European Exploration, Spanish Colonization, and Foundations of American Government

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the technological and political factors driving European exploration, the global impacts of the Columbian Exchange, and the foundational structures and principles of the United States government.

Conquistadors

Spanish soldiers who accompanied explorers to the New World to help conquer and settle the Americas for Spain, often using harsh methods.

Hernan Cortes

The Spanish explorer who conquered the Aztecs in $1521$ with only $1,000$ men, superior technology, and help from up to $100,000$ local natives.

Francisco Pizarro

The Spanish explorer who conquered the Incas in $1533$ and sent ships loaded with gold and silver back to Spain.

Encomienda System

A labor system in which the Spanish king gave land to nobles, including all natives living on that land, who were then forced to work in fields and mines.

Spanish Caste System

A social hierarchy created to define the status of people in the colonies based on their heritage, including groups such as Peninsulares, Criollos, Mestizos, and Mulattoes.

Peninsulares

Iberian [Spanish] Aristocrats who occupied the highest social class in the Spanish colonies.

Viceroy

An official who ruled a viceroyalty and answered directly to the monarch to ensure mercantilist goals remained a priority.

Astrolabe

A navigational invention using rings to site the stars, allowing captains to calculate latitude based on their distance from the equator.

Caravel

A lighter, faster ship developed during the Scientific Revolution that was capable of sailing in shallower water.

Reconquista

The period from $722$ to $1491$ during which the Spanish drove out the Islamic caliphate, ending with the handover of Granada.

Spanish Inquisition

A movement beginning in the $1480\text{s}$ where Catholic priests sought to identify "heretics," specifically Jews or Muslims who converted to Catholicism but still practiced elements of their former faith.

Alhambra Decree

A $1492$ edict that expelled Jews from Castile and Aragon who would not convert to Christianity.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A $1494$ agreement involving a line drawn by the Pope to divide "New World" possessions, giving Portugal Brazil and Spain the rest of the Americas.

Columbian Exchange

The flow of ideas, people, plants, animals, technology, and disease between the New World and the Old World following Columbus' discovery.

Mercantilism

An economic theory dominant from the $16\text{th}$ to $18\text{th}$ centuries that emphasizes increasing national wealth by accumulating precious metals like gold and silver.

Richard Hakluyt

The author of a $1584$ discourse written at the request of Walter Raleigh to persuade Queen Elizabeth I to fund English colonization for economic and religious reasons.

Juan Gines de Sepulveda

A thinker who argued in $1547$ that the Spanish had a perfect right to rule over "barbarians" in the New World whom he viewed as naturally inferior.

Bartolome de Las Casas

A priest who argued in $1555$ that all nations of the world are human and rational, created in the image of God, and should not be subjugated.

John Locke

An Enlightenment thinker who proposed that government exists by the consent of the governed to protect natural rights: life, liberty, and property.

Articles of Confederation

The first US government framework ($1781$) which was weak because it lacked the power to tax, an executive branch, a judicial branch, and a national military.

Great Compromise

An agreement at the Constitutional Convention of $1787$ that created a two-house Congress: the House based on population and the Senate with equal representation.

Federalism

A system of government where power is divided between the national government (Enumerated powers) and the states (Reserved powers).

Judicial Review

The power of the courts to declare a law or executive action unconstitutional, established in the case Marbury v. Madison ($1803$).

Bill of Rights

The first $10$ amendments to the Constitution, ratified in $1791$, which protect individual liberties such as speech, religion, and the right to bear arms.

14th Amendment

A notable amendment ratified in $1868$ that granted citizenship and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that the authority of the government is created and sustained by the consent of its people.