Period 1 APUSH Vocab

Corn

Domesticated by Mesoamericans and chosen for its nutritional value.

Horses

Used for transportation and trade.

Disease

Europeans brought disease over and killed 90% of the population (smallpox, influenza, measles, malaria)

Encomienda system

A system of forced labor imposed on indigenous workers by Spanish colonists

Asiento system

A Spanish slavery system that laid the foundation for slavery in the Americas

Slavery

Native Americans and Africans were forced to work for Europeans. Very profitable for Europeans.

Land bridge

The Bering Strait allowed native ancestors to cross from Asia to the Americas during the Ice Age.

Adena-Hopewell

Lived in large towns, extensive trade network

Hokokam, Anasazi, Pueblos

Evolved multifaceted societies supported by farming and irrigation systems.

Woodland mound builders

Communities developed along the Ohio River who constructed different styles of earthen mounds for burial, residential, and ceremonial purposes.

Lakota Sioux

The Lakota are a Native American people. They are one of the three prominent subcultures of the Sioux people.

Mayas, Incas, Aztecs

These civilizations thrived in the Americas before European contact. Known for their advanced agricultural techniques, impressive architectural achievements, and complex social structures. Each civilization had its own unique culture, religion, and language. The first was known for its city-states and pyramids, the second for its vast empire and road systems, and the third for its powerful city of Tenochtitlan and rich mythology.

Conquistadores

These individuals played a significant role in the Spanish colonization of the New World during the 16th century. They sought wealth, land, and the spread of Christianity. Notable figures include Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro, who conquered the Aztec and Inca empires, respectively.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of the Aztec Empire in Mexico from 1519.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish explorer who conquered Peru and, after assassinating Emperor Atahualpa, conquered the Inca Empire and claimed its territories on behalf of the Spanish crown.

New Laws of 1542

These regulations were established by the Spanish Crown to protect indigenous peoples in the Americas from exploitation and abuse. They aimed to limit the encomienda system and promote fair treatment. The laws were a response to the abuses reported by missionaries and advocates for indigenous rights.

Roanoke Island

The first English Colony in North America (present-day North Carolina)

Compass

Made traveling by ocean more accurate while in open waters.

Printing press

Helped spread information faster and more widely.

Ferdinand and Isabella

Isabella (queen of Castile) and Ferdinand (king of Aragon); defeated the Moors of Granada; united their separate Christian kingdoms, which brought hope and power for European believers in the Roman Catholic faith.

Protestant Reformation

When Martin Luther rebelled against the church by writing a book called “The Ninety-Five Theses.

Henry the Navigator

Portugal's prince who sponsored many voyages of exploration; succeeded in opening up a long sea route around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope.

Christopher Columbus

An italian navigator who, in 1492, was granted a voyage of three ships. He sought out to find a quicker path to the Indies, but instead he wound up in the "New World".

Treaty of Tordesillas

An agreement between Portugal and Spain that created an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean. -Everything discovered west of it was Spain's, east was Portugal's.

Slave trade

where Europeans enslaved Africans

Nation-state

The form of political society that combines centralized government with a high degree of ethnic and cultural unity.

Algonquian

Refers both to a Native American dialect and also to the group of Native American tribes which speak it.

Siouan

An American Indian language family formerly widespread from Saskatchewan to the lower Mississippi, also found in the Virginia and Carolina piedmont, and including Catawba, Crow, Dakota, Hidatsa, Mandan, Osage, and Winnebago.

Iroquois Confederation

Confederation of five (later six) Indian tribes across upper New York that in the 17th–18th century played a strategic role in the struggle between the French and British for supremacy in North America.

Longhouses

The chief dwelling place of the Iroquois Indians.

John Cabot

Italian explorer who led the English expedition (giving England claim to the land) in 1497 that discovered the mainland of North America and explored the coast from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland.

Jacques Cartier

A French sailor who explored the St. Lawrence River region between 1543 and 1542, searched for a northwest passage, a waterway through which ships could cross the Americas to Asia. He found no such passage, but opened the region up to exploration and colonization by the French.

Samuel de Champlain

A French explorer who sailed to the West Indies, Mexico, and Panama. His greatest accomplishment was his exploration of the St. Lawrence River and his latter settlement of Quebec.

Henry Hudson

English explorer. While working to find a Northwest Passage for the Dutch East India Company, he sailed up the Hudson River, establishing Dutch claims for what became New Amsterdam (modern-day New York).

Bartolomé de Las Casas

A Spanish missionary who was disgusted and outraged by the poor treatment of Native Americans especially the encomienda system.

Valladolid Debate

Concerned the treatment of natives of the New World. It concerned two main attitudes towards the conquest of the Americas. Bartolomé de las Casas argued Amerindians were creations of God and deserved same treatment as Christian Europeans.

Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda

A Spaniard who studied in the cradle of the Renaissance, Italy, he achieved fame as a theologian, philosopher, historian, and astronomer.