US History Review: Period 1 (1491-1607)

Flashcards reviewing key concepts and people from Period 1 (1491-1607) in US History.

Name three major pre-contact civilizations in the Americas.

Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas

What was a staple crop common to many pre-contact civilizations in the Americas?

Maize (corn)

Describe the lifestyle of the people in the Great Plains/Basin region before European contact.

Nomadic hunter-gatherers

Name the main people of the Pacific Northwest.

Chinook people

What were the three primary motivations for European exploration?

God, Gold, and Glory

What technological advancements facilitated European exploration?

Caravels, maritime charts, astrolabe, and stern post rudder

Who sponsored Christopher Columbus's voyage and why?

Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, to spread Christianity and find a route to Asia for profit

What was the Columbian Exchange?

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

Name diseases were transferred to the Americas through the Columbian Exchange.

Smallpox

What foods were transferred from the Americas to Europe?

Maize, tomatoes, potatoes, cacao, and tobacco

What animals were transferred from Europe/Africa to the Americas?

Horses, pigs, cattle, and chickens

What economic system is based on private ownership in exchange of goods?

Capitalism

Define mercantilism.

An economic policy driven by the state with heavy governmental direction and intervention.

What was the Encomienda System?

A system where Spanish men were granted land and could use the coerced labor of the natives who lived there in exchange for spreading Christianity.

What was the purpose of the requerimiento?

A legal document issued by Ferdinand and Isabella granting the Spanish monarchs the authority by the Pope to claim lands in the Americas to convert natives.

Describe the Spanish colonial caste system.

A hierarchical system based on racial ancestry that determined social status and tax obligations.

What was the order of the Spanish colonial caste system?

Peninsulares, Criollos, Mestizos, Mulattoes, Africans, Native Americans

What was the mission system?

After 1573, the Spanish transition from soldiers to missionaries in order to convert natives.

What was the Pueblo Revolt?

A 1680 uprising of Pueblo people against Spanish colonizers due to forced conversion.

What was the Treaty of Tordesillas and what did it establish?

A 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal dividing land in the western hemisphere establishing a line of demarcation in the Atlantic Ocean.

What did the Asiento System entail?

A Spanish agreement granting other European powers the right to supply enslaved Africans to Spanish colonies in the Americas.

Who were the key figures in the Valladolid Debates and what did they argue?

Bartolomé de Las Casas (argued for the rights of natives) vs. Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda (argued for their subjugation).