Age of Exploration Flashcards
Grade 6 · Social Studies · Flashcards
Essential vocabulary for the Age of Exploration — explorers, ships, and global impact.
Flashcards
- Age of Exploration
- The period (1400s–1600s) when European nations explored the oceans, establishing contact with Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
- Christopher Columbus
- Italian explorer (1451–1506) who sailed west for Spain in 1492, reaching the Caribbean and opening European contact with the Americas.
- Vasco da Gama
- Portuguese explorer who found the first sea route from Europe to India in 1498 by sailing around Africa.
- Ferdinand Magellan
- Led the first circumnavigation of the globe (1519–1522); killed in the Philippines but his crew completed the voyage.
- Bartolomeu Dias
- Portuguese explorer who in 1488 became the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa.
- Hernán Cortés
- Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico (1519–1521) for Spain.
- Francisco Pizarro
- Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire in Peru (1532–1533) with fewer than 200 soldiers.
- Caravel
- A fast Portuguese sailing ship with triangular sails, designed to navigate ocean winds for exploration.
- Conquistadors
- Spanish conquerors who claimed the Americas for Spain, defeating large civilizations like the Aztec and Inca.
- Circumnavigation
- Sailing completely around the world; first accomplished by Magellan's expedition in 1522.
- Columbian Exchange
- The transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas and Europe/Africa following Columbus's voyages.
- Navigation
- The science of determining one's position and direction at sea; key tools included the compass, astrolabe, and star charts.
- Cape of Good Hope
- The southern tip of Africa that Portuguese sailors rounded in 1488; a key milestone in finding a sea route to Asia.
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