Colonizing America, Prehistory to 1754

Vocabulary flashcards summarizing the Native American societies, European exploration, colonial growth, and political/religious ideas from prehistory to 1754.

Mesoamerica

The region where the agricultural revolution helped sophisticated societies arise, including the Olmec, Maya, Toltec, and Aztec.

Hohokam

A Native group in the West that used irrigation for agriculture.

Anasazi

A Native group in the West that built pueblos near streams.

Mississippian Societies

Societies in the South and West that farmed, built cities, and in some cases later became nomads.

Algonquian and Iroquoian Peoples

Native peoples in the Northeast who cleared forests to farm and hunted deer.

Pacific Coast Groups

Native groups on the Pacific Coast who relied on fishing for food.

The Crusades

Expeditions that stimulated European interest in luxury goods from Asia.

Compass

A new technology that made sea exploration possible.

Astrolabe

A new navigation technology that helped make sea exploration possible.

Cortés

The Spanish conqueror beginning whose efforts Spanish conquistadors conquered Mexico, Peru, and the Maya.

Spanish Conquistadors

Spanish conquerors who, starting with Cortés, conquered Mexico, Peru, and the Maya.

Sugarcane Plantations

Large agricultural estates where Europeans forced enslaved Africans to work.

European Diseases

Illnesses introduced by Europeans that devastated Native American populations.

St. Lawrence River

The geographic area along which France established its colonies.

Protestant Reformation

A movement in England that led to the persecution of Puritans, Catholics, and others who sought freedom in America.

Puritans

A religious group persecuted during the Protestant Reformation in England who established colonies in New England.

Catholics

A religious group persecuted during the Protestant Reformation in England who sought freedom in America.

Cash Crops

Agricultural crops, such as rice, tobacco, and sugarcane, that allowed the Southern Colonies to flourish and led to the rise of the slave trade.

Southern Colonies

Colonies that flourished by growing cash crops such as rice, tobacco, and sugarcane, leading to the rise of the slave trade.

Lumber and Fish

Important economic exports produced in the Puritan New England colonies.

New England Colonies

Puritan colonies whose economy relied heavily on exports of lumber and fish.

Middle Colonies

Colonies that grew wealthy by exporting wheat to Europe.

Wheat

An important crop exported to Europe that brought wealth to the Middle Colonies.

Triangular Trade

A trading system that helped northern colonies prosper and led to the growth of cities along the American East Coast.

Mercantilism

An economic policy or system that connected the colonists with their former nations.

The Enlightenment

An intellectual movement that encouraged rationalism and John Locke's ideas on government and natural rights.

John Locke

An Enlightenment thinker whose political ideas regarding government and natural rights were embraced in the colonies.

Rationalism

An intellectual approach encouraged during the Enlightenment alongside John Locke's ideas on government.

Natural Rights

Political concepts regarding human rights and government formulated by John Locke during the Enlightenment.

The Great Awakening

A religious movement in the colonies that stressed religion over traditional authority.