AP World History - Unit 4 - Vocab

First half of Vocab for Vocab test

Maritime Technology / Innovations

New inventions like the caravel, astrolabe, magnetic compass, and lateen sail that improved navigation and allowed Europeans to travel farther across oceans.

Henry the Navigator

A Portuguese prince who sponsored early voyages of exploration along the African coast, helping start the Age of Exploration.

Vasco da Gama

A Portuguese explorer who sailed around Africa to reach India in 1498, opening direct maritime trade between Europe and Asia.

Cartaz

A pass or permit issued by the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean requiring merchants to pay fees to trade — part of their trading post empire control.

Trading Post Empire

An empire based on small outposts or forts to control trade routes (not large territories). Portugal’s empire in Africa and Asia is a main example.

Ferdinand and Isabella

Monarchs of Spain who completed the Reconquista, financed Columbus’s voyage in 1492, and united Spain under Christianity.

Reconquista

The centuries-long campaign by Christian kingdoms to recapture Iberia (Spain/Portugal) from Muslim rule, ending in 1492.

Omani-European Rivalry

Competition between the Omanis (Arab traders) and Europeans (especially the Portuguese) for control of Indian Ocean trade routes.

Cash Crops

Crops like sugar, tobacco, and cotton grown mainly for profit and export, often on plantations using enslaved or coerced labor.

Mercantilism

An economic system where colonies exist to benefit the mother country by supplying raw materials and buying finished goods; wealth was measured in gold and silver.

Joint Stock Companies

Business ventures where investors share profits and losses (e.g., the British East India Company and Dutch VOC), helping fund exploration and colonization.

Chartered Companies

Companies granted monopolies and rights by governments to trade and colonize in specific regions (like the British or Dutch East India Companies).

Manila Galleons

Spanish ships that carried silver from the Americas to Asia (via Manila, Philippines) and brought Asian goods back to Europe through Mexico.

James Cook

An English explorer who mapped the Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand, expanding European geographic knowledge.

Taíno

The indigenous people of the Caribbean encountered by Columbus; most died from disease and forced labor after European contact.

Smallpox

A deadly infectious disease brought by Europeans to the Americas, devastating indigenous populations in the Columbian Exchange.

Cortés and Pizarro

Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire (1519–1521); Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire (1530s) — both for Spain.

Viceroys

Spanish royal governors who ruled colonies in the Americas on behalf of the king.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement dividing newly discovered lands between Spain (west) and Portugal (east), authorized by the Pope.

La Malinche (Doña Marina)

An Indigenous woman who served as translator and advisor to Hernán Cortés; crucial in the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs.

Castas

A racial hierarchy system in colonial Latin America that categorized people by their ethnic background (Spanish, African, Indigenous mixes).

Peninsulares

People born in Spain who lived in the Americas; they held the highest social and political status in colonial society.

Creoles (Criollos)

People of Spanish descent born in the Americas; second in the colonial hierarchy, often wealthy but excluded from top government jobs.

Mestizos

People of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the Americas.

Mulattoes

People of mixed European and African ancestry

Zambos

People of mixed Indigenous and African ancestry in colonial Latin America.

Métis

People of mixed Indigenous and French ancestry in Canada, often involved in the fur trade.

Encomienda

A labor system where Spanish colonists were granted control over Indigenous workers in exchange for “protecting” and converting them.

Hacienda

A large estate or plantation in Spanish America, often using coerced labor to grow crops for local and export markets

Engenho

Portuguese word for sugar mill or plantation in Brazil; centers of production using enslaved African labor.

Mita

A Incan labor system adapted by the Spanish**, requiring Indigenous communities to provide labor (especially in mines like Potosí).

Silver

A key global commodity mined in the Americas (especially in Potosí), fueling European trade with Asia through the Manila Galleons.

Potosí

A massive silver mining city in modern Bolivia; one of the richest sources of silver for the Spanish Empire.

Manila, Philippines

A Spanish colonial port city linking American silver with Asian markets; major hub of global trade in the 1500s–1600s.

Fur Trade and Yasak

European (especially French and Russian) trade for furs with Indigenous peoples; yasak was a tribute tax in furs imposed by Russia on Siberian peoples.

Indentured Labor

A system where workers signed contracts to work for several years in exchange for passage to the Americas or other benefits.

Chattel Slavery

A system where people are treated as property that can be bought and sold; central to plantation economies in the Americas.

Jesuits

Members of the Society of Jesus, a Catholic missionary order that spread Christianity and education worldwide during European expansion.

Dutch Learning (Rangaku)

Western scientific and technological knowledge brought to Japan by the Dutch during its isolation period (Edo era).

Virgin of Guadalupe

A Catholic symbol of Mexico blending Indigenous and Spanish religious traditions; appeared to Juan Diego in 1531 and became a symbol of Mexican identity.