Period 1 Important People

Cromwell, Oliver (1599–1658)

Puritan general who helped lead

Caboto, Giovanni (John Cabot) (c.1450–c.1498)

Italian explorer sent by En gland’s King Henry VII to explore the northeastern coast of North America in 1497 and 1498.

Columbus, Christopher (1451–1506)

Genoese explorer who stum bled upon the West Indies in 1492 while in search of a new water route to Asia. Columbus made three subsequent voyages across the Atlantic and briefly served as a colonial administrator on the island of Hispaniola, present day Haiti.

Coronado, Francisco (1510–1554)

Spanish explorer who ventured from Western Mexico through present-day Arizona and up to Kansas, in search of fabled golden cities.

Cortés, Hernán (1485–1547)

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztec Empire and claimed Mexico for Spain.

Ferdinand of Aragon (1452–1516)

Spanish monarch, along with his wife Isabella of Castile, funded Christopher Columbus’ voyage across the Atlantic in 1492, leading to his discovery of the West Indies.

Isabella of Castile (1451–1504)

Spanish monarch, along with her hus band Ferdinand of Aragon, funded Christopher Columbus’ voyage across the Atlantic in 1492, leading to his discovery of the West Indies.

La Salle, Robert de (1643–1687)

French explorer who led an expe dition down the Mississippi River in the 1680s.

Las Casas, Bartolomé de (1474–1566)

Reform-minded Spanish missionary who worked to abolish the encomienda system and doc umented the mistreatment of Indians in the Spanish colonies.

Malinche (Doña Marina) (c1501–1550)

Indian slave who served as an interpreter for Hernán Cortés on his conquest of the Aztecs. Malinche later married one of Cortés’s soldiers, who took her with him back to Spain.

Moctezuma (1466–1520)

Last of the Aztec rulers, who saw his pow erful empire crumble under the force of the Spanish invasion, led by Hernán Cortés.

Pizarro, Francisco (c.1475–1541)

Spanish conquistador who crushed the Incas in 1532 and founded the city of Lima, Peru

Serra, Father Junipero (1713–1784)

Franciscan priest who estab lished a chain of missions along the Cal i fornia coast, beginning in San Diego in 1769, with the aim of Chris tianizing and civilizing native peoples.

Baltimore, Lord (1605–1675)

Established Maryland as a haven for Catholics. Baltimore unsuccessfully tried to reconstitute the En glish manorial system in the colonies and gave vast tracts of land to Catholic relatives, a policy that soon created tensions between the seaboard Catholic establishment and backcountry Protestant planters.

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parliamentary forces during the En glish Civil War, and ruled En gland as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658.

De La Warr, Lord (1577–1618)

Colonial governor who imposed harsh military rule over Jamestown after taking over in 1610. A vet eran of En gland’s brutal campaigns against the Irish, De La Warr applied harsh “Irish” tactics in his war against the Indians, sending troops to torch Indian villages and seize provisions. The colony of Delaware was named after him.

Drake, Sir Francis (c.1542–1595)

En glish sea captain who com pleted his circumnavigation of the globe in 1580, plundering Spanish ships and settlements along the way.

Elizabeth I (1533–1603)

Protestant Queen of England, whose forty five year reign from 1558 to 1603 firmly secured the Anglican Church and inaugurated a period of maritime exploration and con quest. Never having married, she was dubbed the “Virgin Queen” by her contemporaries.

Henry VIII (1491–1547)

Tudor monarch who launched the Protestant Reformation in England when he broke away from the Catholic Church in order to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Hiawatha (dates unknown)

Along with Deganawidah, legendary founder of the Iroquois Confederacy, which united the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca tribes in the late sixteenth century.

James I (1566–1625)

Formerly James VI of Scotland, he became James I of England at the death of Elizabeth I. James I supported overseas colonization, granting a charter to the Virginia Company in 1606 for a settlement in the New World. He also cracked down on both Catholics and Puritan Separatists, prompting the latter to flee to Holland and, later, to North America.

Oglethorpe, James (1696–1785)

Soldier-statesman and leading founder of Georgia. A champion of prison reform, Oglethorpe established Georgia as a haven for debtors seeking to avoid imprisonment. During the War of Jenkins’s Ear, Oglethorpe successfully led his colonists in battle, repelling a Spanish attack on British territory.

Pocahontas (c.1595–1617)

Daughter of Chief Powhatan, Pocahontas “saved” Captain John Smith in a dramatic mock execution and served as a mediator between Indians and the colonists. In 1614, she married John Rolfe and sailed with him to England, where she was greeted as a princess, and where she passed away shortly before her planned return to the colonies.

Powhatan (c.1540s–1618)

Chief of the Powhatan Indians and father of Pocahontas. As a show of force, Powhatan staged the kid napping and mock execution of Captain John Smith in 1607. He later led the Powhatan Indians in the first Anglo-Powhatan War, negotiating a tenuous peace in 1614.

Raleigh, Sir Walter (c.1552–1618)

English courtier and adventurer who sponsored the failed settlements of North Carolina’s Roanoke Island in 1585 and 1587. Once a favorite of Elizabeth I, Raleigh fell out of favor with the Virgin Queen after secretly marrying one of her maids of honour. He continued his colonial pursuits until 1618, when he was executed for treason.

Rolfe, John (1585–1622)

English colonist whose marriage to Pocahontas in 1614 sealed the peace of the First Anglo-Powhatan War.

Smith, Captain John (1580–1631)

English adventurer who took control of Jamestown in 1608 and ensured the survival of the colony by directing gold-hungry colonists toward more productive tasks. Smith also established ties with the Powhatan Indians through the Chief’s daughter, Pocahontas, who had “saved” Smith from a mock execution the previous year.