Historiography and Age of Exploration Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards generated from lecture notes detailing early history study, Native American culture, tools, European explorers, and English settlement in North America.

Historiography

The study of writing history.

Totem poles

Objects that the people in the Pacific Northwest used to help them find food.

Petroglyphs

Rock drawings.

Mound builders

People who buried the dead along with artifacts.

Animalism

The belief system where the great spirit pervaded.

Compass

Tool used for finding directions.

Astrolabe

An ancient handheld astronomical instrument.

Caravel

Small ship with triangular sails.

Columbian Exchange

Exchange of plants, animals, culture, and diseases.

Encomienda system

Spanish labor system that was forced.

Age of Exploration

The period from the late 1400s to the early 1500s.

Crusades

One factor leading to exploration.

Leif Ericson

Explorer who called the new land Vinland.

Amerigo Vespucci

Explorer who made exploratory trips to the Caribbean and South America between 1499 and 1502.

Hernando Cortez

Explorer who reached Mexico and became the first conquistador in 1599.

Christopher Columbus

Explorer who believed the world was round.

Jacques Cartier

Explorer who discovered the St. Laurence River and explored it.

Samuel de Champlain

Explorer who established a fort at Quebec and explored the Saint Lawrence River.

Robert de la Salle

Explorer who completed the Mississippi River journey to the Gulf and named a vast territory Louisiana.

Henry Hudson

Explorer who searched for a northwest passage to Asia.

St. Augustine

Established by the Spanish as the oldest permanent city settled by Europeans in the United States.

Juan Ponce de Leon

Explorer who sailed from Puerto Rico up the east coast of Florida in search of wealth.

Francisco de Coronado

Explorer who sailed on a 400-mile trek looking for 7 cities.

Hernando de Soto

Explorer who discovered the Mississippi River.

Joint stock companies

Companies that raised large amounts of money to fund colonies by selling stock in return for a share of company profits.

Captain John Smith

Leader who required men to work in Jamestown.

Jamestown

Settlement primarily founded for economic gain.