Maize
corn
Woodland Mound Builders
descendants built timber and bark lodgings along rivers
Isabella and Ferdinand
king and queen of Spain
Algonquian
largest Native American language
Incas
based in Peru
Iroquois Confederation
tribes living near the Great Lakes and in New York formed a political union
Land Bridges
connected Siberia and Alaska
Protestant Reformation
conflict between Catholics and Protestants led to a series of religious wars
Treaty of Tordesillas
establishes Portugal's claim to Brazil
Christopher Columbus
First voyage to the Americas under Ferdinand and Isabella
Mayas
built remarkable cities in the Rainforest of the Yucatán Peninsula
Joint-stock company
business owned by a large number of investors
Hernán Cortes
conquered by the Aztecs in Mexico
Middle Passage
Passage between Africa and the Americas during the slave trade
Slave Trade
sent between 10 million and 15 million enslaved people from Africa
Francisco Pizarro
conquered the Incas in Peru, which secured Spain's initial supremacy in the Americas
Encomienda System
Spain's king granted Natives who live in a tract of land to individual Spaniards
Asiento System
required colonists to pay a tax to the Spanish king on each enslaved person imported to the Americas
Capitalism
an economic system in which control of the capital became more important than the control of land
Roanoke Island
Sir Walter Raliegh attempted to establish a colonial settlement, but failed
Conquistadores
Spanish explorers and conquerors
Slavery
forced labor
Columbian Exchange
transfer of plant., animals, and germs from one side of the Atlantic to the other
Aztecs
central Mexico
Bartolomé de Las Casas
European who dissented from the views of most Europeans toward Native Americans