Unit 1-2 (1491-1607-1754) Key Terms

Columbian Exchange

Transfer of crops, disease, and animals between the Old and New worlds

Encomienda System

Spanish colonial labor system involving Native Americans

Indentured Servants

European laborers who did unpaid work in exchange for their passage to the New World

Mayflower Compact

The first document to establish a self-government

Puritans

English Protestants hoping to rid the Church of England of Catholic influence

Middle passage

The route taken by ships carrying slaves to the New World

Molasses Act

A British tax on the colonies' molasses, sugar, and rum imports

Triangular Trade

Trade linking England (manufactured goods, textiles), Africa (enslaved people), and the Americans (sugar, tobacco, cotton)

Founding of Jamestown

The first permanent British settlement in Virginia

Pilgrims land at Plymouth

Separatists sought religious freedom from the Church of England

New England

Small farms, fishing, timber, and Puritan values

Middle Colonies

The "breadbasket," religiously tolerant

Southern Colonies

Plantation-based economy, tobacco, rice, indigo, slavery

Bacon’s Rebellion

Uprising of former indentured servants that led to the increased use of enslaved people instead of indentured servants

Salem Witch Trials

Mass hysteria in Massachusetts where people were accused of witchcraft

Great Awakening

Protestant revival characterized by emotional preaching and American unity in religion