Unit 1: Peoples of the Americas, West Africa, and European Exploration

Vocabulary flashcards covering early American migrations, West African societies, European exploration, and key terminology from early colonial history.

Land-bridge Theory

The theory that hunter-gatherers migrated from Asia to North America about $15,000$ years ago across the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska when sea levels were lowered during an ice age.

Coastal Route Theory

The theory that hunter-gatherers migrated about $4,000$ years ago in small boats by hunting seals and small whales along the coast of North and South America.

what complex system did the hohokams build?

A Native American group that built a complex system of dams and ditches for irrigation.

describe the temples that the mississippians built for their chiefs

A Native American group that built wooden temples that served as homes for their Chiefs.

what did the 5 iroquois nations do to promote peace?

A loose confederation formed by $5$ Iroquois nations who created a guiding law that acted as a constitution of peace to promote harmony.

Osage Tribe

A Native American tribe primarily inhabiting central America (Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma) organized around a dual spiritual and social structure of sky people and Earth people, who hunted bison, elk, and deer and farmed corn, beans, and squash.

Chief Black Dog

A famous Osage Chief known for his strength and for creating a trail system extending through Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.

Sahara

An enormous desert that dominated northern Africa.

Savanna

A broad grassland located south of the Sahara.

what were the two great empires of west africa

ghana and mali

what groups of people usually became slaves

criminals and conquered or captured people

4 examples of how AFRICAN slaves differ from AMERICA

higher status, adopted into families, marriage, wasn’t race based

portigal and spain had slaves working on what kind of plantations in the madeira canary and azore islands

sugar plants

explain how the muslim religions spread through northern africa

The expansion of the Muslim religion through northern Africa via caravan trade from the Middle East.

Black Death

The bubonic plague that struck Europeans during the Middle Ages, killing $3$ of all Europeans.

Four Warring European Kingdoms

Spain (Castile), Portugal, France, and England, which competed to conquer new territories and control resources.

Crusades

A series of religious wars from $1095$ to $1291$ from which Europeans returned with silk, gems, and spices, stimulating trade with the East.

Printing Press

A Renaissance invention that increased the demand for literacy and made literature popular among Europeans, ultimately boosting global trade.

Ottoman Empire Trade Control

The Ottoman control over trade routes in and out of Europe, encompassing North Africa, South West Asia, Eastern Europe, and the southern and eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Portuguese Maritime Strategy

The strategy to bypass Ottoman-controlled trade routes by sailing south around Africa to reach the Asian continent.

Spanish Maritime Strategy

The strategy to bypass Ottoman-controlled trade routes by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean, relying on Christopher Columbus.

Columbus's Earth Estimation

An estimation of the Earth's circumference at $18,000\,\text{miles}$, which underestimated the actual size by $7,000\,\text{miles}$.

French Economic Activity in North America

Fur trading, which served as the primary economic motivation drawing French colonists to North America.

French-Indian Relations

Colonial interactions characterized by less conflict than Spanish interactions because the French relied on Native Americans as hunters and trading partners and took less land.

Louisiana and New Orleans

Territories established by the French to control the Mississippi River region and restrict English expansion.

Middle Ages

Period in European history from the $5\text{th}$ century through the $14\text{th}$ century.

Renaissance

Period in European history from the $14\text{th}$ to the $16\text{th}$ century that ushered in a secular outlook, encouraged freedom of thought, emphasized individual importance, and renewed interest in classical learning.

Reconquista

A campaign ending in $1492$ that re-established Spanish Christian rule on the Iberian peninsula after $700$ years of Muslim dominance.

Ferdinand Magellan

A Portuguese nobleman and navigator $(1480-1521)$ whose $1519$ Spanish expedition of $5$ ships and $270$ men accomplished the first circumnavigation of the earth, though Magellan was killed in the Philippine islands.

Christopher Columbus

An Italian navigator $(1451-1506)$ from Genoa backed by Ferdinand II and Isabella I of Spain who completed $4$ transatlantic voyages, bringing European awareness to the Americas and starting Spanish colonization.

Conquistadors

Spanish conquerors who explored and claimed lands in the Americas.

Hernan Cortes

A Spanish conquistador commander $(1485-1547)$ and former lawyer who overthrew the Aztec empire in Tenochtitlan and brought Mexico under Spanish control.

Columbian Exchange

The global transfer of goods and ideas between Europe, Africa, and the Americas following Christopher Columbus's transatlantic voyage in $1492$.

Mestizos

Individuals in Spanish colonial America who were of mixed European and American Indian descent.

Northwest Passage

A hypothesized water route to Asia through the cold northern waters of present-day Canada.