APUSH Unit 1 Vocab

17 vocabulary flashcards based on the lecture notes about early American civilizations, exploration, and colonial systems.

Land Bridge

Ice Age land connection between Siberia and Alaska that enabled Asian migration into the Americas, leading to civilizations such as the Aztecs, Cahokia, and the Iroquois Confederacy.

Aztecs

Powerful Mesoamerican empire in central Mexico; conquered by Hernán Cortés, whose defeat helped spur Spanish colonial expansion and the Encomienda system.

Mesa Verde

Puebloan cliff-dwelling community in present-day Colorado, illustrating advanced adaptation like Cahokia’s mounds before European contact.

Cahokia

Large Mississippian mound-building city near present-day St. Louis; notable for political complexity similar to the Iroquois Confederacy.

Iroquois Confederacy

Alliance of five Northeastern tribes created for defense and governance; contrasted with European monarchies.

Ferdinand and Isabella

Spanish monarchs who united Spain, completed the Reconquista, funded Columbus, and spurred the Treaty of Tordesillas and conquests like Cortés.

Madeira

Portuguese Atlantic island that used enslaved African labor for sugar, a model for later American plantations under systems like the Encomienda.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal dividing the Americas, influencing exploration patterns.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire, enabling Spanish control of land and labor through the Encomienda.

Encomienda

Spanish labor system in which Native Americans were compelled to labor in return for protection and Christianization; criticized by Bartolomé de Las Casas.

Spanish Armada

Spain's failed 1588 invasion of England, which weakened Spanish dominance and opened opportunities for English and Dutch exploration.

Samuel de Champlain

Founder of Quebec (1608), allied with Native tribes, and instrumental in establishing the French fur trade.

Henry Hudson

English explorer hired by the Dutch who claimed New Netherland, advancing post-Tordesillas colonial competition.

St. Augustine

Spanish settlement founded in 1565 in Florida to secure territory and support later missionary expansion.

Mission System

Spanish network of religious settlements aimed at converting and controlling Native populations, often tied to forced labor.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Spanish priest who opposed Native enslavement and advocated reforms after witnessing Encomienda abuses.

French Fur Trade

Trade network between French colonists and Native peoples exchanging furs for goods, fostering alliances unlike Spain’s exploitation.