Download Vocabulary Week 1

Vocabulary Week 1
Astrolabe - an instrument used to make astronomical measurements of the altitudes of stars, used
in navigation for calculating latitude.
Capitalism - economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by
private owners for profit
Caravel - small Spanish or Portuguese sailing vessel of the Middle Ages and later, usually lateenrigged on two or three masts
Christopher Columbus - Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain
while looking for a route to Asia
Circumnavigate - sail or travel all the way around (something, especially the world).
Columbian Exchange - the widespread transfer of animals, plants, culture, human populations,
technology, and ideas between the Eastern (Europe and Africa) and the Western (North and South
America) in the 15th and 16th centuries
East Indies - or Indies is a term that has been used to describe the lands of South, Southeast
Asia, and China
Fall of Constantinople - the capture of the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire by an
invading army of the Ottoman Empire in 1453 blocking European access to the Silk Road
Silk Road - ancient trade routes between China and the Mediterranean Sea extending some 6,400
km (4,000 mi) and linking China with Europe
Renaissance - time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe that marked the
transition from the medieval to the modern world.
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Vocabulary Week 2
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Giovanni da Verrazano - first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between
Florida and New Brunswick, Canada
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Ferdinand Magellan - Portuguese navigator: discoverer of the Straits of Magellan 1520 ; first to
circumnavigate the world
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella – Spanish rulers who sponsored the exploration of the New
World by Christopher Columbus.
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Mercantilism - also called "commercialism,” is a system in which a country attempts to amass wealth
through trade with other countries, exporting more than it imports and increasing stores of gold
and precious metals
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Colony - country or area under the full or partial political control of another country, typically a
distant one, and occupied by settlers from that country
New World - western hemisphere; especially: the continental landmasses of North and South
America
Compass - instrument containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north
Northwest Passage- water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the
Arctic Archipelago of northern Canada northern coast of Alaska.
It was long sought by European navigators seeking to reach India and China. It did not exist in
the 15th century
Zheng He - Hui court eunuch, mariner, explorer, diplomat, and fleet admiral, commanded
expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to
1433
Horn of Africa - refers to the East African region of Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan,
and Kenya
Vocabulary Week 3
Prince Henry the Navigator –Portuguese Prince sponsorer of exploration of the African coast,
creator of the first school of navigation
Queen Elizabeth 1 – English queen and sponsorer of Sir Francis Drakes exploration of the Western
Hemesphere
Scientific Revolution – the start of modern science, when developments in
mathematics,physics, astronomy, biology and chemistry transformed the views of society about
nature.
Sir FrancisDrake- English explorer and admiral who
was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe
and who helped to defeat the Spanish Armada
Telescope - optical instrument designed to make distant objects appear nearer
Vasco da Gama - Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea.
West Indies - region of the North Atlantic Ocean that includes the island nations and surrounding
waters of three major archipelagoe, The term may also be synonymous with the term Caribbean
Ottoman Empire - Turkish sultanate of southwest Asia, northeast Africa, and southeast Europe.
Treaty of Tordesilla - 1494, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal
and the Spain, along a meridian off the west coast of Africa. A clause in the treaty was used to
justify European enslavement of A