AP world unit 4 vocab

The Columbian Exchange

refers to the widespread transfer of plants, animals, cultures, human populations, diseases, technology, and ideas between the Americas and the Old World following Christopher Columbus's voyages in the late 15th century.

Chattle Slavery

is a form of slavery where individuals are treated as personal property that can be bought, sold, and owned.

Audiencias

high courts established by the Spanish crown in its colonies, primarily during the colonial period in the Americas

Criollos

were individuals of Spanish descent born in the Americas, who played a significant role in the social and political dynamics of colonial Spanish America.

Encomienda System

was a labor system instituted by the Spanish crown during the colonization of the Americas, where Spanish settlers were granted the right to extract labor and tribute from Indigenous peoples in exchange for protection and religious instruction

Galleons

were a series of Spanish trading ships that operated between Manila in the Philippines and Acapulco in Mexico from the late 16th century to the early 19th century.

Hacienda System

was a large estate or plantation system established during colonial times in Latin America, primarily characterized by its reliance on forced labor, especially of Indigenous people and enslaved Africans.

Indentured servitude

was a labor system in which individuals agreed to work for a certain number of years in exchange for passage to the New World, room, board, and eventual freedom.

Joint-Stock Companies

are business entities where different stocks can be bought and owned by shareholders, allowing for the pooling of capital to fund commercial ventures

Limited liability

is a legal structure that protects an investor's personal assets from being used to cover the debts and obligations of a company.

Maroons

were enslaved Africans who escaped from plantations and established independent communities in the Americas, particularly in regions like the Caribbean and Brazil.

Mercantilism

is an economic theory and practice that emerged in Europe during the 16th to 18th centuries, advocating that a nation's strength is directly related to its wealth, particularly in gold and silver.

Peninsulares

the highest social class in colonial Latin America, consisting of Spanish-born individuals who held significant political, economic, and social power.

Plantations

are large-scale agricultural estates that primarily focus on the cultivation of cash crops, such as sugar, tobacco, coffee, and cotton, often using enslaved or indentured labor.

Primogeniture Law

are legal rules that dictate that the firstborn child, typically the eldest son, inherits the entire estate of a parent, to the exclusion of younger siblings.

Santeria

a syncretic Afro-Cuban religion blending traditional Yoruba beliefs (from West Africa) with Roman Catholicism

The Middle Passage

refers to the brutal and inhumane sea voyage that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries.

Vicerory

high-ranking officials who acted as the representatives of a monarch in colonial territories, primarily during the age of maritime empires

Vodun

is a religious and spiritual practice that originated in West Africa and developed in the Americas, particularly in Haiti, during the transatlantic slave trade