Study Guide-AOE/Enl/AmRev/BOR 2025

In the bustling markets of 15th-century Europe, merchants traded silk, spices, and gold dust — but everything from Asia came at outrageous prices. The Ottoman Empire controlled the overland routes, forcing Europeans to pay heavy tolls. Kings and explorers began dreaming of a sea path that could reach Asia’s riches directly. If you were one of those explorers in the 1400s, what would have been your main goal?

• To spread Christianity through Africa

• To conquer all of Asia

• To find direct trade routes to Asia’s goods

• To avoid the Ottoman Empire

Before the Age of Exploration, most sailors hugged the coastline, terrified of getting lost on the open sea. Then came two inventions that changed everything — a tiny magnetized needle that pointed north and a handheld tool that used stars to guide the way. With these, a new age of confident navigation began. Which inventions most improved sea travel for European explorers?

• Magnetic compass and astrolabe

• Steam engine

• Printing press

• Telescope

Picture a sleek wooden ship gliding through stormy winds. Its secret weapon isn’t size or cannons — it’s those sharp, triangular sails. They let sailors turn and move even when the wind blew against them. What advantage did the triangular sails on caravels give explorers?

• They could sail against the wind and travel faster

• They could carry more gold

• They could store more food

• They could ride out ocean storms

Hundreds of years before Columbus, a rugged seafarer from the icy north set sail in a wooden longship. He crossed freezing waves and reached strange, forested shores he called “Vinland.” His name would echo through Norse legends. Who was the first European known to reach North America?

• Ferdinand Magellan

• Leif Erikson

• Hernán Cortés

• Marco Polo

When Europe and the Americas connected, the world changed overnight. Corn, potatoes, and tobacco sailed east while horses, wheat, and disease traveled west. This swap reshaped diets, economies, and even populations. What name do we give to this global transfer of goods, animals, and ideas between hemispheres?

• Treaty between Spain and Portugal

• Columbian Exchange

• European Union

• Missionary Movement

On the Great Plains, a new animal thundered across the grasslands — faster than any human could run. Within generations, Native hunters on horseback became master riders, following buffalo herds with ease. Which animal from Europe forever changed Native American life on the plains?

• Cattle

• Sheep

• Horse

• Goat

Exploration connected continents, but not everything that crossed the ocean was welcome. Tiny microbes — invisible to the eye — traveled aboard ships and swept through Native villages. Millions died in a tragedy that reshaped history. What was one devastating consequence of the Columbian Exchange?

• Spread of deadly diseases to Native populations

• Collapse of European trade

• Decline in African kingdoms

• Loss of crops in Asia

In 1492, three small ships — the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María — left Spain. Their leader believed he could reach Asia by sailing west. Instead, he found a “New World” that no European map had ever shown. Whose voyage opened the way for centuries of European colonization?

• Amerigo Vespucci

• Christopher Columbus

• Ferdinand Magellan

• Vasco da Gama

Through swamps, forests, and rivers, a determined Spanish explorer searched for golden cities that didn’t exist. But he did discover something real — a river so wide it seemed endless. Who was the first European to see the Mississippi River while searching for riches?

• Hernando de Soto

• Francisco Pizarro

• Ponce de León

• Vasco Núñez de Balboa

The air in the ship’s hold was foul. Hundreds of captives, chained and terrified, were crammed together in darkness. This deadly voyage carried human beings across the ocean to lives of forced labor. What was this horrific journey across the Atlantic known as?

• The Middle Passage

• The Great Crossing

• The Merchant Route

• The Trans-Atlantic Treaty