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Maya

Advanced Mesoamerican civilization known for cities, writing, and calendars; declined before European arrival.

Aztec

Powerful empire in central Mexico, conquered by Hernán Cortés in 1521.

Inca

Large empire in the Andes, known for roads and terraces; conquered by Francisco Pizarro.

Matrilineal

Tracing family descent through the mother; common in some Native tribes.

Animism

Native belief that spirits inhabit natural objects and the environment.

Maize (cultivation)

Corn; staple crop that supported Native populations and enabled urban societies.

Smallpox

European disease that devastated Native populations after contact.

Pueblo

Native peoples of the Southwest; built permanent stone and adobe dwellings.

Chinook

Pacific Northwest Native group; known for fishing, trade, and plank houses.

Sioux

Plains Native people who became horse-based nomads after European contact.

Iroquois

Northeastern confederacy of tribes; strong political alliance that resisted Europeans.

Algonquin

Northeastern Native group; allies and rivals of European colonists at different times.

Crusades

European wars in the Holy Land; revived trade and interest in exploration.

Renaissance

Cultural rebirth in Europe that encouraged curiosity and discovery.

Caravel

Small, fast Portuguese ship that made long-distance exploration possible.

Astrolabe

Navigational tool using stars to determine latitude at sea.

Joint-stock companies

Businesses where investors share profits and losses; funded colonization.

Johann Gutenberg

Inventor of the printing press; spread new ideas and exploration reports.

Ferdinand and Isabella

Spanish monarchs who funded Columbus's 1492 voyage.

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese leader who promoted exploration along Africa's coast.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese explorer who found a sea route to India.

Christopher Columbus

Explorer sponsored by Spain; his 1492 voyage opened the Americas to Europe.

Reconquista

Spain's centuries-long effort to drive Muslims out, ending in 1492.

Divine right

Belief that monarchs ruled by God's will.

Amerigo Vespucci

Explorer whose name was used for 'America.'

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement dividing the Americas between Spain and Portugal.

Conquistadores

Spanish conquerors who claimed land and riches in the Americas.

Ferdinand Magellan

Led first voyage to circumnavigate the globe (1519-1522).

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

First European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas.

Hernán Cortés

Conquered the Aztec Empire for Spain.

Francisco Pizarro

Conquered the Inca Empire for Spain.

Hernando de Soto

Explored the Southeast; first European to cross the Mississippi River.

Francisco Vásquez de Coronado

Explored the Southwest; searched for mythical golden cities.

Encomienda

Spanish labor system giving settlers control of Native workers.

Hacienda

Large Spanish estates that relied on Native or African labor.

Peninsulares

Spaniards born in Spain; top of colonial social hierarchy.

Creoles

Spaniards born in the Americas; second in social status.

Mestizo

Person of mixed Spanish and Native ancestry.

Viceroy

Spanish royal governor ruling colonies in the king's name.

Jesuits

Catholic missionaries focused on education and converting Natives.

Presidios

Spanish military forts built to protect missions and settlers.

St. Augustine

Founded in 1565; first permanent European settlement in the U.S. (Spanish).

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Priest who opposed Native mistreatment under Spanish rule.

Juan de Sepúlveda

Spanish thinker who justified conquest and Native enslavement.

Pueblo Revolt

1680 Native uprising in New Mexico that temporarily drove out Spaniards.

Pope's Rebellion

Another name for the Pueblo Revolt.

Juan de Oñate

Spanish explorer who brutally suppressed Native resistance in the Southwest.

John Cabot

English explorer who claimed land in North America (1497).

Northwest Passage

Mythical water route through North America to Asia.

Protestant Reformation

16th-century split from Catholicism that reshaped Europe.

Martin Luther

German monk who began the Protestant Reformation (1517).

John Calvin

Protestant reformer who promoted predestination.

Henry VIII

Broke from Catholic Church and created the Church of England.

Elizabeth I

Queen of England who encouraged exploration and defeated the Spanish Armada.

Anglican Church

Church of England founded by Henry VIII.

Puritans

English Protestants who wanted to "purify" the Anglican Church.

Sir Francis Drake

English sea captain who raided Spanish ships; first English circumnavigation.

Sir Walter Raleigh

Sponsored the failed Roanoke colony (Lost Colony).

English colonization of Ireland

England's first practice of colonization, later applied to America.

Lost Colony

Roanoke; English colony that mysteriously disappeared in the 1590s.

Jamestown

First permanent English settlement in North America (1607).

Jacques Cartier

French explorer who claimed land along the St. Lawrence River.

Samuel Champlain

Founded Quebec (1608), establishing French presence in Canada.

Mercantilism

Economic theory that colonies exist to benefit the mother country.

Asiento system

Spanish license allowing the importation of enslaved Africans.

Guinea Coast

West African region central to the Atlantic slave trade.

Columbian Exchange

Transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds.