History Til 1877 Exam 1

Beringia

Early humans used a frozen land bridge at the Bering Strait to move between Asia and North America roughly 25,000–50,000 years ago, following large game across mile-thick glacial ice; this route explains the earliest peopling of the Americas. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

Aztec Indians

A sophisticated Mesoamerican empire centered in modern Mexico whose capital Tenochtitlan featured grid-planned streets, canals, aqueducts, sewage systems, large markets, and advanced calendars; conquered by Cortés in 1521. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

The Three Sisters

“Three Sisters” refers to corn, beans, and squash—companion crops planted together; corn provided a stalk for beans to climb, beans fixed nitrogen, and squash shaded soil—supporting stable diets and larger populations. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}

Mississippian Culture

A stratified society (chief, nobles/priests, aristocracy, commoners) flourishing c. 1000–1500 CE from Illinois to Louisiana and Arkansas to Tennessee; known for sun-cult religion, ritual sacrifice, mound building, and extensive trade networks evidenced in ceremonial goods. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}

Cahokia

The largest Mississippian city (c. 30,000–90,000) near present-day St. Louis; capital and trade hub with 120+ mounds including Monk’s Mound (8+ acres), all built without beasts of burden or wheeled vehicles—evidence of complex labor and governance. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}

Anasazi Culture

Ancestors of later Hopi, Zuni, Mogollon, and Rio Grande pueblos; known for pottery, straight road systems, astronomy/sun-watching, agricultural calendars, and multistory cliff dwellings (c. 1150–1300 CE) such as Mesa Verde, often for defense after pressure from warrior groups. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}

Clovis Point

A distinctive fluted spear point used by hunter-gatherers (c. 13,500–12,800 BCE), widely found east of the Mississippi; its versatility reflects big-game hunting and mobile lifeways in early North America. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese royal patron of exploration who fostered nautical study of winds, currents, and instruments; his backing encouraged Atlantic sailing that eventually put Iberians on routes leading to the “discovery” of the Americas. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}

Christopher Columbus

Well-connected and well-trained mariner who sailed for Spain and made landfall in the Caribbean (San Salvador) on Oct. 12, 1492 while seeking a western route to Asia for the spice trade; his voyages opened sustained European colonization. :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}

Hispaniola

The Caribbean island (modern Haiti and the Dominican Republic) where Spaniards established early bases in the 1490s; among the first places Europeans encountered large Native populations and began colonization in the Americas. :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}

San Salvador

The first Caribbean island where Columbus’s expedition made landfall in 1492; crews took on water and fruit before moving on to larger islands like Hispaniola, marking the practical start of Spain’s American foothold. :contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10}

Taino Indians

The first Indigenous people Columbus described in detail on Hispaniola—welcoming and technologically impressed by Europeans; their gold ornaments and willingness to trade made them immediate targets for exploitation under Spanish rule. :contentReference[oaicite:11]{index=11}

Encomienda System

A Spanish colonial labor regime granting conquerors authority over Native communities to demand tribute and labor in exchange for “protection” and Christianization; it enabled extraction of wealth and accelerated demographic collapse through overwork and disease. :contentReference[oaicite:12]{index=12}

Ponce de León

Spanish conquistador tied to Puerto Rico (1508) and Florida (1513); representative of early Caribbean conquests seeking gold, labor, and lands to extend Spain’s empire. :contentReference[oaicite:13]{index=13}

Hernando de Soto

Spanish conquistador who led expeditions through the Southeast and is credited as the first European to document the Mississippi River; his march spread violence and disease across Indigenous communities in the mid-1500s. :contentReference[oaicite:14]{index=14}

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

A survivor of the Narváez expedition who wandered from Florida across the Gulf Coast through Texas into northern Mexico (1528–1536), living among Native groups and leaving one of the earliest European accounts of North America’s interior. :contentReference[oaicite:15]{index=15}

Francisco Coronado

Spanish leader of a 1540–1542 expedition across the Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas) in pursuit of rumored riches; although he found no golden cities, his march mapped and claimed vast regions for Spain. :contentReference[oaicite:16]{index=16}

Seven Cities of Cíbola

A legend of wealthy northern cities that spurred Spanish expeditions into the Southwest; the mirage of easy riches justified deeper incursions and imperial claims despite repeated disappointments. :contentReference[oaicite:17]{index=17}

Hernán Cortés (three-part strategy)

Cortés defied orders and marched from Cuba to Mexico (1519–1521) with ~600 men; he forged Indigenous alliances (or subdued foes), created total commitment by destroying his ships, and benefited from epidemic diseases like smallpox—together enabling the fall of the Aztec Empire. :contentReference[oaicite:18]{index=18}

Tenochtitlán

Aztec capital founded in 1325 on Lake Texcoco (present-day Mexico City) with canals, temples, markets, and engineered infrastructure; captured by Cortés in 1521, its fall shattered Aztec power and opened central Mexico to Spain. :contentReference[oaicite:19]{index=19}

Juan de Oñate

Founder of Spain’s first permanent colony in New Mexico (from 1598), notorious for brutal reprisals (e.g., at Acoma); his rule sparked enduring Pueblo resistance even as Spain established a Rio Grande foothold. :contentReference[oaicite:20]{index=20}

Battle of Acoma (1599)

After Acoma Pueblo resisted, Oñate’s forces killed hundreds and enslaved/mutilated survivors; the atrocity exemplified coercive Spanish rule in the Southwest and fed long-term hostility culminating in later revolts. :contentReference[oaicite:21]{index=21}

Popé

The Tewa religious leader who coordinated the 1680 Pueblo Revolt from the Taos/Santa Fe area, uniting pueblos to expel Spaniards for over a decade—the most successful Indigenous uprising in colonial North America. :contentReference[oaicite:22]{index=22}

Pueblo Revolt of 1680

A coordinated uprising across New Mexico in which Pueblo peoples killed ~400 Spaniards (including friars) and forced survivors to flee; Spain’s reconquest in 1692 came with moderated repression of Pueblo practices. :contentReference[oaicite:23]{index=23}

John Cabot

The Venetian mariner for England who reached North Atlantic shores c. 1497–1498, giving England an early basis for claims and opening rich fisheries that later supported English colonization. :contentReference[oaicite:24]{index=24}

Drying Camps

Seasonal Indigenous fishing and processing sites where Native peoples caught, dried, and preserved fish along rivers and coasts; these camps show how they moved with resources before European settlement.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Old World and New World after 1492; Native populations were devastated by disease while Europe benefited from new crops and resources.

Sir Walter Raleigh

An English courtier and promoter of colonization who sponsored the Roanoke voyages in the 1580s and helped generate interest in English settlement in North America.

Roanoke

The failed “Lost Colony” founded in 1587 under Sir Walter Raleigh; when supply ships returned in 1590, the settlement was deserted with “CROATOAN” carved on a post, leaving its fate a mystery.

Richard Hakluyt

An English writer who promoted colonization through works like A Discourse Concerning Western Planting, arguing it would spread Protestantism, hurt Spain, create trade, and reduce overpopulation.

Discourses on Western Planting

A 1584 document written by Richard Hakluyt urging Queen Elizabeth I to colonize North America for religious, economic, and strategic reasons against Spain.

Joint-Stock Companies

Business ventures where investors pooled money and shared profits and risks; used to fund English colonization attempts like Jamestown without relying on the Crown alone.

Virginia Company of London

A joint-stock company chartered in 1606 that founded Jamestown in 1607 in hopes of profiting from New World resources and expanding English influence.

Jamestown

Founded in 1607 in Virginia as the first permanent English colony; settlers came for profit, not religion, and struggled with starvation, disease, and conflict until tobacco brought stability.

Captain John Smith

An early leader at Jamestown who enforced discipline around 1608–1609 with “He who does not work, shall not eat,” helping the colony survive famine and disorganization.

Pocahontas

Daughter of Chief Powhatan who acted as a mediator with the English and married John Rolfe in 1614, which created a temporary peace known as the “Peace of Pocahontas.”

Chief Powhatan

The leader (Wahunsonacock) of a confederacy of 30+ tribes in the Virginia Tidewater who tried diplomacy, tribute, and selective warfare to manage English encroachment.

Cash Crop/Staple Crop Economy

An economic system in the southern colonies centered on profitable export crops like tobacco; it demanded labor, land expansion, and led to plantation development.

John Rolfe

Introduced a marketable strain of tobacco to Jamestown in the early 1610s and married Pocahontas in 1614; his work made Virginia economically viable.

Tobacco (Double-Edged Sword)

Tobacco brought wealth and settlers but exhausted soil, escalated land expansion, caused labor shortages, and led to conflict with Native peoples; colonies turned to the headright system, indentured servants, and later African slavery to meet labor demands.

Indentured Servants

Mostly poor English laborers who signed contracts to work 4–7 years for passage to America; they were the primary workforce in the Chesapeake before slavery expanded.

Slaves

Enslaved Africans brought by force to replace indentured labor; slavery became a permanent, hereditary system in the southern colonies to meet agricultural labor needs.

Slave Codes

Laws passed in the late 1600s that defined enslaved Africans as property, made slavery hereditary, and restricted movement, rights, and resistance to prevent rebellion.

Headright System

A 1618 policy granting 50 acres of land per person whose passage was paid, encouraging immigration and supplying labor for plantations in Virginia and Maryland.

Plymouth Plantation

Founded in 1620 by Pilgrims (Separatists) seeking religious freedom; a small colony in present-day Massachusetts focused on survival and autonomy rather than profit.

Pilgrims/Separatists

English Protestants who believed the Church of England was too corrupt to reform and separated completely; they moved from England to the Netherlands, then to Plymouth in 1620.

William Bradford

Leader and long-serving governor of Plymouth Colony who helped organize the Mayflower voyage, promoted self-governance, and wrote Of Plymouth Plantation.

Squanto

Tisquantum, a Patuxet Native who spoke English, helped the Pilgrims after 1621 by teaching agriculture and serving as intermediary; chosen by Massasoit to build peace and trade that benefited both sides.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Founded in 1630 by Puritans to build a model Christian society; larger and better-organized than Plymouth, with Boston at its center and religious reform as its purpose.

Jonathan Winthrop

Puritan governor and leader of Massachusetts Bay who delivered the “City upon a Hill” sermon emphasizing moral example and communal responsibility.

City upon a Hill Speech

John Winthrop’s 1630 sermon declaring the colony must serve as a Christian model watched by the world and other Protestants; it stressed covenant, unity, and moral duty.

Puritans/Reformers

English Protestants who wanted to purify the Church of England from within; they emphasized scripture, moral order, and congregational communities in New England.

Diversified Economies

The Northern Colonies developed mixed economies based on small farms, trade, fishing, shipbuilding, and crafts rather than a single cash crop; rocky soil and tight-knit towns led to family labor and community-based markets instead of plantations like the South.

Settlement (North vs. South)

New England settlements formed around religious congregations and towns with shared land and close communities, while southern colonies like Virginia were settled by individuals seeking land and profit, resulting in dispersed plantations and fewer central towns.

Wars for Empire

Four major conflicts between European powers that spilled into North America: King William’s War (1689–1697), Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713), King George’s War (1744–1748), and the French and Indian War (1754–1763); fought over trade, territory, and power.

French and Indian War Difference

The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the first of the imperial wars to begin in North America rather than Europe. It involved large numbers of colonial militias and Native alliances and later expanded into the global Seven Years' War.

British Delay in Declaring War

Britain initially let the colonies fight France (1754–1756) because it was focused on European affairs, underestimated the conflict, and hesitated to commit troops or money until open war became unavoidable.

Fort Duquesne

French fort built in 1754 at the forks of the Ohio River (modern Pittsburgh); its location threatened British territorial claims and helped ignite the French and Indian War.

General Edward Braddock

Braddock led a British expedition to capture Fort Duquesne in 1755 but refused help from Shawnee and Delaware allies, ignored Native tactics, and marched in European style; his army was ambushed, he was killed, and the defeat was disastrous.

Lord William Pitt

As Prime Minister from 1757, Pitt aimed to win the French and Indian War by prioritizing North America; he sent more British troops, reimbursed colonies for militias, and empowered colonial officers to secure cooperation and victory.

Pontiac

Pontiac was an Odawa war chief who led Native resistance after the French and Indian War, seeing the British as a threat to Native lands, autonomy, and trade in the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions.

Pontiac’s Rebellion

A Native uprising beginning in 1763 involving Odawa, Shawnee, Delaware, and other tribes in attacks on British forts and settlements across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley to resist British expansion and policy changes.

Neolin/The Delaware Prophet

Neolin was a spiritual leader of the Delaware (Lenape) who urged Indigenous people to reject European goods, alcohol, and culture, and return to traditional lifeways; his teachings inspired the resistance seen in Pontiac’s Rebellion.

Proclamation of 1763

The British Crown, led by King George III, issued the Proclamation of 1763 to ban settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains in order to prevent further conflict with Native tribes after Pontiac’s Rebellion and to control expansion and expenses.

Land Bounties

Land bounties were promises of western land to colonial soldiers and settlers as payment for service. Colonists expected access to these lands, which Native peoples were not consulted about, contributing to tensions that sparked Pontiac’s Rebellion.

Why Colonists Opposed the Proclamation

Colonists believed the Proclamation of 1763 violated their rights as Englishmen because many had already bought or been promised land west of the Appalachians, and they felt entitled to expand after fighting in the French and Indian War.