A New World of Many Cultures, 1491-1607

Vocabulary flashcards covering early Native American cultures, European expansion, transatlantic trade, labor systems, and initial colonial encounters in North and South America (1491-1607).

Mayas

A highly developed civilization that built remarkable cities in the rain forests of the Yucatan Peninsula between A.D. 300 and 800.

Aztecs

A powerful empire from central Mexico that developed centuries after the Mayas, featuring a capital city, Tenochtitlan, with a population of about 200,000.

Incas

A vast South American empire based in Peru that developed a highly organized society and cultivated potatoes as a stable food supply.

Corn (maize)

A staple crop cultivated by the Mayas and Aztecs that provided a stable food supply and slowly spread northward into North America.

Land bridge

A strip of land that once connected Siberia and Alaska (now submerged under the Bering Sea), crossed by ancient Asian migrants entering North America at least 10,000 to 40,000 years ago.

Hokokam, Anasazi, and Pueblos

Southwest Native American groups located in present-day New Mexico and Arizona who built multifaceted societies supported by irrigation farming, cave dwellings, and multistoried stone structures.

Adena-Hopewell

A Woodland mound-builder culture centered in present-day Ohio famous for creating large earthen mounds, some up to 300 feet long.

Lakota Sioux

A Great Plains tribe that acquired horses from Spanish settlers in the 17th century and shifted away from farming to hunting buffalo across the plains.

Algonquian

One of the largest American Indian language families, predominantly located in the Northeast region of North America.

Siouan

A major American Indian language family centered on the Great Plains.

Iroquois Confederation

A powerful political union of five independent tribes—the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk—located in the Mohawk Valley of New York.

Longhouses

Wooden structures up to 200 feet long inhabited by multiple families related through a mother, commonly built by the Iroquois and Northwest coastal tribes.

Protestant Reformation

An early 16th-century revolt by Christians in northern European countries against the authority of the pope in Rome, adding religious motives to overseas exploration.

Ferdinand and Isabella

The Catholic monarchs of Aragon and Castile who united Spain, conquered Granada in 1492, and funded Christopher Columbus's first transatlantic voyage.

Henry the Navigator

The prince of Portugal whose sponsored voyages of exploration opened up a sea route around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope to reach Asia.

Christopher Columbus

An Italian navigator who sailed west under the Spanish flag in 1492, establishing permanent, ongoing interaction between people across the Atlantic.

Nation-state

A political unit replacing small kingdoms and multiethnic empires, in which the majority of people share both a common culture and common loyalty toward a central government.

Columbian Exchange

The post-1492 transfer of plants, animals, germs, and technology across the Atlantic Ocean between the Americas and the rest of the world.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal that moved the pope's line of demarcation west, giving Portugal claim to Brazil and Spain claim to the remainder of the Americas.

Conquistadores

Spanish explorers and conquerors, such as Hernan Cortés and Francisco Pizarro, who secured Spain's early dominion in the Americas.

Hernan Cortés

The Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec empire in Mexico.

Francisco Pizarro

The Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca empire in Peru.

Encomienda system

A Spanish labor system where the king granted land and Native Americans to individual Spaniards, who forced the natives to farm or mine in exchange for care.

Asiento system

A system requiring Spanish colonists to pay a tax to their king on each enslaved West African brought to the Americas.

John Cabot

An Italian sea captain sailing under contract to England's King Henry VII who explored the coast of Newfoundland in 1497.

Roanoke Island

An island off the North Carolina coast where Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to establish an English settlement in 1587, which ultimately failed.

Jacques Cartier

A French explorer who explored the St. Lawrence River extensively between 1534 and 1542, establishing early French claims in North America.

Samuel de Champlain

The French explorer known as the Father of New France who established the first permanent French settlement at Quebec in 1608.

Henry Hudson

An English sailor hired by the Dutch in 1609 who explored the river that now bears his name, establishing Dutch claims to New Amsterdam.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

A Spanish priest and former landowner who advocated for Native American rights, persuaded the king to enact the New Laws of 1542, and defended natives in the Valladolid Debate.

New Laws of 1542

Spanish legislation that ended Indian slavery, halted forced Indian labor, and began to dismantle the encomienda system.

Valladolid Debate

A formal debate in 1550–1551 in Spain regarding the ethical treatment and human status of Native Americans in Spanish colonies.

Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda

A Spanish priest who argued during the Valladolid Debate that Native Americans were less than human and benefited from serving in the encomienda system.

Native Peoples of the Americas, 1491 Map

A map illustrating the geographic distribution of Native American cultural regions prior to European contact, including Arctic, Subarctic, Northwest Coast, California, Plateau, Great Basin, Southwest, Plains, Northeast, Southeast, Mesoamerica, and Caribbean.