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Ashkenazi Jews

Jews from central and eastern Europe.

Astronomical Chart

A map of stars that improved navigation.

Atlantic Circuit

The network of trade routes connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas that underlay the Atlantic system.

Aztec Empire

An empire in Mexico that was overthrown by Cortes in 1521.

Barbary Pirates

Those who plied the seas near North Africa along the Barbary Coast and captured European slaves in the Mediterranean.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

First bishop of Chiapas in southern Mexico who devoted his life to protecting Amerindian peoples from exploitation.

Bartholomew Diaz

Sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 into unknown waters.

Bight of Biafra

An area where the slave trade expanded in the 18th century.

Boyars

Russian landholding aristocrats; possessed less political power than their western European counterparts.

Capitalism

An economic system of large financial institutions that developed in early modern Europe.

Carolina Fur Trade

In the 1600s, English fur traders pushed into the interior to compete with French trading networks.

Cartography

The art of mapmaking.

Cash Crop

Sellable crop that is grown and gathered for the market.

Charter Companies

Groups of private investors who paid a fee for a monopoly over trade to the West Indies colonies.

Chattel Slavery

A system where individuals were considered property to be bought and sold.

Christopher Columbus

Navigator who explored the Americas under the flag of Spain.

City of Potosi

Located in Bolivia, it was one of the richest silver mining centers in colonial Spanish America.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world.

Commercial Revolution

Transformation to a trade-based economy using gold and silver.

Conquistadors

Spanish soldiers who conquered parts of the Americas in the 16th century.