OCR A-Level History A H505
Y101: Alfred and the Making of England 871–1016Unit group 1
Y102: Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest 1035–1107Unit group 1
Y103: England 1199–1272Unit group 1
Y104: England 1377–1455Unit group 1
Y105: England 1445–1509: Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VIIUnit group 1
Y106: England 1485–1558: The Early TudorsUnit group 1
Y107: England 1547–1603: The Later TudorsUnit group 1
Y108: The Early Stuarts and the Origins of the Civil War 1603–1660Unit group 1
Y109: The Making of Georgian Britain 1678–c.1760Unit group 1
Y110: From Pitt to Peel 1783–1853Unit group 1
Y111: Liberals, Conservatives and the Rise of Labour 1846–1918Unit group 1
Y112: Britain 1900–1951Unit group 1
Y113: Britain 1930–1997Unit group 1
Y201: The Rise of Islam c.550–750Unit group 2
Y202: Charlemagne 768–814Unit group 2
Y203: The Crusades and the Crusader States 1095–1192Unit group 2
Y204: Genghis Khan and the Explosion From the Steppes c.1167–1405Unit group 2
Y205: Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570Unit group 2
Y206: Spain 1469–1556Unit group 2
Y207: The German Reformation and the Rule of Charles v 1500–1559Unit group 2
Y208: Philip II 1556–1598Unit group 2
Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: Four Case StudiesUnit group 2
Y210: Russia 1645–1741Unit group 2
Y211: The Rise and Decline of the Mughal Empire in India 1526–1739Unit group 2
Y212: The American Revolution 1740–1796Unit group 2
Y213: The French Revolution and the Rule of Napoleon 1774–1815Unit group 2
Y214: France 1814–1870Unit group 2
Y215: Italy and Unification 1789–1896Unit group 2
Y216: The USA in the 19th Century: Westward Expansion and Civil War 1803–c.1890Unit group 2
Y217: Japan 1853–1937Unit group 2
Y218: International Relations 1890–1941Unit group 2
Y219: Russia 1894–1941Unit group 2
Y220: Italy 1896–1943Unit group 2
Y221: Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963Unit group 2
Y222: The Cold War in Asia 1945–1993Unit group 2
Y223: The Cold War in Europe 1941–1995Unit group 2
Y224: Apartheid and Reconciliation: South African Politics 1948–1999Unit group 2
Y301: The Early Anglo-Saxons c.400–800Unit group 3
Y302: The Viking Age c.790–1066Unit group 3
Y303: English Government and the Church 1066–1216Unit group 3
Y304: The Church and Medieval Heresy c.1100–1437Unit group 3
Y305: The Renaissance c.1400–c.1600Unit group 3
Y306: Rebellion and Disorder Under the Tudors 1485–1603Unit group 3
Y307: Tudor Foreign Policy 1485–1603Unit group 3
Y308: The Catholic Reformation 1492–1610Unit group 3
Y309: The Ascendancy of the Ottoman Empire 1453–1606Unit group 3
Y310: The Development of the Nation State: France 1498–1610Unit group 3
Y311: The Origins and Growth of the British Empire 1558–1783Unit group 3
Y312: Popular Culture and the Witchcraze of the 16th and 17th CenturiesUnit group 3
Y313: The Ascendancy of France 1610–1715Unit group 3
Y314: The Challenge of German Nationalism 1789–1919Unit group 3
Y315: The Changing Nature of Warfare 1792–1945Unit group 3
Y316: Britain and Ireland 1791–1921Unit group 3
Y317: China and Its Rulers 1839–1989Unit group 3
Y318: Russia and Its Rulers 1855–1964Unit group 3
Y319: Civil Rights in the USA 1865–1992Unit group 3
Y320: From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857–1965Unit group 3
Y321: The Middle East 1908–2011: Ottomans to Arab SpringUnit group 3
Y205: Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570
- 8 subtopics
- 19 things to know
- Unit group 2
- Non-British period study, one unit of twenty-four
What Y205: Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570 covers
Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570 is unit Y205 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-four options in unit group 2, the non-British period study; a student sits one of them. Its four key topics are exploration, encounters and conquest, settlement and consequences, impact of overseas empire on Europe. 280 recall questions across 8 subtopics.
Where it is assessed
Unit group 2
Non-British period study, one unit of twenty-four.
Check the OCR specification ↗The 8 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Exploration: Reasons why this was an age of exploration and motives for patronageRecall questions on reasons why this was an age of exploration, Renaissance learning and values, trade, religion, technological change, geography of and internal developments in Portugal and Spain, motives for patronage.Open →
- Exploration: explorers, their routes and the difficulties they facedRecall questions on Columbus, Dias, da Gama, Cabral, Vespucci, Balboa, Magellan, Cortés and Pizarro, the routes of Portuguese and Spanish voyages, and the difficulties crews faced.Open →
- Encounters and conquest: Treaty of Tordesillas and Portuguese conquestRecall questions on the Treaty of Tordesillas and Portuguese conquest: Albuquerque, Brazil.Open →
- Encounters and conquest: Spanish Conquests, gains and losses for individual explorersRecall questions on Spanish Conquests: the Caribbean, Mexico, Panama and Peru, reasons for success, gains and losses for individual explorers and their patrons.Open →
- Settlement and consequences: Portuguese trading posts, Brazil and Spanish settlementRecall questions on feitorias and African posts, Goa and the eastern network, Brazilian captaincies and sugar, Spanish settlement in the Caribbean, Mexico and Peru, and the encomienda.Open →
- Settlement and consequences: colonial government and the effects on indigenous peoplesRecall questions on the bodies that governed the Indies from Spain, viceroys and audiencias, local authority, the New Laws, and the demographic, economic, social, religious and military consequences for indigenous peoples.Open →
- Impact of overseas empire on Europe: bullion, the price revolution and European tradeRecall questions on the scale of bullion imports, the quinto real and treasure fleets, silver and Habsburg war, the price revolution, Seville and Lisbon, Spanish industry, the Cape route and the northern distribution centre.Open →
- Impact of overseas empire on Europe: slave trades, balance sheet of personal and national benefitsRecall questions on the slave trades, the balance sheet of personal and national benefits and losses.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Name three technological changes that made long ocean voyages practicable.
Contrast the routes taken by Portuguese and Spanish expeditions.
What was the most important long-term consequence of the Tordesillas line?
Give three reasons for Spanish success against far larger empires.
Why did the flow of bullion change scale after the mid-1540s?
Why did Spain's own industry fail to profit fully from the colonial trade?
Assess the balance sheet of empire for the individuals involved.
Why did Panama matter to the Spanish advance?
What were the social effects of settlement on indigenous society?
Why did colonial demand for enslaved Africans grow during the sixteenth century?
What drew a man such as Hernán Cortés to the Indies?
Name three Portuguese posts in Africa and explain their purpose.
Which two bodies in Spain governed the Indies, and what did each do?
Why was the spice trade such a powerful motive for seeking a sea route to the East?
Describe what happened at Cajamarca in November 1532.
How did Portuguese and Spanish administration in the new territories differ?
How did the crown protect and use the treasure shipments?
Describe the origins of the Atlantic slave trade.
Take Y205: Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570 further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Encomienda vs Asiento
Encomienda: the grant of the labour and tribute of a group of native people to a Spanish settler. Asiento: the licence to supply enslaved Africans to the Spanish colonies.
Quinto real vs Price revolution
Quinto real: the crown's fifth of all bullion produced in the Indies. Price revolution: the long inflation of the sixteenth century attributed in part to American silver.
Vasco da Gama vs Pedro Alvares Cabral
Vasco da Gama: the captain whose voyage of 1497 to 1499 opened the sea route to India. Pedro Alvares Cabral: the captain who, bearing west on that route in 1500, claimed Brazil for Portugal.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
How did Ottoman expansion push Europeans towards ocean voyaging?
Model answer
The fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the growth of Ottoman power across the eastern Mediterranean placed the overland spice routes in Muslim hands, so western rulers looked for a sea route to Asia that avoided them altogether.
- 2
Explain how Renaissance learning contributed to the age of exploration.
Model answer
The recovery of classical geography, above all Ptolemy, gave navigators a mathematical model of a spherical earth and a grid of latitude and longitude, while humanist curiosity, the hunger for personal fame and the printing of voyage accounts made discovery both possible and prestigious.
- 3
Why was the spice trade such a powerful motive for seeking a sea route to the East?
Model answer
Pepper, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon reached Europe only after passing through Muslim and Venetian middlemen who multiplied the price, so a crown that could buy at source stood to make enormous profits.
- 4
Give two religious motives that drove the early voyages.
Model answer
The wish to convert non-Christian peoples and win souls for the Church, and the crusading impulse to outflank Islam, which included the hope of finding the legendary Christian ruler Prester John as an ally.
- 5
Name three technological changes that made long ocean voyages practicable.
Model answer
The caravel, with lateen sails and a shallow draught that let it work to windward and explore coasts; the magnetic compass and quadrant or astrolabe for direction and latitude; and better charts, sailing directions and shipboard cannon.
- 6
Why was Portugal so well placed to lead the first phase of exploration?
Model answer
It faced the Atlantic, had completed its own reconquest and could not expand by land, had a stable crown and a nobility needing employment, and had already colonised Madeira, the Azores and Cape Verde with the backing of Prince Henry and the wealth of the Order of Christ.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Y205: Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570 revision questions
- What does Y205: Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570 cover in OCR A-Level History A?
- 8 subtopics: exploration: reasons why this was an age of exploration and motives for patronage, exploration: explorers, their routes and the difficulties they faced, encounters and conquest: treaty of tordesillas and portuguese conquest, encounters and conquest: spanish conquests, gains and losses for individual explorers, settlement and consequences: portuguese trading posts, brazil and spanish settlement, settlement and consequences: colonial government and the effects on indigenous peoples, impact of overseas empire on europe: bullion, the price revolution and european trade and impact of overseas empire on europe: slave trades, balance sheet of personal and national benefits. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Y205: Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570 organised?
- By the OCR H505 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Y205: Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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