AP World Vocab Unit 4

Prince Henry the Navigator

A Portuguese prince who sponsored Portuguese maritime exploration along the western coast of Africa; an example of state sponsored exploration

Vasco da Gama

A Portuguese explorer whose 1497-1498 voyage was the first European venture to reach India by circling the tip of South Africa.

Ferdinand and Isabella

A king and Queen of Spain in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. They united their country and sponsored the exploration of Christopher Columbus

Columbus

A 15th and 16th century explorer credited for connecting the old world and the new world.

Caravel

A light sailing ship of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries in Europe by the Spanish and Portuguese. They were used to explore west Africa and traverse the New World.

Colombian exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and ideas from the old world to the new world and vise versa. It began in the 15th century.

Potato

A start by vegetable native to the Andes region in America.

Tobacco

Native to the Americas, the Mayan people used it for smoking in religious ceremonies. First used as medicine in Europe.

Cacao

Large beans cultivated by the Mayans. A precious commodity consumed mostly by nobles in Mayan society.

Hernan Cortes

A Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of the Aztec Empire in Mexico from 1519. He utilized Dona Marina as his interpreter.

La Malinche

Also known as Dona Marina. She was an interpreter, advisor, and intermediary for Hernan Cortes. She spoke Mayan and Nahuatl.

Francisco Pizarro

An explorer, soldier, and conquistador best known for conquering the Inca. He was born around 1474 in Spain.

Potosi

A city that developed high in the Andes at the site of the world’s largest mine. it is located in present day Bolivia.

Spanish Mita

A labor system utilized by the Spanish in Peru. It was a form of mandatory public service that forced natives to work on state projects in exchange for a small salary.

Cash Crop

Cash crops are grown to be sold for as much profit as possible. Both tobacco and cacao were turned into cash crops.

Plantation

Huge farms that required a large labor force to grow crops. It was a commercial estate where laborers live don the land and cultivated food for the landowner.

Brazil

A plantation colony that produced sugar for Europe. Slaves were imported from Africa to work the fields.

Sugar

A crop that was in high demand in Europe to be used as a sweetener, medicine, preservative, and sculptured as decoration.

Chattel Slavery

The colonial system of slavery- which was practiced in all of the original 13 British colonies. Enslaved people were the personal property of their owners for life.

Dahomey

A west African kingdom that became strong through its rulers’ exploitation of the slave trade.

Transatlantic Slave Trade

The trade of African people to the Americas or Europe. It lasted from 15th-19th centuries.

Maroons

People who escaped slavery to create independent groups and communities on the outskirts of slave societies.

Vodun

An indigenous religion also known as Voodoo in the west. It emphasizes that spells and charms can be used to impact the material world.

Encomienda

Used in the Spanish colonial imperial in the Americas (16 through the 18th centuries) It was a system of forced labor.

Creole

Individuals who were born in the colonies but had Spanish parents or grandparents. They were second-class citizens.

Peninsulares

Spanish settlers who had been born in Spain and come to settle in Spanish America. They were the highest social class.

Mesitizo

People of mixed race of European and American Indian descent. They were largely Hispanic in culture but they were looked down on by Spaniards.

Venice

An Italian city that became a major Mediterranean trading center. It was a center of commerce of silk, grain, and rice.

Middle Passage

The stage of the triangular trade in which millions of people from Africa were shipped to the New World as a part of the Atlantic Slave Trade.

Treaty of Tordesillas

An agreement between Spain and Portugal in 1494 that divided control of newly discovered lands outside of Europe.

Smallpox

Started spreading 1518 and infected as well as killed tens of thousands of people.

Virgin of Guadalupe

A religious symbol of Mexico that represents the bending of European and Indian cultures. It refers to the Virgin Mary appearing to a Mexican Peasant.

Jesuits

A catholic missionary group stretching beyond the borders of Europe into places such as China.

Songhay

An Islamic empire that dominated the western Sahel. At its peak, it was one of the largest empires in African history. It replaced the Mali.

Mercantilism

An economic practice by which governments used their economies to augment state power. National prosperity depends on its capital supply; a state-driven economic system that emphasizes the buildup of mineral wealth by maintaining a favorable trade balance.

The Englightenment

Post-renaissance period Europe that is devoted to the study and exploration of new ideas, science, politics, the arts, and philosophy.

Liberty

A state of freedom, especially when contrasted with political subjection, slavery, or imprisonment.

Haitian Revolution

A slave revolt that lasted from 1791-1804. It ended Napoleons attempts to create a French empire in the Western Hemisphere.

American Revolution

A political and military conflict between 13 of Britain’s North American colonies and the British gov.

French Revolution

Inspired by radical ideals and the American revolution. It lasted from 1789-1799 and was caused by Frances economy. Conflicts between classes.

South American Revolutions

Also known as Latin American’s war of Independence. It was a series of revolts that fought against Spanish rule in Central and South America.

Declaration of Independence

The founding document of the United States. It announced the separation of the 13 colonies from Great Britain.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

It outlined the natural and legal rights of french citizens and limited power of King Louis XVI. It was one of the foundational documents of the French revolution. It was adopted in August, 1789.