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| First part of the North American landmass to emerge above sea level. |
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| Highly advanced South American civilization that occupied present-day Peru until they were conquered by Spanish forces under Francisco Pizarro in 1532. The Incas developed sophisticated agricultural techniques, such as terrace farming, in order to sustain large, complex societies in the unforgiving Andes Mountains. |
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| Native American empire that controlled present-day Mexico until 1521, when they were conquered by Spanish Hernán Cortés. The Aztecs maintained control over their vast empire through a system of trade and tribute, and came to be known for their advances in mathematics and writing, and their use of human sacrifices in religious ceremonies. |
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| An organized society with definitive territory, similar races, and the same language. A nation-state also has some form of organized government or leadership. |
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| Mississippian settlement near present-day East St. Louis, home to as many as 25,000 Native Americans. |
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| Agricultural system employed by North American Indians as early as 1000 A.D.; maize, beans, and squash were grown together to maximize yields. |
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| In trading systems, those dealers who operate between the original producers of goods and the retail merchants who sell to consumers. After the eleventh century, European exploration was driven in large part by a desire to acquire alluring Asian goods without paying heavy tolls to Muslim middlemen. |
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| Small regular vessel with a high deck and three triangular sails. Caravels could sail more closely into the wind, allowing European sailors to explore the Western shores of Africa, previously made inaccessible due to prevailing winds on the homeward journey. |
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| Large-scale agricultural enterprise growing commercial crops and usually employing coerced or slave labor. European settlements established plantations in Africa, South America, the Caribbean, and the American South. |
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| The transfer of goods, crops, and diseases between New and Old world societies after 1492. |
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| The treaty between Spain and Portugal divided the New World by giving a good portion to Spain, but also giving Portugal land in Africa and Asia, and part of modern-day Brazil. |
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| Sixteenth-century Spaniards who fanned out across the Americas, from Colorado to Argentina, eventually conquering the Aztec and Incan empires. |
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| Economic system characterized by private property, generally free trade, and open and accessible markets. European colonization of the Americas, and in particular, the discovery of vast bullion deposits, helped bring about Europe's transition to capitalism. |
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| Spanish government's policy to "commend", or give, Indians to certain colonists in return for the promise to Christianize them. Part of a broader Spanish effort to subdue Indian tribes in the West Indies and on the North American mainland. |
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| "Sad night", when the Aztecs attacked Hernán Cortés and his forces in the Aztec capital, Tenochitlán, killing hundreds. Cortés laid siege to the city the following year, precipitating the fall of the Aztec Empire and inagurating three centuries of Spanish rule. |
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| People of mixed Indian and European heritage, notably in Mexico. |
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| Fought between Spaniards under Don Juan de Oñate and the Pueblo Indians in present-day New Mexico. Spaniards brutally crushed the Pueblo peoples and established the territory as New Mexico in 1609. |
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| Pueblo Indian rebellion which drove Spanish settlers from New Mexico. |
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| False notion that Spanish conquerors did little but butcher the Indians and steal their gold in the name of Christ. |
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| Married Isabella of Castille, uniting the two monarchies. Also financially supported Columbus' explorations. |
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| Married Ferdinand of Aragon to unite the two monarchies & contributed financially to Columbus' New World explorations. |
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| An Italian seafarer who voyaged to the New World & discovered what he thought were the East Indies on October 12, 1492 with his three-ship crew. |
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| Spaniard who tried to find gold but ended up discovering the Grand Canyon. |
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| Conquistador who took over the Incas & gave large silver deposits to Spain. |
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| Spanish missionary who opposed the encomienda system. |
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| Completely & utterly conquered & destroyed the Aztec Empire in search of gold & to make room for Mexican settlements. |
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| Female Indian slave who interpreted for Cortés during his Aztec conquest; was later baptized. |
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| Aztec chief who foolishly allowed Cortés & his men access to their city be believing Cortés was the god Quetzalcoatl. |
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| Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) |
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| English explorer who visited the North American coast in 1497-1498. |
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| French explorer who scouted out Spanish land along the Mississippi River in the 1680s. |
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| Leader of Spanish missionary group who founded 21 missions in California in the late 1700s-early 1800s. |
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