AMSCO 4.4 — Economic Systems and Labor

Chattel slavery

A system in which people were treated as property that could be bought, sold, and inherited, with their status often passed to their children. It became central to plantation economies in the Americas.

Asante Kingdom

A powerful West African state, centered in present-day Ghana, that grew wealthy through gold, trade, and later participation in the Atlantic slave trade. It developed a strong military and centralized government.

Kongo Kingdom

A Central African kingdom that established diplomatic and trade relations with Portugal in the late 1400s. Its rulers adopted Christianity and traded with Europeans, but the growing Atlantic slave trade caused serious political and social disruption.

East India Company (EIC)

An English joint-stock company founded in 1600 to conduct trade with Asia. It eventually gained political and territorial control in parts of India.

Seven Years’ War

A global conflict fought from 1756 to 1763 between major European powers and their allies. Britain gained significant colonial territory, including French Canada, helping it expand its influence in North America and India.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal that divided newly claimed lands outside Europe into separate spheres of influence. It helped establish Portugal's claim to Brazil and Spain's claims to much of the rest of the Americas.

St. Augustine, Florida

A Spanish settlement founded in 1565. It is widely recognized as the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the present-day United States and helped Spain defend its claims in Florida.

The Great Peace of Montreal

A 1701 agreement between New France and representatives of numerous Indigenous nations, including the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. It reduced conflict and helped stabilize French-Indigenous relations in the Great Lakes region.

French and Indian War

The North American theater of the Seven Years' War (1754–1763), fought mainly between Britain and France and their Indigenous allies. Britain's victory expanded British control in North America and contributed to tensions that later helped lead to the American Revolution.

Battle of Diu

A 1509 naval battle in the Indian Ocean in which the Portuguese and their allies defeated a coalition that included forces from Gujarat and the Mamluk Sultanate. The victory strengthened Portugal's position in Indian Ocean maritime trade.

Encomienda system

A Spanish colonial labor and tribute system in which colonists received the right to demand tribute and labor from Indigenous communities, supposedly in return for protection and Christian instruction. In practice, it often led to exploitation and abuse.

Coerced labor system

Any labor arrangement in which people are forced or compelled to work rather than freely choosing their employment. Examples include slavery, the encomienda system, and the mita system.

Hacienda system

A large landed estate in Spanish America that produced agricultural goods or livestock. Haciendas often relied on Indigenous laborers, debt peonage, and other unequal labor arrangements.

Free peasant labor

A system in which peasants work their own land or sell their labor without being legally enslaved or bound as serfs. Their freedom could be limited by taxes, debts, landowners, and economic pressures.

King Afonso I of Kongo

A Christian king of Kongo who corresponded with Portuguese rulers in the early 1500s. He sought to control Portuguese influence and protested the illegal enslavement of his subjects, although the kingdom remained involved in the slave trade.

The Middle Passage

The forced transatlantic voyage that carried enslaved Africans to the Americas. People endured horrific conditions, and the voyage was a central stage of the Atlantic slave trade.

Barracoons / slave castles

Barracoons were holding areas where enslaved Africans were confined before shipment. Slave castles were fortified coastal trading posts, particularly along West Africa's coast, where enslaved people were imprisoned before being transported across the Atlantic.

Île de Gorée / House of Slaves / Door of No Return

Île de Gorée is an island off Senegal associated with the Atlantic slave trade. The House of Slaves and its Door of No Return are memorial sites connected to the history and memory of enslavement. The island's exact role and scale in the trade are debated by historians.

Cape Coast Castle / “Point of No Return”

A British trading fort on the coast of present-day Ghana that became a major site of the Atlantic slave trade. Enslaved Africans were imprisoned in its dungeons before being transported across the Atlantic.

Indian Ocean Slave Trade

A network of slave-trading routes across the Indian Ocean and adjacent regions that existed for centuries before and during the Atlantic slave trade. Enslaved people were transported to places including the Middle East, East Africa, South Asia, and Indian Ocean islands for domestic service, military service, and other labor.

The Commercial Revolution

The expansion of European trade, banking, investment, and markets from roughly the 1500s through the 1700s. It helped transform European economies and supported the growth of capitalism.

Price Revolution

A period of significant inflation in Europe during the 1500s and early 1600s, caused partly by population growth and the influx of silver from the Americas.

Joint-stock companies

Businesses funded by multiple investors who purchased shares. They pooled money and shared risks and profits, allowing expensive overseas trading ventures to be financed.

Limited liability

A legal principle that generally limits investors' financial losses to the amount they invested in a company. It encouraged investment by reducing personal financial risk.

Financial bubbles

Situations in which the prices of assets rise far above their underlying value because of speculation, often followed by a sudden crash. They illustrate the risks of expanding financial markets.

Triangular trade

A simplified model of Atlantic trade linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas. European manufactured goods were traded in Africa, enslaved Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas, and American raw materials and plantation products were shipped to Europe. Actual trade routes were more complex than this model.

Monopolies

Situations in which one company or organization controls a market or has exclusive trading rights. European states granted monopolies to companies to increase profits and control overseas trade.

Dahomey and Oyo

Powerful West African states in the region of present-day Benin and Nigeria. Both participated in regional trade and the Atlantic slave trade; their rulers used wealth and military power to strengthen their states.

Viceroys

Officials appointed by a monarch to govern a colony or territory on the monarch's behalf. Spain used viceroys to administer its American empire.

Audiencias

High courts in Spanish America that also performed administrative and advisory functions. They helped enforce Spanish royal authority and oversee colonial government.

Florentine Codex

A 16th-century work compiled by the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún with the help of Nahua Indigenous contributors. Written in Spanish and Nahuatl, it documented Aztec and Indigenous Mexican culture, religion, and history.

Creoles

In Spanish America, people of European ancestry born in the Americas. Creoles could accumulate wealth and influence but often faced restrictions on the highest colonial offices, which were frequently reserved for peninsulares.

Santería

Developed primarily in Cuba, blending Yoruba religious traditions with Catholic influences.

Candomblé

Developed in Brazil, combining West African religious traditions with other influences.

Vodun

A West African religious tradition that also developed related forms in the Caribbean, especially Haitian Vodou.

Virgin of Guadalupe

A Catholic Marian devotion associated with an apparition said to have occurred in Mexico in 1531. It became an important religious and cultural symbol in Mexico, reflecting the blending of Catholicism and local Indigenous identities.

Jizya

A tax historically imposed on certain non-Muslim subjects under some Islamic governments. It could provide a recognized status and protection under the state, although policies and treatment varied across empires.

Timar system

An Ottoman system in which the state granted officials or cavalry soldiers, especially sipahis, the right to collect revenue from designated lands in exchange for military or administrative service. It helped support the army and maintain provincial control.

Roxelana (Hürrem Sultan)

The influential wife of Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She exercised political influence at court and illustrates the role that women in the imperial household could play in Ottoman politics.

Barbary pirates

Privateers and pirates operating from North African ports along the Barbary Coast. They attacked ships and coastal settlements, captured people for ransom or enslavement, and influenced Mediterranean trade and diplomacy.

Sephardic Jews

Historically associated with the Iberian Peninsula. Many fled Spain and Portugal following expulsions and persecution, and some settled in the Ottoman Empire.

Ashkenazi Jews

Historically associated with Central and Eastern Europe.

Criollos

People of Spanish ancestry born in the Americas.

Peninsulares

People born in Spain who settled in the Americas.

Mestizos

People of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry.

Mulattoes

People of mixed European and African ancestry.

Zambos

People of mixed Indigenous and African ancestry.

Bartolomé de las Casas

A Spanish Dominican friar who criticized the abuse and exploitation of Indigenous peoples in the Americas. He advocated reforms and helped draw attention to colonial mistreatment.

Orishas (Orisas)

Divine beings or spiritual forces in Yoruba religious traditions. Veneration of orishas influenced Afro-Atlantic religions, including Santería and Candomblé.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

A 17th-century Mexican nun, poet, and intellectual in New Spain. She defended women's ability to pursue education and scholarship, challenging gender restrictions in colonial society.

Tonantzintla

Usually referring to Santa María Tonantzintla, a church in Puebla, Mexico, known for its elaborate Baroque interior. Its decoration is often studied as an example of Indigenous and European artistic influences blending in colonial Latin America.

Metacom’s War (King Philip’s War)

A conflict fought in New England from 1675 to 1676 between Indigenous peoples led by Metacom, a Wampanoag leader, and English colonists and their Indigenous allies. The war resulted in major Indigenous losses and strengthened English colonial control.

Ana Nzinga and Ndongo

Ana Nzinga was a 17th-century ruler of Ndongo and Matamba in Central Africa, in present-day Angola. She used diplomacy, military resistance, and alliances to oppose Portuguese expansion and the slave trade.

Serfdom

A labor system in which peasants were legally bound to an estate and owed labor, payments, or other obligations to a landowner. Serfdom persisted in parts of Eastern Europe and Russia even as it declined in much of Western Europe.

Cossacks

Communities of frontier warriors and settlers, particularly in Ukraine and southern Russia. They sometimes resisted state authority and sometimes served as soldiers for expanding states.

Pugachev’s Rebellion

A major Russian uprising from 1773 to 1775 led by Yemelyan Pugachev. Peasants, Cossacks, and other groups rebelled against Catherine the Great's government, protesting serfdom, inequality, and state oppression. The rebellion was defeated.

Mirs

Traditional Russian rural village communities that collectively managed land and distributed it among peasant households. They could help organize taxes and communal obligations, although practices varied over time.

Maratha kingdoms

States led by the Marathas that rose in western India and challenged Mughal power, particularly during the 17th and 18th centuries. Their expansion contributed to the weakening of Mughal political control.

Pueblo Revolt

An Indigenous uprising in 1680 in present-day New Mexico, led by the Pueblo religious leader Popé. The Pueblo peoples drove Spanish colonists out of the region for more than a decade, resisting forced labor and religious suppression.

Caribbean

A region of islands and surrounding coastal areas in the Americas that became central to European plantation economies. Sugar production relied heavily on the forced labor of enslaved Africans, and the region became a major center of the Atlantic slave trade.

Maroons

Communities formed by formerly enslaved Africans who escaped slavery and established independent settlements.

Maroon Wars

Conflicts between Maroon communities and colonial authorities, especially in Jamaica.

Queen Nanny

A leader of the Jamaican Windward Maroons who helped organize resistance against British colonial forces in the early 18th century.

Gloucester County Rebellion

A planned uprising in Virginia in 1663 involving indentured servants and enslaved Africans. The conspiracy was discovered before it could succeed, and colonial authorities punished those involved. It illustrates resistance to the colonial labor system and the fear such resistance created among elites.

Glorious Revolution

The events of 1688–1689 in England that removed King James II and brought William III and Mary II to the throne. The settlement strengthened Parliament's authority over the monarchy and helped establish a constitutional monarchy.

Mexica / Aztec Empire

A powerful Mesoamerican empire centered on Tenochtitlan in present-day Mexico. It collected tribute from conquered peoples and was defeated by a Spanish-led alliance in 1521.

Inca Empire

A large Andean empire centered in Cusco, in present-day Peru. It expanded through conquest, road networks, centralized administration, and systems of labor obligation. Spanish forces conquered its ruling state in the 1530s.

Mit’a system

A labor obligation used by the Inca state, requiring communities to provide workers for public projects, agriculture, or the military. Spanish colonial authorities later adapted the system, especially for mining, often under highly exploitative conditions.

Harem

A private household area in which women and children of a ruler or wealthy man lived. In some Islamic empires, the imperial harem also served as a political institution where royal women could exercise influence.

Cartography

The science and practice of making maps. Improvements in European cartography helped sailors navigate unfamiliar waters, plan voyages, and expand overseas exploration.

Primogeniture

A system of inheritance in which the eldest son typically inherits the family's land and property. Younger sons sometimes sought wealth, status, or opportunities through overseas exploration, trade, and military service.

Omani-European rivalry

Competition between Oman and European maritime powers, especially Portugal, for control of Indian Ocean trade routes and coastal trading centers. Omani forces challenged Portuguese influence and helped expand Oman's maritime power.

Maritime empires

Empires that expand and maintain power primarily through naval strength, overseas colonies, and control of sea routes and trade. Examples include the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and British empires.

Astronomical charts

Navigation tools that used observations of celestial bodies, such as the Sun and stars, to help sailors determine their position and direction at sea. They improved long-distance ocean navigation.

Carrack

A large sailing ship used for long-distance ocean voyages and carrying valuable cargo. It helped support European overseas trade and expansion.

Caravel

A relatively small, maneuverable ship that could sail effectively against the wind. Portuguese explorers used caravels to explore the African coast and Atlantic waters.

Fluyt (fluit)

A Dutch merchant ship designed to carry large cargoes economically with a relatively small crew. It helped the Dutch expand commercial shipping and trade.

Sea Beggars

Dutch rebels, including privateers, who fought against Spanish rule during the Dutch Revolt. Their naval attacks helped the Dutch challenge Spanish power and contributed to the struggle for Dutch independence.

Trading-post empire

An empire that controls strategic ports and coastal trading centers rather than conquering large inland territories. Portugal initially used this strategy to influence Indian Ocean trade through fortified ports and naval power.

Manila galleons

Spanish ships that crossed the Pacific between Manila in the Philippines and Acapulco in Mexico. They connected Asian goods, especially Chinese silk and porcelain, with American silver and linked Asian, American, and European trade networks.

Northwest Passage

A hoped-for sea route through the Arctic connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. European explorers searched for it to reach Asian markets more directly, but ice and difficult conditions made navigation extremely challenging.

Québec and New France

Québec was founded by the French in 1608 and became a major center of New France in North America. French colonization emphasized the fur trade, missionary activity, and alliances with Indigenous peoples.

Columbian Exchange

The widespread transfer of plants, animals, diseases, people, and cultural practices between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after Columbus's voyages beginning in 1492. It transformed agriculture, diets, ecosystems, and populations around the world.

Smallpox

An Old World disease that devastated Indigenous American populations with little prior exposure to it.

Measles

Another Old World disease that caused severe epidemics among Indigenous peoples.

Influenza

A contagious respiratory disease that spread through increasingly connected populations.

Malaria

A mosquito-borne disease that was present in parts of the Old World and spread or became more established in some American regions, especially where environmental conditions supported its transmission.

Sugar

Became a major plantation crop in the Caribbean and Brazil, relying heavily on enslaved African labor.

Tobacco

Became a valuable export from English colonies, especially Virginia.

Cacao

Used to make chocolate; production expanded in tropical regions of the Americas and later elsewhere.

Quinine

A substance derived from cinchona bark and used to treat malaria. Strictly speaking, it is a medicinal product rather than a typical cash crop itself.

Maize (corn)

An American crop that spread to Africa, Europe, and Asia, increasing food supplies in many regions.

Manioc (cassava)

A starchy American root crop that became especially important in parts of Africa because it grows in tropical conditions and can tolerate periods of drought.

Syncopated rhythms

Musical patterns that emphasize unexpected beats or offbeats. African musical traditions helped shape many musical forms in the Americas.

Negro spirituals

Religious songs created by enslaved African Americans that drew on African musical traditions and Christianity. They expressed faith, suffering, hope, community, and sometimes coded messages of resistance.

Okra

An African crop that became important in parts of the Americas, especially the American South

Rice

Cultivated in West Africa long before European colonization. Enslaved Africans brought valuable agricultural knowledge that contributed to rice cultivation in parts of the Americas.

Gumbo

A dish associated particularly with Louisiana Creole cuisine, reflecting African, Indigenous, and European culinary influences.

Demographic

In AP World History, demographic changes during this period included Indigenous population decline from disease and colonization, forced migration of Africans through slavery, and population growth in some regions as American staple crops spread.