US History: 1.1-1.2

Asian Migration

Migration from Asia to the Americas; beginning 30,000 years ago. Walked across the land bridge, Beringia.

Clovis Culture

Culture that used earliest tools in North America; hunting of big game.

Pleistocene Overkill

Large mammals headed toward extinction due to climate change and over-hunting by humans.

Neolithic Revolution

Development of agricultural a few thousand years BCE. In Western Hemisphere, it started in Mexico. Led to further settlement, population growth, and a reshaping of social life.

Maya, Aztec, Inca

Empires of the Americas.

Mississippian Culture

Master farmers and mound builders. Most sophisticated society north of Mexico in the Americas.

Shared Traits of Native Americans

Spiritual practices, understandings of property, and kinship networks differed from European arrangements (matrilineal)

Difference of Native Americans

Hundreds of languages. Varied climates. Some large cites; others small bands

Merchants + New Monarchs

This "alliance" helped to encourage European exploration in the 15th century and after.

Christopher Columbus

Italian-born explorer. He secured financing from Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain to sail west to India. He landed in the Caribbean and proceeded to colonize, take slaves, and take gold.

Hernan Cortes

Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of the Aztecs with the help of disgruntled Natives, smallpox, and advanced weaponry.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of the Incas, who had already been ravaged by smallpox.

Encomienda

Exploitative feudal arrangement. The Spanish crown granted a person not only land but a specified number of natives as well. Encomenderos brutalized their laborers

Bartolome de Las Casas

Spanish Priest who decried Spanish atrocities that led to millions of Indigenous deaths. Vocal critic of the Encomienda.

Repartimiento

Replaced the encomienda, though Native exploitation continued.

Sistema de Castas

Racial hierarchy marked Spanish life in the New World based on "purity of blood."

Demographic Disaster

In the first 130 years following European contact, as much as 95% of the Native population perished. Mostly from pandemics.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.

Jacques Cartier

French explorer who sought a Northwest Passage and established a fur trade with Natives.

Parris Island and Fort Caroline

Early French colonies that were meant as refuge for Huguenots. They failed, primarily due to Spanish resistance to French/Protestant colonization.

New Amsterdam

Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. This later became "New York City"

Henry VIII

King of England from 1509 to 1547; his desire to annul his marriage led to a conflict with the pope, England's break with the Roman Catholic Church, and its embrace of Protestantism. Established the Church of England.

Elizabeth I

Queen of England and between 1558 and 1603. She would come into conflict with Catholic Spain and finance early English explorations to the Americas.

Richard Hakluyt

English promoter of exploration. In 1584 he argued England should colonize the Americas: to extend the reformed religion, to expand trade, to supply England's needs from her own dominions, and various other reasons for exploration.

Walter Raleigh

Received a charter from Queen Elizabeth I to explore the American coastline. His ships landed on Roanoke, which became a "lost colony."

Virginia Company

Joint-Stock Company in London that received a charter for land in the New World.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, founded by the Virginia Company.

Powhatan

Indian chief and founder of the Powhatan confederacy of tribes in eastern Virginia. Father of Pocahontas.

First Anglo-Powhatan War (1610-1614)

Series of clashes between the Powhatan Confederacy and English settlers in Virginia. Ended when John Rolfe married Pocahontas.

Pocahontas

Daughter of Chief Powhatan, who was one of the first to marry an Englishman, John Rolfe, leading to a temporary peace with the English. She would convert to Christianity and adopt a Western lifestyle.

Tobacco

Cash crop that made a profit and saved Jamestown. Successfully cultivated by John Rolfe.

Opechancanough

Powhatan's brother who became the head of the native confederacy after Powhatan's death. Led to further war with the colonists of Jamestown.

Chesapeake Society

Mostly men. Few permanent institutions. Dispersed houses with land to grow tobacco.

Pilgrims

English Separatists who founded Plymouth colony in 1620

Mayflower Compact (1620)

First document of self-government in English America; created a "civil body politic" for the Plymouth Colony.

Pokanokets

Native tribe that granted assistance and support to the Pilgrims of Plymouth.

Puritans

English followers of John Calvin who wanted to reform the Church of England. Persecuted by James I and his son, King Charles I.

Great Migration (1620-1640)

Thousands of Puritans sought refuge in the "New World" colonies.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Royal charter was granted to Puritans to found this colony in 1629, centered in Salem.

English Civil War (1642-1649)

King Charles I vs. Puritans. Puritans, led by Oliver Cromwell, won and executed the King.

New England Society

Strong communities with a focus on religion, education, towns, and trade.