Colonization

When a more powerful country takes control of land outside its borders, sends its own people to live there, and sets up colonies.

Conquistador

A Spanish soldier and explorer who led military expeditions in the Americas and captured land for Spain.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, between the americas and europe, asia, and africa.

Northwest Passage

A non-existent path through North America that early explorers searched for that would allow ships to sail from the Atlantic to Pacific.

Line of Demarcation

Boundary between Spanish and Portuguese territories in the new world.

Caravel

Used triangular sails that, unlike traditional square sails, allowed ships to sail against the wind.

Mercantilism

An economic system where a country builds wealth and power by controlling trade, gaining colonies, and selling more goods than it buys.

Imports

Goods or items brought into a country from somewhere else to be sold.

Exports

Goods or items sent out of a country to be sold to others.

Raw Materials

Unprocessed, natural items (like timber, cotton, iron, or furs) used to manufacture finished products.

Cash Crop

A crop grown to be sold for profit, rather than used for food by the farmer (such as tobacco, sugar, or rice).

Indentured Servitude

A system where a person signed a contract to work without pay for a set period in exchange for passage to the Americas, food, and shelter.

Slavery

A system where people were treated as legal property, forced to work without pay, had no rights, and remained enslaved for life with their children at the same status.

Middle Passage

Voyage across the Atlantic Ocean that brought millions of kidnapped Africans to the Americas.

Triangular Trade

Trading networks in which goods and slaves moved among England, and the American colonies and Africa.

African Diaspora

Enslaved Africans were sent all around the new world.

Leif Erikson

Norse Viking explorer who is believed to be the first European to set foot on continental North America

Christopher Columbus

Italian navigator and explorer who initiated the permanent European colonization of the Americas.

John Cabot

Italian navigator and explorer who made the first known European exploration of coastal North America

Ferdinand Magellan

A Portuguese explorer sailing for Spain who led the first expedition to attempt sailing all the way around the world

Bartolomé de las Casas

A Spanish Dominican priest and historian who became known as the "Protector of the Indians" for speaking out against the brutal treatment of Indigenous peoples in the Americas.

Hernán Cortés

A Spanish conqueror who led an expedition to Mexico in 1519 that resulted in the fall of the Aztec Empire.

Moctezuma II

The ninth emperor of the Aztec Empire

Francisco Pizzaro

Spanish conqueror who led an expedition to South America in 1532 that conquered the powerful Inca Empire.

Samuel de Champlain

A French explorer, navigator, and mapmaker known as the "Father of New France."