Unit 4.6 - Internal and External Challenges to State Power

key terms/events and significance

Ana Nzinga & Ndongo

• Definition:

  • Ruler of Ndongo

  • South-central Africa (present-day Angola)

• Significance:

  • Portugal wanted to colonize Africa → Nzinga allied with them for protection + to stop slave raids

  • Their alliance broke down → she allied with Dutch + took over Matamba / incited an insurrection in Ndongo → offered freedom to enslaved Africans in Matamba + turned it into a powerful state

Cossack & Peasant Rebellions, Yemelyan Pugachev

• Definition:

  • Skilled fighters lived on the grassy, treeless steppes / runaway serfs who lived in small groups / sometimes at odds with the central gov / could be hired to defend Russia

  • A Cossack who began a rebellion due to increased noble power (1774)

• Significance:

  • Important in Russia’s expansion to the Ural Mountains & farther east into Siberia

  • At one point controlled the territory between the Volga River & the Urals → captured & executed

  • Caused Catherine The Great to increase her oppression of the peasants for the noble’s help to avoid future revolts

Pueblo Revolt

• Definition:

  • 1680 / Spain experienced rebellions within its territories → fought the Spanish in what now New Mexico

  • 2 indigenous group Pueblo & Apache fought colonizers who tried to force religious conversion → reconquered in 1692

• Significance: Killed about 400 Spaniards & drove the rest out of the area & destroyed churches

Maroon Wars

• Definition:

  • Enslaved people in the Caribbean and former Spanish territories in the Americas fought to gain freedom

  • Maroons were descendants of Africans who had escaped slavery in Jamaica

• Significance:

  • Escaped owners & formed independent settlement

  • Queen Nanny united all maroons of the island / she escaped slavery + recognized as a war hero

Metacom’s War

• Definition: 

  • King Philip’s War

  • Some Native American group (Mohegan & Pequot) side with the English

  • Ended with the subjugation

• Significance:

  • Final major effort of the indigenous people to drive the British from New England

  • Spread throughout New England / destruction of 12 towns

Glorious Revolution

• Definition:

  • James II’s (Catholic) anti-protestant measures enraged many English people

  • A group of nobles invited William of Orange (James’s nephew & son-in-law) to overthrow him → English throne remained in Protestant hands after that

• Significance:

  • Strengthened the power of Parliament / passed a law forbidding Catholics to rule England

  • Religious tensions continued in England & throughout much of the world