1. World History

3.  During the Middle Ages, spices from Asia brought huge profits  Asian goods and spices flowed to Europe along complex overland routes

4.  Each time goods passed from one trader to another – From Muslim merchants to Italian merchants – the prices increased  Europeans wanted to cut out the middle man

5.  By the late 1400s, this desire spurred Europeans to explore the oceans  Improvements in technology helped Europeans conquer the vast oceans of the world

7.  Cartographers  Cartographers (map-makers) created more accurate maps and sea charts astrolabe  Europeans also gained access to the astrolabe

8.  The astrolabe had been developed by the Greeks and had been perfected by Arabs  It determined latitude at sea

11.  The Portuguese developed the Caravel Caravel  The Caravel was a type of ship that combined the best elements of European, Arab, and Chinese sailing.

15.  Portugal led the way in exploration  Portuguese ships explored the coast of West Africa and rounded the Cape of Good Hope to reach spices in Asia

16.  Bartolomeu Dias is the first known European to sail around the Cape of Good Hope (1480s)  His exploration proved that it was possible to reach India by going around Africa

19.  Vasco da Gama was the first European to sail directly from Europe to India

21.  In 1492, Columbus convinced the king and queen of Spain that he could reach Southeast Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean

23.  Columbus thought he had reached the islands off the coast of East Asia, but instead had discovered two new Continents

25.  European powers built colonial empires in the Americas  They began an exchange of plants, animals, institutions, values, and ideas that affects the world to this day

26. Columbian Exchange  This exchange of goods between the New World and the Old World is known as the Columbian Exchange

27.  A flood of Spanish explorers, settlers, and missionaries followed Columbus to the Americas conquistadors  These Spanish conquerors were known as conquistadors.

28.  The conquistadors claimed all of the land and people that they visited for the king and Church Aztec Inca  The conquistadors overthrow Aztec and Inca civilizations

29.  Disease also spread  Europeans unknowingly carried diseases to which Native Americans had no immunity – wiping out entire communities

30.  An immediate result of Spanish conquest was the flow of gold and silver  The wealth of the Americas helped make Spain the most powerful country in Europe

31.  In order to build an empire, Spain set out to impose its culture, language, religion, and way of life on millions of people  To the Spanish, winning souls for God was as important as gaining land

32.  Spanish soldiers helped Roman Catholic missionaries who built churches

33.  Sugar cane became a key resource for the Spanish plantations  To grow enough, the Spanish set up plantations

34.  Plantations: large estate run by an owner or overseer  Plantations need large numbers of workers to be profitable

35. encomiendas  Spanish monarchs gave the conquistadors encomiendas  Encomiendas: the right to demand labor or tribute

36.  The conquistadors used encomiendas to enslave Native Americans under brutal conditions  Later, settlers would import Africans and force them to work as slaves

38.  In the 1500s and 1600s, France and England joined Spain in claiming parts of North America  Although North America did not appear to have as much gold as Central and South America, it did yield tobacco and fur

39.  Britain began establishing colonies in North America  Many Europeans wanted to come to North America in search of land and profit

40.  To do so, the immigrants signed on as indentured servants  They were under contract to work for seven years in exchange for ocean passage and fixed labor with an employer in the New World

41.  In New England, the first collective settlement of Europeans was the Pilgrim colony founded in 1620  They were dissenters from the official doctrines of the Church of England

42.  The Pilgrim colony was bound together by the Mayflower Compact  It established a governing body for the colony

43.  Of the 102 Pilgrims that arrived at Plymouth, fewer than half survived the first year  It was only with the help of Native Americans that the colony was able to survive

44.  In 1630, the Puritans arrived in New England  Unlike the Pilgrims that wanted to separate from the Church of England, the Puritans wanted to purify the Church.

45.  The Puritans were richer and better educated than the Pilgrims  The Puritans denied religious freedom to others

46.  The Quaker colony was founded in Pennsylvania by William Penn  Penn joined the Quakers after hearing a lecture on their principles, which included pacifism

47.  Pennsylvania became known throughout western Europe for their religious toleration  People from many countries and faiths immigrated to Pennsylvania for this reason

48. Quebec, Canada  France established its first colony in Quebec, Canada  From there France moved to the Great Lakes and then down the Mississippi  The French also established New Orleans

50.  While the Americas had been colonized quickly, much of the Pacific was still untouched by Europeans

51.  The Chinese landed on Australia in the 16 th Century  The Portuguese mapped the northern and eastern coasts of Australia  The Spanish probably knew of the existence of Australia

52.  In the early 1600s, a few Dutch sailors reached parts of the coast Dutch East India Company Abel Tasman  The Dutch East India Company, under command of Abel Tasman, explored New Zealand, Tasmania, and the north coast of Australia

53. Aborigines  Tasman wrote of the miserable people (Aborigines) that lived in the area and how the area did not hold much promise  Due to Tasman’s report and the decline of Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese power, Australia remained virtually untouched for a century and a half

54. Captain James Cook  In 1768, Britain’s Captain James Cook set out on a three year voyage to explore Australia and New Zealand  Cook found the Aborigines to be peaceful and welcoming

55.  Based on Cook’s report, the British government decided that Australia could serve as a penal colony  Penal Colony  Penal Colony: colonies used to house a nations criminals

56.  In the 1800s, Australia’s use as a prison began to decline  Gold was discovered in the 1850s and 1890s, promoting settlers to come to Australia  Just as in other lands of exploration, European diseases killed off the majority of Aborigines