AP®︎ US History: Topic 1.3 Flashcards

Summary of Europe’s motives: wealth and trade, national and personal power, and the spread of Christianity

Ottoman control and costly trade through intermediaries strengthened western Europe’s search for direct sea routes to Asia

Centuries-long Christian reconquest of Muslim-ruled Iberia, completed at Granada in 1492, which strengthened Spain’s militant Catholic expansion

Spanish monarchs who completed the Reconquista and sponsored Columbus’s 1492 voyage in pursuit of trade, converts, and imperial power

Revival of geographical study, mapmaking, and worldly inquiry that aided exploration, though wealth, rivalry, and religion were more direct causes

Navigational instrument that helped sailors maintain direction when landmarks were not visible

Instrument mariners used to estimate latitude by observing celestial bodies

Nautical charts recording coastlines, ports, and sailing directions for mariners

Ship-mounted rudder that improved steering and control during ocean voyages

Small, maneuverable Portuguese sailing ship suited to coastal exploration and unfamiliar waters

Portuguese navigation method of turning into the open Atlantic to use favorable winds and currents instead of hugging the coast

Portuguese prince whose sponsorship supported exploration of Atlantic islands and the western African coast

Portuguese explorer who rounded southern Africa in 1488, proving a sea connection between the Atlantic and Indian oceans

Portuguese explorer who reached India by sailing around Africa in 1498, establishing Portugal’s eastern sea route to Asia

Portuguese explorer who reached and claimed the coast of present-day Brazil for Portugal in 1500

Pursuit of African gold, an eastern sea route to Asia, fortified trading posts, maritime commerce, Christianity, and Brazil

Genoese mariner sponsored by Spain who sailed west in 1492, reached the Bahamas, and initiated sustained European contact with the Americas

Agreement dividing Spanish and Portuguese claims along an Atlantic line; Portugal received claim rights east of it, including the territory that became Brazil, while Spain claimed most lands to the west

Pursuit of precious metals, territory, converts, tribute, and labor through royal claims and conquest of populous Native empires

Spanish conquerors who combined private initiative with royal authorization to seek wealth, status, land, converts, and imperial expansion

Spanish conquistador who entered Mexico in 1519 and led the campaign that defeated the Aztec Empire in 1521

Spanish conquistador who began the conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 in pursuit of wealth and Spanish power

Spanish explorer who explored and claimed Florida in 1513 while seeking land, wealth, status, and royal authority

Spanish explorer who traveled through the Southeast beginning in 1539 searching for wealth and extending Spanish knowledge and claims

Spanish explorer who crossed parts of the Southwest and Great Plains from 1540 to 1542 while searching for wealthy lands

Religious movement beginning in 1517 that intensified overseas competition between Protestant and Catholic powers for territory, trade, and converts

Hoped-for water route through or around North America that Europeans sought as a western connection to Asian markets

French explorer who traveled through the Gulf and River of St. Lawrence in the 1530s and claimed northeastern territory for France

Search for a route to Asia followed by emphasis on Atlantic fisheries, the fur trade, and alliances with Native trading partners

Italian navigator sailing for Henry VII who reached northeastern North America in 1497 and supported later English claims

State-authorized raiding by privately owned ships against enemy shipping and settlements for strategic and commercial gain

English privateer whose 1577–1580 circumnavigation and attacks on Spanish interests enriched England and demonstrated its maritime power

Search for Asian trade routes, fisheries, land, and Atlantic bases while Protestant England challenged Spanish power and pursued settlement

Sails that increased a ship’s speed when traveling with the wind

Triangular sails that improved maneuverability and allowed ships to sail across or partly against the wind

The growing ability of monarchies to tax, mobilize resources, and sponsor expensive overseas voyages