APUSH Unit 1 Key Terms

Great Basin

A vast, arid region between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains where Native peoples like the Shoshone adapted by hunting and gathering due to limited natural resources.

Great Plains

A large, flat area of grasslands in central North America where Indigenous groups like the Sioux hunted bison and developed nomadic lifestyles, especially after the introduction of the horse.

Columbian Exchange

The widespread transfer of plants, animals, people, diseases, and ideas between the Americas and Europe/Africa following Columbus’s voyages, which drastically reshaped global economies, diets, and populations.

Joint-stock Companies

Business ventures funded by multiple investors who shared profits and losses, used by the English (e.g., Virginia Company) to finance colonization efforts in the New World.

Encomienda System

A Spanish labor system that granted colonists the right to extract forced labor from Native Americans in exchange for offering protection and Christian instruction—often leading to severe exploitation.

Caste(a) System

A rigid social hierarchy in Spanish America based on racial ancestry, with Spaniards at the top and Indigenous and African peoples at the bottom, used to maintain colonial control.

Reasons for European Exploration

European nations sought new trade routes, access to wealth (especially gold and spices), territorial expansion, and the spread of Christianity—often summarized as 'God, Gold, and Glory'.

Diseases

European diseases like smallpox devastated Native American populations, who lacked immunity, leading to demographic collapse and aiding European conquest.

Horses

Horses, introduced by the Spanish, transformed Native life by increasing mobility, hunting efficiency, and power dynamics among tribes.

Slave Trade

The transatlantic slave trade forcibly brought millions of Africans to the Americas as laborers, becoming a cornerstone of colonial economies and contributing to centuries of racial inequality.

Mestizo

A person of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in Spanish America, representing a growing mixed population that reflected colonial interactions and shaped social hierarchies.

Bartolomé de las Casas

A Spanish priest who initially participated in colonization but later became a vocal critic of Native enslavement and mistreatment, advocating for Indigenous rights.