Chapter 24: New Worlds: The Americas and Oceania

Audiencias

Colonial courts in Spanish America that checked the power of viceroys and ensured royal policies were followed.

Brazil

Portuguese colony in South America; became the world's largest sugar producer using enslaved African labor.

Casta System

Hierarchical racial classification in Spanish America based on ancestry (Peninsulares, Criollos, Mestizos, Mulattos, Zambos, etc.); reinforced colonial social inequality.

Conquistadors

Spanish conquerors who defeated indigenous empires in the Americas, such as the Aztecs and Incas, for wealth and glory.

Criollo

Spaniards born in the Americas; often wealthy but lacked the political privileges of Peninsulares.

Debt Peonage

System where laborers were bound to landowners through debt, a form of coerced labor that replaced encomienda in some areas.

Encomienda

Spanish colonial system granting settlers the right to demand labor or tribute from Indigenous people in exchange for supposed protection and Christianization.

Engenho

Portuguese term for a sugar mill and plantation complex in Brazil; symbolized the centrality of sugar and slave labor to the colonial economy.

Epidemic Disease

European diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza that devastated Indigenous populations in the Americas after contact.

Fur Trade

Economic activity between Indigenous peoples and Europeans (especially French and Dutch) in North America; reshaped Native societies and the environment.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire in the Andes (1530s) and claimed its wealth for Spain.

Hacienda

Large landed estate in Spanish America producing crops for local consumption or export, often using coerced or debt labor.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec Empire (1519-1521), establishing New Spain in Mexico.

Huascar

Inca ruler and half-brother of Atahualpa; their civil war weakened the empire before the Spanish conquest.

Indentured Labor

Labor system where people worked for a set number of years in exchange for passage to the Americas; common in English colonies.

Jamestown

First permanent English settlement in North America (1607); developed economy based on tobacco cultivation and indentured servitude.

Manila galleons

Spanish ships that connected Manila (Philippines) with Acapulco (Mexico), carrying silver to Asia and returning with luxury goods; key to early globalization.

Mestizo

Person of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry; became a large and influential group in colonial Latin American society.

Mita System

Labor system adapted from the Inca draft labor system; required Indigenous communities to supply workers for Spanish mines and projects (especially Potosí).

Motecuzoma II (Montezuma)

Last Aztec emperor; captured and killed during Cortés's conquest of Tenochtitlán.

Mulatto

Person of mixed European and African ancestry; part of the colonial casta hierarchy.

Quinto

Spanish crown's 20% tax on all silver and gold extracted from the Americas; symbol of mercantilist control.

Peninsulares

Spaniards born in Spain; occupied the highest social and political positions in colonial Latin America.

Pueblo Revolt

1680 Indigenous uprising in New Mexico that expelled Spanish colonizers for over a decade; example of Native resistance.

Potosí

Major silver-mining city in modern Bolivia; supplied vast wealth to Spain, fueling global trade and inflation.

New Spain

Spanish colonial territory covering Mexico, Central America, and parts of North America; center of Spanish administration and silver wealth.

Smallpox

Highly contagious viral disease brought by Europeans; caused massive mortality among Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Taíno

Indigenous Caribbean people first encountered by Columbus; most died from disease and forced labor under Spanish rule.

Terra australis incognita

"Unknown southern land"; theoretical continent thought to balance the earth's landmasses, spurring Pacific exploration.

Tobacco

Cash crop cultivated in the Americas; became a major export for English colonies and fueled demand for labor.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement dividing newly discovered lands between Spain (west) and Portugal (east); sanctioned by the Pope.

Túpac Amaru

Last Inca ruler executed by Spanish in 1572; later a symbol of resistance to colonial rule.

Viceroy

Spanish royal official who governed large colonial regions (New Spain, Peru) in the king's name.

Virgin of Guadalupe

Syncretic religious symbol combining Indigenous and Christian elements; became a unifying symbol of Mexican identity.

Zacatecas

Rich silver-mining region in northern Mexico; attracted settlers and Indigenous laborers under the mita system.

Zambo

Person of mixed African and Indigenous ancestry; occupied the lowest rungs of the colonial racial hierarchy.