APUSH Unit 1

Maize

corn, the significant crop for Native Americans

Disease

brought by Europeans, contributed to a decline of up to 90% of Indian populations

Encomienda System

A system whereby the Spanish crown granted the conquerors the right to forcibly employ groups of Indians; it was a disguised form of slavery.

Slavery

A system of enforced servitude in which some people are owned by other people.

Land Bridge Theory

The theory that Native Americans crossed into North America from Asia over a land bridge that once connected North America and Asia.

Pueblos

Southwest United States Indians who relied on agriculture and irrigation. Lived in stone or constructed dwellings.

Incas

Ancient civilization (1200-1500AD) that was located in the Andes in Peru

Aztecs

Also known as Mexica, they created a powerful empire in central Mexico (1325-1521 C.E.). They forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as a tax.

Compass

an instrument containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it.

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches.

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

The Italian sailor who persuaded King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to fund his expedition across the Atlantic to discover a new trade route to Asia. Instead of arriving at China or Japan, he reached the Bahamas in 1492.

Iroquois Confederacy

An alliance of five northeastern Iroquois peoples (after 1722 six) that made decisions on military and diplomatic issues through a council of representatives. Allied first with the Dutch and later with the English, it dominated W. New England.

Bartolome de Las Casas

First bishop of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. He devoted most of his life to protecting Amerindian peoples from exploitation. His major achievement was the New Laws of 1542, which limited the ability of Spanish settlers to compel Amerindians to labor.

matriarchy

A society ruled or controlled by women

Patriarchy/Patriarchal

a society in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it

Animism

Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.

Mercantilism

An economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by selling more goods than they bought

Bering Strait

land bridge -- Native Americans crossed this former land bridge from Asia to the Americas

Cahokia

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

Chaco Canyon

Important ancient Anasazi Indian center in New Mexico that included a pueblo of six hundred interconnected rooms

Eastern Woodlands

first natives to encounter Europeans, impacted by geography of the region

Three Sisters

corn, beans, squash

Colonization

One country taking over another area to be used for their benefit

Astrolabe

An instrument used by sailors to determine their location by observing the position of the stars and planets

Caravel

A small, easily steerable ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in their explorations

Sepulveda

He argued that the Indians were less than human and benefited from serving the Spanish.

Sepulveda vs. Las Casas

Sepulveda argued against Las Casas on behalf of the colonists' property rights. Sepulveda rationalized Spanish treatment of American Indians by arguing that Indians were "natural slaves" and that Spanish presence in the New World would benefit them.

Caste System

a set of rigid social categories that determined not only a person's occupation and economic potential, but also his or her position in society

immunity

Resistance to disease

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

the trading of African people to the colonies of the New World in and around the Atlantic ocean

Sugar Plantations

mostly in the Caribbean, plantations where sugar was grown. conditions were atrocious. key factor of mercantilism

labor exploitation

taking advantage of employees - during colonization mostly Native Americans, Africans, Indentured Servants

Middle Passage

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies

Dutch Colonization

created the colony of New Amsterdam, Dutch wanted it for gold, furs and other resources, English eventually drove them out and was named New York after the Duke of York who was related to the King of England

Spanish Colonization

Colonial expansion under the crown initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade (economics) and the spread of the Catholic faith through indigenous conversions.

French Colonization

focused on trading fur, exploring, and converting Native Americans

Triangle Trade

the trading system between the Americas, England and Africa; Africa would give slaves and rum to the Americas, including the West Indies; America would offer timber, tobacco, fish, and flour; England would mainly process and ship back

Valladolid Debate (1550-1551)

the first moral debate in European history to discuss the rights and treatment of a colonized people by colonizers.