APUSH Rep

[P0] Maize

High-yield corn crop originally developed in Mesoamerica; its spread supported population growth, permanent settlements, and complex societies.

[P0] Environmental adaptation

Native American societies developed differently because geography, climate, and available resources varied greatly across North America.

[P0] Southwest Native societies

Used irrigation to grow maize in an arid climate; often lived in settled communities such as pueblos.

[P0] Pueblo peoples

Southwestern Native peoples who developed settled agricultural communities using irrigation and multistory adobe dwellings.

[P0] Great Basin societies

Lived in a dry region where scarcity of resources encouraged smaller, mobile communities based largely on hunting and gathering.

[P0] Great Plains societies

Hunted large game and practiced agriculture in some areas; horses introduced after European contact later transformed Plains life.

[P0] Mississippi River Valley societies

Developed large agricultural settlements supported by maize cultivation and extensive trade networks.

[P0] Cahokia

Large Mississippian urban center near present-day St. Louis; evidence of complex pre-Columbian North American society.

[P0] Northeast/Woodland societies

Combined agriculture, hunting, and gathering; forests and rivers supported permanent and semipermanent settlements.

[P0] Iroquois Confederacy

Political alliance of several northeastern Native nations; promoted cooperation and collective decision-making.

[P0] Pacific Northwest societies

Relied heavily on abundant fishing and forest resources; developed relatively permanent, complex communities without depending primarily on agriculture.

[P0] Native land-use patterns

Many Native cultures viewed land use and ownership differently from Europeans, contributing to later conflict.

[P0] Native political diversity

Pre-Columbian Native Americans did not form one unified culture; hundreds of societies had distinct political, economic, and cultural systems.

[P0] Key pre-contact pattern

Environment + resources → different Native American economies, settlement patterns, and social structures.

[P1] Christopher Columbus

Spanish-sponsored explorer whose 1492 voyage initiated sustained contact between Europe and the Americas.

[P1] 1492

Columbus's first voyage to the Americas; symbolic beginning of sustained European-American contact.

[P1] Columbian Exchange

Transfer of plants, animals, diseases, people, and ideas between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after 1492.

[P1] Old World → Americas

Horses, cattle, pigs, wheat, sugar, diseases such as smallpox, and Europeans/Africans.

[P1] Americas → Old World

Maize, potatoes, tomatoes, cacao, tobacco, and other American crops.

[P1] Effect of European diseases on Native Americans

Diseases such as smallpox caused catastrophic Native population decline because Native peoples lacked prior exposure and immunity.

[P1] Effect of American crops on Europe/Africa

Calorie-rich crops such as maize and potatoes helped support population growth.

[P1] Horses and Native Americans

Horses, reintroduced by Europeans, transformed transportation, hunting, and warfare for many Native groups, especially on the Great Plains.

[P1] Spanish goals in the Americas

Acquire wealth, spread Christianity, and increase Spain's imperial power.

[P1] God, Gold, and Glory

Mnemonic for major motives for European exploration: religion, wealth, and national prestige/power.

[P1] Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztec Empire with military technology, Native allies, and the effects of disease.

[P1] Why Spain conquered large Native empires

European weapons and horses + Native political divisions/allies + devastating epidemic disease.

[P1] Conquistadors

Spanish soldiers/explorers who conquered territory in the Americas for Spain.

[P1] Encomienda system

Spanish system granting colonists control over Native labor in exchange for supposed protection and Christian instruction; led to severe exploitation.

[P1] Bartolomé de las Casas

Spanish priest who criticized the abuse of Native Americans and argued for better treatment.

[P1] Valladolid Debate

Debate over the morality of Spanish conquest and treatment of Native Americans, associated with Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda.

[P1] Repartimiento

Spanish labor system that required Native communities to provide limited periods of labor; replaced encomienda in many areas but remained coercive.

[P1] Spanish caste system

Racial hierarchy in Spanish America that ranked people largely according to ancestry and birthplace.

[P1] Peninsulares

Spaniards born in Spain; generally at the top of the Spanish colonial social hierarchy.

[P1] Creoles

People of Spanish ancestry born in the Americas.

[P1] Mestizos

People of mixed European and Native American ancestry.

[P1] Mulattoes

Historical term for people of mixed European and African ancestry in Spanish colonial society.

[P1] African slavery in Spanish America

Expanded partly as Native populations declined and European colonists demanded labor.

[P1] Spanish mission system

Religious settlements designed to convert Native Americans to Christianity and extend Spanish control.

[P1] Cultural blending

Sustained contact produced syncretism: mixtures of European, Native American, and African cultural traditions.

[P1] Syncretism

Blending of different religious or cultural traditions.

[P1] European view of land

Europeans generally emphasized private property and permanent ownership more than many Native societies did.

[P1] Native resistance

Native peoples used warfare, diplomacy, migration, adaptation, and alliances to resist or respond to European colonization.

[P1] European competition in North America

Spain, France, England, and the Netherlands competed for territory, trade, and imperial power.

[P1] Spanish colonization

Mainly Southwest, Florida, Mexico, Caribbean, and Central/South America; emphasized conquest, missions, mining, and coerced labor.

[P1] French colonization

Focused heavily on trade, especially furs, and alliances with Native peoples; smaller settler population than British colonies.

[P1] Dutch colonization

Centered on commerce and trade, especially around New Netherland and the Hudson River.

[P1] English colonization

Eventually emphasized permanent settlement and agriculture along the Atlantic coast.

[P1] Period 1 big causation

European contact → disease, ecological change, conquest, forced labor, cultural exchange, and new racial/social systems.

[P2] Jamestown (1607)

First permanent English settlement in North America; founded in Virginia by the Virginia Company.

[P2] Virginia Company

Joint-stock company that founded Jamestown seeking profit.

[P2] Joint-stock company

Business organization in which investors pooled money and shared risk; helped finance colonization.

[P2] Jamestown early problems

Disease, starvation, poor leadership, conflict with Native peoples, and emphasis on searching for wealth rather than producing food.

[P2] John Smith

Jamestown leader associated with enforcing greater discipline during the colony's difficult early years.

[P2] John Rolfe

Developed profitable tobacco cultivation in Virginia, helping make Jamestown economically viable.

[P2] Tobacco

Cash crop that transformed the Chesapeake economy and increased demand for land and labor.

[P2] Headright system

Granted land to people who paid for passage to the colonies; encouraged immigration and plantation expansion.

[P2] Indentured servants

People who exchanged several years of labor for transportation to America and often food/shelter; important early Chesapeake labor source.

[P2] House of Burgesses (1619)

Representative assembly in Virginia; an early example of colonial self-government.

[P2] 1619

Year associated with creation of Virginia's House of Burgesses and arrival of the first recorded Africans in English Virginia.

[P2] Chesapeake colonies

Virginia and Maryland; economies centered heavily on tobacco and plantation agriculture.

[P2] Maryland

Founded partly as a refuge for English Catholics; developed a tobacco-based plantation economy.

[P2] Maryland Toleration Act (1649)

Granted religious toleration to Christians who accepted the Trinity; sought to reduce conflict involving Catholics.

[P2] Plymouth (1620)

Colony founded by Separatist Pilgrims seeking religious independence.

[P2] Mayflower Compact (1620)

Agreement by Plymouth settlers to form a government and obey laws created for the general good; example of colonial self-government.

[P2] William Bradford

Long-serving governor of Plymouth Colony.

[P2] Massachusetts Bay Colony

Founded in 1630 by Puritans seeking to establish a model Christian society.

[P2] Puritans

English Protestants seeking to reform the Church of England; many migrated to New England.

[P2] John Winthrop

Governor of Massachusetts Bay who described the colony as a "city upon a hill," a model Christian community.

[P2] "City upon a hill"

Winthrop's idea that Massachusetts Bay should serve as an exemplary Christian society.

[P2] New England colonies

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire; economy included small farming, fishing, commerce, and shipbuilding.

[P2] New England settlement pattern

Towns and family migration were common; population was generally more stable than in the early Chesapeake.

[P2] Town meetings

Local New England political institutions allowing many property-owning male colonists to participate in community government.

[P2] Roger Williams

Puritan dissenter who advocated religious liberty and separation of church and government; founded Rhode Island.

[P2] Anne Hutchinson

Religious dissenter banished from Massachusetts Bay after challenging Puritan authorities and conventional gender/religious expectations.

[P2] Rhode Island

Colony known for greater religious toleration; associated with Roger Williams.

[P2] Connecticut Colony

New England colony associated with the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut and expanded self-government.

[P2] Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)

Early written framework of government establishing representative institutions in Connecticut.

[P2] Half-Way Covenant

Allowed partial church membership for children of Puritan church members; reflected declining full church membership in New England.

[P2] Salem witch trials (1692)

Series of witchcraft prosecutions in Massachusetts reflecting religious, social, and community tensions.

[P2] Middle Colonies

New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware; ethnically/religiously diverse with grain production and commerce.

[P2] Pennsylvania

Colony founded by William Penn; known for Quaker influence and religious toleration.

[P2] William Penn

Quaker founder of Pennsylvania who promoted religious toleration and relatively peaceful early relations with Native peoples.

[P2] Quakers

Religious group emphasizing an "inner light," spiritual equality, and generally pacifist principles.

[P2] Southern colonies

Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia; plantation agriculture became especially important.

[P2] South Carolina

Economy centered on plantation crops such as rice and indigo and relied heavily on enslaved African labor.

[P2] Georgia

Founded partly as a buffer against Spanish Florida and initially envisioned as a place for debtors/poor settlers.

[P2] James Oglethorpe

Founder associated with the establishment of Georgia.

[P2] Cash crop

Crop grown primarily for sale and profit, such as tobacco, rice, or indigo.

[P2] Plantation agriculture

Large-scale commercial farming that encouraged demand for land and labor, especially in the Chesapeake and Lower South.

[P2] Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

Virginia uprising led by Nathaniel Bacon involving frontier settlers angry over Native policy and elite government; helped accelerate elite movement toward racial slavery.

[P2] Nathaniel Bacon

Leader of Bacon's Rebellion against Virginia governor William Berkeley.

[P2] Significance of Bacon's Rebellion

Exposed tensions between wealthy planters and poorer settlers and contributed to a shift away from reliance on indentured European labor toward enslaved African labor.

[P2] King Philip's War (1675–1676)

Major conflict between New England colonists and Native peoples led by Metacom; devastated Native power in much of southern New England.

[P2] Metacom / King Philip

Wampanoag leader who led Native resistance against expanding New England settlements.

[P2] Pueblo Revolt (1680)

Successful Pueblo uprising led by Popé that expelled Spanish colonists from New Mexico for roughly a decade.

[P2] Popé

Pueblo religious leader associated with organizing the Pueblo Revolt.

[P2] Native-European alliances

Both Native nations and European empires formed alliances strategically to gain advantages against rivals.

[P2] Mercantilism

Economic theory that colonies existed partly to benefit the mother country's wealth and power through controlled trade.

[P2] Navigation Acts

British laws restricting colonial trade to strengthen England's mercantilist system.

[P2] Salutary neglect

Britain's loose enforcement of many colonial trade laws before the French and Indian War, allowing substantial colonial autonomy.