Colonial America Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key Colonial America terms.

Cultural Diffusion

The spreading of ideas, customs, and technologies from one culture to another, often through trade, travel, or migration.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, people, diseases, and goods between the Eastern Hemisphere (Europe, Africa, Asia) and the Western Hemisphere (the Americas) after Columbus’s voyages.

Mercantilism

An economic system where colonies exist to make the home country rich by supplying raw materials and buying finished goods from it.

Tidewater

The flat, fertile coastal area in the southern colonies where large plantations grew crops like tobacco and rice.

Backcountry

The inland, hilly, and often less developed area of the colonies, away from the coast, where small farmers lived.

Colony

A land controlled by another country, often settled by people from that country.

Raw Material

A natural resource used to make goods (like cotton, lumber, or iron).

Finished Goods

Products that have been made from raw materials and are ready to sell (like clothing, furniture, or tools).

Agricultural

Related to farming and growing crops.

Manufacturing

The process of making goods, often in large quantities, by using raw materials and turning them into finished products. This can be done by hand, with machines, or in factories. Examples include making clothing from cotton, building ships from lumber, or producing tools from metal.

Textile

Cloth or fabric, often made by weaving or knitting fibers like cotton or wool.

Navigation Acts

Laws passed by England to control colonial trade, making sure the colonies mainly traded with England.

Salutary Neglect

A period when England didn’t strictly enforce its trade laws on the colonies, allowing them to govern themselves more freely.

Enlightenment

A time in the 1600s–1700s when thinkers emphasized reason, science, and individual rights instead of just tradition.

Great Awakening

A religious revival in the 1700s that encouraged people to be more emotionally connected to their faith and to question authority.

Middle Passage

The terrible journey enslaved Africans were forced to take across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.

Slave Codes

Laws that controlled enslaved people’s behavior and denied them basic rights.

Triangle Trade

A trade route between Europe, Africa, and the Americas where goods, enslaved people, and raw materials were exchanged in a three-stop pattern.