Exploring the New World

6 Questions

What was the basis of the Spanish empire in the New World?

Control of land and people

What was the impact of European diseases on the indigenous American population?

Up to 90% decrease in population

What was the role of Prince Henry of Portugal in European exploration and colonization?

He funded and encouraged exploration and navigation study

What was the basis of the Spanish empire's wealth in the New World?

Controlling land and people, and extracting wealth from them

Who helped Francisco Pizarro take control of the Incan empire?

The indigenous communities

What was the impact of European diseases on the indigenous American population?

It led to the death of up to ninety percent of the population

Study Notes

European Exploration and Colonization

Ottomans' capture of Constantinople in 1453 forced European kingdoms and empires to find new paths to Afroeurasian trading routes.
Prince Henry of Portugal, known as The Navigator, funded and encouraged exploration, navigation study, and development of new tools.
Portuguese explored the southern shore of the Mediterranean and ventured southward along the Atlantic coast of Africa.
Portuguese traders kidnapped local people to sell into European slave markets and built stone fortresses that doubled as trading stations.
European men partnered with African women who were traders and provided connections to trade.
The Portuguese encountered a highly developed Indian Ocean commerce with trading posts run by sophisticated Muslim merchants and fought them to menace them.
The Spanish empire was based on colonies, controlling the land and the people who lived there, and extracting wealth from them.
Columbus, a student of geography and maps, found signs of gold but not great quantities of it, but he found people to enslave.
The Spanish could now stock their new world settlements with Chinese and Indian luxuries by crossing the Pacific.
Hernan Cortés came in contact with indigenous people, starting battles and forging alliances, and eventually reached the center of the Aztec empire at Tenochtitlan.
Francisco Pizarro saw the superb textiles and silver and gold objects crafted by the Incas and relied on help from rival indigenous communities to take control.
Violence, enslavement, and European diseases led to the death of perhaps as much as ninety percent of the indigenous American population.

European Exploration and Colonization

Ottomans' capture of Constantinople in 1453 forced European kingdoms and empires to find new paths to Afroeurasian trading routes.
Prince Henry of Portugal, known as The Navigator, funded and encouraged exploration, navigation study, and development of new tools.
Portuguese explored the southern shore of the Mediterranean and ventured southward along the Atlantic coast of Africa.
Portuguese traders kidnapped local people to sell into European slave markets and built stone fortresses that doubled as trading stations.
European men partnered with African women who were traders and provided connections to trade.
The Portuguese encountered a highly developed Indian Ocean commerce with trading posts run by sophisticated Muslim merchants and fought them to menace them.
The Spanish empire was based on colonies, controlling the land and the people who lived there, and extracting wealth from them.
Columbus, a student of geography and maps, found signs of gold but not great quantities of it, but he found people to enslave.
The Spanish could now stock their new world settlements with Chinese and Indian luxuries by crossing the Pacific.
Hernan Cortés came in contact with indigenous people, starting battles and forging alliances, and eventually reached the center of the Aztec empire at Tenochtitlan.
Francisco Pizarro saw the superb textiles and silver and gold objects crafted by the Incas and relied on help from rival indigenous communities to take control.
Violence, enslavement, and European diseases led to the death of perhaps as much as ninety percent of the indigenous American population.