APUSH: Chapters 1-5 Key Terms

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical figures, and events from Chapters 1 through 5 of the colonial history curriculum.

Canadian Shield

The first part of the North American landmass to emerge above sea level.

Inca

A highly advanced South American civilization that occupied present-day Peru until it was conquered by Spanish forces under Francisco Pizarro in 1532.

Aztecs

A Native American empire that controlled present-day Mexico until 1521, when they were conquered by Spanish Hernán Cortés.

nation-states

Societies in which political legitimacy and authority overlay a large degree of cultural commonality.

Cahokia

A Mississippian settlement near present-day East St. Louis, which was home to as many as 25,000 Native Americans.

three-sister farming

An agricultural system employed by North American Indians; maize, beans, and squash were grown together to maximize yields.

caravel

A small regular vessel with a high deck and three triangular sails that could sail more closely into the wind.

plantation

A large-scale agricultural enterprise growing commercial crops and usually employing coerced or slave labor.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of goods, crops, and diseases between New and Old World societies after 1492.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal, dividing the territories of the New World.

encomienda

The Spanish government's policy to 'commend' Indians to certain colonists in return for the promise to Christianize them.

noche triste

The 'sad night' of June 30, 1520, when the Aztecs attacked Hernán Cortés and his forces in the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán.

capitalism

An economic system characterized by private property, generally free trade, and open and accessible markets.

mestizos

People of mixed Indian and European heritage.

conquistadores

Sixteenth-century Spaniards who fanned out across the Americas, eventually conquering the Aztec and Inca empires.

Battle of Acoma

A 1599 battle between Spaniards under Don Juan de Oñate and the Pueblo Indians in present-day New Mexico; the Spanish severed one foot of each survivor.

Pueblo Revolt

A 1680 Indian uprising that drove Spanish settlers from New Mexico.

Black Legend

The false notion that Spanish conquerors did little but butcher the Indians and steal their gold in the name of Christ.

Ferdinand and Isabella

The monarchs of Spain whose marriage united the kingdom and who funded Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage.

Christopher Columbus

A Genoese explorer who, while sailing for Spain, stumbled upon the West Indies in 1492 while searching for a new water route to Asia.

Francisco Coronado

A Spanish explorer who traveled through Arizona and New Mexico as far east as Kansas in search of fabled golden cities.

Francisco Pizarro

The Spanish conquistador who crushed the Inca Empire in 1532 and added a huge hoard of booty to Spanish coffers.

Hernán Cortés

The Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztec Empire and conquered Mexico for Spain.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

A reform-minded Spanish missionary who worked to abolish the encomienda system and documented the mistreatment of Indians.

Malinche

An Indian slave who served as an interpreter for Hernán Cortés and later married one of his soldiers.

Moctezuma

The last Aztec chieftain who initially welcomed Cortés but later saw his empire fall to the Spaniards.

John Cabot

An Italian explorer (known in England as John Cabot) sent by King Henry VII to explore the northeastern coast of North America in 1497.

Robert de La Salle

A French explorer who led an expedition down the Mississippi River in the 1680s.

Father Junipero Serra

A Spanish missionary who founded Franciscan missions in California starting in 1769 at San Diego.

Samuel de Champlain

An intrepid French soldier and explorer whose energy and leadership earned him the title 'Father of New France'.

Huguenots

French Protestants who were granted limited toleration under the Edict of Nantes.

Edict of Nantes

A 1598 decree issued by the French crown granting limited toleration to French Protestants, ending religious wars in France.

coureurs de bois

Translated as 'runners of the woods,' they were North American French fur-trappers.

voyageurs

French-Canadian fur traders and adventurers who used canoes to transport furs.

Protestant Reformation

A religious reform movement within the Latin Christian Church beginning in 1517 that resulted in the 'protesters' forming several new Christian denominations.

Elizabeth I

The Protestant Queen of England whose long reign saw the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the rise of English exploration.

Sir Francis Drake

An English 'sea dog' who circumnavigated the globe and plundered Spanish treasure ships.

Roanoke Island

Sir Walter Raleigh's failed 1585 colonial settlement off the coast of North Carolina.

Sir Walter Raleigh

An English adventurer who sponsored the failed settlement at Roanoke Island.

Spanish Armada

A Spanish fleet of 130 ships that was defeated in the English Channel in 1588, marking the beginning of the decline of the Spanish Empire.

primogeniture

A legal principle where the oldest son inherits all family property or land.

joint-stock company

A short-term partnership between multiple investors to fund a commercial enterprise.

Virginia Company

The English joint-stock company that received a charter from King James I to found the Virginia colony.

charter

A legal document granted by a government to a group or agency to implement a stated purpose and spelling out rights and obligations.

James I

The King of England who granted a charter to the Virginia Company and for whom the James River and Jamestown were named.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in 1607.

Captain John Smith

A soldier of fortune who took control of Jamestown in 1608 and helped the colony survive with the rule 'He who shall not work shall not eat'.

Powhatan

The chieftain who dominated the native peoples in the James River area and was the head of the Powhatan Confederacy.

Pocahontas

The daughter of Chief Powhatan who served as an intermediary between the Indians and the settlers at Jamestown.

First Anglo-Powhatan War

A series of clashes between the Powhatan Confederacy and English settlers in Virginia, ended in 1614 by the marriage of Rolfe and Pocahontas.

Second Anglo-Powhatan War

A 1644–1646 last-ditch effort by the Indians to dislodge the Virginia settlements, resulting in a peace treaty that formally separated white and Indian areas.

Lord De La Warr

A new governor of Jamestown who arrived in 1610, imposed a military regime, and took aggressive military action against the Indians.

New Netherland

A North American Dutch colony established in the Hudson River valley for its quick-profit fur trade.

Peter Stuyvesant

The last Dutch Director-General of New Netherland who surrendered the colony to the English.

Iroquois Confederacy

A military power consisting of five Indian nations: the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas.

Hiawatha

One of the legendary founders of the Iroquois Confederacy.

John Rolfe

The Jamestown settler who perfected the methods of raising and curing tobacco and married Pocahontas.

House of Burgesses

A representative parliamentary assembly created in 1619 to govern Virginia.

Lord Baltimore

The Catholic founder of the Maryland colony who sought to create a refuge for fellow Catholics.

Act of Toleration

A 1649 Maryland law that guaranteed toleration to all Christians but decreed the death penalty for those who denied the divinity of Jesus.

Barbados slave code

The first formal statute governing the treatment of slaves, which denied even fundamental rights to slaves and gave masters near-complete control.

English Civil War

An armed conflict between royalists and parliamentarians in England (1642–1651).

Oliver Cromwell

A Puritan soldier who led the parliamentary forces and ruled England as 'Lord Protector' for nearly a decade.

squatters

Frontier farmers who occupied land without legal title.

Tuscarora War

A 1711–1713 conflict in North Carolina where the Tuscarora Indians were defeated and subsequently joined the Iroquois Confederacy.

Yamasee Indians

A Native American group defeated by the South Carolinians in the war of 1715–1716.

James Oglethorpe

The soldier-statesman and philanthropist who founded Georgia, the 'Charity Colony'.

Calvinism

The dominant theological credo of the New England Puritans, based on the teachings of John Calvin.

predestination

The Calvinist doctrine that God has foreordained some people to be saved ('the elect') and others to be damned.

Puritans

English Protestant reformers who sought to 'purify' the Church of England of Catholic rituals and creeds.

Separatists

A small group of Puritans who sought to break away entirely from the Church of England; they later became known as Pilgrims.

Mayflower Compact

A 1620 agreement to form a majoritarian government in Plymouth, signed aboard the Mayflower.

William Bradford

A self-taught scholar and leader who was elected governor of the Plymouth colony thirty times.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

A colony established by non-separating Puritans, which grew to be the largest and most influential of the New England colonies.

John Winthrop

The first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who famously declared it a 'city upon a hill'.

Great English Migration

The 1630–1642 migration of seventy thousand refugees from England to the North American colonies.

Antinomianism

The belief that the 'elect' do not need to obey the law of either God or man; notably preached by Anne Hutchinson.

Anne Hutchinson

A dissenter in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who challenged Puritan orthodoxy and was banished to Rhode Island.

Roger Williams

A radical Separatist minister who was hounded out of Massachusetts and founded Rhode Island as a haven for religious dissenters.

Fundamental Orders

A 1639 document drafted by settlers in the Connecticut River Valley that was the first 'modern constitution' in America.

Pequot War

A 1637 conflict between English settlers and Pequot Indians, resulting in the annihilation of the Pequot tribe.

Massasoit

The Wampanoag chieftain who signed a treaty with the Plymouth Pilgrims in 1621.

King Philip's War

A 1675–1676 series of assaults by Metacom (King Philip) on New England settlements; the war slowed the westward march of English settlement for decades.

New England Confederation

A weak 1643 union of four colonies (Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut) for the purpose of defense.

Navigation Laws

A series of laws passed, beginning in 1651, to regulate colonial shipping and restrict 'foreign' trade.

Dominion of New England

An administrative union created by royal authority (1686–1689) that placed all of New England, New York, and Jersey under a single governor.

Charles II

The King of England restored to the throne in 1660 who took an active interest in managing the American colonies.

Glorious Revolution

The 1688–1689 peaceful overthrow of King James II, which led to the collapse of the Dominion of New England.

William III and Mary II

The Protestant monarchs who took the English throne after the Glorious Revolution.

salutary neglect

The unofficial policy of relaxed royal control over colonial trade and weak enforcement of Navigation Laws.

Sir Edmund Andros

The head of the Dominion of New England who was known for his affiliation with the Church of England and his restriction of town meetings.

Quakers

A religious group (The Religious Society of Friends) known for their tolerance, peace, and refusal to swear oaths.

William Penn

The Quaker who founded Pennsylvania as a 'holy experiment' for his people and others seeking religious freedom.

blue laws

Laws designed to restrict personal behavior, such as card playing and stage plays, in accord with a strict code of morality.

indentured servants

Migrants who, in exchange for transatlantic passage, bound themselves to a colonial employer for a term of service (typically 4 to 7 years).

headright system

A system used in tobacco colonies to encourage the importation of servant laborers; it gave 50 acres of land to whoever paid for a laborer's passage.

Bacon's Rebellion

A 1676 uprising of Virginia backcountry farmers and indentured servants led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor Berkeley.

Royal African Company

An English joint-stock company that enjoyed a state-granted monopoly on the colonial slave trade from 1672 until 1698.

middle passage

The transatlantic voyage that African slaves endured between Africa and the colonies, known for high mortality rates.

slave codes

A set of laws beginning in 1662 defining racial slavery and establishing the legal status of masters and slaves.