American History I: Early Americas & Exploration Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards covering early American history, indigenous civilizations, European exploration, colonial settlement, economic systems, and early conflicts.

Beringia

A land mass exposed during the last Ice Age connecting Siberia and Alaska, allowing human migration into the Americas.

Mesoamerica

Cultural region extending from central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica.

Maya

Indigenous civilization centered in the Yucatán Peninsula, known for writing, mathematics, and calendars.

Aztecs

Empire in the Valley of Mexico (capital: Tenochtitlan) known for social structure, military dominance, and religion.

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer sailing for Spain who reached the Caribbean in 1492, initiating European-American contact.

Prince Henry of Portugal (The Navigator)

Sponsored early African coastal exploration and maritime advancements.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec Empire in 1521.

Caravel

Small, fast, maneuverable Portuguese sailing ship with triangular lateen sails that allowed sailing into the wind.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

Agreement mediated by the Pope dividing non-Christian lands; Spain gained most of the Americas, Portugal gained Brazil and African routes.

Columbian Exchange

Transfer of plants, animals, culture, populations, technology, and diseases between the Americas, West Africa, and Old World after 1492.

Encomienda System

Spanish colonial labor system granting conquistadors rights to forced Indigenous labor in exchange for protection and Christianization.

Mercantilism

Economic theory holding global wealth as finite, depending on acquiring bullion, maximizing exports, and using colonies for raw materials and markets.

Royal Fifth (Quinto Real)

A 20% tax levied by the Spanish crown on all precious metals and treasure extracted in colonies.

Henry VIII

Established the Church of England (Anglicanism) after severing ties with the Papacy.

Martin Luther

German monk whose Ninety-Five Theses sparked the Protestant Reformation.

John Calvin

Protestant reformer whose theology of predestination heavily influenced English Puritans and Separatists.

Walter Raleigh & Roanoke

Raleigh sponsored England's first attempted American settlement off North Carolina ("The Lost Colony").

Virginia Company

Joint-stock company chartered by King James I with two branches (London Company and Plymouth Company) to settle North America.

Jamestown

Established in 1607 by the London Company; first permanent English settlement in North America.

Headright System

Policy offering 50 acres of land to settlers who paid their own passage or financed another laborer's transport.

Freeholders

Landowners holding full, independent title to property, granting them political rights and voting eligibility.

Indentured Servants

Laborers bound by legal contract to work without wages for 4-7 years in exchange for Atlantic passage, food, and shelter.

Samuel de Champlain

French explorer who founded Quebec in 1608 and established fur trade alliances with Indigenous nations.

Puritans & John Winthrop

English Calvinists seeking to "purify" the Church of England; Winthrop envisioned Massachusetts Bay as a "City upon a Hill."

Separatists & William Bradford

Radical Puritans who withdrew entirely from the Church of England; Bradford led them to establish Plymouth Colony in 1620.

Mayflower Compact

1620 agreement signed by Pilgrim leaders establishing basic self-government based on majority rule.

Squanto

Patuxet diplomat and interpreter who helped Pilgrims survive by teaching local agricultural practices.

William Penn & Society of Friends (Quakers)

Penn founded Pennsylvania as a refuge emphasizing pacifism, religious freedom, and fair dealing with Indigenous groups.

Roger Williams

Banished from Massachusetts for advocating religious freedom and separation of church and state; founded Rhode Island.

Anne Hutchinson

Banished from Massachusetts for holding home Bible studies and challenging religious leadership.

Metacom (King Philip)

Wampanoag leader who led an alliance of Native tribes against English expansion in New England (King Philip's War, 1675-1676).

Nathaniel Bacon & Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

Uprising against VA Governor William Berkeley over frontier security, land access for former indentured servants, and elite rule.

Navigation Acts

Imperial laws requiring colonial trade to use English/colonial ships and route high-value exports through English ports.

Dominion of New England

Administrative union created in 1686 combining New England and Middle colonies under strict royal control.

Sir Edmund Andros

Autocratic governor of the Dominion who revoked land titles, suppressed assemblies, and enforced trade laws.

Glorious Revolution (1688)

Overthrow of King James II; collapsed the Dominion of New England and restored colonial assemblies.

Witchcraft Hysteria & Tituba

Outbreak of witch trials in Salem (1692); Tituba, an enslaved woman, was among the first accused.

Middle Passage

Forced, brutal oceanic voyage of captive Africans across the Atlantic.

Seasoning

A 1-to-3-year acclimatization period where newly arrived enslaved Africans were broken into plantation routines, language, and diseases.

Early Abolitionists

Early opponents of slavery, primarily religious groups like Quakers and Mennonites of Germantown, Pennsylvania.

Amerigo Vespucci

Italian navigator whose letters led cartographers to recognize South America as a distinct continent and name "America" after him.

St. Augustine

Founded by Spain in Florida in 1565; oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the continental United States.