APUSH Vocab Terms 1

Pueblo

Native American tribes and settlements in the Southwestern United States. The word is Spanish for “town”, and the tribes are named for their distinct buildings.

Maize

A staple crop that indigenous people in the Americas cultivated. The term comes from the Taino language, which was spoken by the Indigenous people of pre-Columbian America.

Joint-stock company

A business entity where shareholders buy and sell shares of the company's stock and receive a portion of the company’s profits.

Bartolome de las Casas

A Dominican priest and missionary in the Americas who advocated for the rights of Native Americans. He is known for being the first person to expose the oppression of Indigenous peoples by Europeans in the West Indies.

Iroquois Confederation

A confederation of five or six Native American tribes that lived in upper New York. The tribes maintained a military alliance and permanent peace with each other, and formed a multi-state government while keeping their individual governance. They played a key role in the conflict between the French and British for control of North America during this time.

Protestant Reformation

A religious reform movement that took place in Europe during the 1500s. Began when Martin Luther rebelled against the church by writing a book called “The Ninety-Five Theses”. It called for the reform of the Roman Catholic Church and Christian society as a whole.

Capitalism

An economic system where private individuals or organizations own and control the means of production, such as factories, tools, and raw materials.

Middle passage

The forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas as a part of the triangular slave trade.

Mound Builders

A group of pre-Columbian Native American cultures that built mounds and other earthworks across North America. Some of these earthworks were to serve as burial sites and as sites for temples and religious ceremonies.

Primogeniture

A law of inheritance that gives the firstborn legitimate child (usually the firstborn son) of a deceased person the right to inherit their property, wealth, or title. The term comes from the Latin words primo, which means “first”, and genitura, which related to birth.

Encomienda system

A Spanish labor system used in the 16th century to control Native Americans in the Americas. This labor system gave conquerors the labor of conquered non-Christian people.

Spanish caste system

This system defined the status of the diverse population in the Spanish empire. From the top to bottom of the pyramid: Peninsulares (Spaniards born in Spain), Creoles (born in New Spain of Spanish parents), Mestizos (born of Spanish and Native American Indian parents), Native American Indians, Enslaved Persons (brought from Africa and the Caribbean).