The americas vocab

Conquistador

Soldiers and explorers of the Spanish and Portuguese empires who facilitated the conquest of vast regions of the americas and Asia for the Iberian monarchies

Encomienda

The federal land and labor system used by Spanish authorities in the americas during the first decades of exploration(1490s -1510s)

Audiencia

Judicial districts or regions that the Spanish used to divide up the americas and Philippines

Virrey/Vicery

The monarch’s personal representative to the Spanish colonies in the Americas and Philippines; vice king the Spanish and Portuguese (Brazil) Americas were divided into viceroyalties led by virrey. Ex: viceroyalty of new Granada, new Spian, Perú, and rio de la plata

Great y of tordesillas (1494)

Divided the Nelly “discovered” lands in the Americas between the Spanish and Portuguese kingdoms; was ignored by England, France and later the Netherlands.

Engenho

Portuguese word used to refer to the sugar plantations of Brazil; required the labor of free and slave people with skills to produce and market sugar products to Europe; engenheros were landed elite of Brazil, ingenio in Spanish

Hacienda

The base agricultural estate in the Spanish Americas; focused on ranching and growing European agricultural products in the Americas for the consumption of Spanish colonists and indigenous laborers

Peninsulares

A person born on the Iberian peninsula, typically a Spanish or Portuguese official who resided temporarily in Latin America for political and economic gain then returned to Europe

Criollos

A person of European decent born in Latin America and living there permanently

Mestizos

A person of mixed European and Native American decent

Mulatto

A person of mixed European and/or mestizo, and African decent

Mita system

Labor system Spanish conquistadors adapted from the Inca policy of forced labor, one seventh of a village was required to work in silver mines of potosi or other dangerous construction projects

Potosi

Massive silver mine located under a mountain in present day Bolivia; Spanish authorities used the Mira and voluntary labor to haul silver are from the mine; much of this silver funded Spain’s global empire, brutal conditions caused thousands of deaths

Zacatecas

Similar silver mine located in new Spain (Mexico) relied on mostly voluntary indigenous labor which sped up the assimilation process for Mexicans

Quinto

Refers to as Lee quinto del Rey; the Spanish monarchs share of all silver and gold found in Spanish Americas c.1500, lowers to 10% in the 1720s

Métis

Indigenous people of Canada who are of mixed native European ancestry

Casta

Complex and detailed system of determining racial and social identity. Historians have since named the process of race mixture or miscegenation as mestizaje

Indentured servants

Immigrants to a colonial territory who agree to serve a period years (7) as unpaid laborers on a plantation exchange for free passage overseas

Caravel

Small European type merchant ship used by the Spanish and Portuguese; useful for exploring the coast of Africa and the Caribbean in late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries (15450-1550)

Galleon

European type of merchant ship usually used by the Spanish and Portuguese after c.1550 to carry gold,silver, spices, and trade goods to and from Europe the Americas and Asia were very large and heavily armed

Carreira da India

Portuguese for “ Indian run”; the out and back trade route for Portuguese caravels sailing from Lisboa to goa, India and return

Settler colonies

Colonies in the Americas created for the purpose of creating permanent settlements and expanding the power, wealth, and culture of European countries

Plantation colonies

Colonies created with express purpose of growing cash crops (sugar, tobacco, rice, indigo, or cotton) on large estates using imported African slaves and then exporting the cash crop to the metropole.