Period 1

Hohokam

Ancient Native American culture in the Southwest known for advanced irrigation canals and farming in the desert.

Anasazi

Ancestral Pueblo people who built cliff dwellings and permanent settlements in the Southwest.

Pueblos

Native American groups in the Southwest living in multi-story adobe villages and practicing farming.

Mayas

Advanced Mesoamerican civilization known for writing, mathematics, astronomy, and city-states.

Aztecs

Powerful Mesoamerican empire centered in central Mexico with a strong military and tribute system.

Incas

Large empire in the Andes Mountains with advanced engineering and road systems.

Corn/Maize

Staple crop of the Americas that allowed large Native societies to develop.

Algonquian

Language group of tribes in the Atlantic coast region who lived in dispersed farming and hunting communities.

Longhouses

Large communal wooden homes used by Iroquois families.

Iroquois Confederation

Political alliance of six Native American nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora) to maintain peace and coordinate defense.

Gunpowder

Explosive substance from China that revolutionized European warfare and aided conquest.

Sailing compass

Navigation tool from China that made long-distance sea travel more reliable.

Printing press

Gutenberg’s machine that allowed mass production of books and spread of knowledge.

Isabella and Ferdinand

Spanish monarchs who unified Spain and funded Columbus’s voyage.

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer whose 1492 voyage led to sustained European contact with the Americas.

Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince who supported exploration along the African coast.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement dividing new lands between Spain and Portugal.

Roanoke Island

First English settlement in North America, which mysteriously disappeared.

Protestant Reformation

16th-century movement challenging the Catholic Church and leading to new Christian denominations.

Nation-states

Countries with centralized governments and defined borders ruling over a unified people.

Smallpox; measles

European diseases that devastated Native American populations.

Joint-stock company

Business organization where investors pooled resources to fund colonies and share profits/losses.

Encomienda System

Spanish system granting settlers Native labor in exchange for protection and conversion to Christianity.

Asiento System

Spanish contract system that gave merchants the right to supply enslaved Africans to Spanish colonies.

Conquistadors

Spanish explorers and soldiers who conquered Native empires in the Americas.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztec Empire.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Inca Empire.

Slave trade

Forced transportation of Africans to the Americas for labor.

Middle Passage

Brutal transatlantic voyage endured by enslaved Africans.

New Laws of 1542

Spanish laws intended to limit the abuse of Native Americans in the colonies.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Spanish priest who criticized the mistreatment of Native Americans.

Valladolid Debate

1550–1551 debate over how Spain should treat Native peoples.

Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda

Spanish scholar who argued that Natives were inferior and could be justly conquered.