colonization + social classes in the americas

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire

Columbian exchange

transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and ideas between the Americas and the Old World

Mercantilism

economic system where colonies existed to benefit the mother country

Encomienda

Spanish labor system that forced natives to work for colonists

Hacienda

large Spanish estate or plantation

Creoles

people of Spanish descent born in the Americas

Peninsulares

people born in Spain living in the colonies

Mestizo

person of mixed Spanish and Indigenous ancestry

Mulattoes

people of mixed European and African ancestry

Plantation colonies

colonies based on large-scale farming using enslaved labor

Settler colonies

colonies where Europeans permanently settled

Potosi

wealthy silver mining city in present-day Bolivia

Mestiza

female of mixed Spanish and Indigenous ancestry