AP U.S. History Chapter 1 Terms and People

Test will be on Friday August 29th.

Canadian Shield

A sheet of ancient rock, probably the first part of what became the North American landmass to have emerged above sea level.

The Incas

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

The Mayans

A Mesoamerican civilization of Central America and southern Mexico. Achievements include mathematics, architecture, and a 365-day-a-year calendar. They flourished between the 4th and 12th centuries C.E..

The Aztecs

An ancient civilization (1200-1521AD) that was located in what is present-day Mexico City

Nation-States

The term commonly describes those societies in which political legitimacy and authority overlay a large degree of cultural commonality.

Cahokia

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

Three-sister farming

Agricultural system developed by Native Americans as early as 1,000 CE, maize, beans, and squash were grown together to maximize the fields.

Caravel

Small regular vessel with a high deck and three triangular sails. Caravels could sail more closely into the wind, allowing European sailors to explore the Western shores of Africa, previously made inaccessible due to prevailing winds on the homeward journey.

Plantation

A large-scale agricultural enterprise growing commercial crops and usually employing coerced or slave labor

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of goods, crops, and diseases between New and Old World societies after 1492.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain, declaring that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal.

Encomienda

Spanish government policy to commend.

Noche Triste

"Sad night", when the Aztecs attacked Hernán Cortés and his forces in the Aztec capital, Tenochitlán, killing hundreds. Cortés laid siege to the city the following year, precipitating the fall of the Aztec Empire and inaugurating three centuries of Spanish rule.

Capitalism

An economic system characterized by private property and generally free trade.

Mestizos

People of mixed Indian and European heritage, notably in Mexico.

Conquistadors

Early-sixteenth-century Spanish adventurers who conquered Mexico, Central America, and Peru. (Examples: Cortez, Pizarro, Francisco.)

Battle of Acoma

Fought between Spaniards under Don Juan de Oñate and the Pueblo Indians in present-day New Mexico. Spaniards brutally crushed the Pueblo peoples and established the territory as New Mexico in 1609.

Pueblo Revolt

The Pueblo Indian revolt that drove Spanish settlers from New Mexico. The Spanish left behind some 1500 horses that became the ancestors of the horse herds that spread across the continent and transformed the lives of many Plains Indians.

Black Legend

The false notion that the Spanish conquers did little but butcher the Indians and steal their gold in the name of Christ

Ferdinand of Aragon

King of Spain; married Isabella of Castile, who united the nation in the late 15th century

Isabella of Castile

Queen of Spain; married Ferdinand of Aragon who united the nation in the late 15th century

Christopher Columbus

Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506)

Francisco Coronado

A Spanish soldier and commander, in 1540, he led an expedition north from Mexico into Arizona; he was searching for the legendary Seven Cities of Gold, but only found Adobe pueblos.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish explorer who conquered the Incas in what is now Peru and founded the city of Lima (1475-1541).

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.

Hernan Cortes

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico (1485-1547)

Malinche (Dona Marina)

An Aztec woman who translated for Cortés and eventually married him.

Moctezuma

The Aztec emperor was defeated and killed by the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés.

Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot)

An Italian-born navigator sent by the English to explore the North American coast in 1498

Robert de La Salle

A Frenchman who followed the Mississippi River all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, claiming the region for France and naming it Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV

Father Junipero Serra

A major Canadian Franciscan friar who founded the mission chain in California. He was a great promoter of the spread of Christianity because of his missions.