US History: Pre-Columbian Era through the French and Indian War

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering early American history, European exploration, English colonization, and colonial wars.

Bearing Land Bridge

The first land bridge that native people crossed into North America.

The 'Ignoble Savage' / The 'Noble Savage'

Stereotypical views of Native Americans as either wild natives or passive natives, both of which are completely wrong.

Cahokia

The largest Native American city in North America, located near St. Louis.

Watson Brake

The oldest mound site in North America, located near Monroe.

Potlatch

A Pacific Northwest Native feast where leaders destroyed or gave away their wealth to flex on haters.

Three Sister Farming

The agricultural practice of growing three crops (bean, squash, and corn) together in the same area so they benefit each other.

Iroquois Confederacy

An alliance of Native tribes that was the closest to a democratic system among Native populations.

Native views on Land

The belief that people should care for and take care of the land, in contrast to the European view that individuals can own land.

Leif Erikson

The first European to find North America, who discovered Vinland, though the settlement did not last.

Caravel

The first European ship developed since the Vikings capable of sailing further distances.

African Trade

Trade network focused primarily on gold, salt, and enslaved people.

Bartholomew Diaz & Vasco de Gama

Portuguese explorers where Diaz reached the southern tip of Africa first, and de Gama was the first to sail all the way to India and back.

'The Catholic Monarchs'

Ferdinand and Isabella, who combined Aragon and Castile to form early modern Spain, creating a very Catholic nation.

Christopher Columbus

Explorer who re-rediscovered America, mistreated native populations, and was the first man to bring African slaves to the region.

John Cabot

The first European since the Vikings to arrive in North America and re-discover Newfoundland.

Treaty of Tordesillas

Agreement that divided the New World with a boundary line between Spain and Portugal, giving Spain much more land.

Amerigo Vespucci

The first person to identify the continents as a 'New World', prompting mapmakers to name the land after him.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Ruler who owned half of Europe and dispatched conquistadores to colonize the New World.

Ferdinand Magellan

Explorer whose expedition circumnavigated the globe, though he died during the journey.

Conquistadores

Spanish conquerors motivated by 'God, glory, and gold' who conquered large regions of the Americas.

Ponce de León

Spanish explorer who found Florida searching for gold, but found flowers instead.

Hernán Cortés

Conquistador who conquered the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan after demanding more gold from locals who initially thought he was a god.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who encountered the Inca Empire and named Peru.

Hernando de Soto

Spanish explorer who brutally mistreated natives and located the Mississippi River.

Encomienda

A policy under which natives were supposed to work, receive pay, protection, and convert to Christianity, but which devolved into slavery.

Bartolome de Las Casas

The first man to advocate for Native Americans, believing they were human beings who should be set free.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of goods like corn, potatoes, coffee, cocoa, dyes, cocaine, pitch, and furs between hemispheres, leading to major economic inflation.

Martin Luther

Protestant reformer who converted after falling off a horse; rejected penance, authored the 95 Theses, and argued for salvation by faith rather than works.

Henry VIII

English king who founded the Anglican Church for personal reasons in order to divorce his wife.

The Act of Supremacy

The formal English law that officially established the Anglican Church.

John Calvin

Protestant theologian who asserted God's omnipotence and predestination, teaching that the chosen people were placed on Earth to restore order.

Elizabeth I

Monarch who shifted England back to Protestantism and made early attempts at North American colonization.

Roanoke

England's first attempt at a colony, where returning settlers found that everyone had completely disappeared.

The 'Invincible' Armada

A massive Spanish invasion fleet targeted at England that was completely destroyed after being stopped by English fire ships.

Mercantilism

An economic policy focused on accumulating gold through trade, mining, or plunder, aimed at maintaining a favorable balance of trade.

Jamestown/Virginia

The first successful permanent English colony in North America.

John Smith

Leader who saved Jamestown by forcing everyone to work to survive, and established relations with Native Americans like Pocahontas.

John Rolfe

Colonist who married Pocahontas and introduced smuggled tobacco, securing the economic future of Jamestown.

The Mayflower Compact

A proto-constitution created by the Pilgrims to govern the Plymouth colony.

Samuel de Champlain

Known as the Father of New France, he established Quebec as the first French colony.

Northwest Passage

A rumored, direct water route through North America to Asia that did not exist as expected.

New Amsterdam

A colony established and run by the Dutch West India Company that eventually became New York.

Maryland

A colony named after Queen Mary founded for Catholics, though many of its incoming workers were Protestants.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

A Puritan colony governed strictly by Biblical principles, nicknamed the 'Bible Commonwealth'.

Roger Williams

Dissident who opposed harming Natives; exiled from Massachusetts Bay, he founded the Rhode Island Colony and helped form the first Baptist church.

Rhode Island Colony

The first colony with complete religious freedom, widely disliked by neighboring colonies who nicknamed it 'the sewer that collects the Lord's debris'.

Anne Hutchinson & Antinomianism

Religious figure exiled for claiming personal revelations from God and teaching that individuals predestined by God are not bound by earthly religious rules.

Tobacco

The primary cash crop grown in North America, particularly in the English colonies.

Indentured Servitude

A system where laborers worked for a set period in exchange for passage and promised land, though land was frequently withheld from them.

Bacon's Rebellion

An uprising of landless former indentured servants who burned Jamestown; it ended after Bacon died and the British Navy intervened.

The Plantation

Large-scale agricultural operations dependent on slave labor, modeled on ancient Roman slaveholding systems and concentrated in the Southern colonies.

Middle Passage

The horrific transatlantic voyage used to transport enslaved Africans to the New World, characterized by extremely high mortality rates.

'Jeremiads'

Sermons warning churchgoers of damnation in order to scare them into attending church and staying devout.

Salem Witch Trials

A famous period of witch trials in colonial Massachusetts that occurred on a relatively small scale.

Magna Carta

Historic English legal charter establishing that the King is subject to the law, providing a foundation for early American liberties.

Oliver Cromwell

Military leader who declared himself 'Lord Protector' and ruled England as a dictator during its brief period as a republic.

Levellers

An early English political group considered the first modern democratic movement.

Instrument of Government

The first successful written constitutional document in the English language, influencing the development of the U.S. Constitution.

Navigation Acts

British commercial laws requiring British goods to be transported exclusively on British ships.

Carolina

The first English colony established specifically for slavery, which grew rice to feed other slaveholding colonies.

The Glorious Revolution

The overthrow of Catholic King James II, replacing him with his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William.

English Bill of Rights

Constitutional document making monarchs subject to law and granting Parliament substantial oversight over the Crown.

Edmund Andros

Tyrannical governor of the Dominion of New England who tried to escape capture by dressing as a woman when colonists revolted.

'Salutary Neglect'

An unofficial British policy where colonial trade laws were left on the books but rarely enforced, giving colonists broad freedom.

Quakers & William Penn

Pacifist religious group (led in PA by Penn) who shook during worship, refused to pay taxes to official state churches, and held unique egalitarian beliefs.

Pennsylvania

Colony founded with friendly Native relations, limited voting rights, and freedom of religion for all groups except Catholics.

The Nine Years War / King William's War

The first intercontinental conflict where American colonists participated directly in a European war.

Acadians

French settlers expelled from Canada by the British who settled near New Orleans, becoming known as Cajuns.

Georgia

Colony created by King George II as a strategic buffer zone against Spanish territory and populated largely by debtors.

John Wesley

Founder of the Methodist Church, created as a theological hybrid of Anglican and German Baptist traditions.

The War of Jenkins's Ear

Conflict sparked between Britain and Spain after Spanish coast guards severed the ear of a British merchant smuggler named Jenkins.

The Seven Years War / The French and Indian War

Global conflict that began in North America when George Washington was sent to survey land in the Ohio Valley.

The Albany Congress

The initial meeting of colonial leaders organized by Benjamin Franklin, representing an early step toward a unified country.

William Pitt the Elder

British statesman who turned the tide of the French and Indian War by seizing control of the St. Lawrence River.