| Term | Definition |
| Prince Henry | started school for sailors |
| Vasco deGama | Portuguese - sails around Africa to India |
| Bartholmeu Dias | Portuguese - found southern tip of Africa |
| Christopher Columbus | Spanish - finds New World |
| Amerigo Vespucci | Spanish - discovers New World is not Asia |
| Hernan Cortez | Spanish - conquers the Aztecs |
| Francisco Pizarro | Spanish - conquers the Incas |
| Ferdinand Magellan | Spanish - leads expedition around around the world |
| Henry Hudson | Dutch - explores NY area |
| John Cabot | English - explores North America |
| Middle Passage | transport of slaves to the New World |
| Jamestown | English - first permanent settlement |
| Pilgrims | English - religious settlers in MA |
| Zheng He | Chinese - leads 7 voyages of exploration |
| joint stock company | let middle class citizens invest in businesses |
| capitalism | notion that people should keep the money they earn |
| Columbian Exchange | transfer of native plants and animals between Europe and the New World |
| Tokugawa Shogunate | Japan - military rulers of Japan until 1867 |
| haiku | Japan - form of poetry 5-7-5 |
| Manchus | China - founders of the Qing Dynasty |
| Kangxi | first Qing emperor |
| Hongwu | China - first Ming emperor, drove the Mongols out |
| Yonglu | China - Hongwu's son, moved the capital to Beijing |
| Treaty of Tordesillas | papal law that divided the world between Spain and Portugal |
| Dutch East India Company | controlled most of SE Asia and Indonesia |
| Atahualpa | Incan leader captured by the Spanish |
| Francisco Coronado | Spanish - explored from AZ to TX |
| Jaques Cartier | French - discovered the St Lawrence River, founded Montreal |
| Samuel Champlain | French - founded Quebec, France's first permanent settlement |
| Metacom | led and Indian uprising against British settlers in New England |