Unit 1 — Period 1: Review Flashcards (1491–1607)

80 QA-style flashcards covering key people, events, concepts, and terms from Topic 1 (Contextualizing Period, Native American Societies, European Exploration, Columbian Exchange, labor/slavery/caste, and cultural interactions) to help study for an AP U.S. History exam.

What event marked the turning point in world history by initiating lasting contact between peoples on opposite sides of the Atlantic?

Columbus’s first voyage in 1492.

In what year was the first permanent English settlement founded at Jamestown, Virginia, marking a framework for a new nation?

1607.

What term describes the United States today as a synthesis, or combination, of people from around the world?

Cultural diversity.

What is the Columbian Exchange?

The transatlantic transfer of plants, animals, and germs between the Old World and the New World.

Name the three highly developed civilizations in Central and South America before European contact.

Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas.

Where did the Maya civilization build remarkable cities?

In the rain forests of the Yucatán Peninsula (present-day Guatemala, Belize, and southern Mexico).

What was the Aztec capital city?

Tenochtitlán.

Where was the Inca Empire located?

Western South America (Peru).

Which crops originated in the Americas and transformed European diets?

Corn (maize), potatoes, and tomatoes.

What happened to many Native American populations after Europeans arrived due to germs?

They declined by about 90 percent within a century.

What labor system granted Native Americans to Spaniards for labor in farming or mining?

Encomienda system.

What was the asiento system?

A tax-based license allowing enslaved Africans to be brought to the Americas.

Which mining activity helped Spain become the wealthiest European empire in the 16th–17th centuries?

Silver mining in Mexico and South America.

What was the role of enslaved Africans in the early Americas?

Labor on mines and plantations; resistance through cultural preservation and other means.

What two major motives drove European exploration in the Americas?

Religious (spreading Christianity) and economic (wealth and routes).

Who funded Columbus’s 1492 voyage?

Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon.

What Renaissance-era advances aided European exploration?

Advances in shipbuilding, navigation (including the compass), gunpowder, and printing press.

From which regions did the compass originate or get adopted for European exploration?

From Arab merchants who learned from the Chinese.

What line did the pope draw in 1493 to divide newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal?

Line of Demarcation.

What treaty moved the line of Demarcation in 1494 and defined Spain’s and Portugal’s claims?

Treaty of Tordesillas.

Which English explorer sailed to Newfoundland in 1497 under English sponsorship?

John Cabot.

Which English sea captain attacked Spanish ships and settlements in the late 16th century?

Sir Francis Drake.

Which English figure attempted a colony at Roanoke Island in 1587?

Sir Walter Raleigh.

Which French explorer sponsored voyages to the St. Lawrence River (1534–1542)?

Jacques Cartier.

What was Giovanni da Verrazzano’s contribution to European exploration?

Exploration of part of North America’s eastern coast in search of a Northwest Passage (1524).

What motivated France’s early exploration of North America (in the 16th century)?

Fur trade and attempts at conversion to Catholicism; alliances with tribes.

What is the Iroquois Confederation also known as?

Haudenosaunee.

Name the mound-building culture centered in the Ohio Valley famous for large earthen mounds.

Adena-Hopewell.

Cahokia, a major ancient settlement, was located near which modern city?

East St. Louis, Illinois (near St. Louis).

Which language families were among the largest for Native Americans in the Northeast and Plains (e.g., Algonquian, Siouan, Athabaskan)?

Algonquian (Northeast), Siouan (Great Plains), and Athabaskan (Southwest).

What permanent structures did Northwest Coast peoples build, and what famous ceremonial carvings did they create?

Plank houses or longhouses and totem poles.

What term describes the mobile hunter-gatherer adaptation of the Great Basin and Great Plains, especially for buffalo hunting?

Nomadic lifestyle with tipis (tepees) and, in some areas, earthen lodges.

When did Plains tribes begin to use horses, and from where did they come?

In the 17th century, horses were acquired from Europeans.

What was the migration mechanism that brought the first peoples to the Americas from Asia?

A land bridge (Beringia) connecting Siberia and Alaska.

Approximately how many people lived in the Americas by 1491 (before widespread European contact)?

Between 50 million and 100 million.

Which crops provided maize-based agriculture that supported larger, more densely settled populations in North America?

Maize (corn).

How many Native American language families existed, and how many languages did they include?

More than 20 language families and over 400 distinct languages.

Which Southwest civilizations developed irrigation systems and maize agriculture?

Hohokam, Anasazi, and Pueblos.

What was the Northwest Coast economic and cultural hallmark (besides longhouses)?

Totem poles and a maritime-based diet (hunting, fishing, gathering).

Which civilization capital was Tenochtitlán?

Aztec capital in central Mexico.

Which civilization built a vast empire in western South America?

The Inca.

Which region did the Maya primarily inhabit?

The Yucatán Peninsula (Guatemala, Belize, southern Mexico).

What early Native American mound-building culture flourished in the Ohio Valley?

Adena-Hopewell.

What Native American group formed a powerful political alliance in the Northeast?

The Iroquois Confederation (Haudenosaunee).

What early European advantage helped drive naval exploration (printing, mapmaking, etc.)?

The printing press enabling wider dissemination of knowledge.

Which explorer completed the first circumnavigation of the globe (though he died en route)?

Magellan (the expedition was completed by his crew).

Which explorer crossed the Isthmus of Panama and reached the Pacific Ocean?

Balboa.

Which two explorers led Spanish conquests of major empires in the Americas?

Hernán Cortés (Aztecs) and Francisco Pizarro (Incas).

What is the encomienda system?

Spanish crown grants natives on a tract of land to Spaniards to work and be “cared for” by them.

What role did the Spanish intend for Native Americans and enslaved Africans in their empire?

Labor for agriculture and mining, with control and suppression of communities.

What system replaced or limited Indian slavery in 1542?

New Laws of 1542 (intended to end Indian slavery and curb encomienda).

Who argued that Indians were fully human and deserving of equal treatment in the Valladolid Debate?

Bartolomé de Las Casas.

What was the Valladolid Debate about?

The status and treatment of Indians in the Spanish colonies (Las Casas vs. Sepúlveda).

What treaty settled the division of the New World between Spain and Portugal?

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494).

What feature defined most English early interactions with Native Americans relative to the Spanish?

Initial coexistence or tentative trade, followed by displacement and conflict.

What was the primary French colonial approach to Native Americans?

Establishing fur-trading posts, forming alliances, and engaging in trade.

What major disease did Europeans bring to the Americas that devastated Native populations?

Smallpox (and measles).

What is the Middle Passage?

The brutal transatlantic voyage carrying enslaved Africans to the Americas.

Approximately how many Africans were forcibly transported across the Middle Passage before its end in the late 1800s?

Between 10 million and 15 million.

What region did Spanish colonists primarily exploit for silver mining to become wealthy?

Mexico and Peru (Andean and Mesoamerican mining).

Which two major empires did Cortés and Pizarro topple?

The Aztec Empire (Cortés) and the Inca Empire (Pizarro).

What African culinary influence persisted in the American South due to enslaved Africans?

Rice cultivation and associated culinary traditions.

What cultural contribution did Africans bring to the Americas besides crops?

Musical rhythms and the banjo.

What is a joint-stock company?

A business owned by many investors, reducing individual risk and enabling larger voyages.

Which invention helped spread knowledge and support exploration in Europe?

The printing press.

What economic system began to replace feudalism in Europe as exploration expanded?

Capitalism and the rise of trade networks.

What European nation opened a sea route to India around the Cape of Good Hope?

Portugal (Vasco da Gama, 1498).

What caused the Ottoman capital to disrupt European trade routes to Asia, spurring exploration?

Ottoman control of Constantinople (Constantinople fell in 1453).

What two Christian powers ultimately shaped the religious landscape of early exploration?

Catholic Spain (Isabella and Ferdinand) and Protestant Europe (Reformation).

Which explorer is associated with the early English push to colonize after Roanoke?

Sir Walter Raleigh.

What is the Line of Demarcation’s geographic impact on Brazil?

Brazil fell east of the line, under Portuguese claims.

Which North American region did Jacques Cartier explore for France?

The St. Lawrence River region.

Which explorer began North American colonization attempts for England in the late 16th century?

Sir Walter Raleigh (Roanoke Island, 1587).

What is the Haudenosaunee's main political structure?

Iroquois Confederation.

Which Native American tribes formed the Iroquois Confederation?

Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk (and later Tuscarora).

Which culture built large earthen mounds across the Ohio Valley?

Adena-Hopewell.

What was Cahokia known for?

A large Midwest settlement with up to 30,000 inhabitants.

How many major language families did Native American languages include?

More than 20.

What major Southwest civilizations cultivated maize and built irrigation systems?

Hohokam, Anasazi, and Pueblos.

What archeological site is near East St. Louis and signals a sophisticated precolonial city?

Cahokia.

What effect did the Columbian Exchange have on Europe’s population?

Population growth due to new crops and foods.

What effect did the Columbian Exchange have on the Americas?

Massive population decline due to diseases; introduction of new crops and animals.

What is the difference in European and Native American worldviews described in Topic 1.6?

Europeans often viewed Indians as inferior; Native Americans used tradition to govern land use; Europeans used legal documents.

Which explorer is linked with crossing the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean?

Balboa.

Which explorer is known for conquering the Aztec Empire?

Hernán Cortés.

Which explorer is known for conquering the Inca Empire?

Francisco Pizarro.

What is the 'New Laws of 1542' intended to do?

End Indian slavery, halt forced Indian labor, and begin to end the encomienda system.

What was the Valladolid Debate about?

The status and humanity of Indians in the Spanish colonies.

What is a major effect of European colonization on Native American cultural practices?

Mixed outcomes: some groups allied with Europeans; others resisted and migrated; culture transformed.

Which two European powers sponsored early exploration along the Atlantic coast of North America other than Spain?

France and England.

What role did the English adopt toward Native Americans in their early colonies?

Cooperation and trade at first, followed by displacement and conflict.

What term describes European competitors’ efforts to control land in the Americas?

Colonial rivalries among Spain, Portugal, England, France (and later the Netherlands).

What is the major consequence of the Columbian Exchange for Europe, Africa, and Asia?

Population growth and economic changes due to new crops and goods.

What is the significance of the 1492 Granada conquest to European expansion?

Unified Christian Spain and supported overseas exploration.

Which two continents experienced prolonged contact due to Columbus's voyages?

Europe and the Americas.

Which early North American settlement served as a model for later English colonies in the Southeast?

Jamestown (first permanent English settlement in 1607).

What was one reason Spain could finance its New World empire?

Mining wealth (silver) and the encomienda system enforcing labor.

Which nation’s explorers emphasized fur trade in North America?

France.

What significant population change occurred in the Americas following European contact?

A dramatic population decline among Indigenous peoples due to disease.

What was a key difference in Spanish, French, and English colonization motives in the Americas?

Spain sought wealth (gold/silver) and conversion; France focused on fur trade and alliances; England pursued permanent settlements, agriculture, and religious freedom.