APUSH Period 2: The Atlantic World and European Colonization

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, people, events, and concepts from the lecture notes on European colonization and the Atlantic World (Period 2).

Chattel Slavery

The ownership of human beings as property; Virginia and Maryland laws in the 1660s tied a child's status to the mother, making slavery hereditary.

Encomiendas

Spanish land grants that allowed tribute labor and goods from Native communities; helped concentrate control of resources and labor under conquerors.

Mita System

Inca mandatory labor system used by Spanish authorities in mines; coerced labor essential to European wealth.

Casta System

Legalized racial hierarchy in Spanish America that categorized people by race (e.g., Spaniards, mestizos, mulattos, zambo) and affected social status.

Columbian Exchange

Intercontinental transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds, reshaping ecosystems and societies.

Mercantilism

Economic policy to maximize exports and minimize imports; state-supported monopolies and trade that funded overseas colonization.

Tribute Colonies

Colonies (Mexico and Peru) that relied on indigenous wealth and labor in order to send wealth back to the homeland.

Plantation Colonies

Colonies that used bound labor to produce cash crops (e.g., sugar); intensive enslaved labor became central.

Neo-Europes

Colonies that built economies and social structures resembling those of their homeland.

Jamestown

First successful English colony in Virginia (founded 1607); tobacco as a cash crop; later English governance and the House of Burgesses (1619); became a Royal Colony (1624).

Headright System

Created due to labor shortage; Grant of 50 acres of land to anyone who paid for an immigrant’s passage, enabling large planters to accumulate even more land.

Indentured Servitude

Labor contract where migrants worked 4–5 years for passage, then hoped for freedom and land; often harsh and exploitative; gradually replaced by enslaved labor.

Lord Baltimore

Catholic aristocrat who founded Maryland as a refuge for Catholics and governed its early development.

Toleration Act (1649)

Maryland law guaranteeing freedom of worship for all Christians amid anti-Catholic tensions.

Tobacco (as main crop)

Primary cash crop driving the economies of Virginia and Maryland and shaping settlement and labor patterns.

House of Burgesses

The first representative legislative assembly in Virginia (established 1619).

Powhatan

Leader of the Powhatan Confederacy, a pivotal Native coalition in Virginia and father of Pocahontas.

Pocahontas

Daughter of Powhatan; married John Rolfe as part of a peace settlement between colonists and tribes.

John Rolfe

English settler whose tobacco cultivation helped stabilize Jamestown; married Pocahontas, aiding peace.

Opechancanough

Powhatan leader who led a major 1622 attack on English settlers, triggering a brutal cycle of violence.

Virginia Royal Colony (1624)

Virginia became a royal colony, with a crown-appointed governor and advisory council; Anglican Church established as part of governance.

Maryland (tobacco colony)

Maryland developed as a tobacco-based colony under Lord Baltimore, with early policies of religious toleration.

New France

French colony in North America focused on the fur trade, supported by missionaries and explorers like Champlain.

Samuel de Champlain

Founder of Quebec (1608); established alliances with Indigenous peoples and promoted fur trade.

New Netherland

Dutch colony centered on New Amsterdam (later New York); traded with Native peoples and faced conflict with English forces.

Henry Hudson

English explorer whose voyages under Dutch sponsorship helped establish New Netherland.

Beaver Wars

Conflicts involving the Iroquois and other groups over control of the beaver trade and alliances with Europeans.

New England

English Puritan colonies in the northeast, including Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, founded on religious motives and self-government.

Plymouth

Colony founded by the Mayflower Pilgrims seeking religious freedom; later integrated into broader New England society.

Pilgrims

Separatists who migrated to America seeking religious liberty and established Plymouth.

Puritans

English reformers who sought to purify the Church of England and established tight religious communities in New England.

John Winthrop

Leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; framed the colony as a ‘city upon a hill’ example through a theocratic, coalesced government.

City Upon a Hill

Puritan ideal of Massachusetts as a model Christian community for others to imitate.

Joint-Stock Company

Commercial venture pooling resources from multiple investors to fund colonization projects.

Roger Williams

Puritan minister who advocated religious tolerance and separation of Church and State; founded Rhode Island.

Rhode Island

Colony founded by Roger Williams as a place of religious freedom and separation of church and state.

Anne Hutchinson

Puritan dissenter banished for challenging church authorities; helped inspire Rhode Island’s religious freedom.

Metacom / King Philip’s War

Wampanoag leader Metacom led a major 1675–1676 conflict against New England settlers, ultimately defeated.

Bacon’s Rebellion

1676 uprising in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon against colonial government’s policies toward Native Americans and frontier defense.