Economics of Colonization and Resistance-Parm/Phillips

Flashcards covering the economic systems, trade practices, labor forms, and resistance movements associated with European colonization.

What was the Bank of Amsterdam and what was its significance?

Established in 1609 in Europe, it was one of the first modern banks that allowed for currency exchange and deposit banking, helping fund Dutch trade.

What are joint-stock companies?

Businesses owned by shareholders who invest capital and share profits and losses; used to fund European exploration and colonization.

How is a shareholder defined?

An individual or group that owns part of a company by buying stock.

What is credit?

The ability to borrow money with the promise of repayment later, fueling trade and investment.

What is interest?

Extra cost paid to borrow money, usually a percentage of the loan.

What is a Bill of Exchange?

A financial document promising payment at a future date, used to transfer money safely across distances.

What are bonds?

Certificates that represent loans to governments or companies, paid back with interest.

What is mercantilism?

An economic philosophy in which a government utilizes colonies to extract resources for the benefit of the mother country.

What were primogeniture laws and how did they impact European colonization?

European laws requiring estates to pass only to the eldest son, pushing younger sons toward exploration/colonization.

Who was Adam Smith?

An economist located in Europe who wrote The Wealth of Nations (1776), promoting free markets and capitalism as well as criticizing mercantilism.

What is capitalism?

An economic system where the means of production are controlled by individuals and companies, based on free market principles where all producers and consumers have freedom to choose.

What does Laissez-Faire mean?

"Hands-off" economics, arguing that government should not interfere with business.

What is a monopoly?

A single company or group with exclusive control over a trade, market, or product.

What is The Wealth of Nations?

Adam Smith's book (1776) laying out principles of capitalism and free markets.

What was the Dutch East India Company (VOC)?

A powerful joint-stock trading company that dominated the spice trade in southeast Asia.

What was the British East India Company?

An English joint-stock company that controlled trade in India, eventually ruling large parts of South Asia.

What was the Encomienda system?

A Spanish labor system in Latin America granting settlers the right to demand labor/tribute from Indigenous peoples in exchange for "Christianizing" them.

What was a Haceinda?

Large rural plantation estates in Spanish America utilizing indigenous and African labor to produce cash crops.

What was Potosí and why was it economically important?

A major silver mine in modern Bolivia (Latin America) that fueled Spain's wealth and the global silver trade.

What was the Triangular Trade?

An Atlantic trade system moving enslaved Africans, raw materials, and manufactured goods between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

What are cash crops?

Crops grown for profit, not subsistence (such as sugar, cotton, and tobacco).

What are staple crops?

Crops forming the basis of daily diet (such as wheat, rice, and corn).

What was the significance of tobacco in the colonial era?

Originated in the Americas, it was a major American cash crop fueling European demand and plantation slavery.

What was indentured servitude?

A labor system where people worked for a set amount of time (usually 4-7 years) in exchange for passage to the Americas.

What was the Commercial Revolution?

A period of European economic expansion (1500s-1700s) with banking, trade, and capitalism growth.

How is infrastructure defined?

Basic physical systems supporting trade and society, like roads, ports, and communication networks.

What is piracy in the context of colonial trade?

Theft and violence at sea, often targeting colonial trade ships.

Who were the Swahili Arabs?

Traders from East Africa who participated in slave trade, and linked Africa, the Middle East, and Asia through the Indian Ocean trade network.

What was the Royal African Company?

A British company that monopolized the slave trade to the Americas in the 1600s.

What is Chattel Slavery?

A system where enslaved people were treated as property for life, with no personal rights and their status passed to their children.

What is a plantation economy?

An economic system based on large-scale agricultural production using enslaved or coerced labor.

What is monoculture and what risks did it present?

Dependence on a single crop for export, making colonies vulnerable to market shifts, and often damaging local economies and soil.

What were feitorias?

Portuguese fortified trading posts along Africa, Asia, and Brazil for commerce and defense.

What is meant by everyday resistance?

Small, subtle acts of defiance by enslaved or oppressed people (such as work slowdowns, sabotage, and feigned illness).

What is marronage?

The act of enslaved people escaping slavery to form independent communities outside colonial control.

Who were Maroons?

Enslaved Africans who escaped and formed self-sustaining communities.

What were Palenques?

Maroon communities located in Mexico (Central America).

What were Macambos?

Maroon communities located in Brazil (Latin America).

What was King Philip's War / Metacom's War (1675-1676)?

A conflict in New England (North America) between Native tribes led by King Philip (also known as Metacom's War by the Native Americans) resisting English expansion.

Who were the Pequot and what happened during the Pequot War?

A Native American tribe in New England nearly destroyed by colonists in the Pequot War (1636-1638).

What was the Fronde?

A series of French civil wars (1648-1653) against royal authority and taxation led by nobles in Europe.

What was the Pugachev Rebellion?

A massive peasant revolt in Russia (1773-1775) led by Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev against Catherine the Great.

What were the Maroon Wars?

18th-century wars in Jamaica (the Caribbean) between British colonizers and Maroon communities.

What was the Pueblo Revolt?

A 1680 uprising of Pueblo peoples in New Mexico against Spanish colonizers, temporarily driving them out.

Who was Nzinga Mvemba (Afonso I of Kongo)?

King of Kongo (early 1500s) in Central Africa who protested Portuguese slave trading abuses, but maintained ties with Portugal.

What was the Asante Empire?

A West African state that rose to power by controlling gold and participating in the Atlantic slave trade.

What was the Kingdom of the Kongo?

A Central African kingdom involved in trade with Portugal, eventually weakened by the slave trade.