Topic 2 Lesson 3: Early Explorations

Why did Portugal search for new trade routes to Asia along the African coast?

• The journey from Portugal to Asia was shorter along the African coast

• The Portuguese hoped to learn about trade routes from African merchants

• Portugal did not have a port on the Mediterranean Sea

• Portugal wanted to gain control of the African slave trade

Which explorer was most responsible for making Portugal the “marketplace of Europe”?

• Vasco da Gama

•  Marco Polo

• Christopher Columbus

• Bartolomeu Dias

What is one way in which Columbus’s explorations impacted the Americas?

• Native peoples of the Americas quickly adopted European lifestyles.

• Native peoples of the Americas largely abandoned their territory to live in Europe

• Native peoples of the Americas formed military alliances with European nations.

• Native peoples of the Americas began losing control of their lands

What is one reason Spain’s monarchs supported Christopher Columbus’s explorations?

• They hoped to launch a new crusade against Islam

• They wanted to spread Protestantism to Asia

• They wanted a new source of labor for Spanish plantations

• They wanted to find new markets for Spanish goods

How did Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages impact European knowledge of the world?

• Europeans learned that many wealthy civilizations lived in the Americas

• Europeans accepted that there was no direct western route to Asia.

• Europeans recognized that South America was a continent, not part of Asia.

• Europeans learned that it was possible to sail completely around the world.

What was the purpose of the Treaty of Tordesillas?

• It divided claims in the Americas between Spain and Portugal.

• It gave Portugal complete control of the African slave trade

•  It ended a war between Portugal and England over control of North America

• It limited exploration of North America to the east coast