Unit 1 Vocab Terms

Maize

Corn

Tenochtitlan

The capital city of the Aztec Empire. The city was built on marshy islands on the western side of Lake Tetzcoco, which is the site of present-day Mexico City.

Aztec

Mesoamerican people who were conquered by the Spanish under Hernan Cortes, 1519-1528

Cahokia

Site of Native American city directly across Mississippi River from present-day St. Louis

Pueblo

a North American Indian settlement of the southwestern US, especially one consisting of multistoried adobe houses

Great League of Peace

An alliance of the Iroquis tribes, originally formed sometime between 1450 and 1600, that used their combined strength to pressure Europeans to work with them in the fur trade and to wage war across what is today eastern North America

Animism

the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena

Matrilineal

of or based on kinship with the mother or female line

Columbian Exchange

The transatlantic flow of goods and people that began with Columbus’s voyages in 1492

Martin Luther’s 95 Theses

List of propositions for an academic disputation written in 1517

Indentured Servant

Settlers who signed on for a temporary period of servitude to a master in exchange for passage to the New World.

John Rolfe

An English explorer, farmer, and merchant

House of Burgesses

The first elected assembly in colonial America, established in 1619 in Virginia. Only wealthy landowners could vote in its elections.

Puritans

English religious group that sought to purify the Church of England; founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony under John Winthrop in 1630

Pilgrims

Puritan separatists who broke completely with the Church of England and sailed to the New World aboard the Mayflower, founding Plymouth Colony on Cape Cod in 1620

Mayflower Compact

Documents signed in 1620 aboard the Mayflower before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth; the document committed the group to majority-rule government

Traits of New England Colonies

Harsh climate, rocky soil, dense forests, + strong Puritan religious foundation

Traits of Middle Colonies

Diverse geography, fertile land, + moderate climate

Traits of Southern Colonies

Warm climate, fertile soil, + a reliance on agriculture, particularly cash crops like tobacco, rice, + indigo

Mercantilism

Policy of Great Britain and other imperial powers of regulating economies of colonies to benefit the mother country

Navigation Act

Law passed by the English Parliament to control colonial trade and bolster the mercantile system, 1650-1775; enforcement of the act led to growing resentment by colonists.

Quakers

a Christian movement founded in 17th century England by George Fox

Plantation

An early word for a colony, a settlement “planted” from abroad among an alien population in Ireland or the New World. Later, a large agricultural enterprise that used unfree labor to produce a crop for the world market.

Bacon’s Rebellion

The unsuccessful 1676 revolt led by planter Nathaniel Bacon against Virginia governor William Berkeley’s administration because of governmental corruption and because Berkeley had failed to protect settlers from Indian raids and did not allow them to occupy Indian lands.

English Bill of Rights

A series of laws enacted in 1689 that inscribed the rights of Englishmen into law and enumerated parliamentary powers, such as taxation