Transition to the Modern World
Wikimedia Commons · Alvesgaspar · CC BY-SA 3.0Voyages of Exploration and Conquest
European exploration of the globe and the conquest of the American continent.
60-Second Review
Express reviewA condensed, point-by-point summary of the module, for reviewing right before a test or exam.
- Causes and Technology of European Overseas Expansion. Commercial, religious, and political motives combined with new technology to launch European ocean voyages.
- Henry the Navigator and Portugal's Route to India. Portuguese navigators pushed down the African coast until Vasco da Gama reached India by sea in 1498.
- Columbus and Spain's Westward Voyages. Columbus sailed west for Castile in 1492 seeking Asia and instead reached islands of the Caribbean.
- Dividing the Globe: Tordesillas, the Name America, and the First Circumnavigation. Spain and Portugal divided the world at Tordesillas as Vespucci and Magellan's crew reshaped its map.
- The Pre-Hispanic Americas and the Legal Framework of Conquest. Populous Aztec and Inca empires met Spanish capitulaciones that legally authorized conquest expeditions.
- Hernán Cortés and the Fall of the Aztec Empire. Cortés allied with rivals of the Mexica and conquered Tenochtitlan after a bitter siege in 1521.
- Francisco Pizarro and the Fall of the Inca Empire. Pizarro exploited an Inca civil war to capture and execute Atahualpa, conquering Peru by the mid-1530s.
- Consequences: Disease, Exchange, and the Black Legend. Disease, the Columbian Exchange, and fierce moral debate over the conquest reshaped the world after 1492.
This module continues after "The Renaissance" in the syllabus. If you haven't reviewed it yet, it may help set the context.
Key points
11. Causes and Technology of European Overseas Expansion22. Henry the Navigator and Portugal's Route to India33. Columbus and Spain's Westward Voyages44. Dividing the Globe: Tordesillas, the Name America, and the First Circumnavigation55. The Pre-Hispanic Americas and the Legal Framework of Conquest66. Hernán Cortés and the Fall of the Aztec Empire77. Francisco Pizarro and the Fall of the Inca Empire88. Consequences: Disease, Exchange, and the Black Legend
Visual module map
1Causes and Technology of European Overseas Expansion
2Columbus and Spain's Westward Voyages
3The Pre-Hispanic Americas and the Legal Framework of Conquest
4Hernán Cortés and the Fall of the Aztec Empire
5Consequences: Disease, Exchange, and the Black Legend
Alternative visual view: a simplified sequence of some of the module's key points, in their order within the syllabus.
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Final test
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Optional mini-games
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Further reading
Bibliography and cited sources used to create this module.
- J.H. Parry, The Age of Reconnaissance.
- Hugh Thomas, The Conquest of Mexico.
- John Hemming, The Conquest of the Incas.
- Bartolomé de las Casas, Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias.
- Antonio Pigafetta, Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo.
- Alfred W. Crosby, The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492.
- Matthew Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest.
- UNESCO, Archivo General de Indias, Memory of the World Register, available at unesco.org.