AP World History - Unit 4 Vocabulary

Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince who promoted the study of navigation and directed voyages of exploration down the western coast of Africa

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese explorer who led the first naval expedition from Europe to sail to India creating trade routes

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese Navigator who led the Spanish expedition of 1519-1522 that was the first to sail around the world.

Christopher Columbus

Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the name of Spain while searching for a direct sea route to access Indian Ocean trade.

Trading Post Empire

Imperial dominance based on control of trade rather than on control of subject peoples

Mercantilism

Economic system where nations sought to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold/silver and exporting more goods than were being imported

Joint-stock company

Exploration company made up of a group of shareholders who contributed money to the company and received some share of the profits.

Royal Chartered Monopoly Companies

Groups of private investors who paid an annual fee to France and England in exchange for a monopoly over trade to Indian Ocean colonies

British East India Company

British joint-stock company that controlled most of India during the period of imperialism and controlled the political, social, and economic life of India

Dutch East India Company

Dutch-chartered joint-stock company that controlled the spice trade in the East Indies (SE Asia)

Triangular Trade

Three way system of trade during 1600-1800s whereby Africa send enslaved people’s to the Americas, they sent raw materials to Europe and they send weapons and rum to Africa for slaves

Bullion

Gold and silver in the form of bars

Vodun/Vodoo

New World syncretic faith that combines the animist faiths of West Africa with Roman Catholic Christianity (voodoo)

Santeria

Originated in Cuba, a religion that blends African traditions and Roman Catholic beliefs/practices; European and African beliefs merged in the Americas

Casta paintings

Spanish commissioned paintings that showed the racial mixing of New World families; importance of European ancestry

Mestizo

Term used by Spanish authorities to describe someones of mixed American and European descent

Mulatto

Used by Spanish and Portuguese colonies to describe someone of mixed African and European descent

Pennisulares

Spanish-born upper class individuals who immigrated to Latin America; highest social class and given special privileges and the highest political positions in Latin American governments

Creole

Descendants of Spanish-born but born in Latin America; they resented their inferior social, political, economic status. Below the Peninsula res but above slaves

Chattel slavery

Absolute legal ownership of another person, including the right to buy or sell that person (hereditary)

Indentured servitude

Worker bound by a voluntary agreement to work for a specified period of years often in return for free passage to an overseas destination

Encomienda

A labor tribute system used by the Spanish in their American colonies during the 1500s and 1600s; colonists collected tax from indigenous peoples

Hacienda

A large estate or plantation that developed in the Spanish colonies; an economic system rather than a labor tribute system. Produced crops, livestock, or other goods

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

A rebellion of enslaved Virginians that took place in Southampton County, Virginia led by former enslaved person Nat Turner in 1831