Unit 3: European Exploration Part 2: Sea Exploration
Taino
Native American group encountered by Columbus when he first arrived in the West Indies.
Conquistador
“Conqueror” in Spanish; a leader in the Spanish conquests of America, Mexico, and Peru in the sixteenth century.
Immunity
Resistance, such as the power to keep from being affected by a disease.
Hernan Cortes
Spanish landowner and conquistador who led an expedition to Mexico and conquered the Aztec empire.
Tenochtitlan
Capital city of the Aztec empire, on which modern-day Mexico City was built.
Malinche
Young Indian woman who served as Cortés’s translator and advisor, later converted to Christianity.
Alliance
Formal agreement between two or more nations or powers to cooperate and come to one another’s defense.
Moctezuma
Last Aztec emperor who was defeated by Cortés and forced to sign over his land and treasure.
Francisco Pizarro
Conquistador who conquered Peru, deposed the Incan ruler Atahualpa, and founded Lima.
Civil War
A war fought between groups of people in the same nation.
Privateer
Dutch, English, and French pirates who preyed on treasure ships from the Americas in the 1500s.
Viceroy
Representative of the king of Spain who ruled colonies in his name.
Encomienda
The right granted by Spanish monarchs to conquistadors to demand labor or tribute from Native Americans.
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Dominican priest and early advocate for human rights in the Americas.
Peon
A worker forced to labor for a landlord to pay off an impossible debt.
Peninsular
In Spanish Colonial America: A person born in Spain.
Creole
In Spanish Colonial America: An American-born descendant of Spanish settlers.
Mestizo
A person of Native American and European descent in Spanish colonial America.
Mulatto
A person of African and European descent in Spanish colonial America.