Age of Exploration

Grade 7 · Social Studies · Study Guide

Between the 15th and 17th centuries, European explorers set sail to find new trade routes and ended up connecting the entire globe for the first time in history.

The Age of Exploration (roughly 1400-1700 CE) was driven by European desire to find direct sea routes to Asia to bypass Muslim-controlled overland trade routes. Portugal led the early effort, with Prince Henry the Navigator funding expeditions down the African coast. Vasco da Gama eventually sailed around Africa and reached India in 1498. Spain funded Christopher Columbus, who crossed the Atlantic in 1492 expecting to reach Asia and instead made first contact with the Americas.

The 'discovery' of the Americas launched an era of European colonization. Spanish conquistadors like Cortes and Pizarro conquered the Aztec and Inca empires with devastating speed, aided by disease and indigenous allies. Portugal claimed Brazil, while Spain built a vast colonial empire across the Americas. Ferdinand Magellan's expedition (1519-1522) became the first to circumnavigate the globe, proving Earth's true size and shape.

The Columbian Exchange was the transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and people between the Old World (Europe, Africa, Asia) and New World (the Americas). Europeans brought horses, cattle, wheat, and deadly diseases to the Americas. The Americas contributed potatoes, corn (maize), tomatoes, chocolate, and tobacco to the rest of the world. These exchanges permanently transformed diets, economies, and populations on both sides of the Atlantic.

Key terms

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and peoples between the Americas and the Old World following Columbus's 1492 voyage

Circumnavigate

To travel completely around the globe; Magellan's expedition completed the first circumnavigation in 1522

Conquistador

A Spanish conqueror who led military expeditions in the Americas in the 16th century

Mercantilism

An economic theory that colonies exist to provide wealth to the mother country through trade and raw materials

Practice questions

1. What was the main motivation for European exploration in the 1400s-1500s?

   1. To spread Christianity only
   2. To find direct sea routes to Asia for trade
   3. To discover the Americas
   4. To circumnavigate the globe
   Show answer

   Europeans wanted to bypass Muslim-controlled overland routes and trade directly with Asia for spices, silk, and other luxury goods.

2. What is the Columbian Exchange?

   1. Columbus's trade deal with the Spanish crown
   2. The transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and people between the Americas and the Old World
   3. A shipping route through the Caribbean
   4. An agreement between Spain and Portugal to divide the world
   Show answer

   The Columbian Exchange fundamentally transformed agriculture, diets, and populations on both sides of the Atlantic.

3. Ferdinand Magellan's expedition completed the first circumnavigation of the globe.

   Show answer

   Magellan's expedition (1519-1522) was the first to sail all the way around the Earth, though Magellan himself died in the Philippines.

4. Which foods originating in the Americas transformed European diets after the Columbian Exchange?

   1. Wheat and rice
   2. Potatoes, corn, and tomatoes
   3. Sugar and spices
   4. Coffee and tea
   Show answer

   These New World crops were brought back to Europe and eventually became dietary staples, particularly the potato.

5. Why did European diseases like smallpox have such a devastating effect on indigenous peoples in the Americas?

   Show answer

   Lack of immunity made diseases far more lethal to Native Americans than to Europeans, who had centuries of partial resistance.

Fun facts

• The potato, introduced from the Americas, became so important in Europe that when the Irish potato crop failed in the 1840s, over a million people starved in the Great Famine.
• Columbus died in 1506 still believing he had reached islands near Asia. The Americas were named after Amerigo Vespucci, who correctly argued they were a separate continent.

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