Unit 1: A Collision of Worlds (1491-1607)

West Native Americans

hunter-gatherer communities, with settlements along the ocean

Great Plains Native Americans

arid lands; mobile, hunter-gatherer lifestyle

Southwest Native Americans

spread of maize north from Mexico; larger permanent settlements with advanced irrigation systems

Eastern Woodlands Native Americans

mixed agricultural and hunter-gatherer economies with permanent settlements

Cahokia Mounds

a significant archaeological site in Illinois, represent the largest and most influential urban center of the Mississippian culture in North America, excluding Mexico.

Aztec Empire

a powerful, ancient Mesoamerican civilization known for their sophisticated society, agricultural practices, and extensive empire centered around Tenochtitlan

Inca Empire

a large and influential pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Andes Mountains of South America, primarily in modern-day Peru

European motives for colonization

God, Gold, and Glory

mercantilism

an economic system where a nation seeks to maximize its wealth and power by maximizing exports and minimizing imports

Christopher Columbus

arrived in the Caribbean and began enslaving the Taíno people; apparently first to arrive in the Americas “New World”

Hernan Cortés

arrived in Mexico and moved towards the Aztec capital to overtake the empire

Spanish colonization

used intense violence to take over the Aztec and Inca Empires and control and region stretching from California to Chile; hierarchical colonial societies; class system with people born in native country at top; Encomienda System

Encomienda System

claimed the provide “protection” for the indigenous people in exchange for their labor, but it was just a system of harsh slavery

French colonization

lightly populated; focused primarily on conversion to Catholicism and trade; exchanged, guns, ammunition, etc. for pelts and furs; formed alliances with certain tribes

English colonization

East coast of North America and in certain parts of the Caribbean, Central America, and South America; helped by indigenous tribes but would turn to violence to take more land; came in family units

The Columbian Exchange

the widespread transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and people between the Old World (Europe, Asia, and Africa) and the New World (the Americas)

The Native American Genocide

the systematic destruction of Native American societies and cultures through various means, including violence, disease, displacement, and forced assimilation

Transatlantic Slave Trade

involved the forced transportation of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, primarily to work on plantations

forms of resistance to colonization and enslavement

resistance through warfare, refusing to follow European normalities, turning European countries against each other, allying with Europeans to preserve themselves, escaping, forming maroon communities, helping others escape, starting rebellions, defying orders or working slowly, stealing food or breaking tools, preserving language and traditions, learning to read and write

Theory of Geographic Luck

suggests that geographic factors, rather than inherent human traits or cultural differences, played a significant role in shaping the trajectory of civilization development and dominance

Bartolomé de las Casas

Spanish Dominican friar and missionary who became a vocal advocate for the rights of Native Americans during the early colonial period in the Americas

Francisco Pizzaro

a Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of the Inca Empire in what is now Peru

Bering Land Bridge

allowed the first people in the Americas to cross from Asia to the Americas during an Ice Age

joint-stock companies

corporate businesses with shareholders whose mission was to settle and develop lands in North America