Unit 1 APUSH

Period 1 (1491–1607) • CED Weight 4–6% • Aug 17 – Aug 26, 2026 • 30 terms

Three Sisters agriculture GEO & WXT

• ID: Corn, beans, and squash grown together.

• Significance: Proves Native Americans had advanced agriculture before Europeans arrived

Mississippian culture / Cahokia SOC & GEO

• ID: Large mound-building Native American civilization centered at Cahokia (near St. Louis), c. 1050-1350 CE.

• Significance: Proves complex, urban Native societies existed long before Europeans arrived.

Animism SOC

• ID: Belief that animals, plants, and natural objects have spirits.

• Significance: Shaped Native Americans' relationship with nature and often clashed with European Christianity.

Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee) PCE

• ID: Alliance of 5 (later 6) Native nations in the Northeast.

• Significance: Showed advanced Native government and influenced ideas about federalism.

Reconquista WOR & PCE

• ID: Christian reconquest of Spain from Muslim rule, completed in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella.

• Significance: Encouraged Spanish religious zeal, military expansion, and overseas exploration.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) WOR & PCE

• ID: Agreement between Spain and Portugal dividing newly claimed lands in the Americas.

• Significance: Showed Europeans dividing land without regard for Native peoples or sovereignty.

Conquistador WOR & MIG

• ID: Spanish soldier-explorer who conquered and explored the Americas (e.g., Cortés, Pizarro).

• Significance: Defeated major Native empires and helped build Spain's American empire.

Northwest Passage WOR & GEO

• ID: A hoped-for sea route through North America connecting the Atlantic and Asia.

• Significance: Drove European exploration and colonization of North America.

Mercantilism WXT & WOR

• ID: Economic theory that a nation's wealth came from gold, silver, and a favorable trade balance.

• Significance: Justified European colonization and shaped colonial trade policies.

Chiefdom PCE & SOC

• ID: Native American political system ruled by a chief or small elite over multiple communities.

• Significance: Shows the political complexity of Native societies before European contact.

Columbian Exchange GEO & WXT

• ID: Exchange of plants, animals, diseases, people, and ideas between Europe, Africa, and the Americas after 1492.

• Significance: Changed the world and devastated Native populations through disease.

Epidemic disease / smallpox GEO

• ID: Diseases like smallpox, measles, and influenza brought by Europeans.

• Significance: Killed many Native Americans and weakened resistance to European conquest.

Hernán Cortés WOR & PCE

• ID: Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire and captured Tenochtitlán (1521).

• Significance: Gave Spain control of Mexico's wealth and population and became a model for later conquests.

Francisco Pizarro WOR & PCE

Identification: A Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of the Inca Empire in South America, capturing its capital by 1533.

Significance: His conquest extended Spanish control over the Andes and its vast silver wealth, fueling Spain's rise as a global power.

Aztec Empire / Tenochtitlán SOC & PCE

• ID: Powerful empire centered at Tenochtitlán, conquered by Cortés in 1521.

• Significance: Showed how disease, weapons, and Native allies helped Spain defeat a major Native empire.

Inca Empire SOC & GEO

• ID: Large Andean empire known for roads, terraced farming, and strong central government; conquered by Pizarro in the 1530s.

• Significance: Showed the advanced civilization and state-building of Native peoples in South America.

Encomienda system WXT & PCE

• ID: Spanish labor system that forced Native Americans to provide labor or tribute to colonists.

• Significance: Exploited Native peoples and functioned like slavery.

Demographic collapse GEO & MIG

• ID: Massive decline of Native American populations after 1492 due to disease, warfare, and forced labor.

• Significance: Led to labor shortages and increased importation of enslaved Africans to the Americas.

Bartolomé de las Casas SOC & PCE

• ID: Spanish priest who criticized the mistreatment of Native Americans.

• Significance: Spoke out against Spanish abuses and influenced debates about Native rights and colonization.

"Black Legend" WOR & SOC

• ID: Protestant portrayal of Spanish colonization as especially cruel and brutal.

• Significance: Used by rival European powers to justify their own colonization and criticize Spain.

Terra Nullius PCE & GEO

• ID: Doctrine that land not used in a European way was considered "empty land."

• Significance: Justified Europeans taking Native land and ignoring Indigenous ownership.

Casta system / mestizaje SOC & NAT

• ID: Spanish colonial social system that ranked people by race and ancestry.

• Significance: Created racial hierarchy and inequality in Spanish America.

Chattel slavery (colonial origins) WXT & SOC

• ID: Permanent, hereditary slavery where enslaved people were treated as property.

• Significance: Shifted labor from Native Americans to enslaved Africans, fueling the Atlantic slave trade

Religious syncretism SOC & NAT

• ID: Blending of Catholic and Indigenous religious beliefs.

• Significance: Created new hybrid cultures while allowing Native peoples to preserve parts of their traditions.

Requerimiento (1513) PCE & WOR

• ID: Spanish declaration demanding Native peoples submit to Spanish rule and Catholicism.

• Significance: Used to justify conquest and violence against Native peoples who refused or didn't understand it.

Pueblo societies GEO & SOC

• ID: Native peoples of the Southwest who lived in permanent adobe villages and used irrigation farming.

• Significance: Their Pueblo Revolt (1680) showed Native resistance to Spanish rule.

Great Plains societies GEO & MIG

• ID: Native peoples of the Great Plains who relied on bison hunting and seasonal migration.

• Significance: Showed how Native Americans adapted to different environments across North America.

Pacific Northwest societies GEO & SOC

• ID: Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest who built settled societies based on salmon fishing and ceremonies like the potlatch.

• Significance: Showed that large, complex societies could develop without agriculture in resource-rich areas.

Viceroyalty of New Spain PCE & WOR

• ID: Spanish colonial territory that governed Mexico, Central America, and other Spanish lands from Mexico City.

• Significance: Established and organized Spanish rule in the Americas.

"God, Glory, and Gold" WOR

• ID: The three main motives for European exploration: religion, national prestige, and wealth.

• Significance: Explains why European nations competed to explore and colonize the Americas.