Flashcards AP US History: Colonial Foundations, Trade, and Early Conflicts

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, people, and goods between Europe and the Americas after 1492.

Horse

The animal that allowed Plains Indians to become highly nomadic.

Bison

An animal Plains Native Americans depended on for food, clothing, shelter, and tools.

Haudenosaunee League

A powerful Native American alliance also known as the Iroquois Confederacy.

Silk Road

A network of trade routes connecting Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

Christopher Columbus

Explorer whose 1492 voyage began sustained contact between Europe and the Americas.

Fall of Constantinople

Occurred in 1453 and encouraged Europeans to find new trade routes to Asia.

Portugal

European country that explored by sailing around Africa to reach Asia.

Spain

European country that explored by sailing west across the Atlantic.

Washington Irving

Writer who helped popularize the myth that Columbus proved the Earth was round.

Amerigo Vespucci

Explorer who identified that the Americas were new continents.

John Cabot

Explorer credited with reaching the North American mainland for England.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement that divided newly claimed lands between Spain and Portugal.

Trans-Saharan Slave Trade

Slave trade route that transported enslaved Africans across the Sahara to North Africa and the Middle East.

Atlantic Slave Trade

Slave trade route that transported enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas.

Chattel Slavery

A system where enslaved people were treated as property and slavery was permanent and hereditary.

Slave Codes

Laws that controlled enslaved people and restricted their rights.

Partus Sequitur Ventrem

The rule that a child's status followed the status of the mother.

Brazil and Caribbean

The regions where most enslaved Africans were taken.

Mercantilism

An economic system where colonies provided wealth and resources to the mother country.

Capitalist Colonialism

Colonization focused on trade and profit.

Extractive Colonialism

Colonization focused on taking valuable resources such as gold and silver.

Missionary Colonialism

Colonization focused on converting Native peoples to Christianity.

Plantation Colonialism

Colonization based on large farms using plantation labor.

Settler Colonialism

Colonists permanently settling and establishing communities.

Joint-Stock Company

A company funded by investors who shared risks and profits.

Plantation

A large farm that produced cash crops, often using enslaved labor.

Roanoke Settlement

The 'Lost Colony' that mysteriously disappeared.

Indentured Servitude

A system where people worked for several years in exchange for transportation or other benefits.

House of Burgesses

The first representative legislative assembly in the English colonies.

Headright System

A system that gave land to people who paid for passage to the colonies.

Pocahontas

A Powhatan woman associated with Jamestown who married John Rolfe.

John Rolfe

Colonist who helped make tobacco profitable in Virginia.

Starving Time

The deadly winter of 1609-1610 in Jamestown when many colonists died.

Fall Line

A geographical boundary where rivers descend from higher land to lower land.

Powhatan Confederacy

An alliance of Native American groups in Virginia led by Powhatan.

Jamestown

The first successful English colony, founded in 1607.

Tobacco

The major cash crop that saved Jamestown economically.

Virginia and Maryland

The colonies where tobacco was mainly grown.

Bacon's Rebellion

A 1676 rebellion in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon.

Nathaniel Bacon

The leader of Bacon's Rebellion.

Bacon's Rebellion Significance

It exposed class tensions and encouraged greater reliance on racial slavery.

New England Colonies

Small farms, fishing, shipbuilding, trade, and strong Puritan influence.

Middle Colonies

Diverse population, fertile farmland, religious diversity, and trade.

Southern Colonies

Plantation agriculture, cash crops, and greater dependence on enslaved labor.

Puritans

Protestants who wanted to reform the Church of England.

Pilgrims

Religious Separatists who wanted to separate completely from the Church of England.

Plymouth Colony

The colony established by the Pilgrims.

Mayflower Compact

A 1620 agreement establishing self-government in Plymouth.

Salem Witch Trials

1692-1693 trials in Massachusetts where people were accused of witchcraft.

Anne Hutchinson

A religious dissenter who was banished from Massachusetts Bay.

Roger Williams

A supporter of religious freedom who founded Rhode Island.

Pennsylvania

The colony established for Quakers.

Maryland

The colony established for Catholics.

New Netherland

The Dutch colony that later became New York.

Rhode Island

The colony founded by religious refugees from Massachusetts Bay.

Georgia

The colony created for debtors and the 'worthy poor.'

South Carolina

A colony that developed an aristocratic society and had a large Black population.

Philadelphia

The largest colonial city until the American Revolution.

Adam Smith

Economist who supported free markets and wrote The Wealth of Nations.

Laissez-Faire

Limited government interference in the economy.

Supply and Demand

The relationship between how much is available and how much people want.

Yeoman Farmers

Small independent farmers who usually owned and worked their own land.

Great Awakening

A major religious revival in the colonies during the 1730s and 1740s.

Deism

Belief in a creator who established natural laws but does not regularly intervene.

Social Contract

The idea that people give government authority in exchange for protection of their rights.

Enlightenment

An intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, natural rights, and liberty.

Enlightenment Influence on America

Its ideas influenced natural rights, democracy, limited government, and the Declaration of Independence.

Natural Rights

Rights that people are born with, including life, liberty, and property.

John Locke

Enlightenment thinker who influenced ideas about natural rights and government.

Colonial Population Growth

The population grew because of high birth rates, immigration, and increased food supplies.