APUSH Period 1 — Terms (1–18)

Maize cultivation

Domestication and large-scale farming of corn (maize) that supported sedentary Native American societies.

Hunter-gatherer economy

A subsistence system where people forage, hunt, and gather wild resources rather than practice intensive agriculture.

Northwest / CA Natives

Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest and California with distinctive economies, social structures, and permanent settlements.

Columbian Exchange

Transfer of plants, animals, people, diseases, and ideas between the Old World and New World after 1492.

Plantation-based agriculture

Large landholdings producing cash crops using intensive labor, often enslaved labor.

Maritime technology

Advances in shipbuilding, navigation, sails, and instruments that allowed long-distance ocean travel and exploration.

Great Basin

Arid interior region of western North America whose Native groups adapted through foraging and seasonally mobile lifestyles.

Agricultural economy

An economy primarily based on crop cultivation and animal husbandry rather than hunting/gathering.

Spanish exploration

Spanish expeditions across the Atlantic and into the Americas seeking wealth, territory, and conversion of natives.

Encomienda system

Spanish colonial system granting colonists the right to extract labor and tribute from indigenous people.

Joint-stock companies

Business organizations that pooled investors’ capital to fund colonies and share profits/risks.

Deadly epidemics

Widespread outbreaks of Old World diseases in the Americas that caused massive indigenous population decline.

Great Plains

Interior North American grasslands where many Native groups adopted bison hunting, often becoming nomadic.

Permanent villages

Year-round settled communities supported by reliable agriculture and food surpluses.

Northeast Natives

Indigenous peoples of the Northeast woodlands with mixed agriculture, hunting, and longhouse communities.

Slave labor

Forced labor system in which people were held in bondage and compelled to work without pay.

Feudalism to capitalism

The long-term shift in Europe from land-based feudal economies to market-oriented capital-driven economic systems.

Spanish caste system

A hierarchical colonial social system in Spanish America that ranked people by racial ancestry.