Western Hemisphere Colonization

Bartolome de las Casas

A Spanish priest who advocated for the rights of Native Americans and criticized the abuses of the encomienda system.

caste system

A social hierarchy in Spanish America based on race and birthplace.

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer funded by Spain who reached the Americas in 1492.

Creole

A person of European descent born in the Americas.

debt peonage

System where laborers were forced to work to repay debts, often trapping them in servitude.

encomienda

A Spanish labor system granting colonists the right to demand tribute and labor from Indigenous people.

fully-sedentary

Native peoples who built permanent settlements with agriculture, like the Aztecs and Incas.

hegemony

Dominance of one group over another, often through cultural or ideological means.

Hernando Cortes

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire.

honor system

Social code in Iberian and colonial societies emphasizing reputation, virtue, and family status.

Iberian

Relating to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal).

Inquisition

A Catholic institution established to root out heresy, active in Spain and its colonies.

mercantilism

Economic theory that colonies exist to enrich the mother country through controlled trade.

mestizo

A person of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry.

Mission

Religious settlement established to convert and control Indigenous populations.

Moors

Muslims of North Africa who controlled parts of Spain before being expelled in 1492.

non-sedentary

Nomadic Indigenous groups who moved frequently and did not build permanent settlements.

Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire.

race mixing

The blending of races and cultures in colonial societies, producing new identities.

repartimiento

A colonial labor system that replaced encomienda, requiring Indigenous people to provide seasonal labor.

semi-sedentary

Native groups that moved periodically and practiced shifting agriculture.

transculturation

Exchange and blending of cultures in colonial societies.

Anne Hutchinson

Puritan woman banished from Massachusetts Bay for challenging church authority.

Black Legend

The belief that Spain was uniquely brutal in its conquest of the Americas.

Boston

Major Puritan settlement and capital of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Charleston

Key southern port city in South Carolina founded in 1670.

Enlightenment

Intellectual movement stressing reason, science, and individual rights.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

First written constitution in the American colonies.

Great Awakening

Religious revival movement in the 1730s–1740s emphasizing emotion and personal faith.

Headright system

System granting land to settlers who paid for their own or others’ passage to the colonies.

Indentured servitude

System where people worked for a set number of years in exchange for passage to America.

Jamestown

First permanent English settlement in North America, founded in 1607.

James Oglethorpe

Founder of Georgia, envisioned it as a refuge for debtors and a buffer colony.

John Rolfe

Colonist who introduced tobacco cultivation in Virginia, leading to economic success.

John Smith

Leader of Jamestown who helped the colony survive with strict discipline.

John Winthrop

Puritan leader and governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony; envisioned it as a “city upon a hill.”

Joint stock company

Business structure where investors pool money to fund colonies.

Maryland Act of Toleration

1649 law granting religious freedom to all Christians in Maryland.

Mayflower Compact

Agreement by Pilgrims in 1620 to form a self-governing colony.

Middle Passage

Brutal voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas.

Miles Standish

Military leader of the Plymouth Colony.

New Netherlands

Dutch colony in North America that later became New York.

New Sweden

Short-lived Swedish colony in Delaware Valley.

Peter Stuyvesant

Last governor of New Netherlands before it was taken by the English.

Pocahontas

Daughter of Powhatan who helped relations between Native Americans and Jamestown settlers.

Powhatan

Leader of a Native confederacy in Virginia; father of Pocahontas.

Plymouth

Colony founded by Pilgrims in 1620 for religious freedom.

Restoration

Period when monarchy was restored in England (1660); led to renewed colonial expansion.

Rhode Island

Colony founded by Roger Williams for religious tolerance and separation of church and state.

Roanoke

First English attempt at colonization in North America, known as the “Lost Colony.”

Roger Williams

Founder of Rhode Island; advocated separation of church and state.

Salem

Massachusetts town famous for the witch trials of 1692.

Slave Codes

Laws regulating slavery and restricting the rights of enslaved people.

Thomas Hooker

Founder of Connecticut; promoted democratic principles in government.

Triangular Trade

Trade network linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

William Bradford

Leader of the Pilgrims and longtime governor of Plymouth Colony.

William Penn

Quaker founder of Pennsylvania; promoted religious tolerance and good relations with Natives.