AP World Ch.19 Vocabulary

Encomienda

Grant of Indian laborers made to Spanish conquerors and settlers in Mesoamerica and South American; basis for earliest forms of coerced labor in Spanish colonies.

Bartolome de las Casas

(1484-1566) Dominican friar who supported peaceful conversion of the Native American population of the Spanish colonies; opposed forced labor and advocated Indian rights.

Hernan Cortes

Led expedition of 600 to coast of Mexico in 1519; conquistador responsible for defeat of Aztec empire; captured Tenochtitlan.

Moctezuma II

(1480-1520) Last independent Aztec emperor; killed during Hernán Cortés's conquest of Tenochtitlan.

Mita

Labor extracted for lands assigned to the state and the religion; all communities were expected to contribute; an essential aspect of Inca imperial control.

Potosí

Mine located in upper Peru (modern Bolivia); largest of New World silver mines; produced 80 percent of all Peruvian silver.

Huancavelica

Location of greatest deposit of mercury in South America; aided in American silver production; linked with Potosí.

Haciendas

Rural estates in Spanish colonies in New World; produced agricultural products for consumers in America; basis of wealth and power for local aristocracy.

Recopilacion

Body of laws collected in 1681 for Spanish possessions in New World; basis of law in the Indies.

Council of the Indies

Body within the Castilian government that issued all laws and advised the king on all matters dealing with the Spanish colonies of the New World.

Letrados

University-trained lawyers from Spain in the New World; juridical core of Spanish colonial bureaucracy; exercised both legislative and administrative functions.

Audiencia

Royal court of appeals established in Spanish colonies of New World; there were 16 throughout Spanish America; part of colonial administrative system; staffed by professional magistrates.

Paulistas

Backwoodsmen from São Paulo in Brazil; penetrated Brazilian interior in search of precious metals and slaves during the 17th century.

Peninsulares

People living in the New World Spanish colonies but born in Spain.

Encomendero

The holder of a grant of Indians who were required to pay tribute or provide labor. The encomendero was responsible for their integration into the church.

Galleons

Large, heavily armed ships used to carry silver from New World colonies to Spain; basis for convoy system utilized by Spain for transportation of bullion.

Treaty of Tordesillas

Signed in 1494 between Castile and Portugal; clarified spheres of influence and rights of possession in New World; reserved Brazil and all newly discovered lands east of Brazil to Portugal; granted all lands west of Brazil to Spain.

Viceroys

Senior government officials in Spanish America; ruled as direct representative of the king over the principal administrative units or viceroyalties; usually high-ranking Spanish nobles with previous military or governmental experience.

Minas Gerais

Region of Brazil located in mountainous interior where gold strikes were discovered in 1695; became location for gold rush.

Sociedad de castas

American social system based on racial origins; Europeans or whites at top, black slaves or Native Americans at bottom, mixed races in middle.

Creoles

Whites born in the New World; dominated local Latin American economies and ranked just beneath peninsulares.