Unit 18: Paper 3 (HL) — History of Europe
Topic 18.5: The Age of Exploration and its impact (1400–1550) Questions
Practice 20 exam-style questions for IB History Topic 18.5. Review the question stems below, then unlock the full Question Bank to access markschemes, model answers, and AI grading.
1Choose1 mark
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Choose the port city that Vasco da Gama reached in India in 1498.
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Unlock Question2Evaluate15 marks
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Evaluate the importance of technological developments in enabling European overseas exploration before 1500.
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To what extent did the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) succeed in preventing conflict between European states over new discoveries?
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Analyse the consequences of Portuguese exploration of West Africa for Portugal and for the Ottoman Empire.
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Examine the reasons why Portugal, rather than another European state, took the lead in overseas exploration during the fifteenth century.
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To what extent did Portuguese exploration of West Africa permanently shift the balance of commercial power away from the Ottoman Empire and Arab traders by 1500?
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Evaluate the claim that the Columbian Exchange was the most significant consequence of European exploration for Europe itself before 1550.
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Examine the reasons why European states began overseas exploration in the fifteenth century.
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Discuss the role of Prince Henry the Navigator in the development of Portuguese exploration.
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Examine the causes of European voyages of exploration to the New World and the Indian Ocean before 1500.
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To what extent was economic gain the most significant motive behind Portuguese exploration of West Africa in the fifteenth century?
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Evaluate the significance of the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) for the development of European overseas empires.
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Unlock Question13Compare and contrast15 marks
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Compare and contrast the motives and methods of exploration pursued by Portugal in West Africa with those pursued by Spain in the Americas in this period.
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Discuss the economic impact of overseas exploration on Europe in the period to 1550.
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Evaluate the significance of the Portuguese voyages of Gil Eanes and Bartolomeu Dias in the development of European exploration.
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Compare and contrast the motives and outcomes of Spanish exploration of the New World with Portuguese exploration of the Indian Ocean before 1520.
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Discuss the impact of Portuguese exploration on African societies in the fifteenth century.
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Analyse the reasons why Portugal, rather than Spain, came to dominate the Indian Ocean spice trade in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.
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To what extent was Portugal's Indian Ocean empire built on the achievements of a small number of individuals?
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Examine the impact of the voyages of Christopher Columbus on relations between European states.
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