APUSH Units 1-4

Beringia

Land bridge that connected Asia and North America during the Ice Age, allowing the first peoples to migrate to the Americas.

animism

The religious belief that nature—animals, plants, and objects—has spiritual essence. It shaped Native American worldviews and relationships with the environment.

primogeniture

A European inheritance system where the eldest son inherited all family land. This pushed younger sons to seek wealth and opportunity in the New World.

European exploration/colonization

Driven by the 3 G’s—God, Gold, and Glory—Europeans explored and colonized the Americas for economic gain, national power, and religious expansion.

Columbian Exchange

The transatlantic exchange of goods, people, diseases, and ideas between Europe, Africa, and the Americas following Columbus’s voyages. It transformed global diets, populations, and economies.

encomienda and casta systems

The encomienda granted Spanish colonists control over Native labor in exchange for “Christianizing” them. Over time, a racial caste system developed in Spanish America based on ancestry—peninsulares (Spanish-born), criollos, mestizos, mulattos, and Indigenous/African peoples.

Bacon’s Rebellion

A 1676 uprising in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor Berkeley. Discontent over Native policy and lack of land led poor settlers to rebel, prompting elites to rely more on enslaved Africans than indentured servants.

British North American colonies/regions

(BNAC)

The colonies developed into three main regions:

• New England (Puritans, small farms, trade, shipbuilding)

• Middle Colonies (diverse, mixed economy, religious tolerance)

• Southern Colonies (plantations, slavery, cash crops).
  Regional differences shaped political and social development.

Navigation Acts

A series of English laws (1650s–1660s) restricting colonial trade to benefit England’s mercantilist system. Colonists resented the limits on free trade and began smuggling goods.

Dominion of New England

King James II’s attempt (1686–1689) to combine several colonies into one royal government to tighten control. It collapsed after the Glorious Revolution, leading to increased colonial self-rule.