APUSH - Chapter 1 Key Terms

Tribute

The practice of collecting goods from conquered peoples. The Aztecs and Incas relied on these systems before they were conquered by Spain; after the conquest, Spanish officials adapted these indigenous systems to their own needs by binding Indian labor to powerful men through the encomienda and mita systems.

Matriarchy

A gendered power structure in which social identity and property descend through the female line.

Animism

Spiritual beliefs that center on the natural world. Worshipers do not worship a supernatural God; instead, they pay homage to spirits and spiritual forces that they believe dwell in the natural world.

Patriarchy

A gendered power structure in which social identity and property descend through the male line and male heads of family rule over women and children.

Primogeniture

The practice of passing family land, by will or by custom, to the eldest son.

Peasants

The traditional term for farmworkers in Europe. Some owned land, while others leased or rented small plots from landlords.

Republic

A state without a monarch or prince that is governed by representatives of the people.

Civic Humanism

The belief that individuals owe a service to their community and its government. During the Renaissance, political theorists argued that selfless service to the polity was of critical importance in a self-governing republic.

Renaissance

A cultural transformation in the arts and learning that began in Italy in the fourteenth century and spread through much of Europe. Its ideals reshaped art and architecture and gave rise to civic humanism.

Guilds

Organizations of skilled workers in medieval and early modern Europe that regulated the entry into, and the practice of, a trade.

Christianity

A religion that holds the belief that Jesus Christ was himself divine. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church was the great unifying institution in Western Europe, and it was from Europe that Christianity spread to the Americas.

Heresy

A religious doctrine that is inconsistent with the teachings of a church.

Islam

A religion that considers Muhammad to be God’s last prophet. Following the death of Muhammad in A.D. 632, the newly converted Arab peoples of North Africa used force and fervor to spread the Muslim faith into sub-Saharan Africa, India, Indonesia, Spain, and the Balkan regions of Europe.

Crusades

A series of wars undertaken by Christian armies between A.D. 1096 and 1291 to reverse the Muslim advance in Europe and win back the holy lands where Christ had lived.

Predestination

The Protestant Christian belief that God chooses certain people for salvation before they are born. Sixteenth-century theologian John Calvin was the main proponent of this doctrine, which became a fundamental tenet of Puritan theology.

Protestant Reformation

The reform movement that began in 1517 with Martin Luther’s critiques of the Roman Catholic Church and that precipitated an enduring schism that divided Protestants from Catholics.

Counter-Reformation

A reaction in the Catholic Church triggered by the Reformation that sought change from within and created new monastic and missionary orders, including the Jesuits (founded in 1540), who saw themselves as soldiers of Christ.

Trans-Saharan Trade

The primary avenue of trade for West Africans before European traders connected them to the Atlantic World. Controlled in turn by the Ghana, Mali, and Songhai empires, it carried slaves and gold to North Africa in exchange for salt and other goods.

Reconquista

The campaign by Spanish Catholics to drive North African Moors (Muslim Arabs) from the European mainland. After a centuries-long effort to recover their lands, the Spaniards defeated the Moors at Granada in 1492 and secured control of all of Spain.

Hiawatha

A leader of the Onondaga people and a co-founder of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, or Iroquois League. He was known for his role in establishing the Great Law of Peace, a unifying set of principles for the confederacy. 

Martin Luther

A 16th-century German priest, theologian, and educator who is known as the "Father of the Protestant Reformation."

Mansa Musa

The wealthy and pious ruler of the Mali Empire from 1312 to 1337 CE, known for expanding his territory, promoting scholarship and architecture, and making a legendary Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca.

Vasco da Gama

A Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the first European to reach India by sea.

Christopher Columbus

An Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas.

Hernan Cortes

A Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century.

Moctezuma

The last Aztec emperor of Mexico, reigning from 1502 until his death in 1520 during the Spanish conquest led by Hernán Cortés.

Pedro Alvares Cabral

A Portuguese nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the European discoverer of Brazil.