Stacy/Ellington, Fabric of a Nation for AP® U.S. History, 2e, Period 1 (1491-1607), English

aristocrat

Member of the highest class of society, typically nobility who inherited their ranks and titles.

astrolabe

A tool originally invented by Greek astronomers and sailors for navigation or astronomical calculations that allowed sailors to identify distance and time based on the location of the sun and stars in relation to the horizon.

Atlantic World

The social, intellectual, economic, and biological interactions among the peoples, plants, and animals bordering the Atlantic Ocean, mainly Africa, the Americas, and Western Europe, beginning in the late fifteenth century.

Aztec

Spanish term for the Mexica, an indigenous people and empire of the same name, comprised of a network of city-states in present-day Mexico between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. The empire collapsed following the arrival of the Spaniards.

capitalism

An economic system based on private business, ownership of property, and the open exchange of goods between property holders.

caravel

A narrow, small, and swift sailing ship invented by the Portuguese during the fifteenth century, particularly useful because it allowed sailors to sail into the wind much faster than traditional vessels.

Columbian Exchange

The biological exchange of people, plants, animals, and diseases between the Americas and the rest of the world between 1492 and the end of the sixteenth century. Although its initial impact was strongest in the Americas and Europe, it was soon felt globally.

conquistador

Spanish name for conqueror. This title was applied to Spanish and Portuguese military leaders who invaded and conquered the lands of Native Americans in Central and South America.

encomienda

System established by Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean by which Spanish leaders in the Americas received land and the labor of all resident Native Americans. For Native Americans, the encomienda system amounted to enslavement.

feudalism

A social and economic system organized by a hierarchy of hereditary classes, in which lower social orders owed loyalty to the social classes above them and, in return, those who worked the land, vassals, received from the nobility a guarantee of protection.

horticulture

A form of agriculture in which people work small plots of land with simple tools.

Incas

Andean people who built a complex bureaucratic empire ruled by aristocrats in the centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards amid the fertile land of the Andes Mountains along the Pacific coast. The Inca relied on a variety of domesticated animals and diverse farming techniques to survive.They reached the height of their power in the fifteenth century, controlling some 16 million people.

Inquisition

A religious judicial institution established by Pope Gregory IX in 1232, designed to find and eliminate heretical beliefs that did not align with official Catholic practices. The Spanish Inquisition was first established in 1478.

Maya

A people and civilization that established large cities on the Yucatán peninsula with strong irrigation and agricultural techniques, astronomical knowledge, and mathematical and writing systems. While the Maya first emerged in 1500 B.C.E., they peaked between 300 and 800 C.E. before swiftly declining.

missionary

A religious person who travels to foreign lands with the goal of converting those they meet to a new religion.

mission system

Organizational system established by the Spanish in 1573 in which Catholic missionaries, rather than soldiers, directed all new settlements in the Americas.

Pueblo

Native American peoples in present-day New Mexico and Arizona who share common religious and agricultural practices. Pueblo, the Spanish word for village, was used to refer to Native Americans who built permanent multi-story adobe dwellings in the Southwest.

Renaissance

A cultural and intellectual flowering that began in fifteenth-century Italy and then spread north throughout the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. During this time, European rulers pushed for greater political unification of their states. It contributed to dramatic changes in art, cultivated knowledge, and the questioning of old forms of authority.

Requerimiento

A statement read by Spanish conquerors to native peoples claiming the religious authority of the Catholic Church and the secular authority of the Spanish Crown to rule in the name of the pope. This statement was typically read in Latin and threatened that Indians who did not embrace Spanish rule and Christian conversion faced enslavement and other harsh punishments.

Spanish caste system

A system developed by the Spanish in the sixteenth century that defined the status of diverse populations based on a racial hierarchy that privileged Europeans.

Tenochtitlán

Capital city of the Aztec empire beginningin the fourteenth century. It was an island city, surrounded by artificial floating gardens and canals. In 1521, the city was taken over by the Spanish. Modern Mexico City is on the ancient site of Tenochtitlán.

Three Sisters

Native American agricultural practice of beneficially planting corn, beans, and squash together, resulting in higher yields and a healthy diet.