Period 1: Native Societies and Spanish Colonization

Vocabulary flashcards covering the pre-contact Native societies, the Columbian Exchange, and the political/social structures of Spanish colonization in the Americas.

Hohokam

Native societies in the Southwest that developed complex irrigation systems to support agriculture in arid environments.

Cahokia

The largest urban center in North America near present-day St. Louis, featuring mound-building, extensive trade networks, and sophisticated political organization.

Spanish Colonial Hierarchy

A rigid social structure consisting of peninsulares, creoles, and mestizos, reinforced by the Council of the Indies and viceroyalties.

Encomienda System

A labor system where the Spanish crown granted colonists control over Indigenous labor in exchange for supposed protection and Christianization.

Repartimiento

A system that followed the encomienda, used to concentrate land, labor, and political power among Spanish elites.

Bartolomé de las Casas

A Dominican friar and Spanish monk who criticized the mistreatment of Native Americans in works like A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies.

John Cabot

An explorer who sailed for England in $1497$ and explored the North Atlantic coast, providing England with its first claims in North America.

Jacques Cartier

An explorer who traveled the St. Lawrence River in the $1530s$, claiming the region for France and establishing the basis for New France.

Hernán Cortés

The Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire between $1519$ and $1521$ through military force, alliances, and the impact of disease.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of crops ($ext{maize, potatoes, sugar}$), animals ($ext{horses, cattle}$), and diseases ($ext{smallpox}$) that reshaped global economies and demographics.

Asiento System

A system through which Spain increasingly turned to enslaved Africans for labor as Native populations declined due to disease and overwork.

Three Sisters

A sustainable agricultural system used by groups like the Iroquois involving the simultaneous growth of corn, beans, and squash.

Casta System

A Spanish colonial social hierarchy that ranked people by racial ancestry, with peninsulares at the top and mixed populations like mestizos and mulattoes below.

Religious Syncretism

The blending of Native beliefs and practices with Catholicism, often occurring through missionary activities in Spanish colonial society.

Francisco Pizarro

The Spanish conquistador who defeated the Inca Empire between $1532$ and $1533$, securing vast silver wealth for Spain.

Montezuma II

The ruler of the Aztec Empire during the arrival of Cortés; his capture and fall symbolized the collapse of Native empires under European invasion.

New Laws of 1542

Reforms pushed by Bartolomé de las Casas intended to address the abuses of the encomienda system.

Impact of Disease

The spread of smallpox, measles, and influenza which killed up to $90\%$ of Native populations in some regions, weakening political structures.