Chapter 1: The Beginnings: Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans to 1650

A collection of vocabulary terms and historical concepts covering the early civilizations of the Americas, European exploration, and the development of the Atlantic World up to 1650.

Beringia

A land bridge believed by scholars to have existed between Asia and North America between $9,000$ and $15,000$ years ago.

Bering Strait

The narrow waterway formed when glaciers melted and engulfed the Beringia land bridge.

Agricultural Revolution

The transition approximately $10,000$ years ago when humans began domesticating plants and animals, leading to settled life and population growth.

Mesoamerica

The geographic area stretching from north of Panama up to the desert of central Mexico.

Olmec

Considered the "mother" of Mesoamerican cultures, this civilization flourished along the Gulf Coast of Mexico from about $1200$ to $400$ BCE.

Maya

A Mesoamerican culture that flourished from roughly $2000$ BCE to $900$ CE, known for perfecting the calendar and a written mathematical system.

Teotihuacan

Located northeast of modern Mexico City, one of the largest population centers in pre-Columbian America with over $100,000$ people at its height in $500$ CE.

Aztec (Mexica)

A warlike people who migrated south to Lake Texcoco and began constructing the city of Tenochtitlán in $1325$.

Tenochtitlán

The Aztec capital which contained upwards of $200,000$ inhabitants by $1519$, making it the largest city in the Western Hemisphere at that time.

Chinampas

Aztec "floating gardens" made of reed barges filled with fertile soil and constantly irrigated by lake water.

Inca

A highly developed South American society in the Andes Mountains whose name means "lord" or "ruler" in Quechua.

Chasquis

Incan runners who traversed the empire's road system in a continuous relay system to ensure quick communication.

Quipu

A system of colored strings and knots used by the Inca to communicate and keep records in the absence of a written language.

Mita

The Incan requirement for every peasant to work a specific number of days per month on public works projects.

Pueblo

A Spanish term meaning "town" or "village" used to describe southwestern Indigenous groups like the Mogollon, Hohokam, and Anasazi.

Anasazi

A Pueblo group whose name means "ancient enemy" or "ancient ones," known for carving homes from steep cliffs in the high desert.

Chaco Canyon

The administrative, religious, and cultural center of the Pueblo civilization by $1050$ CE.

Hopewell culture

Indigenous groups in the Ohio River Valley ($1$ CE to $400$ CE) known for trade routes stretching from Canada to Louisiana.

Cahokia

The largest indigenous population center in North America, located near present-day St. Louis, which featured $120$ earthen mounds.

Matriarchy

A social system common in Eastern Woodland societies, such as the Haudenosaunee and Cherokee, where power and leadership were often influenced or passed through women.

Haudenosaunee

Also known as the Iroquois Confederacy, a democratic alliance of nations including the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca.

Prince Henry the Navigator

The Portuguese royal who spearheaded his country’s exploration of Africa and the Atlantic in the $1400$.

Elmina Castle

A fortified Portuguese trading post built in $1482$ in present-day Ghana that later became a holding pen for enslaved people.

Hispaniola

The island, present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti, where Christopher Columbus made landfall and named the native people "Indios."

Amerigo Vespucci

An Italian explorer for the Portuguese crown who realized the Americas were a new landmass unknown to Europeans, leading to the name "America."

Hernán Cortés

The Spanish explorer who entered Tenochtitlán in $1519$ and eventually destroyed the Aztec Empire.

Francisco Pizarro

The Spanish conquistador who captured and executed the Inca emperor Atahualpa in $1532$ and founded Lima, Peru.

Privateers

Sea captains, such as those approved by Queen Elizabeth I, given government permission to raid enemy (Spanish) ships.

Roanoke

The first English attempt at colonization in $1584$, which famously vanished and became known as "the lost colony."

Joint Stock Companies

Business arrangements where investors pooled resources to share the risk and profit of colonial ventures, such as the Virginia Company.

Jamestown

Established in $1607$ by the Virginia Company, it was the first permanent English settlement in what became the United States.

Pilgrims

A group of Puritan Separatists led by William Bradford who settled at Plymouth in $1620$ after leaving the Netherlands.

Samuel de Champlain

The French explorer who founded Quebec in $1608$ and fostered alliances with the Huron and Algonquin peoples.

New Netherlands

The Dutch colony established as a fur-trading outpost with headquarters in New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.

Encomiendas

Legal rights to native labor granted by the Spanish crown to conquistadors who could prove their service.

Black Legend

The historical idea that the Spanish were uniquely bloodthirsty and ruthless conquerors, often promoted by Spain's imperial rivals.

Indentured Servants

Workers who contracted to serve for a period of $3$ to $7$ years in exchange for passage to the Americas.

Mercantilism

An economic philosophy holding that a nation’s power depends on amassing wealth (gold and silver) through controlled trade and colonies.

Commodification

The process by which items used by native peoples for ritual (like silver or tobacco) were turned into European goods with monetary value.

Columbian Exchange

The two-way exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Americas and Europe/Africa following Columbus’s voyages.

Smallpox

A highly contagious European disease that ravaged and decimated Native American populations who had no natural immunity.