APUSH Terms

2025-2026 Terms List 08/27-08/28

Pueblo

Multi-room, apartment-like structures, constructed from adobe and stone

Maize

A term for corn, a crop domesticated in Mesoamerica that became a staple food for many Native American societies

Joint-Stock Company

Business venture where multiple investors (shareholders) pooled their money to fund a commercial enterprise, like establishing a colony, and shared the profits or losses

Bartolome de las Casas

Spanish priest and former colonist who became a fierce advocate for the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Americas

Iroquois Confederation

Powerful alliance of five to six Northeastern Native American tribes—Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and later Tuscaroras—formed to establish lasting peace and unity

Protestant Reformation

16th-century movement that challenged the Catholic Church's authority and practices, leading to the creation of new Protestant denominations

Capitalism

Economic system where private individuals or businesses own the "means of production" (like factories and tools), rather than the government

Middle Passage

Horrific sea voyage where enslaved Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas as part of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Mound Builders

Various Native American cultures in eastern North America, particularly during the Woodland and Mississippian periods, who constructed large earthen mounds for religious, ceremonial, burial, and elite residential purposes

Primogeniture

Colonial custom where the entire family estate was inherited by the eldest son, leaving other siblings, especially younger sons, with no land

Encomienda System

Spanish labor system in the Americas where colonists were granted the right to demand labor and tribute from specific indigenous populations in exchange for protection and religious guidance

Spanish Caste System

Rigid, racial hierarchy in the Spanish colonies that determined social status, wealth, and legal rights based on ancestry and perceived purity of blood