Unit 3 Part 2 Vocab

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.