APUSH Period 1 Key Terms & Proper Nouns

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Land Bridge

Bering Sea Land Bridge is the pathway that migrants from Asia might have used to cross to the Americas, connecting Siberia and Alaska.

Hohokam, Anasazi, and Pueblos

Ancient Native American cultures located in the American Southwest. They evolved multifaceted societies, with the spread of maize cultivation playing a pivotal role.They are known for their advanced agricultural practices, elaborate irrigation systems, and distinctive adobe architecture.

Adena-Hopewell

Native American culture centered in modern-day Ohio, known for constructing large earthen mounds.

Woodland Mound Builders

They were Native American cultures primarily located in the Eastern Woodlands region, recognized for building earthen mounds for ceremonial and burial purposes. Examples are the Adena-Hopewell cultures.

Mayas

An ancient Mesoamerican civilization known for its sophisticated writing system, impressive architecture, and advanced knowledge of mathematics and astronomy, thriving in regions of present-day Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Incas

This ancient and highly developed civilization developed a vast South American empire based in Peru.

Aztecs

An ancient Mesoamerican civilization known for its powerful empire, intricate social structure, and impressive architectural achievements, centered around the Valley of Mexico.

Corn (maize)

Staple food for the Mayas and Aztecs; fundamental for the development of societies.

Algonquian

An American Indian language family heard in the northeastern part of America. It is an example of the diversity of American Indians.

Siouan

Another example of the cultural differences of Native Americans, Siouan is a language family spoken in the Great Plains.

Longhouses

Long wooden houses that housed matrilineally related families.

Iroquois Confederation

A union of six tribes from the Great Lakes and New York area, known for its political strength and territorial expansion.

Gunpowder

Invented by the Chinese, it revolutionized warfare and was crucial for European exploration and conquest.

Sailing Compass

A navigational tool used to show direction; vital for sea voyages and exploration.

Printing Press

Invented by Johannes Gutenberg, this device transformed the spread of information and ideas by promoting education and literacy.

Isabella and Ferdinand

The King and Queen in the late 1400s whose marriage united their kingdoms into Spain. They funded Columbus’s voyages and took over Grenada.

Christopher Columbus

The Italian explorer who sailed for Spain in search of a new trade route but instead discovered the Americas, stimulating the Columbian Exchange (extensive transfer of plants, animals, culture, and ideas).

Prince Henry the Navigator

He sponsored voyages for Portugal that resulted in the discovery of a maritime path to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

Treaty of Tordesillas

The treaty that set the Spanish-Portuguese land claim border in the Americas. The line was a vertical line of demarcation, designating Spain the western half and Portugal the east.

Roanoke Island

Sir Walter Raleigh had his failed colonial settlement here in North Carolina.

Protestant Reformation

A 16th-century religious movement challenging Catholic Church authority and leading to new Christian faiths (Protestant).

Nation-states

Countries/states founded by nation (national identity).

Horses

Animals introduced to the Americas by Europeans, profoundly impacting Native American transportation, hunting, and warfare.

Diseases

European illnesses that destroyed Native American populations.

Smallpox, measles

Highly contagious European diseases that severely reduced Native American populations

Capitalism

An economic system in which control of capital (money and machinery) became more important than control of land.

Joint-Stock Company

A new type of enterprise to help finance trade voyages more safely where a business owned a large number of investors. If a voyage failed, investors lost only what they invested.

Encomienda System

A Spanish colonial system granting landowners control over indigenous labor and land in exchange for tribute, with a supposed duty for protection and Christianization.

Asiento

A system that required the Spanish to pay a tax to their king on each slave they imported to the Americas.

Slavery

Forced labor

Conquistadores

Spanish word for explorer and conqueror.

Hernan Cortes

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztecs and established Spanish rule in the Americas.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Incas in Peru, making Spain the dominant power in the Americas.

Slave Trade

Transatlantic Slave Trade brought over 10 million enslaved Africans to work on plantations in the Americas.

Middle Passage

The treacherous voyage from Africa to America taken by enslaved Africans.

New Laws of 1542

Bartolome de Las Casas convinced the King of Spain to institute these laws, which ended American Indian slavery, ended forced Indian labor, began the process of ending the encomienda systems.

Bartolome de las Casas

Spanish priest who advocated for the better treatment of Native Americans.

Valladolid Debate

A formal discussion about the treatment of indigenous populations in the Americas during Spanish colonization

Juan Gines de Sepulveda

He argued for the Spanish conquest and colonization based on the idea that indigenous populations were "natural slaves" and that Spanish rule was beneficial for them.