AP US History Notes: Period 1 (1491-1607 C.E.)

Three Sisters

Three staple crops (corn, beans, and squash) favored by many native tribes in North America, interdependent in growth.

Great League of Peace

A political confederation of Iroquois tribes formed to coordinate collective action.

Columbian Exchange

The transmission and interchange of plants, animals, diseases, cultures, and technologies between the New World and the Old World.

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer who stumbled upon the Bahamas in 1492 while seeking a westward sea route for East Asian trade.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal dividing the New World's territories for colonization purposes.

Conquistadores

Soldiers and explorers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires who colonized Latin America in the 16th to 18th centuries.

Encomienda

A Spanish legal system permitting colonizers to extract tribute from American Indians while converting them to Catholicism, often resulting in slavery.

Repartimiento

A system replacing encomienda that legally freed American Indians, allowing them land and pay for labor, though abuse continued.

Juan de Oñate

A conquistador known for establishing the first permanent colonial settlement in the American Southwest and the Acoma Massacre.

Roanoke

The Lost Colony; the first attempted English colony in the New World, established in 1585, whose inhabitants vanished by 1590.