Colonial America Vocabulary Terms

A set of vocabulary flashcards defining key historical terms, policies, conflicts, and figures from colonial America as listed in the lecture notes.

Triangular Trade

A system of transatlantic trade routes connecting Europe, West Africa, and the Americas to exchange raw materials, manufactured goods, and enslaved people.

Mercantilism

An economic policy designed to maximize a mother country's exports, limit imports, and accumulate wealth through strict government regulation of trade and colonies.

Navigation Acts

A series of English laws created to enforce mercantilism by restricting colonial trade to English ships and requiring specific goods to pass through England first.

Dominion of New England

A centralized administrative union created by King James II in 1686 that combined the New England colonies to tighten royal control and enforce trade laws.

Glorious Revolution

The 1688 bloodless overthrow of King James II of England, which led to the dissolution of the Dominion of New England and restored self-governance in many colonies.

Wampanoag

A Native American nation in present-day New England whose chief Metacomo led a major armed resistance against expanding English settlements.

Metacomo

The Wampanoag chief, also known to English colonists as King Philip, who organized a coalition of Native tribes to resist colonial encroachment on their lands.

King Philip's War

A major 1675–1676 conflict in New England between English colonists and a Native American alliance led by Metacomo, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides.

Pueblo Revolt

A successful 1680 uprising of the Pueblo people against Spanish colonizers in present-day New Mexico that temporarily drove the Spanish out of the region.

Sir William Berkeley

The royal governor of Virginia whose friendly trade policies with Native Americans and refusal to protect frontier settlers sparked Bacon's Rebellion.

Bacon's Rebellion

An armed rebellion in 1676 led by Nathaniel Bacon against Virginia Governor Sir William Berkeley over frontier security and political grievances.

New England Confederation

A military alliance formed in 1643 by New England colonies to provide mutual defense against Native American attacks and encroaching European powers.