AP US History Period 1 Flashcards

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the key concepts, people, and systems of AP US History Period 1 (1491–1607) as detailed in the lecture transcript.

Period 1

The historical era in North America spanning from 1491 to 1607.

Three Sisters Method

An ancient indigenous farming technique involving the direct-sowing of beans, corn, and squash.

Bering Land Bridge

A route used by the first Americans to cross into the continent between 15,000 and 60,000 years ago.

Mound Builders

Indigenous societies of the Mississippi River Valley known for creating large earthen structures, such as those at Cahokia.

Iroquois Great League of Peace

A political confederation formed by five (later six) indigenous tribes in Eastern North America.

Tenochtitlán

The capital of the Aztec Empire, founded in 1325 on a small island in Lake Texcoco, which housed approximately a quarter of a million people at its peak.

Templo Mayor

A 60-meter-high temple in Tenochtitlán consecrated to Tláloc and Huitzilopochtli, used for tens of thousands of human sacrifices.

Maize cultivation

The agricultural practice that spread from present-day Mexico to the American SW, supporting economic development, settlement, and advanced irrigation.

Animism

The Native American religious belief that spirits reside within the natural environment, farming, and hunting.

Silk Road

An ancient trade route linking the Western world with the Middle East and Asia, once a major conduit for goods like silk, spices, and pottery.

Three G's of Exploration

The primary motivations for European explorers: God (spreading beliefs), Gold (earning money), and Glory (conquering land).

Astrolabe

A navigational tool used by sailors to determine location by reading the stars.

Caravel

A type of ship with improvements in shipbuilding that allowed for longer sailing, holding more cargo, and sailing against the wind.

Christopher Columbus

An Italian explorer commissioned by Spain who landed in the Caribbean in 1492 while searching for a direct route to Asia.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of foods, people, ideas, animals, and diseases between the "Old World" (Europe, Africa, Asia) and "New World" (the Americas).

Conquistadores

Spanish explorers inspired by wealth, national glory, and the desire to spread Catholicism, such as Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro.

Encomienda system

A Spanish colonial labor system where settlers were granted Native American labor to support plantations and mining in exchange for supposed protection and Christianization.

Casta system

A Spanish social hierarchy that defined status based on racial background, including categories like Peninsulares, Criollos, Mestizos, and Mulatoes.

Repartimiento System

A system intended to remedy the abuses of the Encomienda; it stated Natives were legally free and entitled to wages, though abuses continued.

The Black Legend

The historical image of Spain as a uniquely brutal and exploitative colonizer.

Bartolome de las Casas

A Spanish figure who advocated for the rights of Native Americans and called for the reform of colonial policies and the end of the encomienda system.

Pueblo Revolt

A successful 1680 uprising led by Popé that expelled the Spanish from New Mexico and allowed Native Americans to reclaim their religious practices and land.

Quebec

The first permanent French settlement in North America, founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608.

New Netherlands

A Dutch colonial territory founded in 1609 by the Dutch East India Company following Henry Hudson’s expedition.

Joint Stock Companies

A business model where shareholders pool financial resources and share the risks and profits of maritime voyages and colonization.