Study Guide-Unit 2 Explorers
Name__________________________
Test Date_______________________
Vocabulary: Define.
Armada-the Spanish word for a large fleet
Circumnavigate-to sail completely around something
Compact-an agreement
Conquistador-Spanish word for conqueror
Caravan-a group of people or animals who travel together
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Answer the following questions1. Christopher Columbus used what new navigational tool to keep his ship
on a westward course? compass
2. Name two explorers who sailed for countries other than the place of their
birth.
*Christopher Columbus was born in Italy and sailed for King Ferdinand
and Queen Isabella of Spain
*John Cabot was born in Italy and sailed for England….he even changed
his name
3. How did the Spanish colonist treat the indigenous people of North
America? What did they make them do?
*The colonist forced them to work on haciendas.
*They were forced to farm and mine.
*They were overworked and cheated out of their pay.
*They were forced to convert to the Roman Catholic religion.
4. Why did the Spanish settlers in North America import enslaved Africans?
Spanish settlers brought enslaved Africans to replace the American
Indians who died.
5. What is the Columbian Exchange? What items did Columbus take back to
Europe with the Columbian Exchange? It is the movement of plants,
animals, and people between the Eastern and Western hemispheres.
Columbus took back potatoes, maize (corn), peanuts, tomatoes, cacao
(chocolate), peppers, beans, and squash.
6. Why did the English settlement of Roanoke fail? The English colonist
could not adapt to climate or physical life in North America. They
couldn’t make the crops grow in the sandy soil.
7. How did Marco Polo’s travel that was documented into books influence
that time period? It raised interest in the exploration of new lands. It
sent explorers to find water routes to Asia. Silk, spices and gold were
brought back from China and Asia.
8. Why did King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella decide to pay for Columbus’s
voyage? They wanted gold, spices and wealth brought back to Spain.
They also wanted to spread the Catholic religion.
9. After Columbus arrived in North America, what happened to some of the
American Indians? The Taino Indians died from an epidemic…common
European diseases that killed the American Indians. 50 years later, they
were almost extinct.
10. What were John Cabot and Jacques Cartier looking for in North America?
They wanted to find a water route to Asia that went north of North
America.
11. What was the primary purpose of explorers searching for the Northwest
Passage through North America to Europe? They wanted to find a water
passage through the North American continent because traveling by land
was difficult and sometimes impossible. Traveling by water was easier.
They also wanted to bring back spices and riches from Asia.
12. Who was a Spanish conquistador that explored Florida? How did he
name Florida? Juan Pounce de Leon discovered Florida looking for the
Fountain of Youth. He named it La Florida which means flowery land. It
referred back to the Easter season.
***You will also need to know how to read a timeline and determine latitude
and longitude.