Unit 1 American Studies

Colonization

When European countries took control of land and built permanent settlements to gain wealth, power, and resources.

Conquistador

A Spanish soldier and explorer who led military expeditions in the Americas and captured land for Spain

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants and animals from the Americas during Columbus's expeditions.

Northwest Passage

A water route through North America that would allow ships to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Line of Demarcation

An imaginary divided the Atlantic Ocean. Spain could claim all land west of the line.

Caravels

Used triangular sails that, unlike traditional square sails, allowed ships to sail against the wind.

Mercantilism

A system of creating and maintaining wealth through carefully controlled trade.

Imports

Goods bought from other countries.

Exports

Goods sold to other countries.

Raw Materials

The unprocessed resources to manufacture products and goods.

Cash Crop

A crop that’s purpose is to solely make money like tobacco and cotton.

Indentured Servitude

A worker who signed a contract to work for four to seven years where they paid to go to America.

Slavery

Happened in the south of the US and it enslaved Africans to work on plantations. This became controversial between North and South.

Middle Passage

The voyage across the Atlantic ocean that enslaved Africans were forced to endure.

Triangular Trade

A system in which goods and slaves were traded among the Americas, Britain, and Africa.

African Diaspora

Enslaved Africans were sent all across the New World.

Leif Erikson

The son of Erik the Red, shared his father’s love of adventure. In the year 1000, he was sailing from west Norway to Greenland when strong winds blew his ship off course and carried his ship all the way to the North American coast.

Christopher Columbus

A sailor from Genoa, Italy. Columbus was convinced that he could reach Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean.

John Cabot

An Italian who wanted to find a route that would allow ships to go through the Northwest passage and he claimed land for Britain.

Ferdinand Magellan

A Portuguese navigator that set out in a Spanish fleet and sailed to the east coast of South America.

Bartolomé de las Casas

A priest that tried to get native Americans to convert to Christianity.

Hernán Cortés

Left Cuba to sail to present day Mexico in 1519. He had heard of a wealthy land to the west ruled by a king .

Moctezuma II

He was the king of the Aztec empire at its height built in the middle of Lake Texacoco near Mexico city.

Francisco Pizzaro

Heard of rumors of Incan society in the Andes who controlled a large territory that stretched across the Pacific coast.

Samuel de Champlain

French sailor began exploring North America and founded Quebec along the Saint Lawrence river.