AMERICAS 1450-1750 MATCHING

Encomiendas

Encomiendas

Grants of estates Indian laborers made to Spanish conquerors and settlers in Latin America; established a framework for relations based on economic dominance.

Hispaniola

First island in Caribbean settled by Spaniards by Columbus on his second voyage.

Bartolomé de las Casas

Dominican friar who supported peaceful conversion of Native American population; opposed forced labor and advocated Indian rights.

Hernán Cortés

led expedition to Mexico in 1519; defeated Aztec Empire and established Spanish colonial rule.

Moctezuma II

Last independent Aztec ruler; killed during Cortés’s conquest.

New Spain

Spanish colonial possessions in Mesoamerica in territories once part of Aztec imperial system.

Mita

forced labor system replacing Indian slaves and encomienda workers; used to mobilize labor for mines and other projects.

Columbian Exchange

Biological and ecological exchange that occurred following European arrival in the New World; peoples of Europe and Africa came to the Americas; animals, plants, and diseases moved between Old and New Worlds.

Potosí

Largest New World silver mine; located in Bolivia.

Haciendas

Rural agricultural and herding estates; produced for consumers in America; basis for wealth and power of the local aristocracy.

Galleons

Large, heavily armed ships used to carry silver from New World colonies to Spain; basis of convoy system utilized for transportation of bullion.

Treaty of Tordesillas

Concluded in 1494 between Castile and Portugal; clarified spheres of influence and rights of possession; in the New World Brazil went to Portugal and the rest to Spain.

Council of the Indies

Spanish government body that issued all laws and advised king on all issues dealing with the New World colonies.

Viceroyalties

Major divisions of Spanish New World colonies headed by direct representatives of the king; one based in Lima, the other in Mexico City.

Pedro Alvares Cabral

Portuguese leader of an expedition to India; landed Brazil in 1500.

Rio de Janeiro

Brazilian port used for mines of Minas Gerais; became capital in 1763.

Sociedad de castas

Spanish American social system based on racial origins; Europeans on top, mixed race in middle, Indians and African slaves at the bottom.

Peninsulares

Spanish-born residents of the New World.

Creoles

People of European ancestry born in Spanish New World colonies; dominated local economies; ranked socially below peninsulares.

Tupac Amaru

Mestizo leader of Indian revolt in Peru; supported by many in the lower social classes; revolt failed because of Creole fears of real social revolution.