period 1+2 vocab

Spanish Armanda

A massive fleet sent by King Philip II of Spain in 1588 to invade England and restore Catholicism, but defeated by the English and establishing England as a major naval power.

Roanoke

England’s first attempt at permanent settlement, but disappearing and becoming known as the “Lost Colony”

London Company/joint stock company

A joint‑stock investment company that funded English colonization. Investors pooled money and shared profits and risks

Jamestown

Founded in 1607, Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America. It struggled with disease, starvation, and conflict.

Starving Time

1609-1610, a winter in Jamestown when food shortages, disease, and conflict caused extreme famine and very high mortality

tobacco

Introduced by John Rolfe, tobacco became Virginia and Maryland’s cash crop

Headright system

A land‑grant system awarding 50/100 acres to anyone who paid for their own or another’s passage. It encouraged settlement and plantation growth

House of Burgesses

Established in 1619, it was the first representative legislative assembly in English America, allowing colonists some self‑government.

Slave arrival

The first recorded arrival of enslaved Africans in English America occurred in 1619, when a Dutch ship brought 20 Africans to Virginia, marking the beginning of institutionalized slavery

Powhatan

Powerful Native confederacy in the Chesapeake region. Initially traded with Jamestown but relations deteriorated into conflict

Bacon’s Rebellion

Frontier settlers angry over lack of protection from Native attacks, resentment toward Governor Berkeley’s favoritism toward wealthy planters, tensions between poor whites, freed servants, and elites. Nathaniel Bacon led armed settlers to attack Native groups and burn Jamestown, but rebellion collapsed after Bacon’s death and Berkeley crushed remaining rebels. Showed class tensions in colonial Virginia, encouraged elites to shift from indentured servants to enslaved Africans to avoid future uprisings, and showed how English settlers were unwilling to keep their promises with the natives.

William Bradford

Governor of Plymouth Colony for about 30 years. He helped the Pilgrims survive and guided the colony using the Mayflower Compact.

Mayflower Compact

A short agreement signed by 41 Pilgrim men in 1620, and considered the first example of self‑government in the colonies.

Squanto

A Native American who spoke English and taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn, fish, and survive. He acted as a translator and guide

City Upon a Hill

A phrase used by John Winthrop describing the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a model Christian community that others would look up to.

Theocracy

A government run by religious leaders where laws are based on religious beliefs

Roger Williams

A Puritan minister who believed in religious freedom and separation of church and state. He was banished from Massachusetts and founded Rhode Island as a tolerant colony

Anne Hutchinson

A Puritan woman who challenged church leaders by saying people could be saved by faith alone, so she was put on trial and banished from Massachusetts

Pequot War

War between New England colonists (with Mohegan and Narragansett allies) and the Pequot tribe. It ended with the near‑destruction of the Pequot people

King Philip’s War

Major war between New England colonists and Native Americans led by Metacom/King Philip of the Wampanoag. It caused huge losses on both sides and ended Native resistance in New England.

English Civil War

A war in England between supporters of King Charles I and supporters of Parliament. Charles I wanted strong royal power but Parliament wanted limits on the king. The war ended with Charles I being executed and England briefly becoming a republic under Oliver Cromwell.

Proprietary colony

A colony granted by the English king to one or more private owners who governed it in exchange for yearly payments

Society of Friends

Quakers, a Christian religious group who wanted pacifism and believed that everyone had an “Inner Light”

Massachusetts (1620 Plymouth, 1630 Massachusetts Bay)

Founded for religious freedom by Pilgrims and Puritans

Connecticut (1636)

Founded for political and religious freedom, led by Thomas Hooker and dissenters who opposed Puritan rule. Created the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

Rhode Island (1636)

Founded for religious tolerance by Roger Williams

New Hampshire (1623)

Founded as a fishing and trading settlement, grew independently from Massachusetts

New York (1664; New Netherlands from 1623)

Originally a Dutch commercial colony

New Jersey (1664)

Founded for trading, farming, and expansion, created after New Netherlands was divided

Pennsylvania (1681)

Founded for religious freedom for Quakers

Delaware (1638 as New Sweden)

Founded for trade and agriculture, originally a Swedish trading colony

Virginia (1607)

Founded for economic profit by the Virginia Comapny, originally to find gold

Maryland (1632)

Founded for religious refuge for Catholics and to be a profitable Chesapeake colony

North Carolina (1653)

Founded for agriculture and land opportunities

South Carolina (1670)

Founded for trade and plantation agriculture

Georgia (1732)

Founded to be a debtor relief and military buffer against Spanish Florida