apush unit 1

Native American Societies

Diverse cultures organized based on geography before European contact.

Aztecs

Central American civilization with a capital city, Tenochtitlan, known for human sacrifice and irrigation.

Maya

Civilization on the Yucatan peninsula with large cities, complex irrigation, and stone temples.

Inca

Civilization in the Andes with Machu Picchu, known for its massive empire and agricultural success.

Pueblo People

Southwest American farmers who built homes in cliffs and organized societies with government.

Great Plains and Great Basin

Regions inhabited by nomadic hunter-gatherers like the Ute people.

Pacific Northwest

Region where Chinook people lived in fishing villages and relied on cedar for housing.

Mississippi River Valley

Area with larger societies like Hopewell and Cahokia, supported by fertile soil for farming.

Iroquois

Northeast Native American group living in villages, growing maize and beans, and residing in longhouses.

European Expansion

Driven by population growth, centralized governments, and desire for luxury goods from Asia.

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese figure who sought a water passage to Asia and established a trading post empire.

Christopher Columbus

Explorer who sailed west in 1492, mistakenly encountering the Americas instead of Asia.

Columbian Exchange

Transfer of food, animals, minerals, people, and diseases between Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

Smallpox

Disease that devastated Native American populations, aiding Spanish conquests.

Encomienda System

Labor system introduced by Columbus, granting land and native slaves to Spanish settlers.

Caste System

Social hierarchy imposed by the Spanish in the Americas, categorizing people based on ethnicity.

Spanish Mission System

Method of converting Native Americans to Christianity through missionaries rather than military force.

Pueblo Revolt

1610 uprising against Spanish forced conversion, resulting in the death of Spanish colonizers and destruction of churches. - Spanish eventually fought back and regained the land

Bartolome de las Casas

Spanish figure who criticized the treatment of Native Americans and the encomienda system. - said africans should take the enslaved place