APUSH Unit 1: 1491-1607 – Native Societies & European Expansion (Vocabulary)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the notes on pre-contact Native societies and early European exploration, colonization, and cultural interactions.

Aztecs

Central American empire with a capital at Tenochtitlan; large population, writing system, irrigation, and human sacrifice.

Tenochtitlan

Aztec capital city, site of a major urban center with around 300,000 inhabitants at its height.

Maya

Civilization on the Yucatán Peninsula known for large cities, irrigation, water storage, and monumental stone temples.

Inca

Andean empire in Peru; Machu Picchu; vast empire supported by terrace farming in fertile valleys.

Maize

Cultivation of corn that spread northward and supported sedentary life in the American Southwest.

Pueblo

Southwestern farmers who built cliff dwellings, grew maize, and organized complex communities.

Ute

Great Plains/Great Basin hunter-gatherers requiring large tracts of land.

Chinook

Pacific Northwest group known for fishing villages and cedar-built large houses.

Chumash

California coastal hunter-gatherers with permanent settlements.

Hopewell

Mississippi River valley culture with 4,000–6,000 people and extensive trade networks.

Cahokia

Mississippian city near modern St. Louis; 10,000–30,000 people; centralized chiefs and trade.

Iroquois

Northeast confederacy with villages of hundreds, maize and beans, and longhouses.

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese patron who promoted Atlantic exploration and established trading posts.

Caravel

Nimble sailing ship that aided long-distance European exploration.

Astrolabe

Navigational instrument used to determine latitude at sea.

Columbus

Italian navigator sailing for Spain who reached the Americas in 1492, seeking Asia.

Columbian Exchange

Transfer of crops, animals, diseases, and people between the Americas, Africa, and Europe.

Smallpox

Diseases brought by Europeans that devastated indigenous populations lacking immunity.

Encomienda system

Spanish colonial labor system granting land and Native labor to colonists.

Requerimiento

Spanish decree asserting sovereignty and the right to conquer and convert natives.

Mercantilism

Economic policy emphasizing state-directed accumulation of wealth through trade.

Joint-stock company

Investors pooling capital to fund overseas exploration and colonization.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Spanish priest who criticized conquest brutality and defended native rights.

Peninsulares

Spaniards born in Spain who held top colonial administrative positions.

Criollos

Spaniards born in the Americas; often wealthy but below Peninsulares in status.

Mestizos

People of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry.

Mulattoes

People of mixed Spanish and African ancestry.

Pueblo Revolt (1610)

Indigenous uprising against forced conversions; 400 Spaniards killed; churches burned; Spanish reconquest 12 years later.

Mission system

Spanish strategy to convert natives to Catholicism through religious outposts.

Animism

Native belief that spirits inhabit elements of the natural world; contrast with Catholicism.