Age of ExplorationThe era when Europeans sailed to distant lands. It ran from about the 15th century to the 17th. Another name for it is the Age of Discovery.
astrolabeA device that reads a star's angle above the horizon. With the mariner's astrolabe, sailors worked out a ship's latitude at sea.
caravelA fast, nimble sailing ship of Portugal and Spain. It could carry triangular lateen sails, square sails or both.
cartographerSomeone whose work is drawing maps and charts. Mapmaking as a field of study is called cartography.
circumnavigateTo go completely around the globe. The first voyage around the Earth set out from Spain in 1519 and was back in 1522.
colonyAn overseas land held and run by a mother country. The word goes back to colonia, a kind of settlement in ancient Rome.
conquistadorA conqueror from Spain or Portugal in this era. The word means conqueror. Conquistadors brought much of the Americas under Spain and Portugal.
empireMany territories under one supreme ruler. The voyages of this age created European colonial empires.
expeditionAn organized journey with a goal, such as exploring. The Magellan expedition sailed from Spain with five ships and supplies for about two years.
Northwest PassageA ship's way through the Arctic from ocean to ocean. It links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The first ship to go all the way through was Roald Amundsen's, in 1903 to 1906.
spice tradeThe buying and selling of pepper, cloves and the like. In this age the trade, above all in black pepper, became big business for European traders.
trade routeA set course that merchants follow with their wares. The voyages of this age opened sea routes from Europe to the East Indies.
Show all 36 terms (24 more)
Navigation 12
celestial navigationUsing the sun, moon and stars to fix a ship's place. The navigator measures the angle between a star or the sun and the horizon.
dead reckoningTracking position by course, speed and time elapsed. The count starts from the last position the navigator knew for sure.
flagshipThe chief ship, where the leader of a voyage sails. Magellan's flagship was the Trinidad.
lateen sailA triangular sail on a long yard set at a slant. Most caravels had two or three masts rigged with lateen sails.
latitudeThe north-south coordinate of any point on the globe. The equator is 0 degrees and each pole is 90 degrees.
leagueA measure of length once common in Europe. Its size varied from country to country. It may first have stood for roughly an hour's walk.
longitudeHow many degrees east or west of Greenwich a point is. Lines of longitude are also called meridians, and the one through Greenwich, England, is the prime meridian.
magnetic compassA navigation aid that uses the magnetism of the Earth. Its first recorded use in Western Europe was around 1190.
portolan chartOne of the earliest kinds of sea chart. The oldest known ones were made in the late 1200s and early 1300s in the Mediterranean region.
provisionsFood and supplies stored for a journey. Magellan's fleet carried hardtack, flour and salted meat among its supplies.
sounding lineA long cord with a lead weight, dropped to test depth. Another name for it is lead line.
trade windsPrevailing winds that blow west around the equator. They helped early sailing ships from Europe and Africa reach the Americas.
Empire 12
Atlantic slave tradeThe shipping of enslaved Africans to the Americas. It went on for more than three centuries, into the 19th century.
cash cropA crop grown to sell, not to feed the grower. A crop grown to feed the farmer's own family is called a subsistence crop.
colonizationSettling a land and taking control of it. Portugal and Spain colonized the Americas first; England, France and the Netherlands followed.
Columbian ExchangeThe swap of crops, livestock and germs after 1492. Maize and potatoes went to the Old World; horses and cattle came to the Americas.
East IndiesAn old European name for lands by the Indian Ocean. In a narrow sense it meant the islands of what are now Indonesia, New Guinea and the Philippines.
encomiendaA Spanish system that forced conquered people to work. It rewarded conquistadors in the 16th century, and in practice it was close to slavery.
Indigenous peoplesThose whose ancestors lived in a place first. Diseases brought from the Old World killed most of the Indigenous population of the Americas.
joint-stock companyA business owned by people who buy shares in it. Owners can sell their shares to others without ending the company.
mercantilismA policy of exporting more than a country imports. Mercantilist policies pushed countries to seek colonies.
plantationAn estate planted with a single crop to be sold. Sugar cane, tobacco and cotton are plantation crops.
Treaty of TordesillasThe 1494 pact dividing new lands for two kingdoms. Spain and Portugal drew a line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands.
viceroyA governor acting as the stand-in for a king or queen. The title joins vice, in place of, and roy, an old French word for king.
How this list was compiled: Term list chosen for this site on 2026-10-16. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day against the term's English Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/) or its entry in Wiktionary, the free dictionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/), both under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: Age of Discovery, Magellan expedition, Caravel, Mariner's astrolabe, Cartography, Trade route, Spice trade, Circumnavigation, Colony, Conquistador, Empire, Northwest Passage, Lateen, Compass, Portolan chart, Celestial navigation, Dead reckoning, Latitude, Longitude, Trade winds, Flagship, League (unit), Depth sounding, Columbian exchange, Treaty of Tordesillas, Mercantilism, Joint-stock company, Colonization, Encomienda, Plantation, Cash crop, Atlantic slave trade, East Indies, Viceroy and Carrack. The ships, the instruments, the conquistadors, the Columbian Exchange, the treaty, the encomienda and the slave trade were also checked against the World History Encyclopedia entries Caravel, Astrolabe, Conquistador, Ferdinand Magellan, Columbian Exchange, Treaty of Tordesillas, Encomienda and Transatlantic Slave Trade (https://www.worldhistory.org/), and latitude, longitude and the trade winds against the Ocean Facts pages of the National Ocean Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/). The rows spice trade, Northwest Passage, magnetic compass, portolan chart, league, sounding line and East Indies rest on Wikipedia alone. The sentence after each meaning is our own. Licence: own work
How it works
This Age of Exploration vocabulary worksheet opens on the voyages: caravel, astrolabe, cartographer, trade route, spice trade, circumnavigate, colony and conquistador. Each has one plain meaning to find, and a key follows the sheet.
Read the full guide
Navigation
In Set, the second sheet goes to sea: lateen sail, magnetic compass, portolan chart, celestial navigation, dead reckoning, latitude, longitude, trade winds, flagship, provisions, league and sounding line.
Empire
The third has what the voyages led to: Columbian Exchange, Treaty of Tordesillas, mercantilism, joint-stock company, colonization, encomienda, plantation, cash crop, Indigenous peoples, Atlantic slave trade, East Indies and viceroy. Under the tool every term carries a fact from the sources the list names.
A one-line meaning cannot tell what conquest and the slave trade cost the peoples of the Americas and Africa.
Questions and answers
What ships were used in the Age of Exploration?
Two kinds stand out. The caravel was fast and easy to steer and carried triangular lateen sails. The carrack was an ocean-going ship with three or four masts; all or most of the five ships of the Magellan expedition were carracks.
Who was the first to circumnavigate the world?
The Magellan expedition made the first voyage around the Earth. Its five ships left Spain in 1519, and the voyage ended back in Spain in 1522.
What was the encomienda system?
It was a 16th-century Spanish labor system that rewarded conquistadors with the work of conquered peoples. In theory the holder owed the workers protection and teaching; in practice it was close to forced labor and slavery.