| A | B |
|---|
| Sundiata | Mali's first great leader who came to power after a series of military victories |
| Mansa Musa | ruled Mali from 1312 to 1332 and gained a reputation for himself and the empire of being wealthy after his pilgrimage to Mecca |
| Sunni Ali | led Songhai to power by capturing the key cities of Djenne and Timbuktu gaining control of the Trans-Sahara trade |
| Askia Muhammad | ruled Songhai for 37 years and was an excellent administrator who set up an efficient tax system |
| Zheng He | sailed seven voyages from 1405 to 1433 for China to show off wealth, receive tribute and explore new places |
| Vasco da Gama | helped create a Portuguese trading empire in Asia after sailing up the east coast of Africa |
| Christopher Columbus | In 1492, he sailed west across the Atlantic in search of an alternate route to Asia, instead he landed on an island in the Caribbean |
| Ferdinand Magellan | His voyage showed that ships could reach Asia by way of the Pacific Ocean, this voyage was the first to circumnavigate, or sail around, the world |
| James Cook | British explorer who claimed part of Australia for Great Britain in 1770 |
| Samuel de Champlain | French explorer who founded Quebec which became the base for France's empire in North America |
| conquistadors | Spanish explorers and soldiers who took part in the conquest of the Americas in the 16th century |
| Columbian Exchange | the global transfer of plants, animals and diseases that occurred during the European colonization of the Americas |
| astrolabe | invention that allowed European sea captains to better determine their location at sea by measuring how far north or south of the equator the ship was |
| magnetic compass | Explorers were able to more accurately track direction with this device |
| triangular sails | adopted from Arabs, these allowed a ship to sail effectively against the wind |
| caravel | a sturdier ship that was designed in the 1400's |
| sextant | replaced the astrolabe in the mid 1700's for determining latitude and longitude by measuring the height of stars |
| Hernando Cortes | led the conquistadors into central Mexico and defeated the Aztecs |
| Francisco Pizarro | Spanish conquistador who defeated the Incas in 1533 |
| Montezuma II | Aztec leader who thought Cortes was a "god wearing armor" and gave a share of empire's gold supply to him |
