Empires of the 1500s
Japan
Ottoman
Empire
 Started in
Asia Minor
(present day
Turkey)
 Islamic
 Spreads to
Northern
Africa, the
Middle East,
and parts of
Europe
 Known for
trading coffee
 Renamed
capital
Constantinop
le to Istanbul
China
Ottoman
Empire
Japan
Mughal
Mughal


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
Started in northern India
Islamic
Built the Taj Mahal
Known for textiles (cloth) and spices
 Emperor
was weak,
Japan run
by a shogun
(warrior)
 Wanted to
be isolated
 Francis
Xavier (a
missionary)
brought
Christianity
and guns to
Japan
China
 Led the world in exploration but
stopped
 Afraid of outside influences ruining
Confucianism (social order)
 Known for tea, silk, porcelain (glass)
Age of Discovery
 The 3 Gs (gold, glory, and God) – the main reasons for exploration
 Looked for a faster and cheaper way to get to India and China.
Prince Henry the
Navigator




From Portugal
Started a school for
exploration
Came up with new
navigational technology
(astrolabe, compass,
Caravel),
Sailed along the coast of
West Africa
Christopher Columbus
Vasco da Gama


From Portugal
Sailed around the tip of Africa
(Cape of Good Hope to India)




Italian but sailed for Spain
Made 4 trips to the New World
1st trip landed in Hispaniola (Haiti &
the Dominican Republic)
Responsible for the Columbian
Exchange
Hernan Cortes
 Spanish conquistador
who conquered the
Aztecs and the leader
Montezuma
Francisco Pizzaro
Ferdinand Magellan
 Spanish conquistador
who conquered the
Inca and leader
Atahualpa
 From Portugal but sailed for Spain
 His crew was the first to
circumnavigate the globe but he died
in the Philippines
Jacques Cartier
Sir Francis Drake
 Sailed for France
 Explored Canada
 Sailed for England
 Circumnavigated the globe like
Magellan
 Knighted by Queen Elizabeth
***Make sure
you know the
route to
where each
explorer
traveled.***
The Columbian Exchange
The exchange of plants, animals, and ideas between the Old World and the New World.
The Triangle Trade
•An actual trade route
•Makes a triangle:
1. Step ONE: Europeans take goods to Africa (guns, ammo, copper, cloth) and traded for
Slaves
2. Step TWO: The MIDDLE PASSAGE (slaves traded in Caribbean for sugar, rum)
3. Step THREE: sugar, rum, and other raw materials traded back in Europe...
The Commercial Revolution
•Period of European economic expansion which began in the 16th century
•Started with Europe’s discovery of the New World
 Started the system of Mercantilism
 An economic practice adopted by European colonial powers in an effort to
become
 self-sufficient
 Based on the theory that colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country