Early American History Flashcards

Flashcards about early American history, focusing on Native American societies, European exploration, and their interactions.

Mayan, Incan, and Aztec Empires

Highly organized societies that carried on extensive trade and created calendars based on scientific observations.

Mayans and Aztecs

Corn was the stable food supply for these empires.

Incas

Potatoes were the stable food supply for this empire.

Mexico

Agriculture spread more slowly northward from this country.

Southwest Settlements

Present-day New Mexico and Arizona. Developed farming through irrigation.

Hokokam, Anasanzi, and Pueblos

They Lived in large numbers in caves, under cliffs, and in multistoried buildings

Northwest settlements

Pacific Coast - permanent longhouses or plank houses, rich diet based on hunting, fishing, and gathering.

Buffalo

Used as food, decorations, crafting tools, knives, and clothing.

Tepees

Easy to disassemble and transport dwellings.

Plains tribes

merged of split apart as conditions changed; migrated southward from Canada to Texas.

Midwest Settlements

These American Indians prospered with a rich food supply supported by hunting, fishing, and agriculture

Cahokia

Largest settlement in the Midwest.

Iroquois Confederation

Political union of five independent tribes in Mohawk Valley, NY

Northeast Settlements

Hunting and farming techniques exhausted the soil, leading to the need to move to fresh land.

Atlantic Seaboard Settlements

Southern New Jersey to Florida; descendants of Woodland mound builders.

Renaissance

This rebirth of classical learning led to artistic and scientific activity.

Technological Advancements (15th-16th centuries)

Improvements to shipbuilding and mapmaking.

Printing Press

Led to the spread of knowledge across Europe.

Protestant Reformation

Religious revolt against the authority of the Roman Pope.

Multiethnic empires

were broken up into nation-states where the majority of the people shared a common culture.

Columbian Exchange

An exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between Europe and the Americas.

Treaty of Tordesillas

Established Portugal's claim to Brazil; Spain claimed the rest of the Americas.

Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizzaro

Conquered the Aztecs and Incas

Encomienda System

The king of Spain grants land and natives to individual Spaniards.

Asiento System

Required the Spanish to pay a tax to their king on each slave they imported to the Americas.

Samuel de Champlain

First permanent French settlement in America.

Dutch Claims

Claimed surrounding areas of the Hudson River.

Dutch West India Company

Granted the right to control the Hudson River area for economic gain.

St. Augustine

A 1565 settlement in Florida

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Became an advocate for better treatment of Native Americans.

human

Juan Gines de Sepulveda argued against Las Casas that Native Americans were less than ___.

Unified response from Native Americans

Europe encouraged tribalism among the natives in order to prevent this.

Encomienda System

The system responsible for the discrimination of Native Americans

Smallpox and measles

Wiped out 90% of the Native American population