Pre-Columbian Americas to Colonial America – Vocabulary Review

125 vocabulary flashcards covering significant people, places, and terms from the pre-Columbian era through Spanish and English colonization and the development of colonial slavery.

Adena

Mound-building culture of the Ohio Valley noted for ceremonial earthworks and long-distance trade.

Anasazi

Ancestors of today’s Pueblo peoples; built cliff dwellings and sophisticated irrigation in the Southwest.

Athapascan

Language family of Arctic/Subarctic peoples, forebears of the Navajo and Apache.

Aztec

Central-Mexican empire centered at Tenochtitlán; conquered by Hernán Cortés in 1521.

Beringia

Ice-Age land bridge that linked Asia and North America, allowing early human migration.

Cahokia

Major Mississippian city near present-day St. Louis featuring monumental mounds and wide trade networks.

Clovis

Early Paleo-Indian culture recognized by distinctive fluted spear points across North America.

Hohokam

Desert farmers of the Southwest who built long irrigation canals and traded with Mesoamerica.

Hopewell

Ohio Valley mound-building culture famed for elaborate burial mounds and long-distance exchange.

Inca

Andean empire with vast road system and quipu record-keeping; fell to Pizarro in 1533.

Iroquois (Haudenosaunee)

Powerful Northeastern confederacy with matrilineal society and sophisticated political institutions.

Kashaya Pomo

Coastal California people who relied on fishing, foraging, and rich maritime resources.

Kwakiutl

Pacific Northwest culture renowned for totem poles, potlatch ceremonies, and cedar plank houses.

Maya

Mesoamerican civilization of city-states noted for astronomy, writing, and stepped pyramids.

Mesoamerica

Region of southern Mexico & Central America that nurtured civilizations like the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec.

Mississippian

Southeastern mound-building cultures with urban centers such as Cahokia and extensive trade.

Mound Builders

Collective term for Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian societies that constructed ceremonial earthworks.

Olmec

Earliest known Mesoamerican civilization, famous for colossal stone heads and early urbanism.

Pueblo

Descendants of the Anasazi living in adobe towns with kivas and maize agriculture.

Christopher Columbus

Genoese mariner whose 1492 voyage initiated sustained European contact and the Columbian Exchange.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire by exploiting alliances and disease.

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese patron whose maritime school and innovations spurred European exploration.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Spanish priest who denounced Native enslavement under the encomienda and advocated human rights.

New Mexico (colonial)

Spanish Southwest province marked by Catholic missions and Pueblo resistance, including the Pueblo Revolt.

New Spain

Spanish imperial domain encompassing Mexico and the U.S. Southwest; organized around missions and silver.

Juan Ponce de León

Spanish explorer of Florida and early seeker of expansion for Spain.

Taíno

Indigenous Caribbean people first met by Columbus; devastated by disease and forced labor.

Sir Edmund Andros

Governor of the Dominion of New England whose strict rule ended after the Glorious Revolution.

Nathaniel Bacon

Leader of Bacon’s Rebellion (1676), a frontier revolt that hastened a shift to African slavery.

Congregationalists

Puritan-derived church polity in New England where each congregation governed itself.

Dominion of New England

Short-lived royal consolidation (1686–89) of northern colonies, dissolved after colonial uprising.

Jonathan Edwards

Great Awakening preacher famed for the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

Olaudah Equiano

Former enslaved African whose autobiography exposed the horrors of the Middle Passage.

Gold Coast

West African region (modern Ghana) rich in gold and central to the Atlantic slave trade.

House of Burgesses

First elected assembly in English North America, founded in Virginia in 1619.

Anne Hutchinson

Dissenter who challenged Puritan authority; banished and co-founded Rhode Island.

Jamestown

First permanent English settlement in America (1607), sustained by tobacco cultivation.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Puritan colony (1630) aiming to be a “city upon a hill” under John Winthrop.

Matoaka (Pocahontas)

Powhatan’s daughter who mediated with Jamestown settlers and married John Rolfe.

Metacom (King Philip)

Wampanoag leader who led King Philip’s War against New England colonists (1675–76).

New France

French North American territory focused on fur trade and Native alliances.

New Lights

Great Awakening supporters favoring emotional, revivalist religion.

New Netherland

Dutch colony centered on New Amsterdam; seized by England in 1664.

Old Lights

Clergy and followers who opposed Great Awakening revivalism.

Paxton Boys

Pennsylvania frontiersmen who violently protested colonial policies toward Native Americans (1763).

William Penn

Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, author of the Frame of Government promoting tolerance.

Pilgrims

Separatist Puritans who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620 for religious freedom.

Plymouth Colony

Early English settlement governed by the Mayflower Compact; absorbed by Massachusetts in 1691.

Powhatan

Chief of a Chesapeake Native confederacy who traded and later fought with Jamestown settlers.

Protestant

Branch of Christianity that broke from Catholicism, encompassing Puritans, Anglicans, and others.

Puritans

English reformers seeking to purify the Church of England; major founders of New England.

Quakers

Religious Society of Friends emphasizing inner light, pacifism, and equality.

John Rolfe

Introduced profitable tobacco to Virginia and married Pocahontas, easing tensions.

Separatists

Radical Puritans who fully broke with the Church of England; the Pilgrims.

John Smith

Early Jamestown leader whose discipline and diplomacy helped the colony survive.

George Whitefield

Itinerant evangelist who spread the First Great Awakening with dramatic sermons.

Roger Williams

Banished Puritan minister who founded Rhode Island on principles of religious liberty.

John Winthrop

First governor of Massachusetts Bay, proponent of a godly “city upon a hill.”

Archaic period

Era after Paleo-Indian migration marked by regional adaptations and early agriculture.

clans

Extended family groups foundational to Indigenous social and political life.

division of labor

Task specialization in Native societies often based on gender, age, or status.

kachina

Spirit beings in Pueblo religion represented in masked dances and ceremonies.

kinship

Extended family ties structuring Indigenous community and governance.

maize

Domesticated corn from Mesoamerica that became a staple Native crop.

nomadic

Mobile lifestyle of groups following seasonal resources rather than settling permanently.

Pleistocene Overkill

Theory that early humans hunted Ice Age megafauna to extinction.

rancheria

Small Native village settlements in Spanish California, often linked to missions.

transoceanic migrations

Large-scale movements of peoples across oceans, notably during European colonization.

caravel

Fast, maneuverable Portuguese sailing ship used by explorers like Columbus.

colonization

Process of establishing control over foreign lands for economic and political gain.

Columbian Exchange

Transatlantic transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases after 1492.

conquistador

Spanish soldier-explorers who conquered Indigenous empires in the Americas.

encomienda

Spanish labor system granting colonists Native labor in exchange for Christianization.

feudalism

Medieval European social hierarchy influencing early colonial landholding patterns.

mestizo

Person of mixed Spanish and Indigenous ancestry within Spanish colonial society.

reconquista

Christian reconquest of Iberia that shaped Spanish colonial ideology.

Renaissance

European cultural revival of arts and science that encouraged exploration.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement dividing New World territories between Spain and Portugal.

almanac

Popular colonial booklet of calendars, weather, and advice spreading Enlightenment ideas.

Bacon’s Rebellion

1676 Virginia uprising that accelerated a shift from indentured servants to African slavery.

Beaver Wars

Iroquois conflicts for fur trade dominance and territorial expansion in the Northeast.

cash crop

Agricultural product grown for sale rather than consumption, e.g., tobacco or rice.

Covenant Chain

Alliance system linking the Iroquois Confederacy and English colonies in New York.

coureurs de bois

French fur traders who lived among Natives, facilitating trade and cultural exchange.

Culpeper’s Rebellion

1677–78 North Carolina revolt against proprietary rule and Navigation Acts enforcement.

Enlightenment

18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, and natural rights.

enumerated goods

Products colonial law required be shipped only to England under the Navigation Acts.

First Great Awakening

1730s–40s religious revival stressing emotional conversion and challenging authority.

Frame of Government (PA)

William Penn’s 1682 constitution granting religious freedom and democratic governance.

French and Indian War

1754–63 conflict in which Britain defeated France, gaining Canada and Ohio Valley.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

1639 document creating a representative government—often called America’s first constitution.

Glorious Revolution

1688 overthrow of James II, leading to limited monarchy and colonial resistance models.

Great Migration

1630s influx of thousands of Puritans to New England seeking religious refuge.

Half-Way Covenant

1662 policy allowing baptism of children of partial church members in New England.

headright system

Land grants to settlers for each servant or family member brought to Virginia.

indentured servants

Laborers under contract for passage to America; precursor to widespread African slavery.

joint-stock company

Business model pooling investor capital to fund colonies like Jamestown or Massachusetts Bay.

King George’s War

1744–48 conflict where colonists captured Louisbourg from France during War of Austrian Succession.

King Philip’s War

1675–76 Indigenous uprising led by Metacom against New England colonists.

King William’s War

1689–97 first colonial war between Britain and France in North America.