Comprehensive Study Guide: Unit 4 Transoceanic Interconnections (c. 1450–1750)

The Magnetic Compass

A navigational instrument invented in China that allows sailors to determine direction without sight of land.

The Astrolabe

An instrument improved by Muslim navigators allowing sailors to calculate latitude by measuring the position of stars or the sun.

Portolan Charts

Maps that became more accurate, specifically mapping harbors and coastlines.

Caraval

A small, highly navigable ship used by the Portuguese, utilizing lateen sails.

Carrack

A larger ship than a caravel, built for trade and war, exemplified by Columbus’s Santa Maria.

Fluyt

A Dutch ship designed specifically for trade, known for its large cargo hold and small crew.

Sternpost Rudder

A Chinese invention that allowed for better steering of ships.

Volta do Mar

A Portuguese maritime strategy that utilized wind patterns to navigate back home.

The 3 Gs

Gold, God, Glory; the three primary reasons for state-sponsored exploration.

Gold

The quest for new trade routes to Asia and material wealth through silver and gold.

God

The desire to spread Christianity, particularly to counter Islam.

Glory

Individual fame for explorers and geopolitical dominance for states.

Prince Henry the Navigator

A Portuguese prince who sponsored exploration along the West Coast of Africa.

Trading Post Empires

Fortified bases established by Portugal at key harbors to control trade routes.

Vasco da Gama

The first European to reach India by sea in 1498.

Christopher Columbus

Explorer funded by Spain who discovered the Caribbean in 1492.

Ferdinand Magellan

Explorer whose crew circumnavigated the globe from 1519 to 1522.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal.

Northwest Passage

Imagined sea route to Asia sought by Northern European powers.

John Cabot

Explorer who explored North America for England.

Jacques Cartier

French explorer who claimed Canada, focusing on fur trade.

Columbian Exchange

Global diffusion of crops, animals, human beings, and diseases following European exploration.

The Great Dying

Massive demographic collapse of Native Americans due to Afro-Eurasian diseases.

Smallpox

A disease that killed an estimated 50-90% of the indigenous population.

Potatoes

A staple food from the Americas that caused a population boom in Europe, Africa, and China.

Mercantilism

Economic theory that there is a fixed amount of wealth and the goal is to maximize state wealth.

Favorable Balance of Trade

Economic situation where exports exceed imports.

Chattel Slavery

A system in which humans are owned as property, primarily through the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

Middle Passage

The brutal journey across the Atlantic for enslaved Africans with high mortality rates.

Encomienda System

System in which Spanish settlers demanded labor/tribute from natives for protection and instruction.

Hacienda System

Large rural estates in Spanish America where indigenous people worked for low wages.

Mita System

Spanish adaptation of the Incan public service system as forced labor in mines.

Indentured Servitude

A labor system where individuals worked for a set period in exchange for passage to the New World.

Casta System

A race-based hierarchical social structure in Spanish colonies.

Peninsulares

Spaniards born in Spain who held top government and church positions.

Creoles

Spaniards born in the Americas, wealthy but looked down upon by Peninsulares.

Mestizos

People of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry.

Maroon Societies

Communities of escaped slaves in the Caribbean and Brazil who lived independently.

Pueblo Revolt

Indigenous revolt in 1680 against Spanish missionaries in modern-day New Mexico.

Metacom's War

Last major effort by Native Americans to drive out English settlers in southern New England.

Cossack Rebellions

Internal challenges to the growing power of absolute monarchs in Russia.

Cultural Syncretism

The blending of different religious and cultural beliefs.

Vodun

A blend of West African beliefs and Catholicism practiced in the Caribbean.

Tokugawa Japan

Japanese shogunate that expelled most Europeans to protect Japanese culture.

Asian Isolationism

Restriction of trade and contact with foreign nations by Asian powers during this period.