Native Peoples, Agriculture & Exploration – Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the lecture notes on Native Peoples, Agriculture, Technology, and Exploration & Colonization.

Sioux

Nomadic Plains tribe that relied on buffalo and horse culture; adapted to the Great Plains after the introduction of horses by the Spanish.

Pueblo

Southwestern Native Americans (Arizona/New Mexico) who built permanent stone/mud structures and practiced irrigation farming; resisted Spanish rule in Pope’s Rebellion (1680).

Pope’s Rebellion (1680)

Pueblo uprising against Spanish religious and political control in New Mexico; expelled the Spanish for over a decade.

Iroquois

Powerful confederation of tribes in the Northeast (present-day New York); formed the Iroquois League; practiced agriculture (corn, beans, squash) and influenced colonial diplomacy.

Mayas

Advanced Mesoamerican civilization (c. 250–900 CE) in present-day Mexico and Central America; known for writing, astronomy, and monumental architecture.

Incas

Andean empire in South America (modern Peru) known for advanced agriculture, road systems, and centralized governance; conquered by Francisco Pizarro (1530s).

Aztecs

Powerful Mesoamerican empire in central Mexico; built Tenochtitlán and practiced tribute collection and human sacrifice; conquered by Hernán Cortés (1519–1521).

Maize

Corn domesticated in Mesoamerica; staple crop for Native societies, enabling population growth and complex civilizations.

Mestizo

Person of mixed European and Native American ancestry; social class common in Spanish colonies due to intermarriage policies and cultural blending.

Compass

Navigational instrument (Chinese origin) adopted by Europeans for ocean voyages; essential for the Age of Exploration.

Printing press

Invented by Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1450); enabled rapid spread of maps, exploration accounts, and religious texts in Europe.

Christopher Columbus

Genoese sailor sponsored by Spain; his 1492 voyage across the Atlantic connected Europe with the Americas, initiating the Columbian Exchange.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Spanish priest who criticized the encomienda system and advocated for Native rights; influenced Spain’s New Laws of 1542.

Amerigo Vespucci

Italian explorer who recognized the Americas as a ‘New World’; the continents were named after him.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

Agreement between Spain and Portugal dividing newly discovered lands along a meridian west of the Cape Verde Islands.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire, claiming Mexico for Spain.

Conquistadores

Spanish conquerors who explored and colonized the Americas, motivated by God, gold, and glory.

Asiento System

Spanish system granting licenses to supply enslaved Africans to Spanish colonies; part of the transatlantic slave trade.

John Cabot

Venetian explorer for England who reached Newfoundland (1497), laying groundwork for English claims in North America.

Mercantilism

Economic theory that colonies exist to benefit the mother country by supplying raw materials and serving as markets for manufactured goods.