Study Guide
The Age of Exploration Chapter Test
Mrs. Dally’s Social Studies Class
Vocabulary:
•colony:
(10 points)
a settlement far from the country that rules it
•epidemic: an outbreak of a quickly spreading disease
merchant: a person who buys and sells goods
patron: someone who gives financial support to a person or cause
•slave trade: the buying and selling of humans as property
Key Concepts:
(60 points)
•An astrolabe is a navigation tool that helped European sailors know how far they had sailed
from the equator.
•A magnetic compass is navigation tool that helped European sailors know which direction
they were going.
•Prince Henry started a Portuguese navigation school around 1419.
•King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella agreed to fund Columbus’s voyage because they wanted to
profit from trade and spread Christianity in Asia.
•Columbus sailed west in his attempt to reach Asia.
•Columbus sailed for 5 weeks on his first voyage, before he reached land.
•When Columbus finally reached land on his first voyage, he named the area the West Indies
because he believed he had landed in India.
Study Guide
The Age of Exploration Chapter Test
Key Concepts (Cont.):
(60 points)
•Cortés took Moctezuma prisoner because he wanted to conquer the Aztecs.
•King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella want Columbus to trade for gold and spices in Asia.
•Horses were the one item from the Columbian Exchange that MOST helped the Native
Americans.
•The overall effect of the Columbian Exchange on most of the native people of North
America was harmful.
•Mapmakers helped European sailors improve their navigation by making more accurate
maps, which allowed them to follow other sailors’ routes through unfamiliar waters.
•Magellan was the first explorer to circumnavigate the earth.
•Prince Henry’s navigation school is where sailors, scholars, mapmakers, and shipbuilders
worked together there to improve sea travel.
Critical Thinking:
(Writing Questions - Choose 3 to answer)
(30 points)
•Why did European merchants want to find a sea route to Asia? (pgs. 38 & 39 of your S.S.
workbook)
•Why was the caravel an improvement over ships of the past? (pg. 37 of your S.S.
workbook)
•Describe how the Spanish exploration of North America affected the native people living
there. (pg. 50 of your S.S. workbook)
•Describe how the horse changed the way Native Americans lived. (pg. 54 of your S.S.
workbook)
•Explain why Europeans imported enslaved Africans to North America. (pg. 53 of your S.S.
workbook)