European colonization

Maritime Empires

Overseas empires established by European powers (such as Spain, Portugal, England, France, and the Netherlands) through naval exploration, trade, and colonization.

Colony

A territory controlled and governed by a foreign power, often exploited for resources and labor.

Hispaniola

Caribbean island colonized by Spain after Columbus's 1492 voyage; site of the first European settlement in the Americas.

Jamestown

First permanent English settlement in North America, founded in Virginia in 1607; relied heavily on tobacco cultivation.

Aztec Empire

Powerful Mesoamerican empire centered in Tenochtitlan, conquered by Hernán Cortés and the Spanish in the early 16th century.

Incan Empire

Advanced South American civilization centered in the Andes, conquered by Francisco Pizarro in the 1530s.

Cuzco

Capital city of the Inca Empire, serving as its political and religious center.

Llama

Domesticated Andean animal used by the Inca for transport, wool, and labor; essential to their economy.

New Spain

Spanish colonial territory established after the conquest of the Aztec Empire, encompassing Mexico and parts of Central America.

Tenochtitlan

Capital of the Aztec Empire, located on Lake Texcoco; later destroyed and rebuilt by the Spanish as Mexico City.

Mexico City

Capital of Spanish New Spain, built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, becoming one of the most important colonial cities in the Americas.

Lima

Capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru and major administrative and economic center of Spanish South America.

Guangzhou

Chinese port city (also known as Canton) where Europeans, especially the Portuguese and later the British, conducted restricted trade.

Nagasaki

Japanese port city that served as Japan's limited point of contact with Europeans during the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Goa

Portuguese colony in India established in 1510, serving as a center of Asian trade and missionary activity.

Seville

Spanish port city that controlled much of Spain's trade with the Americas under the Casa de Contratación.

Vera Cruz

Major Spanish colonial port on the Gulf of Mexico; a key entry point for goods and people traveling between Spain and New Spain.

Acapulco

Pacific port city in New Spain that served as the terminus of the Manila Galleon trade between Asia and the Americas.

Amsterdam

Capital of the Dutch Republic and major financial center during the 17th century, central to global trade and the Dutch colonial empire.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement mediated by the Pope dividing newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal along a demarcation line.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Spanish priest and former encomendero who advocated for Indigenous rights and criticized the abuses of Spanish colonization.

Florentine Codex

A 16th-century ethnographic document compiled by Bernardino de Sahagún that recorded Aztec culture and life before and after conquest.

Viceroys

Royal governors appointed by the Spanish crown to rule colonial territories in its name.

Viceroyalties

Large administrative divisions of the Spanish Empire, such as New Spain and Peru, each governed by a viceroy.

Audiencias

Colonial courts in Spanish America that oversaw legal matters and acted as advisory councils to viceroys.

Haciendas

Large estates or plantations in Spanish America that produced agricultural goods, often using Indigenous or enslaved labor.

Rio de Janeiro

Portuguese colonial port city in Brazil that became a major center for trade and later the colonial capital.

New Amsterdam

Dutch colonial settlement on Manhattan Island, captured by the English in 1664 and renamed New York.

Manila

Capital of Spanish Philippines and key hub for the trans-Pacific Manila Galleon trade between Asia and the Americas.

Boers

Dutch settlers in South Africa who established farms (Boer republics) and clashed with Indigenous peoples and later the British.

Cape Colony

Dutch settlement at the southern tip of Africa established in 1652 as a resupply station for ships traveling to Asia.

Sociedad de Castas

Rigid social hierarchy in Spanish America based on racial ancestry, determining one's status and rights.

Elites

The social and political upper class in colonial societies, often composed of Europeans or Creoles.

Creoles (Criollos)

People of European descent born in the Americas; often wealthy but excluded from top government positions reserved for Peninsulares.

Peninsulares

Spaniards born in Spain who occupied the highest positions in colonial administration and the Catholic Church.

Mestizos

People of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry; formed a significant portion of colonial Latin American society.

Mulattoes

People of mixed European and African ancestry within the colonial racial hierarchy.

Zambos

People of mixed Indigenous and African ancestry; often at the lower levels of the colonial social order.

African Diaspora

Dispersal of Africans through the Atlantic slave trade, resulting in the spread of African cultures, religions, and traditions in the Americas.

Vodun

Syncretic religion developed among enslaved Africans in the Caribbean, combining West African spiritual traditions with elements of Christianity.

Cult of Saints

Practice in Catholicism that merged Indigenous beliefs with veneration of Christian saints, common in Latin American religious life.

Virgin of Guadalupe

Syncretic religious symbol combining Indigenous and Christian elements; became a unifying symbol of Mexican identity and faith.