Topic 2.1 and 2.2 Study Guide
1. Starting in the 1400s, Europeans (recovering from the Black Death) started exploring for many reasons. One of the
most important was the search for __spices___ especially ____pepper____.
2. Most spices came from a chain of islands in Southeast Asia called the ___Moluccas___.
3. Muslim traders carried goods from ___Asia____ to the ________Mediterranean Sea______. Italian merchants
would then sell or trade with other European cities. Europeans started to realize it would be better for them to bypass
both and go to Asia for the spices themselves.
4. The country to lead the way was ________Portugal_____. Under __Prince Henry____________, who earned
the nickname _______The Navigator____, Portugal started to explore the coast of Africa.
5. In 1488, ____Bartholomeu Dias____ from Portugal sailed to the most southern point of Africa.
6. In 1497, ____Vasco de Gama_____ sailed south around Africa and on to reach India. He helped Portugal build a
great trading network around the ______Indian__ Ocean.
7. Sponsored by Spain, ______Christopher Columbus____sailed westward across the Atlantic with three ships,
___Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria___ in hopes to sail around the world to the Indies.
8. On __October 12, 1492__, he spotted land in the __Caribbean_. He thought he was in the Indies and called
the people he met Indians.
9. In 1493, Ferdinand and Isabella from Spain appealed to the pope to support their claim to land in the “New World.”
In the _Treaty of Tordesillas_, the pope set a __Line of Demarcation_
dividing all non-European land between Portugal and Spain.
10. The name America came from Italian sea captain, ______Amerigo Vespucci___, who wrote of his explorations
of the west coast of the “New World.”
11. In 1519, __Ferdinand Magellan_________________ and his crew set out to find a passage around the world.
One of his ships will be the first to _____circumnavigate___the entire globe.
12. Prior to the age of exploration, the _______Mughal Empire_______________ controlled much of the trade
between Asia and Europe. This empire will start to weaken with one reason being the entrance of Europeans into the
Indian Ocean.
12. _____Portugal______ will be the first European country to gain trade ties in Asia and establish merchant
_____outposts____ around the Indian Ocean.
13. The fully sovereign, Dutch East India Company from __the Netherlands_ will challenge Portugal’s power in Asia.
14. Magellan helped Spain claim the _____Philippines___ for trading.
15. At first, ___China_ saw European products as inferior to their own and would not trade. But with time, Portugal
was permitted to trade after paying their emperor a tribute.