APUSH Chapter 1 | Europe in the Americas

Leif Ericson

Norse explorer who likely reached North America (Vinland) around 1000 CE, centuries before Columbus.

Christopher Columbus

Italian-born explorer sailing for Spain; landed in the Caribbean in 1492, opening European exploration of the Americas.

Amerigo Vespucci

Explorer who recognized the "New World" was a separate continent; the Americas were named after him.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

Agreement dividing the non‑European world between Spain and Portugal; Spain got most of the Americas, Portugal took Brazil and Africa.

Balboa and Cortés

Balboa: First European to see the Pacific Ocean (from the Americas) in 1513.

Cortés: Conquistador who led the conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519-1521).

Conquistadores

Spanish "conquerors" in the New World who seized territories, often brutally, in search of gold and prestige.

Encomienda system

Spanish labor system granting colonists the right to forced Native labor in exchange for Christianizing and protecting them—often abused.

Pueblo Revolt / Pope (1680)

Native uprising led by Popé against Spanish rule in New Mexico; temporary success expelled Spaniards and restored Pueblo religious practices.

John Cabot

Italian sailing for England; explored North American coast around 1497, strengthening England's claim.

Henry Hudson

Explorer for the Dutch and English; explored the Hudson River and Hudson Bay while seeking a Northwest Passage.

Protestant Reformation

16th-century religious movement initiated by Martin Luther that challenged Catholic authority and reshaped Europe.

Richard Hakluyt

English writer advocating colonization for trade, Protestantism, and national power.

Queen Elizabeth I

Protestant monarch (1558-1603) who championed exploration, sponsored colonization, and defeated the Spanish Armada (1588).

Sir Walter Raleigh

Sponsored the Roanoke "Lost Colony" in the 1580s; influential in early English colonization efforts.

Spanish Armada (1588)

Spain's naval fleet defeated by England, signaling the decline of Spanish sea dominance.

Roanoke

First English settlement (1587) that mysteriously disappeared; known as the "Lost Colony."

London Company

Joint-stock enterprise that financed Jamestown in 1607, enabling England's first permanent colony.

Jamestown (1607)

First lasting English colony; early settlers faced starvation, disease, and conflicts with local tribes.

Powhatans

Native confederacy near Jamestown; engaged in both trade and conflict with English colonists.

Indentured servant

Person who worked for a set number of years in exchange for passage to America, before the rise of African slavery.

House of Burgesses (1619)

First representative legislative body in English colonial America; convened in Virginia.

Anglican Church

Church of England established after Henry VIII separated from Catholicism.

Separatists

Religious dissenters who sought to break entirely from the Anglican Church; e.g., the Pilgrims.

Mayflower Compact (1620)

Agreement by the Pilgrims to unite under majority rule and form a self-governing colony.

Squanto

Patuxet Native who aided Pilgrims by teaching farming methods and acting as translator.

William Bradford

Leader and longtime governor of Plymouth Colony; helped establish stable government in the colony.

Puritan Commonwealth / Massachusetts Bay Company (1630)

Founded Massachusetts Bay Colony by Puritan settlers seeking to build "a city upon a hill."

John Winthrop

Colonial governor who delivered the "City upon a Hill" sermon, championing moral religious community standards.

The Great Migration (1630s)

Movement of thousands of Puritans to New England to escape religious persecution in England.

Covenant

Agreement between Puritans and God to build a righteous, godly society in New England.

Predestination / Visible Saints

Belief in divine election and that those visibly demonstrating moral virtue were among the "elect."

Anne Hutchinson

Exiled Puritan who challenged clergy authority; emphasized personal divine revelation.

Roger Williams

Advocated church-state separation and fair treatment of Natives; founded Rhode Island for religious freedom.

Thomas Hooker / Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

Led dissenters to Connecticut; created a charter viewed as the West's first written constitution.

Pequot War (1636-1638)

Conflict where New England colonists and allies decimated the Pequot tribe, claiming their lands.

Dutch Settlement (New Netherland)

Dutch colony focused on fur trade; later became New York under English control.

Peter Minuit

Governor of New Netherland who famously purchased Manhattan Island from Native Americans.

Lord Baltimore

Founded Maryland as a colony offering religious tolerance for English Catholics.

Toleration Act of 1649 (Maryland)

Early statute granting freedom of worship to all Christians in Maryland.

Duke of York

Brother of Charles II who seized New Netherland and renamed it New York.

William Penn

Quaker leader who founded Pennsylvania as a haven of religious tolerance and fair Native relations.

Columbian Exchange

Widespread transfer of plants, animals, cultures, human populations, diseases, and ideas between the Americas and Afro-Europe after 1492.