Unit 1: Period 1 (1491–1607) — Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, people, policies, and events from the notes on Native American societies, European exploration, the Columbian Exchange, and Spanish colonial labor systems.

Columbian Exchange

The transatlantic transfer of crops, animals, and germs between the Old World and New World after 1492, reshaping diets, economies, and populations globally.

Encomienda system

A Spanish labor policy that granted conquerors the right to extract labor from Indigenous people on designated lands, often under the guise of “care.”

Line of Demarcation

A 1493 papal division granting lands west of the line to Spain and lands east to Portugal; later adjusted by treaties.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal moving the Line of Demarcation west, establishing Portuguese claim to Brazil and Spain’s claim to the rest of the Americas.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in Virginia in 1607.

Roanoke Island

An early English attempt at colonization (1587) that ended with a mysterious disappearance of settlers—the Lost Colony.

Mayas

A major Mesoamerican civilization (c. 300–800 CE) known for cities, calendars, and maize agriculture in the Yucatán Peninsula.

Aztecs

A powerful Mesoamerican empire centered in central Mexico, with Tenochtitlán as its capital.

Incas

A South American empire in western South America (Peru) known for its extensive road system and centralized administration.

Tenochtitlán

The capital city of the Aztec Empire, located on an island in Lake Texcoco.

Cahokia

A major mound-building center of the Mississippian culture near present-day East St. Louis, Illinois.

Adena-Hopewell

Early North American mound-building cultures known for large earthworks and extensive trade.

Hohokam

Southwestern Native American culture noted for sophisticated irrigation canals in present-day Arizona and New Mexico.

Anasazi

Ancestral Puebloans of the Southwest known for multi-story cliff dwellings and irrigation farming.

Pueblos

Southwestern Native American communities with adobe villages and irrigation systems.

Algonquian

One of the major Native American language families in the Northeast.

Siouan

A major Native American language family spanning the Great Plains.

Athabaskan

A Native American language family in the Southwest and Northwest regions.

Iroquois Confederation (Haudenosaunee)

A powerful alliance of Northeastern tribes (e.g., Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk) formed for mutual defense.

Longhouses

Large, multi-family wooden dwellings used by several Northeastern tribes, notably the Iroquois.

Woodland mound builders

Mound-building cultures in the Ohio Valley and Midwest, including the Adena and Hopewell.

Maize (corn)

A staple crop cultivated by many Native American societies and a key factor in population growth and settlement.

Beans

A common companion crop to maize in the traditional “three sisters” agricultural system.

Squash

A crop often grown with maize and beans as part of the three-sister farming method.

Tepees

Portable cone-shaped tents used by Plains tribes, especially after horses became common.

Great Plains

The expansive grassland region of the central North American continent, home to nomadic buffalo-hunting cultures.

Balboa

Vasco Núñez de Balboa, a Spanish explorer who crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean.

Christopher Columbus

Italian navigator funded by Spain who landed in the Bahamas in 1492, opening sustained connections between Europe and the Americas.

Isabella and Ferdinand

Catholic monarchs of Spain who sponsored Columbus’s voyage and united Spain after the Granada conquest.

Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince who sponsored early Atlantic explorations, helping to pioneer a sea route to Asia.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese explorer who became the first to reach India by sea (1498) around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

Verrazzano

French explorer who explored the Atlantic coast of North America in search of a Northwest Passage.

Jacques Cartier

French explorer who navigated the St. Lawrence River and laid groundwork for French claims in Canada.

Cabot

John Cabot, an Italian navigator sailing for England, who reached Newfoundland in 1497, boosting English territorial claims.

Joint-stock company

Business entity owned by multiple investors that spread risk and funded long-distance voyages.

Capitalism

Economic system emphasizing private investment and trade, contributing to the rise of market-based exploration.

Amerigo Vespucci

Italian explorer whose name was given to the Americas, recognizing the new lands as a separate world.

Horses

Animal introduced by Europeans that transformed many Native American societies, especially on the Plains.

Diseases (smallpox and measles)

Old World illnesses brought to the Americas, causing devastating population declines among Native peoples.

Middle Passage

The brutal sea voyage that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas as part of the transatlantic slave trade.

Slavery

System of forced labor that became ingrained in the colonial economies of the Americas.

Conquistadores

Spanish conquerors who led military campaigns in the Americas, seeking wealth and empire.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who toppled the Aztec Empire (early 16th century).

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who toppled the Inca Empire in Peru.

Las Casas

Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Dominican priest who argued for better treatment of Native Americans and helped push reforms.

Valladolid Debate

1450s–1550s Spanish discussion over the status and rights of Indians in the colonies, pitting Las Casas against Sepúlveda.

New Laws of 1542

Spanish reforms aimed at ending Indian slavery and reducing the encomienda system’s abuses.

Sepúlveda

Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, a Spanish priest who argued Indians were inferior and fit for servitude.

English policy toward Native Americans

English relations ranged from coexistence and trade to displacement and conflict as colonization progressed.

French policy toward Native Americans

French tended to form alliances and engage in fur trading, often living alongside Native peoples.

Beaver pelts

Key commodity in the French fur trade with Native Americans.