exam 1 key terms

Columbian Exchange

The massive transfer of plants, animals, people, diseases, and ideas between the Americas and Europe/Africa after 1492, reshaping global ecology and populations.

Three sisters

The core Indigenous agricultural system of corn, beans, and squash, grown together to enrich soil and maximize nutrition.

Matrilineal

A kinship system in which descent, inheritance, and social identity are traced through the mother’s line.

Pre-Columbian Environmental Disasters

Large‑scale ecological events—such as droughts, floods, or resource depletion

Cahokia

A major Mississippian city near present‑day St. Louis (c. 1050–1350), featuring massive earthen mounds and complex political, religious, and trade networks.

Native American Slavery

Systems of captivity and forced labor practiced by Indigenous groups before and after European arrival, often involving warfare, adoption, or ritualized servitude.

Kinship

The network of family relationships that structured Indigenous political authority, economic obligations, and social identity.

Potlatch

A ceremonial feast practiced by Pacific Northwest tribes where leaders displayed status by giving away wealth, reinforcing social hierarchy and alliances.

Crusades

Medieval Christian military campaigns that expanded European trade networks, exposed Europeans to new goods, and stimulated the desire for Asian markets—indirectly encouraging exploration.

Reconquista

Spain’s centuries‑long effort to expel Muslim rule from the Iberian Peninsula was completed in 1492; it unified Spain and created the militant Catholic culture that shaped Spanish colonization.

Sugar cultivation

Labor‑intensive plantation agriculture that drove European expansion into the Atlantic and Caribbean and fueled the rise of African slavery.

Christopher Columbus

The Italian Genoese sailor who, backed by Spain, sailed west in 1492 and reached the Caribbean, initiating sustained European contact with the Americas.

Encomienda

A Spanish labor system granting colonists the right to extract tribute and labor from Indigenous communities in exchange for “protection” and Christian instruction.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

A Spanish priest who condemned the brutal treatment of Indigenous peoples and whose writings fueled the Black Legend of Spanish cruelty.

Tenochtitlan

The Aztec capital built on Lake Texcoco, one of the largest and most sophisticated cities in the world in 1519; conquered by Hernán Cortés.

Aztecs

A powerful Mesoamerican empire known for advanced agriculture, tribute systems, and monumental architecture; it was defeated by Spanish forces and Indigenous allies.

La Malinche

An Indigenous woman who served as Cortés’s translator and advisor; her linguistic and diplomatic skills were crucial to the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs.

Inca

A vast Andean empire with advanced engineering, road systems, and centralized administration; conquered by Francisco Pizarro in the 1530s.

Sistema de castas

A racial hierarchy in Spanish America that ranked people based on ancestry

Virgen de Guadalupe

A religious symbol blending Indigenous and Catholic traditions; believed to have appeared to Juan Diego in 1531 and became a powerful emblem of Mexican identity.