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Term

Definition

Native American populations before European settlement

Millions of Native people lived throughout the Americas in hundreds of diverse nations. They had different languages, governments, religions, economies, and cultures.

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer who sailed for Spain and reached the Caribbean in 1492. His voyages began lasting contact and colonization between Europe and the Americas.

Columbian Exchange

The movement of plants, animals, people, diseases, and ideas between the Americas and Europe, Africa, and Asia. European diseases killed many Native Americans.

Encomienda System

Spanish system that allowed colonists to demand labor and payment from Native people, supposedly in exchange for protection and Christianity.

New Spain

Spain’s colonial territory in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, centered mainly in Mexico.

New France

France’s territory in Canada, the Great Lakes region, and the Mississippi River Valley. Its economy depended heavily on the fur trade.

Fur trade

The buying and selling of animal skins, especially beaver pelts. French traders often formed trading relationships with Native nations.

Jamestowne

The first permanent English settlement in present-day Virginia, founded in 1607 by the Virginia Company.

Plymouth

English colony founded in present-day Massachusetts by the Pilgrims in 1620.

Squanto

A Patuxet man who spoke English and helped the Plymouth settlers communicate, farm, and survive. His Native name was Tisquantum.

Virginia Company

A joint-stock company given permission by King James I to establish Jamestown and make money from Virginia.

Powhatan Confederacy

A powerful alliance of Native communities in the Chesapeake region led by Chief Powhatan when Jamestown was founded.

Pocahontas (Matoaka)

Daughter of Chief Powhatan who helped with communication between the Powhatan people and English settlers. She later married John Rolfe.

Opechancanough

Powhatan leader who organized major attacks against English settlements in 1622 and 1644 as colonists continued taking Native land.

John Smith

Early leader of Jamestown who required colonists to work and communicated with members of the Powhatan Confederacy.

John Rolfe

Jamestown colonist who successfully grew tobacco as a profitable crop. He also married Pocahontas.

Tobacco

Virginia’s major cash crop. It made Jamestown profitable but increased the demand for land and labor.

Bacon’s Rebellion

A 1676 uprising led by Nathaniel Bacon against Virginia governor William Berkeley. It involved conflict over Native land, political power, and treatment of frontier settlers.

Indentured servants

People who worked for an employer for several years in exchange for passage to America, food, and shelter.

African Slave Trade

The forced capture, transportation, and sale of millions of African people into slavery, especially in the Americas.

Middle Passage

The deadly Atlantic Ocean journey that carried enslaved Africans to the Americas under cruel and crowded conditions.

Chattel slavery

A system in which enslaved people were treated as property for life. Their enslaved status was passed down to their children.

Slave Codes

Laws that restricted the freedom and rights of enslaved Africans and protected slaveholders’ power.

New England Colonies

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Their economies included small farms, fishing, trade, and shipbuilding.

Middle Colonies

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. They were culturally diverse and known for grain farming and trade.

Southern Colonies

Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Their economies depended heavily on cash crops and enslaved labor.

Mercantilism

The belief that colonies should provide raw materials and wealth to their mother country and buy its manufactured goods.

Navigation Acts

English laws that controlled colonial trade by requiring many goods to be carried on English ships and traded through England.