Vocabulary


 * Vasco da Gama-** Portuguese explorer. From 1497 through 1498**,** he led the first naval expedition from Europe to sail to India, opening an important commercial sea route.
 * Christopher Columbus**- Genoese mariner who, in the service of Japan, led expeditions across the Atlantic, establishing contact between the peoples of the Americas and the Old World. This opened the way to Spanish conquest and colonization.
 * Ferdinand Magellan**- Portuguese navigator who led the Spanish expedition of 1519-1522, which was the first expedition to sail across the world.
 * Kongo**- One of the two largest coastal kingdoms of Western Africa; invited Portuguese missionaries and soldiers to accompany them into battle to test the Christian religion.
 * Christian Ethiopia**- Eastern African state that saw the potential benefit in an alliance with the Portuguese. After they were weakened by the Muslims, contacts with Portugal became crucial.
 * Malacca**- An independent city, located between Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. Malacca was a place used to deposit and distribute goods. Trade came from Japan, India, China, Southeast Asian mainland, and Moluccas. Portugese seized the trading center in 1511.
 * Conquistadors**- Spanish adventurers during the early 16th century, who conquered Peru, Mexico, and Cental America
 * Hernan Cortes**- Sent from Cuba, be brought new things to the American mainland such as: military tactics, political skills, etc. He invaded the Aztecs.
 * Moctezuma II**- Aztec emperor, he tried to use diplomacy opposed to force with Cortes; however, it did not work.
 * Francisco Pizarro**- Hispaniola and Balboa were two of the expeditions he took part in, seized Atahualpa.
 * Atahualpa**- Inca emperor of Peru, executed by the Spanish.
 * Arawak**-Amerindian people who inhabited the Greater Anitlles of the Caribbean at the time of Columbus.
 * Henry the Navigator**- Portuguese prince who promoted the study of navigation and directed voyages of exploration down the western coast of Africa.
 * Caravel**- A small, highly maneuverable, three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in the exploration of the Atlantic.
 * Gold Coast**- Region of the Atlantic coast of West Africa occupied by modern Ghana; named for its gold exports to Europe from the 1470’s onward.
 * Treaty of Tordesillas**- Created in 1494; divided newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal. Lands to the east belonged to Portugal, and to the west belonged to Spain.
 * Bartolomeu Dias**- A Portuguese noblemen and explorer. He sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, the first European known to have done so.