In the 1400s, spices from Asia sold for very high prices in Europe, but the overland journey was long and costly. Which motive pushed European rulers to pay for voyages across the ocean?

Several Spanish and Portuguese expeditions carried priests whose job was to teach the Catholic faith to the people the explorers met. Which motive for exploration does that show?

European kings often told their explorers to claim any new land quickly and report back to the court. What was the main reason for that hurry?

At noon a ship's captain in the 1500s held up a brass instrument and measured how high the sun stood above the horizon. What could he work out from that measurement?

A magnetized needle mounted so it could swing freely became a key tool aboard exploring ships. What did the compass tell a sailor?

Portuguese shipbuilders fitted the caravel with triangular lateen sails instead of square sails alone. What advantage did that give a crew?

Europeans had wanted Asian spices and silk for hundreds of years, yet long ocean voyages only began in the 1400s. Which change finally made those voyages possible?

In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean hoping to reach Asia. Which country's rulers paid for that voyage?

Columbus believed his 1492 voyage had brought him to islands close to Asia. Where had his ships actually landed?

Portugal's king refused to fund Ferdinand Magellan's plan to reach the Spice Islands by sailing west, so the king of Spain sponsored it in 1519. What did that expedition become the first to do?

Ferdinand Magellan himself sailed all the way around the world and arrived back in Spain with his ship.

In 1513 Juan Ponce de Leon sailed north from Puerto Rico and landed on a peninsula that he claimed for Spain. Which land did he claim?

Hernando de Soto led a Spanish expedition inland from Florida in search of gold. In 1541 his group became the first Europeans to reach and cross which river?

During the 1530s Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River and claimed the land along its banks for the ruler who had sponsored him. Which country did he claim it for?

In 1608 Samuel de Champlain built a fortified fur-trading settlement for France on the St. Lawrence River. Which settlement did he found?

Henry Hudson made voyages in 1609 and 1610 that took him into a large river and later into a northern bay. What was he searching for on both voyages?

Henry Hudson was an English sailor, but the company that hired him for the 1609 voyage of the Half Moon was based in another country. Which country's company sponsored that voyage?

Hernan Cortes led Spanish soldiers into central Mexico beginning in 1519. Which empire, and which ruler, did his forces overthrow?

In 1532 Francisco Pizarro's Spanish force captured the Inca ruler Atahualpa. Which region did Spain go on to take control of?

Explorers of this era almost always sailed for a sponsor rather than paying their own way. What did a sponsor supply?

Which phrase best summarizes three major motives for European exploration in the Americas?

In 1498 Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around the southern tip of Africa. Which European country sponsored his voyage?

In 1494 Spain and Portugal signed a treaty that divided the newly found lands outside Europe between the two of them.

Which country was most closely connected with early conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires?

What was a main reason France explored and claimed lands in North America?

Which English colony was founded in 1607 and became England's first permanent settlement in North America?

The Netherlands established New Netherland and the settlement of New Amsterdam in what is now New York City.

Which country established St. Augustine in Florida, the oldest continuously occupied European-founded city in the present-day United States?

What was the Columbian Exchange?

Which item moved from the Americas to Europe as part of the Columbian Exchange?

Which animal was brought from Europe to the Americas and changed transportation and hunting for many Native peoples?

Diseases such as smallpox that Europeans carried to the Americas killed large numbers of Native people.

What was a conquistador?

Which explorer claimed the Mississippi River valley region for France and named it Louisiana?

In the 1400s, Prince Henry of Portugal paid for many voyages that explored the west coast of Africa.

Why did European countries compete to claim land in the Americas?

Ferdinand Magellan's expedition became the first to sail all the way around the world. Which country sponsored his voyage?

In 1488 the Portuguese captain Bartolomeu Dias became the first European known to sail around the southern tip of Africa.

Which statement best describes a common difference between Spanish and French activity in North America?

What was one reason some English settlers came to North America in the 1600s?