AP US History: Period 1

Bering Strait land bridge

How early Americans reached North and South America

Nomadic; following food and herds

The lifestyle that encouraged Indians to cross the land bridge

Mayan, Inca and Aztecs

The most complex Indian communities living in South America

Maize

This crop transformed nomadic hunter-gatherer societies into settled farm communities

Silk, Spices, Oils/Perfumes

Items desired from Persia & China

God, Gold & Glory

3 motives for Spanish Exploration

Hispaniola

The area in which Columbus landed

Semi-permanent settlements

Most people in the Americas lived in this type of settlement by the time of Christopher Columbus.

Anasazi; Pueblo

Tribes that settled in the Southwest; had culture based on farming & irrigation systems with permanent buildings

Northwest Indians

Lived in permanent longhouses that had a rich diet based on hunting & fishing

Great Plains Indians

Tribe that was nomadic OR farmers/traders; hunted buffalo, raised maize, beans & squash

Bartolome de las Casas

Man who stood up for the rights on the natives.

Christopher Columbus

Explorer who won the backing of Queen Isabella & King Ferdinand of Spain to sail west from Europe to the "Indies."

Columbian Exchange

Exchange of plants, animals, and diseases (beans, corn, potatoes, tomatoes & tobacco) between Old World and New World after the time of Columbus.

Corn, beans, squash (3 sister farming)

3 crops from the Americas ended up being staple crops in Europe?

Horses

Animal introduced by the Spanish that changed the lifestyle of the Native American

Smallpox, malaria, yellow fever, influenza

Diseases from the Old World and went to the New World

Syphillis

Disease from the New World to the Old World

Encomienda

A grant of land made by Spain to a settler in the Americas, including the right to use Native Americans as laborers on it; essentially set up slavery for Native Americans

Atlantic slave trade

Lasted from 16th century until the 19th century. Trade of African peoples from Western Africa to the Americas. 98% of Africans were sent to the Caribbean, South and Central America.

Iroquois

A later native group to the eastern woodlands. They blended agriculture and hunting living in common villages constructed from the trees and bark of the forests

Cherokee

Are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States (principally Georgia, the Carolinas and Eastern Tennessee). Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian-language family.

Inuit

A member of a people inhabiting the Arctic (northern Canada or Greenland or Alaska or eastern Siberia)

Maya

Mesoamerican civilization concentrated in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and in Guatemala and Honduras but never unified into a single empire. Major contributions were in mathematics, astronomy, and development of the calendar.

Aztec

(1200-1521) 1300, they settled in the valley of Mexico. Grew corn. Engaged in frequent warfare to conquer others of the region. Worshipped many gods (polytheistic). Believed the sun god needed human blood to continue his journeys across the sky.

Inca

Their empire stretched from what is today Ecuador to central Chili in the Andes Mountain region of South America. Called the Children of the Sun.

Tenochtitlan

Capital of the Aztec Empire, located on an island in Lake Texcoco. Its population was about 150,000 on the eve of Spanish conquest. Mexico City was constructed on its ruins.

Nomad

Early, simplistic man that migrated across the land bridge.

New France

Established in Canada and along the Mississippi River, focused on fur trade.

Mestizo

People with mixed Indian & European heritage

Mulatto

People of mixed white and black ancestry

Pope's Rebellion/Pueblo Revolt

1680 conflict that lead to death of hundreds of Spanish colonists and destruction of Catholic churches in the area

Cultural autonomy

Conflicts between Natives and Europeans were for the Natives to maintain this