PERIODS 1 -2 APUSH

Maize (corn)

High-yield staple crop domesticated in Mesoamerica. Enabled larger, sedentary societies; fueled population growth/trade.

Three Sisters agriculture

Intercropping maize, beans, squash. Nutrient synergy → higher yields; supported complex communities.

Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy

Alliance of 5–6 nations in NY (e.g., Mohawk, Seneca).

Algonquian peoples

Language family tribes across NE/Great Lakes/Atlantic. Major early contacts/conflicts and trade with English/French.

Great Plains tribes

Nomadic/semi-nomadic bison hunters (later horse cultures). Shaped by environment; later resisted U.S. expansion.

Pueblo peoples

Southwest villagers with adobe dwellings & irrigation. Long-standing agricultural societies; resisted Spanish rule.

Pacific Northwest peoples (Chinook, etc.)

Coastal fishing/trading cultures with plank houses & totems. Wealth from salmon trade; complex non-agricultural societies.

Amerigo Vespucci

Navigator who argued the “New World” was a new continent. “America” named after him; reframed European geography.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

Spain/Portugal split non-European world via papal line. Gave Spain most of Americas; Portugal Brazil/Africa routes.

Conquistadors

Spanish soldier-adventurers in the Americas. Overthrew Aztec/Inca; extracted wealth, spread empire.

Hernán Cortés

Conqueror of the Aztec Empire (1519–21). Opened Mexico to Spanish rule and silver economy.

Moctezuma II

Aztec emperor at time of Spanish invasion. His capture collapse → fall of Tenochtitlán.

Francisco Pizarro

Conqueror of the Inca (1530s). Secured Andean silver; expanded Spanish power.

Columbian Exchange

Global transfer of crops, animals, people, diseases. Transformed diets/economies; caused catastrophic Native deaths.

Smallpox

Old World viral disease. Main killer of Indigenous peoples; enabled conquest.

Encomienda system

Spanish labor grant over Natives in return for “protection.” Exploited Indigenous labor; proto-plantation model.

Black Legend

Idea that Spain was uniquely brutal in the New World. Used by rivals to justify their own colonization.

Juan Ponce de León

Spanish explorer of Florida. Early Spanish claim/settlement efforts in SE.

Hernando de Soto

Led expedition across SE North America. Violent Native contacts; mapped interior.

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado

Searched SW/Great Plains for “Cíbola.” Claimed SW for Spain; first European to see Grand Canyon.

Juan de Oñat

Founder of Spanish NM colony; brutal at Acoma. Set precedent for harsh rule in the Southwest.

Pueblo Revolt (Popé’s Rebellion, 1680)

Coordinated Pueblo uprising in NM. Drove Spaniards out for a decade; Native religious revival.

St. Augustine (1565)

Spanish fort/town in Florida. Oldest European settlement in the U.S.; defense vs. rivals.

Jacques Cartier

French explorer of St. Lawrence River. Basis for French claims in Canada.

Samuel de Champlain

“Father of New France,” founded Quebec (1608). Cemented French fur-trade empire/alliances.

Powhatan

Leader of Powhatan Confederacy near Jamestown. Early trade/conflict shaped Virginia’s survival.

Pocahontas

Powhatan woman linked to Jamestown/John Smith/John Rolfe. Symbol of diplomacy; temporary peace w/ English.

John Rolfe

Virginia planter who perfected tobacco. Made VA profitable; drove expansion/slavery shift.

Headright system

50-acre grants to those who paid passage. Encouraged migration & large landholdings/planter elite.

Indentured servitude

Contract labor (4–7 yrs) for passage. Early main labor source; precursor to racial slavery.

House of Burgesses (1619)

Elected assembly in Virginia. First representative government in English America.

Opechancanough

Powhatan leader who led 1622/1644 attacks. Crushed; ended major Native power in Tidewater.

Anglo-Powhatan Wars

Series of conflicts (1610s–1640s) VA vs Powhatans. Cleared land for English expansion.

Maryland (Lord Baltimore)

Proprietary colony founded for Catholics. Toleration Act; tobacco economy like VA.

James Oglethorpe

Founder of Georgia (1730s). Buffer vs. Spain; early ban on slavery/rum.

Plymouth (1620)

Separatist/“Pilgrim” colony in New England. Self-government tradition; merges into Mass. Bay.

Separatists / Pilgrims

English Protestants wanting to leave Church of England. Settled Plymouth; set precedent for religious colonies.

Mayflower Compact

Agreement for majority rule/self-gov’t on the ship. Foundation for participatory governance.

Massachusetts Bay (1630)

Large Puritan colony led by Winthrop. “City upon a Hill” model; dominant NE colony.

Puritans

Reformers of Church of England; strict morality. Shaped NE culture, education, town polity.

John Winthrop

Governor, “City upon a Hill” sermon. Defined Puritan mission/community ideals.

Great Migration (1630s)

20k+ Puritans to New England. Built stable, family-based society.

Town meetings

Local assemblies of male householders. Direct democracy; civic participation.

Praying towns

Mission towns for “Christianized” Natives in NE. Cultural pressure/land control under Puritans.

John Eliot

“Apostle to the Indians,” Puritan missionary. Created praying towns; Algonquian Bible.

Half-Way Covenant (1662)

Partial church membership for baptised but unconverted. Tried to sustain church influence/social order.

Salem Witch Trials (1692)

Witchcraft hysteria/executions in MA. Exposed social tensions; weakened theocracy.

New England Confederation (1643)

Alliance of NE colonies for defense/cooperation. Early step toward intercolonial unity.

New Netherland

Dutch colony (Hudson River; New Amsterdam). Trade/ethnic diversity; becomes New York.

Patroonships

Large Dutch land grants on Hudson to wealthy sponsors. Created quasi-feudal estates; shaped NY landholding.

Peter Stuyvesant

Last Dutch director-general of New Netherland. Surrendered to English (1664) → New York.

Peter Minuit

Dutch official who “purchased” Manhattan. Origin story of New Amsterdam settlement.

Dominion of New England (1686–89)

Crown union of NE colonies under one governor. Tried to curb self-rule; widely resented.

Sir Edmund Andros

Autocratic head of the Dominion. Restricted assemblies; ousted after 1689.

Glorious Revolution (1688)

Bloodless overthrow of James II in England. Weakened Dominion; boosted colonial self-rule.

Zenger Trial (1735)

NY printer tried for libel; acquitted. Early victory for freedom of the press.

Atlantic slave trade

Transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans. Supplied labor for New World plantations.

Royal African Company

English chartered company trading in slaves. Drove England’s role in slave trade (esp. 1600s).

Middle Passage

Forced ocean voyage of enslaved Africans. High death rates; human catastrophe central to slavery.

Seasoning

Harsh acclimation/“training” of newly enslaved people. Broke resistance; prepared for plantation labor.

Chattel slavery

Slavery where people are legal property for life/heritable. Cemented racial caste; powered plantation economies.