native population died.

⇒Destruction of cultures: Native customs and traditions were wiped out and Spanish and Portuguese became predominant languages

⇒Spread of Christianity

⇒Massive growth in slave trade

Question 20

How was the spread of Christianity an impact of colonisation?

Answer 20

Priests, especially Jesuits, set up Catholic Churches in the New World and carried out many conversions. Native people worshipped their old gods, but secretly. If discovered, they were severely punished.

Question 21

Explain the massive growth in the slave trade as a result of colonisation.

Answer 21

As Catholics could not be taken as slaves, there was a need to replace the native workforce as they died off due to disease, millions of Africans were transported across the Atlantic. The slavery triangle developed.

Question 22

Explain the slavery triangle

Answer 22

When ships sailed to African slaving ports and took slaves to the Americas and then sailed back to Europe with food and precious metals such as coffee and gold.

Question 23

What was the impact of colonisation on Europe?

Answer 23

⇒Other European states saw the wealth and power Spain gained and decided to make empires of their own.

⇒Conflict between countries: Spain and Portugal nearly went to war over dividing territories so the Pope pressured them to sign the Treaty of Tordesillas

⇒Spain became extremely powerful

⇒Columbian exchange

Question 24

Treaty of Tordesillas:
1. When?
2. What did it do?

Answer 24

1. 1494
2. It divided the New World between Spain and Portugal

Question 25

Explain the Columbian Exchange

Answer 25

It was the exchange between Europe and the Americas of foods and animals. Horses, cattle, new farming methods and new technologies were introduced to the Americas and potatoes, cocoa, coffee and tobacco reached Europe.