Period 1

Pueblo People

Native American group in present-day Utah and Colorado known for farming, urban centers, and cliff dwellings.

Great Basin and Great Plains Regions

Native American nomadic hunter-gatherers in present-day Colorado and Canada, organized into kinship bands.

Pacific Coastal Regions

Native American groups in present-day California and Pacific Northwest with permanent settlements, fishing, and trade networks.

Iroquois People

Native American farmers in the Northeast living communally in longhouses, known for advanced farming and trade.

Mississippi River Valley

Native American farmers in the Midwest, like the Cahokia civilization, with centralized government and trade.

Columbian Exchange

Transfer of people, animals, plants, and diseases between the Americas and Europe, impacting food, animals, and diseases.

Capitalism

Economic system based on private ownership and free exchange, shifting from feudalism with the influx of wealth from the Americas.

Encomienda System

Spanish economic system forcing natives to work on plantations, leading to problems and the introduction of African slave laborers.

Casta System

Spanish social class system in Central and South America categorizing people based on racial ancestry.

European-Native American Relations

Complex and often brutal interactions between Europeans and Native Americans, with justifications for exploitation and advocates for native dignity like Bartolome de las Casas.