AP U.S. History: Period 1 Flashcards (1491–1607)

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key Indigenous societies, exploration motives, and colonial systems of AP U.S. History Period 1.

Sovereign Indigenous Societies

The diverse communities inhabiting the Americas prior to $1492$ with complex social, political, and economic systems.

Maize cultivation

The agricultural practice in the Southwest that transformed nomadic tribes into settled communities with advanced irrigation.

Pueblo

Southwestern Indigenous group known for developing complex urban mud-brick settlements.

Ute and Comanche

Indigenous groups from the Great Basin and Great Plains who maintained highly mobile, nomadic lifestyles relying on hunting large game.

Iroquois Confederacy

A sophisticated political structure in the Northeast established to manage inter-tribal peace among permanent villages.

Chinook

Northwest and Pacific Coast group that thrived in rich ocean ecosystems as permanent coastal communities with robust trade routes.

Gold, Glory, and God (The Three G's)

The primary motives for European exploration: economic trade dominance, national prestige, and the religious impulse to convert non-Christians.

Caravel

A maneuverable sailing ship developed as a maritime innovation for open-ocean navigation.

Astrolabe

A maritime tool that, along with the magnetic compass, allowed for safe and extensive navigation across the ocean.

Columbian Exchange

The massive hemispheric transfer of microbes, crops, and animals triggered by Christopher Columbus in $1492$.

Demographic Collapse

The decimation of Indigenous populations by up to $90\%$ due to European microbes like smallpox, measles, and malaria.

Encomienda System

Royal grants of land and Indigenous labor given to Spanish conquistadors, legally requiring them to protect and convert Natives in exchange for forced labor.

Sistema de Castas (Caste System)

A strict social hierarchy in the Spanish colonies based on racial ancestry and European blood purity lines.

Peninsulares

Individuals at the top of the Spanish Caste System who were born in Spain.

Creoles

People of Spanish descent who were born in the Americas.

Mestizos

Individuals in the Spanish social hierarchy of mixed Spanish and Native ancestry.

Mulattos

Individuals in the Spanish social hierarchy of mixed Spanish and African ancestry.

Valladolid Debate ($1550$)

A historic intellectual debate in Spain concerning the rights of Indigenous populations and the morality of colonization.

Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda

An intellectual who argued that Native Americans were naturally inferior and destined to be enslaved.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

A Spanish thinker who argued that Indigenous peoples were rational human beings deserving protection from colonial abuse.