The World Economy–and the World
Vasco da Gama: Portuguese mariner; first European to reach India by sea in 1498.
Christopher Columbus: Italian navigator in the service of Aragon and Castile; sailed west to find a route to India and instead discovered the Americas in 1492.
Ferdinand Magellan: Portuguese captain in Spanish service; began the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1519; died during voyage; allowed Spain to claim possession of the Philippines.
East India Companies: British, French, and Dutch trading companies that obtained
government monopolies of trade to India and Asia; acted independently in their regions.
World economy: created by Europeans during the late 16th century; based on control of the seas; established an international exchange of foods, diseases, and manufactured products.
Columbian Exchange: interaction between Europe and the Americas; millions of native
Americans died from the entry of new diseases; New World crops spread to other world regions; European and Asian animals came to the Americas.
Lepanto: naval battle between Spain and the Ottoman Empire resulting in Spanish victory in 1571; demonstrated European naval superiority over Muslims.
Core nations: nations, usually European, that profited from the world economy; controlled international banking and commercial services; exported manufactured goods and imported raw materials.
Mercantilism: the colonial economic policy, by which a colonizing nation must import only from its own colonies, but sell exports as widely as possible.
Dependent economic zones: regions within the world economy that produced raw materials; dependent upon European markets and shipping; tendency to build systems based on forced and cheap labor.
Mestizos: people of mixed European and Native American heritage.
Vasco de Balboa: (1475?-1517), Spanish adventurer; explored Central America.
Francisco Pizarro (1478-1541); Spanish explorer; arrived in the Americas in 1502; joined
Balboa in Panama, then successfully attacked the Inca Empire.
New France: French colonies in Canada and elsewhere; extended along St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes and down Mississippi River valley system.
Atlantic colonies: British colonies in North America along Atlantic coast from New England to Georgia.
Treaty of Paris: concluded in 1763 following the Seven Years’ War; Britain gained New
France and ended France’s importance in India.
Cape Colony: Dutch colony established at Cape of Good Hope in 1652 to provide a coastal station for Dutch ships traveling to and from Asia; settlers expanded and fought with Bantu and other Africans.
Boers: Dutch and other European settlers in Cape Colony before 19th-century British
occupation; later called Afrikaners.
Calcutta: British East India Company headquarters in Bengal; captured in 1756 by Indians; later became administrative center for populous Bengal.
Seven Years’ War: fought in Europe, Africa, and Asia between 1756 and 1763; the first worldwide war