Native American Cultures and European Exploration

Flashcards for reviewing Native American Cultures, European Exploration, and the Columbian Exchange

Land Bridge Theory

Migrants from Asia crossed a land bridge over the Bering Strait connecting Siberia and Alaska.

Native American Population (1490s)

Estimated between 50 million and 100 million people in the Americas.

Maize Cultivation

Spread from present-day Mexico northward, supporting economic development and settlement.

Division of Labor (Native American)

Men made tools and hunted; women gathered plants and grew crops.

Great Basin Native American Lifestyle

Arid climate led to mobile lifestyles.

Plains Sioux Lifestyle

Buffalo-based economy; lived in tipis.

Iroquois League/Confederation

Political alliance of five tribes in the Mohawk Valley (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk).

Columbian Exchange

Global transfer of foods, plants, animals, and diseases between Europe and the Americas.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

Divided newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal.

Encomienda System

Spanish system of granting land and native labor to Spaniards.

Asiento System

Spanish system of importing enslaved Africans and paying a tax to the king.

Valladolid Debate (1550-1551)

Debate over the treatment of Native Americans by Spanish colonizers.

Bartolome de Las Casas

Advocated for better treatment of Native Americans.

Juan Sepulveda

Argued that Native Americans were inferior and should be conquered.

The Three G's

The primary motives that drove European Exploration: Gold, God and Glory

Paternalism

The belief that one group must be controlled or conquered by 'civilized' or 'superior' peoples because it is supposedly in their best interest or for their own good.