Voices of the Voiceless & Indigenous Struggle – Key Concepts

Flashcards covering key terms, people, events, and concepts from the provided lecture notes on Caribbean colonization, Indigenous resistance, slavery, revolutions, and Puerto Rico.

Encomienda system

A colonial labor arrangement granting Spaniards control over indigenous peoples for forced labor and tribute.

Hatuey

A Taino chief and leader who resisted the Spanish; captured in 1512 and executed by burning; commemorated with a statue in eastern Cuba.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Dominican missionary and writer who criticized brutal treatment of indigenous peoples and contributed to the Black Legend.

The Black Legend

Depictions of genocide and brutality by Spaniards against indigenous peoples.

Cimarrones and Maroons

Escaped enslaved Africans who formed independent communities and contributed to resistance.

Criollos

People of European descent born in the Americas.

Peninsulares

People born in Europe who migrated to the Americas.

Trans-Atlantic slave trade

Forced transport of millions of Africans to the Americas across the Atlantic.

Enslaved population transported (1650-1860)

Approximately 10 to 15 million enslaved people were moved from West Africa to the Americas.

Destinations of the slave trade

Most enslaved people were shipped to the West Indies, Central America, and South America.

Slavery as an economic institution

Slavery underpinned the sugar plantation economy, notably in 19th-century Cuba.

Latifundios

Large landed estates in Latin America.

Syncretism

Blending of religious and cultural practices from Indigenous and European traditions.

Age of Revolution

Period featuring American, French, and Haitian revolutions and global political change.

Seven Years' War (1756-1763)

Global conflict shaping colonial power dynamics and imperial possessions.

Battle of Lexington (1775)

The first battle of the American Revolutionary War.

Shays’ Rebellion

Post-revolution uprising highlighting economic grievances and governance tensions in the new United States.

Anti-Stamp Act Handbill (1756)

Printed protest opposing Britain’s Stamp Act in the colonies.

Boston Massacre (1770)

Violent clash fueling American revolutionary sentiment against Britain.

Boston Tea Party

Colonists protested British taxation by dumping tea overboard.

Archipelago

A chain or cluster of islands.

Borikén

The Taino name for Puerto Rico.

Taino

Indigenous people who inhabited Puerto Rico before Europeans; relied on an oral tradition.

Cacique

Chief or leader within Indigenous communities (e.g., Taino).

Encomienda

Spanish colonial system granting land and Indigenous labor to settlers.

Tierra Indígena

Indigenous land; concept referenced to emphasize longstanding Indigenous presence.

Haitian Revolution

The first successful large-scale anti-colonial and slave uprising in the Americas.

French Revolution – key themes

Old order challenged; revolution; radicalism; and international ramifications.