Why Nations Fail/Gigantis

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire (1519–1521) and claimed Mexico for Spain.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire in Peru (1532–1533), claiming vast wealth and territory for Spain.

Juan Díaz de Solís

Spanish navigator and explorer who led one of the first European expeditions to explore the Río de la Plata region of South America.

Powhatan

Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, a group of Algonquian-speaking tribes in Virginia. He initially traded with the Jamestown colonists but relations turned hostile.

Casta System

Spanish colonial racial hierarchy that classified people based on ancestry (Peninsulares, Creoles, Mestizos, Mulattos, Indigenous, African, etc.) to maintain social control.

Terminology for Spanish colonies and Saint Domingue

Terms like peninsulares (Spaniards born in Spain), criollos (European descent, born in colonies), gens de couleur (free people of color in Saint Domingue), reflecting complex race-class hierarchies.

Junta

A council or committee that assumed authority, especially during the Napoleonic occupation of Spain (1808–1814). In Spanish America, juntas acted as local governments claiming to rule in the name of the deposed Spanish king, often becoming the first step toward independence.

Conquistadores

Spanish soldiers and explorers who conquered large parts of the Americas, motivated by “God, Gold, and Glory.”

Headright System

Land grant program used in Virginia and other colonies; settlers received 50 acres of land for paying for their own or others’ passage to the New World.

Fundamental Constitution

The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina (1669), a plan of government for the Carolina colony that allowed for aristocracy and religious toleration.

House of Burgesses

The first representative assembly in the English colonies (1619, Virginia); gave colonists practice in self-government.

Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall

Harsh code of laws used in early Jamestown to maintain discipline and survival, combining military law with moral/religious rules.

Encomienda

Spanish labor system granting colonists the right to demand tribute and forced labor from Indigenous people in exchange for supposed “protection” and Christian instruction.

Mita

Incan labor tribute system adapted by Spanish colonizers, requiring Indigenous communities to send workers for rotating forced labor in mines or public works.

Repartimiento de mercancías

Spanish colonial practice where Indigenous communities were forced to buy goods from Spanish officials, often at inflated prices.

Trajin

System of transport and labor tribute in Spanish America where Indigenous workers carried goods by foot or mule for colonial authorities.

Reducciones

Settlements created by Spanish authorities (often Jesuits) to relocate Indigenous populations into centralized towns for conversion, labor control, and taxation.

Amparo

Legal protection or writ in Spanish/Latin American law allowing individuals to challenge violations of rights (precursor to modern constitutional rights protections).

Cádiz Constitution

Liberal Spanish constitution of 1812 that granted limited constitutional monarchy, representation, and some individual rights; influential in Spain and colonies.

Caudillo

A strongman or military/political leader in Latin America, often emerging after independence (19th century), who ruled with personalist authority and sometimes authoritarian power.