Period 1 apush

Pre-Columbian civilization

The societies that existed in the Americas before the arrival of European explorers.

Bering Strait land bridge

A land connection between Asia and North America that early peoples used to migrate into the Americas.

Iroquois Confederacy

A combination of five tribes in New York that formed a large political and military entity.

Encomienda system

A labor system instituted by the Spanish crown that granted land and Indigenous peoples to Spanish colonizers.

Three Sisters method

An agricultural technique involving the planting of corn, beans, and squash together to improve soil fertility.

Chattel slavery

A system in which humans are treated as property that can be bought, sold, and owned, without rights.

Civilization

An advanced state of human society marked by the development of cities, political structures, and social hierarchies.

Great Plains tribes

Nomadic tribes that followed buffalo herds and had temporary structures like teepees.

Smallpox

An infectious disease that devastated Indigenous populations in the Americas after European contact.

Cahokia

A large Native American city located near modern-day St. Louis, with a structured civilization of over 30,000 people.