The Great Age of Exploration 1400-1550

Vocabulary ListPresented by Ronna Williams

A navigational instrument to find the altitude of stars....created by the Arabs &

was later replaced by the sextant.

Astrolabe

Unsuccessful war by Christians against Muslims to recover the Holy Land~ Also ended Feudalism

Crusades

Aztec Emperor

Montezuma

Capital of Inca Empire in Peru

Cuzco

seaman or sailor

Mariner

An astronomer, mathematician, and

geographer whose maps were considered the

best there was.

Ptolemy

Navigational instrument which helps determine the position of a ship by

measuring the angle between the horizon & heavenly body

~replaced the astrolabe

Sextant

Huge Mayan city located in Guatemala

Tikal

Period of a rebirth of interest in art and

science~This period followed

theMiddle Ages

Renaissance

Person who led the Spanish Conquest of the

Incas in 1533

Francisco Pizarro

Highly contagious disease causing thousands of tiny sores

The Europeans brought this disease to the Native Americans by accident

Small Pox

The Spice Islands of the East Indies. These

islands are today part of Indonesia

Moluccas

Portuguese prince who founded a school to help

with the age of exploration

Henry the Navigator

shipwrecked African slave who guided

Coronado~He was killed by the Pueblo in New MexicoEsteban Dorantez

The bubonic plagueIt was a disease carried

by rat fleas

Black Death

North American tribe with a high level of

civilization~ruled Mexico

AZTECS

a colorfully illustrated Aztec book

Codex

Ruler of the Incan Empire when the

Spanish conquered them

Atahualpa

To sail completely around the world

circumnavigate

spanish conquerors

conquistdors

Portuguese explorer who discovered the mouth of

the Congo River

Diogo Cao

A small fast sailing ship used by the Spanish and

Portuguese explorers

Caravel

First European to see the Pacific Ocean

Vasco De Balboa

Italian navigator who sailed to America in 1497 & may

have been the first European to reach the

mainland of North America

John Cabot

Father of Lief Ericson

Eric the Red

Portuguese explorer who reached the southern tip of Africa (The Cape

of Good Hope)

Bartholomeu Dias

First Englishman to circumnavigate

He was a pirate who destroyed Henry the Navigator’s school in

PortugalSir Francis Drake

Portuguese navigator who sailed around Africa by way of the Cape of Good Hope

& made it to IndiaHe founded colonies in

Africa,too

Vasco Da Gama

Portuguese explorer sailing for Spain who led the first

expedition around the world, but died along the way. He named the Pacific

Ocean!!Ferdinand Magellan

A Viking adventurer who really is credited with visiting America 500

years before columbus

Lief Ericsson

Famous City of the Aztecs

Tenochtitlan

In 1494 this sealed the pope’s line of

demarcation between Spain and Portugal

Treaty of Tordesillas

Once worked under Pizzaro, but went on to

lead his own expedition to explore & discover the

Mississippi River

Hernando De Soto

Spanish explorer who discovered the Grand

Canyon

Francisco Coronado

Spanish Conquisador who conquered the Aztecs

Hernan Cortez

Mythical seven cities of gold believed to exist in America’s

westCoronado was inspired by these rumors & discovered the Grand

Canyon

Cibola

refers to the time before Columbus arrived

in the New World

Pre-Columbian

the name Columbus gave to the islands now called

the Bahamas

San Salvador

A navigation instrument that measures the

altitude of heavenlybodies

Quadrant

son of John Cabot who explored the coast ofGreenland & North America in 1509

Sebastian Cabot

also known as Norsemen~from Scandinavia

Vikings