Colonization of the Americas

Spanish colonization

Spain's control of Central and South America, Caribbean, mining silver, and establishing sugar plantations.

French colonization

Focus on finding the Northwest Passage, trade relations with natives, and Catholic and Jesuit missionaries.

Dutch colonization

Focus on the Northwest Passage, establishing New Amsterdam, and trading with natives.

English colonization

Seeking permanent settlements, religious diversity, and social mobility.

Chesapeake

British colonial region including Virginia and Maryland, focused on tobacco farming and reliance on slave labor.

House of Burgesses

First elected legislative body in Virginia, founded in 1619.

New England

British colonial region including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, Pilgrim settlers, and trade-based economy.

Mayflower Compact

Document establishing self-government for Pilgrim settlers in New England.

Middle colonies

British colonial region including Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey, economically diverse and ethnically diverse.

Southern colonies

British colonial region including North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, characterized by rice and indigo plantations and reliance on slave labor.

Mercantilism

Economic theory where a country becomes wealthy by exporting more than importing.

Triangular Trade

Trade network between Europe, Africa, and the Americas, part of the British colonies' economic system.

Navigation Acts

Series of laws to control colonial trade, often not enforced under salutary neglect.

Indentured servants

Laborers who agreed to work for an individual in exchange for paid passage, usually contracted for 7-10 years.

African slave labor

Labor system that replaced indentured servants, especially after Bacon's Rebellion.

Bacon's Rebellion

Uprising of landless whites against Virginia Governor William Berkeley, leading to increased use of African slave labor.

Slave codes

Laws passed in colonies with high slave populations to control enslaved workers.

Powhatan uprising

Conflict in 1622 in the Virginia colony between Powhatan Confederacy and English settlers.

King Philip's War

Deadly conflict between Natives and British settlers in New England, leading to the end of native resistance.

Pueblo Revolt

Conflict between Spanish settlers and Native Americans in the American Southwest.

Great Awakening

Religious revival in the American colonies during the 1730s and 1740s, leading to new denominations and questioning of British authority.