Global Interaction Vocabulary

Clan

a group of related families

Tepees

a circular tent made by stretching buffalo skins over wooden poles

maize

corn

quipu

a system of knotted strings used by the Inca people for keeping records

Caravel

a small, fast, maneuverable ship that had a large cargo hold and usually three masts with lateen sails

Conquistador

a leader in the Spanish conquest of the Americas

Colony

a settlement of people living in a new territory, linked with the parent country by trade and direct government control

Mercantilism

a set of principles that dominated economic thought in the 17th century; it held that the prosperity of a nation depended on a large supply of gold and silover

Plantations

a large agricultural estate

Middle Passage

the forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas

Peninsulare

Spanish and Portuguese official born in Europe who resided temporarily in Latin America for political and economic gain, then returned to Europe

Creole

a person of European descent born in Latin America and living there permanently

Mestizo

a person of mixed European and Native American descent

Mulatto

a person of mixed African and European descent

Encomienda

a system of labor the Spanish used in the Americas; Spanish landowners had the right, as granted by Queen Isabella, to use Native Americans as laborers (slaves)

Isolationist

a national policy of abstaining from political or economic relations with other countries

Porcelain

a ceramic material made of fine clay baked at very high temperatures

Junks

Flat-bottomed sailing vessels typical in China and the East Indies

Chinampas

A technique used in Mesoamerican agriculture that relies on small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to grow crops floating on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico

Mezoamerica

The region extends from central Mexico to Central America, home to various ancient civilizations

Terraced Farming

Method of growing crops on the sides of hills or mountains by planting on graduated levels built into the slop

Financier

a person, company, or government that provides money for projects or businesses

Columbian Exchange

the widespread transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Old World and the New World

Triangular Trade

Exchange during the 17th and 18th centuries that involved shipping finished products from Europe to West Africa to be exchanged for slaves, these slaves being shipped to the West Indies and exchanged for raw materials which were in turn shipped back to Europe