Study Guide: Age of Exploration and the World in 1500
Explorer
Christopher Columbus
Where were they
from?
Spain
Where did they go?
What did they do?
Americas (Caribbean)
Credited for founding
America
Francisco Pizarro
Spain
America (South
America)
Conquered the Incans
Ferdinand Magellan
Spain
Around the world
His crew is credited
with being the first to
sail around the world
Hernando Cortez
Spain
America (Mexico)
Conquered the Aztecs
Francis Drake
England
Around the world
Jacques Cartier
France
America (Canada)
First British man to sail
around the world. Also
known for pirating
Spanish ships.
Credited with founding
Canada for the French.
Vasco da Gama
Portugal
Calicut, India
1. In 1453, Europe lost control of this city, a major trading center:
Constantinople
2. What did Europeans need after they lost Constantinople?
A new trade route to Asia
3. What were the 3 motives of the European explorers?
Gold, god, glory
4. Why were gold, god, and glory so important? (What did they symbolize?)
Found a new sea route
to Asia.
Gold: money, riches (most of the explorers were poor); God: Christianity (duty of Christians to spread
Christianity to non-Christians); Glory: explorers and countries both wanted glory and fame which they
got by finding new lands
5. What 3 inventions led to the Age of Discovery?
Caraval ship (triangle sails); compass; astrolabe
6. How did Prince Henry contribute to European Exploration?
He founded a navigational school which brought mapmakers, shipbuilders, ship captains, and navigators
from all over the world together to learn their trades.
7. Which country had the most exploration trips?
Spain
8. List 3 negative consequences the Europeans had on Native Americans.
Disease, slavery, loss of land, death,
9. What happened to the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incans?
They were conquered by the Spanish
10. How were the natives treated under the rigid class system put in place by Europeans in the colonies?
They were treated like slaves and put to work on plantations (encomiendas). They had no rights and no
say in how the government was run.
11. Where were slaves taken from?
At first they were taken from among the American Indians, but by the late 1400s, Europeans had started
using African slaves.
12. Where and why were slaves needed?
They were needed on the American plantations because the American Indians had been dying from
European diseases, overworking, or were running away to other native tribes and as a result, the
Europeans had no one to work the land.
13. Why were new European colonies referred to as “New France” and “New Spain”?
They were referred to as New Spain and New France because the people who settled there were from
Spain and France and made the new lands just like the old country. (Language, religion, government,
class system)
14. List 3 products exported out of Africa.
Ivory, gold, slaves
15. Which 3 nations originally had trading companies in Asia during the Age of Discovery?
The Dutch (Holland/Netherlands), Portugal, England/Great Britain
16. What could these trading companies do?
They could mint (make) money, raise their own armies, and make treaties.
17. Which country’s trading company eventually took control of the Asian region?
Dutch (Holland)
18. What was the Columbian Exchange?
The Columbian Exchange was the global transfer of foods, plants, animals, and diseases during the
colonialization of the Americas.
19. How did corn, potatoes, and tobacco help change the lives of Europeans?
Corn and potatoes-gave Europeans an inexpensive food that they could rely on as a big part of their diet
Tobacco- caused the beginning of smoking in Europe
20. How did European horses and cattle change the lives of American Indians?
American Indians could now use the horses for transportation and farming, while cattle became a food
source for them.
21. List 3 diseases that were spread by the Columbian Exchange.
(any three)—smallpox, influenza (the flu), typhus, measles, malaria, diphtheria, whooping cough
22. What did a shortage of American Indian labor in the colonies lead to?
The rise of African slavery
23. The Columbian Exchange led to the following 4 things. Define them all and tell me how the
Columbian Exchange led to each one.
a. Capitalism: an economic system based on private ownership and on the investment of money
in business in order to make a profit. Columbian Exchange led to capitalism because now individuals
could invest their own money in products or sell products. The church and government no longer had all
the money.
b. Joint Stock Companies: individuals each put in a percentage of the cost associated with
colonizing and plantation work. CE led to this because individuals could get together and invest in these
companies in order to protect their money and investment.
c. Inflation: the addition of money in the money supply without a corresponding increase in the
value of goods. The CE led to this because Spain had a lot of metals mined and shipped to Spain through
the CE without also focusing on foods and supplies. As a result, there was more money in the system,
but not enough food to feed everyone. This forced the prices up for the same amount of food.
d. Mercantilism: The idea that a country’s power is determined by its wealth. The CE led to this
because the colonies created by European nations existed only to ship goods back to Europe through
the Columbian Exchange.
24. What 3 continents did the Triangle Trade system connect?
Africa, Europe, America(s)
25. What precious metals were exported to Europe and Asia?
Gold and Silver
26. How did these metals impact European nations (Spain)?
Caused inflation. Spain had a lot of metals mined and shipped to Spain through the CE without also
focusing on foods and supplies. As a result, there was more money in the system, but not enough food
to feed everyone. This forced the prices up for the same amount of food.
27. What is the Middle Passage?
The voyage made by slaves from Africa to the Americas.
28. Who made up African slaves and how did they become slaves?
Non-Muslims who were prisoners of war, victims of kidnappings, individuals who were traded
29. One of the greatest achievements in Mughal architecture was the:
Taj Mahal
30. Where was the Mughal Empire located?
Northern India
31. What did the rest of the world learn from Mughal India?
How to make different textiles (cloth)
32. Who ruled in Japan after 1500?
Weak emperors ruled with a strong shogun (military leader)
33. How did Japan limit outside influences?
They were isolationists—they did not want to interact with anyone.
34. Where was the Ottoman Empire located and what was its capital?
Asia Minor, and parts of North Africa and the Middle East. Capital: Istanbul
35. What was the religion of the Ottoman Empire?
Islam
36. What were major goods exported by China?
Tea and porcelain
37. How did China control trade with the outside world?
They created foreign enclaves: China allowed a European nation to have a trading city or enclave within
the borders of China. The trade remained under Chinese Imperial control.
38. What goods did Southern India trade?
Silk, gems, spices
Notebook Checklist:
Assignment
22-Exploration Guide
23-The Need for
Exploration: Notes
24-Map: European
Exploration
25-Bellringer 10/8/0910/9/09
26-What happened
after the Explorers
found new lands?
27-5 Things
28-Bellringer:
Exploration
29-The Columbian
Exchange
30-The Columbian
Exchange Diagram
31-Bellringer: 10/
32-The Impact of the
Columbian Exchange
33-Non-European
Empires in 1500
Foldable
34-Study Guide
TOTAL:
/130
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