By: Declan Hoffman and Worth Lineberry

During the middle ages many people did not know much about the rest of the world. Because of this the Age of Exploration was born. This was a time when many people sailed all over parts of the earth to explore, find riches, and gain territory for their country. During this time there were many important people, trade routes, and discoveries.

 In this unit there will be many important new terms. The list of the terms are Line of demarcation, Cortez and Pizaro, Mercantilism, Capitalism, Inflation, Conquistadors, Circumnavigate, Tariff, and Middle Passage.

 The line of demarcation is a line that separates the non- European world into two zones. Everything West of the line Spain gets to discover and everything East Portugal gets to discover.  The middle passage is the trip taken from west Africa to the Americas with slaves.  Circumnavigate is to travel completely around the globe

 Mercantilism is when a country sells more that it buys in order to make profit.  Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership capital.  Inflation is a rapid rise in price linked to a sharp increase in the amount of money available.  Tariffs are taxes on imported goods.

 Cortez and Pizaro are two key Spanish explores. Cortez conquered the lands of Aztec Mexico. Pizaro conquered the land of the Incas in Peru.  Conquistadors are Spanish conquerors who arrived in the Americas.  Prince Henry is a Portuguese explorer who set out to spread Christianity and search for gold.

 Christopher Columbus was born in present day italy yet he explored for Spain. Columbus wanted to find a trade route to the spice islands in the west indies. The King and Queen supported his trip. Instead he found the east indies which is present day bahamas. He then moved up the coast and found the Americas and claimed it for Spain. Many trips after this were made to discover more of the Americas.

 G old  G lory  G od

 Middle America was made up of all Native Americans of many different tribes. When Columbus first discovered the Americas he discovered the coast but as more explorations were made different explores moved more west. When the Spanish over came middle America they killed almost all the Natives for land, riches, and because they wanted to. The native population fell by about 90%.

 The North West Passage is a route taken by the Europeans to go around the Americas instead of through it on land. They did this by sailing through and around the northern Canadian Islands. It was basically a route to take to reach the western part of the Americas, reach Asia, and circumnavigate the globe.

 The middle passage is a trip taken from west Africa to the Americas to sell slaves. The conditions of this trip was awful. Many of the slaves died of disease, malnutrition, exhaust, and suicide. Meals were very small and self hygiene was inhuman. Even many ship captains and soildiers became sick or died along the voyage. The middle passage later became part of the triangular trade route.

 The Triangular Trade Route was between Europe, Africa, and America. It started with Europe, they would leave Europe and go to Africa, round up the slaves then go to the Americas, they would sell the slaves there and also sell some of Europe's goods. In exchange America would sell some of their goods. Then Europeans would take the goods back to Europe and start the process all over again.