Origins of the Atlantic World and European Colonization (Video)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture on the origins of the Atlantic world, the Spanish conquest, and early English colonization.

Columbian Exchange

The profound cross-Atlantic transfer of crops, animals, diseases, and human populations between the 'Old World' (Europe, Africa, Asia) and the 'New World' (the Americas), commencing with Christopher Columbus’s voyages starting in 1492. This exchange introduced novel crops like tomatoes, potatoes, and cacao to Europe, while bringing foodstuffs, livestock, and most devastatingly, diseases such as smallpox, to the Americas, fundamentally reshaping global demographics, environments, and economies. It also facilitated the forced migration of enslaved Africans to the Americas and the movement of European settlers.

Terra nullius

A Latin phrase meaning 'empty land' or 'nobody's land'; this legal and ideological concept was employed by European powers to justify the acquisition and colonization of lands already inhabited by Indigenous peoples. It asserted that territories not 'cultivated' or 'developed' in a European manner were considered unoccupied and therefore open for claiming, effectively disregarding Indigenous sovereignty and land use practices.

Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloans)

An ancient Southwestern North American culture, now more accurately referred to as Ancestral Puebloans, known for their sophisticated architectural achievements including multi-story cliff dwellings (like Mesa Verde) and large communal adobe structures called pueblos. They were the direct ancestors of modern Pueblo groups and developed advanced agricultural techniques, particularly dryland farming. The name 'Anasazi' comes from the Navajo language and means 'ancient enemy ancestors,' although 'Ancestral Puebloans' is the preferred term today.

Mississippian

A significant pre-Columbian Native American culture that flourished in the Mississippi Valley region of what is now the central and southeastern United States, primarily between 800 and 1600 CE. Characterized by large-scale mound-building, complex chiefdoms, and agriculture based heavily on corn (maize), their societies reached their peak in urban centers like Cahokia before experiencing a decline prior to sustained European contact in the 16th century.

Cahokia

The largest pre-Columbian city in North America, located near modern-day St. Louis, Missouri. Cahokia served as the major Mississippian mound-site and was a complex ceremonial, political, and economic center with an estimated population of up to 20,000 people at its peak around 1050–1200 CE. It featured monumental earthen mounds, advanced labor organization, sophisticated urban planning, and extensive trade networks.

Potosí

A historic Bolivian city situated at the foot of Cerro Rico ('Rich Hill'), one of the world’s largest and most productive silver mines. Potosí emerged as a crucial center of Spanish colonial power and global commerce from the mid-$16$th century onward, producing an immense share of the world’s silver. This silver fueled Spain’s extractive empire, financed European wars, and stimulated early global trade networks, often through the brutal exploitation of Indigenous and enslaved African labor.

Encomienda

A Spanish colonial labor system implemented in the Americas, particularly in the early stages of conquest, that granted Spanish settlers (encomenderos) the right to demand tribute and forced labor (mita) from Indigenous populations residing in a specific area. In return, the encomenderos were theoretically obligated to Christianize and protect the Indigenous people. While not outright chattel slavery, it was a harsh, feudal-like system frequently abused, leading to widespread exploitation, brutality, and significant population decline among Indigenous communities.

Bartolomé de las Casas

A Spanish Dominican friar and historian who became one of the earliest and most vocal advocates for the rights and humane treatment of Indigenous peoples in the Americas. Known as the 'Protector of the Indians,' he extensively documented the abuses of the encomienda system and other coercive labor practices, famously debating Spanish imperial policy and influencing reforms like the New Laws of 1542, which aimed to curb the exploitation of native populations.

Black Legend

A highly influential, largely English and Protestant narrative that emerged in the 16th century, portraying Spanish colonization in the New World as uniquely cruel, tyrannical, and unusually brutal, particularly towards Indigenous peoples. This narrative, often exaggerated or selectively presented, was strategically employed by rival European powers, especially England and the Netherlands, to politically justify their own imperial competition, expansion, and attacks on Spanish territories and treasure fleets in the Americas.

Privateers

Privately owned ships or individuals commissioned and authorized by a government (via 'letters of marque and reprisal') to attack and seize enemy merchant ships during wartime. Unlike pirates, privateers operated legally under the command of their respective nations. England extensively utilized privateers, such as Sir Francis Drake, to raid Spanish treasure fleets carrying silver from Potosí and other colonies, thereby enriching England and undermining Spain’s economic and naval power without the direct cost of maintaining a large standing navy.

Cash crops

Agricultural crops cultivated primarily for sale in distant markets, rather than for direct consumption by the producer. These crops were essential to the economic development of many European colonies in the Americas, particularly in the English colonies, where examples included tobacco in Virginia, rice in the Carolinas and Georgia, and incredibly profitable sugar in the Caribbean. Their production often involved the establishment of large plantations and a heavy reliance on various forms of coerced labor, including indentured servitude and chattel slavery.

Tobacco

A highly significant cash crop that became central to the early economy and prosperity of the Virginia Colony, especially after John Rolfe successfully cultivated a milder hybrid variety in the early 17th century. Its immense profitability in Europe drove English colonization and settlement in North America, leading to increased demand for land and labor, which in turn fueled westward expansion and the growth of the transatlantic slave trade.

Rice

A valuable cash crop that played a pivotal role in the economic development of the Southern Atlantic colonies, particularly the Carolinas and Georgia, throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Its cultivation in the marshy, fertile lowcountry required extensive knowledge, intensive labor, and a hot, humid climate, making it a major driver of the slave economy in these regions and contributing significantly to the wealth of the planter class.

Sugar

An exceptionally profitable and highly demanded cash crop cultivated extensively in the Caribbean islands and parts of the Americas. Sugar production was labor-intensive and notoriously brutal, becoming inextricably tied to the chattel slave system and the establishment of massive plantation economies. The global demand for sugar fueled the expansion of the transatlantic slave trade and generated immense wealth for European colonial powers.

Atlantic World

A conceptual framework that views the Atlantic Ocean not as a barrier but as a dynamic highway connecting four continents—Europe, Africa, North America, and South America—through a complex web of interactions, exchanges, and movements of people, goods, ideas, and diseases from the 15th to the 19th centuries. This interconnected system, largely coordinated by European maritime powers, transformed global economies and societies, especially through shipping, trade, and colonial ties.

Slavery in the Spanish empire

In the Spanish Empire, slavery took various forms, notably the encomienda system which subjected Indigenous peoples to forced labor and tribute under Spanish colonizers. This system, while coercive, was distinct from chattel slavery, which treated individuals as property. Indigenous slavery was debated and criticized by Catholic reformers like Bartolomé de las Casas, leading to some reforms, though eventually, the Spanish also participated heavily in the transatlantic chattel slave trade of Africans, especially for labor in mines and plantations.

Pre-Columbian era

The broad historical period in the Americas spanning from the first human settlements to the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. This era encompasses a vast array of sophisticated and diverse Indigenous civilizations and societies across North, Central, and South America, many of which had developed complex social structures, advanced agricultural techniques, extensive trade networks, and impressive architectural and artistic traditions long before European contact.

Virgin land myth

A pervasive European ideological misconception that portrayed the Americas as an uncultivated, pristine, and largely empty wilderness before the arrival of Europeans. This myth ignored and effectively erased the centuries of Indigenous stewardship, extensive cultivation, sophisticated land management practices, and significant alterations to the landscape by native inhabitants. It served as a powerful justification for European conquest, displacement, and the claiming of Indigenous lands.

Smallpox and other Old World diseases

A range of infectious diseases, notably smallpox, measles, influenza, and typhus, that were endemic in the 'Old World' (Europe, Asia, Africa) but previously unknown in the Americas. Carried by European explorers and settlers, these diseases caused devastating and rapid cascading population declines among Indigenous peoples who had no natural immunity. The catastrophic mortality rates (estimated to be 50 to 90 percent in many regions) significantly weakened Indigenous societies, aiding European conquest and facilitating colonization across the continents.

1492 milestone / early modern period

Christopher Columbus’s voyage in 1492 is widely considered a pivotal historical milestone as it initiated the sustained transatlantic exchange, marking a profound transition from the pre-Columbian era in the Americas to the 'early modern period' on a global scale. This early modern period (roughly from 1450/1500 to 1750/1800) is characterized by the rise of global empires, the growth of mercantilism, increasing interconnectedness, and significant changes in political, economic, and social structures worldwide. Many historians mark approximately 1800 as another milestone, demarcating the shift from early modern to 'modern' history.

Conquistadors

Spanish conquerors and explorers, primarily active in the Americas during the 16th century. Driven by motivations of 'God, Gold, and Glory,' they led military expeditions that overthrew powerful Indigenous empires like the Aztec Empire (led by Hernán Cortés) and the Inca Empire (led by Francisco Pizarro). Their campaigns were marked by brutal warfare, superior weaponry, and the devastating impact of Old World diseases, leading to the rapid establishment of the vast Spanish colonial empire in the Americas.

Mercantilism

An influential economic theory and practice prevalent in Europe from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Mercantilism held that a nation's power and wealth were directly proportional to its accumulation of precious metals (bullion) like gold and silver. To achieve this, it advocated for a favorable balance of trade (exporting more than importing), the establishment of colonies to provide raw materials and serve as guaranteed markets for finished goods, and strict government regulation of the economy. Colonies were seen as existing solely to enrich the mother country.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, established in Virginia in 1607 by the Virginia Company of London. Initially plagued by disease, starvation, and conflicts with the Powhatan Confederacy, Jamestown struggled to survive. Its eventual success and viability were secured by the cultivation and export of tobacco as a highly profitable cash crop, which established a model for future English colonization in the region and led to the growth of the plantation system and reliance on indentured servants and later, enslaved Africans.

Motivations for European Exploration

The primary driving forces behind European exploration and colonization of the New World, often summarized as 'God, Gold, and Glory.' 'God' refers to the desire to spread Christianity and expand its influence, sometimes seen as a religious duty. 'Gold' encompassed the pursuit of wealth through the discovery of precious metals (like silver in Potosí), lucrative trade routes to Asia, and valuable resources and cash crops from the Americas. 'Glory' involved the quest for fame, national prestige, power, and the expansion of the monarch's or nation's empire.