Mercantilism
The idea that a nation's power depended on its wealth in its supply of gold and silver.
Balance of Trade
The difference in value between what a nation imports and what it exports over time.
Conquistador
Spanish soldiers, explorers, and fortune hunters who took part in the conquest of the Americas.
Vasco da Gama
Portuguese sea captain that was first to sail to India and bring spices back to Europe.
Christopher Columbus
Italian explorer who sailed to the Caribbean trying to find a western route to Asia.
Amerigo Vespucci
A mapmaker and explorer who wrote letters about his travels to the new world. America is after him.
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Indians in South America.
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese Explorer whose expedition was the first to sail around the world. He discovered the Philippine Islands too.
Plantation
An estate wherecrops are grown on a large and the land is worked by slaves.
Triangular Trade
A trade route that exchanged goods between the Americas, Europe, and West Africa.
Middle Passage
The voyage that brought captured Africans to North and South America. Many slaves died along the way.
Afonso
A leader that was concerned about the effects of slave trade wrote letter to the Portugal king about the slave trade.
Ibo
An African people that were active slave traders, and produced more slaves than anyone else.
Mainland States
Part of the continent of Asia that included Thailand, Burma, & Vietnam.
Khmer
Southeast Asian monarchy taken over by the Vietnamese.
Dutch
The people of the Netherlands that took over the spice trade from the Portuguese.
Bureaucracy
Government officials or people that work for a government.
Portugal
The first European nation to gain wealth through the spice and slave trade.
Spain
European country that payed for Columbus' voyages. One of the first two countries to lay claim to lands in the Americas.
God
It was one of the three reasons (3Gs) for exploration and was about salvation.
Glory
It was one of the three reasons (3Gs) for exploration and was about fame.
Gold
It was one of the three reasons (3Gs) for exploration and was about wealth.
Catholicism
It was the religion that the Spanish Conquistadors brought with them to the Americas.
Islam
Muslim traders brought this religion to the peoples of the Spice Islands.
