Period 1 APUSH Vocab

Hohokam, Anasazi, and Pueblos

Groups that lived in modern-day Arizona and New Mexico with multifaceted civilizations due to farming and irrigation systems. Many lived in caves, under caves, longhouses. The spread of maize cultivation allowed for this region to grow.

Mayas

An ancient civilization that built remarkable cities in the rain forests of the Yucatan Peninsula (present day Guatemala, Belize, and southern Mexico).

Aztecs

A nomadic tribe from central Mexico that developed a powerful empire and settled in their capital, Tenochtitlan.

Incas

Ancient civilization located in Peru and developed a vast empire in western South America.

Algonquian

The American Indians had 20 language families and 400 distinct languages. This tribe in the Northeast was one of the largest.

longhouses

Iroquois homes which were long wooden shelters that could hold up to 50 people, they were up to 200 feet long.

Iroquois Confederation

A Powerful political union of six Native American nations that battled rival American Indians as well as Europeans.

gunpowder

Invented within China during the 9th century, this substance was became the dominate military technology used to expand European and Asian empires by the 15th century.

sailing compass

Device that made naval navigation more accurate while in open waters, which helped encourage European exploration. Was adopted from Arab merchants who learned about it from the Chinese.

printing press

A mechanical device for transferring text or graphics from a woodblock or type to paper using ink. Aided in the spread of knowledge across Europe.

Isabella and Ferdinand

King and Queen of Spain that financed Columbus's trip.

Christopher Columbus

Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China in 1492.

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and revolt against the authority of the pope in Rome.

Henry the Navigator

A Portugal Prince who sponsored voyages of exploration that succeeded in opening up a long sea route around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope.

nation states

Countries where the majority of people shared both a common culture and common loyalty toward a central government.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain, which moved the pope's line a few degrees to the west. Also established Portugal's claim to Brazil.

Roanoke Island

Sir Walter Raleigh's failed attempt at a colonial settlement off the coast of North Carolina.

horses

Animal introduced to the Americas by Europeans during the Columbian exchange.

diseases (smallpox, measles)

Brought to the Americas by Europeans during the Columbian Exchange. Native Americans had no immunity to these germs, so their population heavily declined from 22-4 million by mid-16th century.

capitalism

An economic system in which control of money and machinery became more important than control of the land.

joint-stock company

A business owned by a large number of investors. If a voyage failed, investors lost only what they had invested. Reduced individual risk.

conquistadores

adventurous explorers and conquerors

Hernan Cortes

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs in Mexico

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish explorer who conquered the Incas in Peru.

encomienda system

system that the Spanish used to control Indians, where Spain's king granted natives who lived on a tract of land to individual Spaniards. The Indians were forced to farm or work in the mines.

asiento system

Required colonists to pay a tax to the Spanish king on each enslaved person they imported to the Americas.

slave trade

European trade agreement with Africa dealing with slaves brought from Africa. Integral part of Triangle Trade between the Americas, Africa, and Europe.

Middle Passage

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies. Between 10-15% died on this voyage.

Bartolome de Las Casas

Was a Spaniard who advocated for better treatment for Indians.

New Laws of 1542

Ended Indian slavery, halted forced Indian labor, and began to end the encomienda system that kept the Indians in labor.

Valladolid debate

The argument between Bartolome de Las Casas and Juan Gines de Sepulveda over treatment of Indians by the Spanish. Las Casas argued that Indians were human and Sepulveda argued that they were less than human.

Juan Gines de Sepulveda

In the Valladolid Debate, this Spaniard argued that the American Indians were less than human.