The Crusades
European holy wars to control Jerusalem.
Spices, Silk, Perfume
Brought back by Crusaders; caused trade and exploration demand.
Astrolabe
Tool for water navigation; improved maps and exploration.
Caravel
Better ship design; allowed farther travel and more trade.
Old Silk Road
Trade route from India/China; slow travel led Europeans to seek new routes.
New World
Name for the Americas; Columbian Exchange traded goods between old and new worlds.
Conquistadors
Spanish conquerors who took land and gold using violence (Cortes, Pizarro).
Hernan Cortes
Defeated Aztecs and Montezuma; brutal but effective leader.
Francisco Pizarro
Conquered the Incas; searched for El Dorado.
Northwest Passage
Water route through America to the Pacific and Asia.
French Explorers
Verrazano (NY harbor), Cartier (St. Lawrence River), Champlain (Great Lakes, Quebec), Marquette & Joliet (Mississippi trade posts), LaSalle (New Orleans fort).
Missionaries
Priests converting natives to Christianity.
Fur Trade
French and natives trapped and traded animal furs for profit.
Quebec
First New France settlement; grew from trading post to major city.
Coureur de bois
“Runners of the woods,” French fur trappers living with and learning from natives.
New France
French colony in modern Canada and Mississippi/Louisiana areas.
Spanish Armada
Huge Spanish fleet built from American gold; defeated by England and destroyed by a hurricane.
Sir Francis Drake
English explorer and privateer; first to circumnavigate alive; defeated Armada.
Roanoke
First English colony; disappeared mysteriously.
Mercantilism
Colonies supply raw materials; mother country sells back goods for profit.
Cartographer
Mapmaker.
Columbian Exchange
Trade of goods between Old and New Worlds.
