Unit 1 (1491-1607) | APUSH

Encomienda System

It gave settlers the right to tax local Native Americans or to make them work. In exchange, these settlers were supposed to protect the Native American people and convert them to Christianity

Adena-Hopewell

This was a mound-building Native American culture that lived in the Ohio Valley Area.

Hokokam, Anasazi, and Pueblos

Native groups in southwestern North America who developed societies supported by farming with irrigation systems. They lived in caves, under cliffs, and in multistoried buildings.

Lakota Sioux

Nomadic Native American tribe that followed Bison. Based in Great plains.

Incas

Highly developed civilization in western South America in 1400-1500 AD. The center of their empire was in present-day Peru. Cultivated potatoes. Francisco Pizarro of Spain conquered the empire.

Aztecs

Powerful empire in central Mexico that developed several centuries after the decline of the Mayan empire. Capital city was Tenochtitlan, had a population of about 200,000. Cultivated maize (corn). Conquered by Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortez.

Hernan Cortes

Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the conquest of Aztec Mexico in 1519-1521 for Spain.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish explorer who led the conquest of the Inca Empire of Peru in 1531-1533.

Roanoke Island

English colony that Raleigh planted on an island off North Carolina in 1585; the colonists who did not return to England disappeared without a trace in 1590

Printing Press

15th century invention which revolutionized the ability to print information which in turn affected the speed of the spread of information itself.

Ferdinand and Isabella

During the late 15th century, they became King and Queen of a united Spain after centuries of Islamic domination. Together, they made Spain a strong Catholic nation and also provided funding to overseas exploration, notably Christopher Columbus.

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches.

Colonization

The expansion of countries into other countries where they establish settlements and control the people

Iroquois Confederation

A political union of five independent American Indian tribes in the Mohawk Valley of New York. Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk. Lived in longhouses. A powerful force that battled rival American Indians as well as Europeans.

John Cabot

English explorer who claimed Newfoundland for England while looking for Northwest Passage

Henry Hudson

Discovered what today is known as the Hudson River. Sailed for the Dutch even though he was originally from England. He was looking for a northwest passage through North America.

Bartolome de Las Casas

Spanish priest and missionary in the Americas who fought for Native American rights. Known for his role in the Valladolid debates.

Valladolid Debate (1550)

Concerned the treatment of Natives of the New World. Bartolomé de las Casas argued Natives were creations of God and deserved same treatment as Christian Europeans. Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda thought that the Natives should be slaves.

Treaty of Torsedillas (1494)

Treaty between Spain and Portugal. The pope created a line that allowed Portugal to claim territory to the East of the line and Spain to claim territory to the West of the line.

Astrolabe

An instrument used by sailors to determine their location by observing the position of the stars and planets