New World Vocabulary

Line of Demarcation

an imaginary line that divided the Atlantic Ocean between Spain and Portugal

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain that moved the line of demarcation 800 miles west, giving Portugal more territory in the New World

Circumnavigate

to sail around the world

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.

Conquistadors

Spanish soldiers and explorers who led military expeditions in the Americas and captured land for Spain

Encomienda System

system in Spanish America that gave settlers the right to tax local Indians or to force them to work.

plantations

large farms

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches.

Protestants

reformers who protested some practices of the catholic church

Spanish Armada

The great fleet sent from Spain against in 1588; defeated by England.

Northwest Passage

a water route through North America that would allow ships to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific (does not exist)

charter

A legal document giving certain rights to people or a company to start a colony

immune

protected from a disease

Middle Passage

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World

African Diaspora

The scattering of enslaved Africans across the world due to the slave trade