Native American History Review

Vocabulary flashcards related to Native American history and culture.

Pniese

Elite warriors/counselors among the Wampanoag and other Algonquian tribes; military and spiritual leaders who advised chiefs (sachems).

Mahicans

Native American tribe (also called Mohicans), an Algonquian-speaking people and allies of the Dutch and later English.

Josiah Winslow

Governor of Plymouth Colony (1673–1680) who led colonial forces during King Philip’s War.

John Sassamon

Wampanoag Christian convert and interpreter whose murder sparked King Philip’s War (1675).

Metacom (King Philip)

Wampanoag sachem (chief) who led King Philip’s War (1675–1676) against colonists.

Weetamoo

Female sachem of the Pocasset Wampanoag allied with Metacom in King Philip’s War; defended tribal sovereignty against colonists.

Proxy Wars

Conflicts where tribes allied with European powers to fight rivals; Europeans used tribal alliances to expand influence.

Virgin Soil Epidemics

Disease outbreaks (smallpox, measles) devastating Native populations post-1492 due to a lack of immunity.

Westos

Native raiders/slave traders who disrupted Southeast tribes, allied with English, and were armed by Europeans for slave raids.

Young Brims

Creek leader who negotiated trade and alliances with Europeans, balancing power between Spanish, British, and Creeks.

Seepeycoffey

Creek leader during Yamasee War (1715) who allied with Yamasee against British, resisting exploitative British trade practices.

Malatchi

Creek leader (mid-1700s) who promoted Creek neutrality in European conflicts to preserve Creek autonomy.

Ethnogenesis

Process of new ethnic groups forming (e.g., Seminoles) often due to displacement and cultural adaptation to colonial pressures.

Revitalization

Movements to revive Native culture/spirituality (e.g., Handsome Lake) as resistance to assimilation.

Master of Life

Spiritual figure in Native revitalization movements who inspired resistance (e.g., Pontiac’s Rebellion).

Pontiac

Ottawa leader who led rebellion against British (1763–1766), opposing British post-French & Indian War policies.

Chickamaugas

Cherokee breakaway group that fought U.S. expansion (late 1700s) to defend Cherokee land.

Walking Purchase

Fraudulent 1737 land deal by Pennsylvania that dispossessed Lenape/Delaware tribes.

Sir Jeffrey Amherst

British general who used biological warfare (smallpox blankets) in Pontiac’s War for brutal suppression of Native resistance.

Cockacoeske

Pamunkey leader (late 1600s) who negotiated Treaty of Middle Plantation (1677) to secure tribal land rights post-Bacon’s Rebellion.

Battle of Fort Niagara

1759 British victory over French in French & Indian War that secured British control of Great Lakes.

Bacon’s Rebellion

1676 Virginia revolt against colonial gov’t resulting from class/racial tensions that targeted Natives indiscriminately.

Prophetstown

Shawnee/Tecumseh’s pan-tribal resistance hub (1808), a revitalization movement against U.S. expansion.

Treaty of Greenville (1795)

Ended Northwest Indian War; ceded Ohio land to U.S. Forced Native relocation after Battle of Fallen Timbers.

Nancy Blue Jacket

Shawnee woman (Tecumseh’s era) who symbolized Native women’s roles in resistance and cultural preservation amid U.S. expansion.

Proclamation Line of 1763

British ban on colonial settlement west of Appalachians to reduce conflict with Natives post-Pontiac’s War; ignored by colonists.