Unit 4 Flashcards
Transoceanic Interconnections (1450-1750)
Drill the core vocabulary before moving into practice questions.
50
Total cards
8
Recommended in one sitting
12-15 min
Estimated time
Flashcard drill
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Spaced repetition
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Card list
Use these as quick recall prompts. Add definitions after your first pass.
Caravel
Small, maneuverable ship used by Iberian explorers in the Atlantic.
Lateen sail
Triangular sail that improved tacking and long-distance navigation.
Compass
Navigation tool that enabled open-ocean travel.
Treaty of Tordesillas
1494 agreement dividing new lands between Spain and Portugal.
Columbian Exchange
Transfer of crops, animals, people, and diseases between hemispheres.
Encomienda system
Spanish labor system granting landowners control of Indigenous labor.
Hacienda
Large landed estate in Spanish America relying on coerced labor.
Mita system
Incan labor draft adapted by Spain for mining and public works.
Atlantic slave trade
Forced migration of Africans to the Americas as labor for plantations.
Middle Passage
Brutal transatlantic voyage transporting enslaved Africans.
Triangular trade
Atlantic trading system linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
Potosi
Major silver mine in Bolivia that fueled global trade and inflation.
Manila Galleons
Spanish ships linking Mexico and the Philippines, moving silver to Asia.
Mercantilism
Economic policy emphasizing exports, bullion accumulation, and colonies.
Joint-stock company
Business structure that pooled capital for large overseas ventures.
Plantation system
Large-scale cash-crop agriculture reliant on coerced labor.
Creole
American-born people of European descent in colonial societies.
Casta system
Spanish American racial hierarchy based on ancestry.
Smallpox
Eurasian disease that devastated Indigenous populations in the Americas.
Silver flow to China
Global demand for silver, especially in Ming/Qing China, driving trade.
Asiento system
Spanish contract system granting foreign merchants rights to sell enslaved Africans in the Americas.
Price Revolution
16th-century inflation in Europe driven by influx of New World silver.
Vasco da Gama
Portuguese explorer who opened a sea route to India, expanding direct European access to Asian trade.
Christopher Columbus
Italian navigator who led Spanish voyages that connected Europe and the Americas.
Conquistadors
Spanish conquerors who subdued Indigenous empires in the Americas.
Hernan Cortes
Spanish conquistador who defeated the Mexica (Aztec) Empire.
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire.
Repartimiento
Labor draft system in Spanish America that compelled Indigenous workers for colonial projects.
Cash crops
Crops grown for sale and export, such as sugar and tobacco.
Sugar plantations
Large estates producing sugar with enslaved or coerced labor.
Tobacco
New World crop that became a lucrative export in the Atlantic economy.
Potato
Andean crop that improved European diets and population growth.
Maize
Staple American crop that spread globally and supported population growth.
Horse
Old World animal introduced to the Americas, transforming Indigenous mobility and warfare.
Cattle
Old World livestock introduced to the Americas, supporting ranching economies.
Columbian Exchange diseases
Old World diseases like measles that devastated Indigenous populations.
Mestizo
Person of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in Spanish America.
Mulatto
Person of mixed European and African ancestry in the Atlantic world.
Atlantic System
Economic network linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas through trade and slavery.
Bullionism
Mercantilist belief that wealth came from accumulating gold and silver.
Navigation Acts
English laws regulating colonial trade to benefit the mother country.
Cape of Good Hope
Southern tip of Africa that Portuguese sailors rounded to reach the Indian Ocean.
Astrolabe
Navigation tool used to measure latitude at sea.
Fluyt
Dutch cargo ship designed for efficient transport of bulk goods.
Dutch East India Company (VOC)
Powerful joint-stock company that dominated trade in the Indian Ocean and East Indies.
Portuguese spice trade
Portuguese control of key ports and sea routes to access Asian spices.
Spanish Armada
1588 Spanish fleet defeated by England, signaling shifts in naval power.
Mission system
Spanish religious outposts aimed at converting and controlling Indigenous peoples.
African diaspora
Forced migration and cultural dispersion of Africans through the slave trade.
Indentured servitude
Labor system in which workers exchanged years of labor for passage or debt relief.
Study flow
- Preview each term and write a quick definition in your own words.
- Use three terms in a single sentence to connect concepts.
- Return tomorrow and test yourself with the same list.