Early Societies & Colonization – Video Notes Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key people, places, events, systems, and terms from the notes on early societies, colonization, labor, climate, and Native relations.

Gatherer-Hunter Societies

Small, mobile groups with diverse food sources; low energy needs; no formal social hierarchy; stable communities for 150,000+ years.

Mississippian Societies

Pre-Columbian culture with mound-building; relied on agriculture and organized towns, including Cahokia as a major center.

Cahokia

Major urban center in the American Bottom near modern St. Louis; one of the largest early urban centers in North America.

Three Sisters Agriculture (C‑B‑S)

Agricultural triad: corn (supports beans), beans (fixes nitrogen), squash (controls weeds/pests).

Pellagra

Nutritional disease resulting from corn-based diets lacking niacin; common in maize-heavy diets.

Deforestation

Removal of forests leading to soil depletion and ecological decline; contributed to Cahokia’s decline.

Cahokia Decline

Collapse associated with soil depletion, deforestation, and resource stress leading to urban dispersal.

Overpopulation & Exploitation

Elites pushing workers harder as land degraded; contributing to social and environmental strain.

Gunpowder Revolution

Introduction of gunpowder changing warfare, making castles obsolete and strengthening centralized monarchies.

Fiscal‑Military States

Monarchies consolidating power through taxation, budgeting, and war to sustain empires.

Reconquista

Christian kingdoms expelled Muslims from Iberia, completed in 1492 under Ferdinand & Isabella.

Iberian Context (Religious Homogeneity)

Forced conversions and expulsion of Jews; state power tied to religious uniformity.

Aztec Empire

Major Mesoamerican empire (~250,000 people) that fell to disease, internal strife, and Cortés’ alliances.

Cortés

Spanish conquistador who allied with rival tribes to defeat the Aztec Empire.

Potosí Mines

High-altitude silver mines where Indigenous labor produced brutal death rates under colonial rule.

Silver & Gold Economy

Silver silvered empire; inflations and financial strain (e.g., under King Philip) due to precious metals.

Jamestown (1607)

First permanent English settlement in Virginia; profit-focused, with aristocratic settlers.

Starving Time (1609–1610)

Severe famine in Jamestown leading to near abandonment and extreme hardship.

Powhatan Confederacy

Alliance of 30+ Algonquian-speaking tribes under Wahunsonacock; intricate tribute system.

Gift‑Giving Misunderstanding

Powhatan saw gifts as submission; English interpreted similarly as diplomacy.

Pocahontas (Amonute)

Powhatan’s daughter; framed as symbol of power exchange; later married John Rolfe and baptized as Rebecca.

Powhatan’s Mantle

Visual depiction of subordinate tribes as circles, with England added as one more circle.

Black Legend

European portrayal of Spanish brutality; used to contrast English colonization.

Tobacco & Sugar (Drug Crops)

Cash crops driving colonial economies; highly profitable and addictive in Atlantic colonies.

Migration Patterns (1630–1660)

20,000 to New England; 33,000 to Chesapeake; 115,000 to Caribbean; 120,000 to Ireland.

Enclosure & the Commons

England fenced off common lands; peasants lost rights to graze/gather; Diggers advocated land equality.

Diggers

1649 radical movement demanding land equality; proto‑communist in radical critique of enclosure.

Pequot War (1637)

Mystic River massacre; ~700 Pequots killed; survivors enslaved; name banned.

Mystic River Massacre

155–700 Pequots killed in an English–Narragansett assault; symbol of ethnic cleansing.

Beaver Trade

Beaver pelts as a crucial commodity in early Atlantic trade; beavers nearly extinct by 1700.

Narragansetts

Native group involved as rivals and allies; linked with English in colonial conflicts.

New England vs. Virginia (Regional Differences)

New England: family farms, town democracy, competence; Virginia: tobacco, plantations, slave labor.

Indentured Servants

White Europeans contracted to labor for a set term; status tied to freedom/unfreedom.

Convict Labor

Forced labor from prisoners used in colonies as a labor source.

Enslaved Africans

Presence in early Virginia; later foundational as a race-based system of labor.

Predestination

Calvinist belief that salvation is predetermined by God.

Preparationism

Belief that human actions can influence salvation; controversial within Puritanism.

Anne Hutchinson

Puritan dissenter who challenged ministers, promoted gendered religious authority; banished.

Marie Guyart

Catholic nun in New France who led schools and farms; women’s leadership roles.

Spanish Missions

Catholic missions for conversion and control; often involved coercive practices.

Little Ice Age

Colder climate (1300–1700), Maunder Minimum; led to crop failures and migration.

Quickening

Moment when fetal movement is felt; midwives central to childbirth; contraception/abortion practiced before quickening.

Paspahegh

Powhatan–territory tribe near Jamestown; part of early interactions.

Opechancanough

Powhatan leader and brother to Wahunsonacock who led attacks following early English contact.

John Smith

English explorer and leader; captured by Powhatan and later released; pivotal in Jamestown narrative.

John Rolfe

Tobacco planter who married Pocahontas; peace settlement between English and Powhatan.