Early American History and European Exploration Flashcards

A set of 24 vocabulary flashcards covering the key people, concepts, and events of early American history and European exploration.

Maize

An early form of corn grown by Native Americans.

Encomienda system

The right to demand labor or tribute from Native Americans in a particular area.

Asiento system

Process in which Spain brought slaves from West Africa to America for labor.

Slavery

A system of enforced servitude in which some people are owned by other people.

Land bridge

A strip of land that connects two larger landmasses; used as a hypothesis for how people came to the Americas.

Beringia

The specific name of the land bridge that connected America and Asia.

Conquistadores

Spanish conquerors of the Native American lands, most notably the Aztec and Inca empires.

Cortes

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico ($1485$-$1547$).

Pizarro

A Spanish conquistador who conquered the Incan Empire.

Roanoke Island

Island colony founded by Sir Walter Raleigh that mysteriously disappeared in the $1580s$.

Printing press

Invention by Guttenberg that led to more literacy and the spread of ideas, specifically contributing to the Protestant Reformation and Enlgihtenment.

Ferdinand and Isabella

Joint rulers of Spain who are famous for funding Columbus to the Americas and completing the Reconquista in $1492$.

Reconquista

Event completed in $1492$ in which the joint rulers of Spain pushed the Muslims out of the country.

Protestant Reformation

A split in the church caused by corruption and the sale of indulgences, which led many sects to seek religious freedom in the American colonies.

Prince Henry the Navigator

Founder of the first navigation school who sailed around the tip of Africa, specifically the Cape of Good Hope.

Cape of Good Hope

The specific tip of Africa that Prince Henry the Navigator sailed around.

Columbus

Explorer funded by Spanish royalty who discovered the Americas in $1492$ and landed on the island of Hispaniola.

Hispaniola

The island on which Christopher Columbus landed in $1492$.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A $1494$ treaty between Spain and Portugal that drew a north-to-south line through South America, giving Spain territory to the west and Portugal territory to the east.

Slave trade

The trading of Africans to the Americas.

Sir Walter Raleigh

The founder of the failed Roanoke Island colonial settlement off the coast of North Carolina.

Guttenberg

The inventor of the printing press whose work specifically helped contribute to the Protestant Reformation and Enlgihtenment.

Indulgences

Specific items sold by the church whose sale caused corruption and led to the Protestant Reformation.

Aztecs

The Native American empire in Mexico that was defeated by the Spanish conquistador Cortes.