European Exploration
Chapter 7 Study Guide
World Studies: Third Edition
Vocabulary – be able to define the following terms.
1. Pueblos – Indians who lived in the Southwest region of North America; Pueblo means “town.” These Indians lived in small villages composed of several family groups. Some of the Pueblo tribes included the Hopi, Navajo, and Apache.
2. Plains Indians – These Indians migrated over the grasslands of the Great Plains, lived in tepees, and hunted buffalo. The Plains Indians included such tribes as the Sioux.
3. Iroquois Confederacy – an agreement of unity between six tribes that all spoke the same language of Iroquois; These tribes lived on the land that today is the state of New York.
4. Five Civilized Tribes – an alliance between five tribes in the Southeast region of the United States; They were called the civilized tribes due to their peaceful relationships with other tribes.
5. Mayas – lived in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico; built large pyramids similar to the ones in Egypt, but the Mayan pyramids were used as temples; They were skilled mathematicians and astronomers.
6. Aztecs – They built their capital Tenochtitlán on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco in central Mexico. They had large temples which were used for the sacrifice of human hearts.
7. Quetzalcoatl – the Aztec god who they thought would one day return; The Aztecs thought that Hernando Cortés was a representative this god.
8. Incas – a wealthy civilization located along the western coast of South America; Tourists today can visit the ruins of Machu Picchu, an Inca city in the mountains of Peru.
9. Cuzco – the capital of the Inca empire
10. Marco Polo – an Italian explorer who traveled east to China; he amazed the Europeans by his accounts of the vast wealth of China; His descriptions of a land of gold inspired Europeans to seek for new trade routes to get there.
11. caravel - a ship designed for efficient ocean travel; it had three or four masts and used both triangular and square sails
12. trade winds – belts of consistent wind that helped sailors quickly cross the ocean
13. compass – an important tool that indicates the direction of travel
14. astrolabe – a tool that sailors used to determine their latitude; it measured the angle between the sun (or star) and the horizon
15. Portuguese – sought for trade routes to India and China by sailing around the tip of Africa
16. Spanish – sought for trade routes to India and China by sailing west across the Atlantic
17. Cape of Good Hope – the southern tip of Africa
18. Bartolomeu Dias – was the first to finally sail around the Cape of Good Hope; Dias, however, had to return to Portugal at the request of his frightened crew.
19. Vasco da Gama – sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and then sailed until he reached India; 100 of the 160 crewmembers died of scurvy
20. Christopher Columbus – a Portuguese sailor who thought he could get to the East by sailing west; The Portuguese rejected his ideas, but he was successful in convincing the Spanish king and queen to finance his exploration. In August, 1492, he reached an island in the Caribbean, but he thought he had reached an island near India.
21. Ferdinand Magellan – He sailed west from Spain in an effort to sail around the world. He was successful in rounding the southern tip of South America. He gave the Pacific Ocean its name because it was so peaceful for sailing. Although he was killed by natives in the Philippines, his crew successfully sailed around the world. The entire journey lasted three years.
22. conquistadors – the Spanish word for “conquerors”; These men were sent out by Spain to find gold, conquer the people, and forcibly convert them to Roman Catholicism.
23. Hernando Cortés – a conquistador who discovered the Aztecs and their wealth; the Aztecs thought he was a representative of their god Quetzalcoatl; After destroying Tenochtitlan, he built the city of Mexico City in its place.
24. Francisco Pizarro – He took the Inca leader, Atahualpa, captive and promised to release him if the Inca filled a room with gold and silver. After receiving about 13,000 pounds of gold and nearly 26,000 pounds of silver, he brutally murdered Atahualpa and made himself ruler over the Inca.
25. Bartolomé de Las Casas – a Roman Catholic friar who came to America to serve as a missionary to the Indians; He spoke out against the cruel treatment of the Indians by his fellow Spaniards. He spent the rest of his life seeking the passage of the laws that would protect the Indians from slavery and forced conversion to Roman Catholicism.
MAP EXERCISE: Be able to match the explorers with the routes shown on the map below.
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