AMSCO Chapter 1: A New World of Many Cultures, 1491-1607

Vocabulary flashcards covering early American civilizations, European exploration, trade networks, and colonial policies from AMSCO Chapter 1.

Bering Sea Land Bridge

A now-submerged land mass crossed between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago by migrants traveling from Asia into North America.

Mayans

A Mesoamerican civilization (300-800 CE) located in the rainforests of the Yucatan peninsula that built remarkable cities and cultivated maize.

Tenochtitlan

The Aztec capital city located at present-day Mexico City, which housed 200,000 inhabitants and was as large as major European cities of its time.

Incas

A highly organized South American empire based in the Andes mountains of Peru that developed extensive trade and cultivated potatoes.

Three Sisters Farming

An agricultural practice used by Native American groups, particularly on the Great Plains, involving the joint cultivation of corn, beans, and squash.

Cahokia

A major Woodland American Indian moundbuilder settlement near present-day St. Louis that supported up to 30,000 inhabitants.

Iroquois Confederation

A political union of five independent Native American tribes living in the Mohawk Valley of New York who resided in matrilineal longhouses and formed a powerful political force.

Protestant Reformation

A 16th-century religious movement in which northern European Christians revolted against the Pope in Rome, leading to religious wars and a desire to spread rival Christian faiths overseas.

Columbian Exchange

The transatlantic transfer of plants, animals, germs, and culture between the Americas and Europe starting in 1492 that permanently altered world biology and demography.

Line of Demarcation

A 1493 vertical line drawn by the Pope granting Spain all lands in the Americas to the west and Portugal all lands to the east.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal that moved the Pope's Line of Demarcation a few degrees west, securing Portugal's claim to Brazil.

Encomienda System

A Spanish colonial system in which the King granted land and Native American labor to individual Spaniards, who promised to care for and Christianize them in exchange for work.

Asiento System

A Spanish system requiring colonists to pay a tax to their king for every enslaved West African brought to the Americas for labor.

Pueblo Revolt

A 1680 uprising in Santa Fe where Pueblo Indians drove out the Spanish until 1692 due to harsh forced conversion efforts.

Peninsulares

Pure-blood Spaniards born in Spain who held the top rank in the Spanish colonies' rigid Castas social hierarchy.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

A Spanish priest and former slave owner who became a leading advocate for Native American rights, helping pass the New Laws of 1542 and arguing for equal treatment at Valladolid.

New Laws of 1542

Spanish royal legislation persuaded by Las Casas that banned Indian slavery, restricted forced Indian labor, and initiated the end of the encomienda system.

Valladolid Debate

A formal 1550-1551 debate in Spain over the moral rights and human status of Native Americans between Bartolomé de Las Casas and Juan Gines de Sepulveda.

Juan Gines de Sepulveda

A Spanish scholar who argued at the Valladolid Debate that Native Americans were less than human and benefited from forced service under the encomienda system.