U1 1491 - 1607: Contact and Settlement

Flashcard deck · A.P. U.S. History · 1491 - 1607 - Contact and Settlement · History

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Flashcards covering the Columbian Exchange, encomienda and mita systems, Haudenosaunee, Hohokam, Lenape, Chinook, and European exploration from 1491 to 1607.

Terms in this deck

Acoma Pueblo: One of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in North America, located in present-day New Mexico; an example of a permanent Southwest maize-farming society.
Aleut (Unangan): Indigenous people of the Alaskan islands and Pacific Northwest who relied on ocean hunting and gathering.
Apache: A mobile Native American group of the Southwest and Great Plains, noted in the earliest Spanish documentary accounts.
aridity: Extreme dryness of a region; the aridity of the Great Basin shaped the mobile lifestyles of Native peoples there.
Atlantic seaboard: The eastern coastal region of North America where Native peoples developed mixed farming and hunter-gatherer communities.
capitalism: An economic system based on private ownership and trade; European colonial wealth accelerated its rise from feudalism.
caste system (Spanish colonial): A racial hierarchy in Spanish colonies ranking people by ancestry, from pure Spanish to mixed-race to Indigenous and African.
Champlain, Samuel de: French explorer and colonizer who helped establish New France and wrote extensively about his rationale for exploration.
Chinook: Native people of the Pacific Northwest Coast who relied heavily on salmon and ocean resources for sustenance.
Columbian Exchange: The transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and ideas between the Americas, Europe, and Africa after 1492.
Columbus, Christopher: Italian-born explorer sailing for Spain who reached the Caribbean in 1492, initiating sustained European contact with the Americas.
demographic collapse: The catastrophic decline in Native American populations caused mainly by European diseases after contact.
disease (epidemic): Infectious illnesses such as smallpox brought by Europeans that devastated Native American populations after 1492.
encomienda system: A Spanish colonial labor system granting colonizers the right to demand labor or tribute from Native Americans.
European exploration: The voyages by European nations to find new trade routes and territories, leading to contact with the Americas.
European population growth: The increase in Europe's population partly caused by new food crops (like maize and potatoes) introduced via the Columbian Exchange.
feudalism: A medieval European economic and social system; the Columbian Exchange helped shift Europe away from it toward capitalism.
gender roles: Socially defined expectations for men and women; Europeans and Native Americans held divergent views that caused conflict.
Great Basin: A dry region of western North America whose Native peoples developed largely mobile, hunter-gatherer lifestyles.
Great Plains: Vast grasslands of central North America where Native societies developed mobile lifestyles, often following bison herds.
Hakluyt, Richard: English writer who argued in 1584 that Queen Elizabeth I should establish American colonies for wealth and Christianity.
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois): A confederacy of six Native nations in the Northeast known for democratic governance, agriculture, and longhouse culture.
Hohokam: An ancient Southwest Native American society known for advanced irrigation systems and maize farming in present-day Arizona.
hunter-gatherer: A way of life based on hunting animals and gathering wild plants rather than farming; used by many Native societies.
indigenous peoples: The original inhabitants of the Americas, with diverse cultures, languages, and economies before European contact.
irrigation: The practice of supplying water to crops through canals or channels; used by Southwest Native societies like the Hohokam.
joint-stock company: A business where investors pool money and share profits/losses, used to fund English and Dutch colonial ventures.
land use: How people use and understand land; Europeans and Native Americans disagreed fundamentally on land ownership and use.
Lenape (Delaware): An Algonquian-speaking Native people of the mid-Atlantic region known for both seasonal mobility and fixed agricultural settlements.
maize cultivation: The farming of corn, which spread from present-day Mexico northward and supported settlement, trade, and social growth.
maritime technology: Advances in ship design and navigation that enabled longer ocean voyages and European exploration of the Americas.
mestizo: A person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry; mestizos occupied a middle tier in the Spanish colonial caste hierarchy.
military competition: Rivalry among European nations for power and territory, motivating exploration and colonization of the Americas.
mineral wealth: Gold, silver, and other mined resources taken from the Americas by Spain, fueling European economic growth.
Mississippi River Valley: A major North American river corridor where Native societies developed complex agricultural and trading communities.
mita system: A forced labor draft in Spanish colonial Peru requiring Indigenous men to work in silver mines; a coercive complement to the encomienda system.
mixed agricultural economy: A livelihood combining farming with hunting and gathering, common among Northeast and Atlantic seaboard Native societies.
New France: French colonial territory in North America, explored and settled partly through the efforts of Samuel de Champlain.
New World: The term Europeans used for the Americas after 1492, distinguishing them from Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Northwest Coast: A Pacific coastal region of North America where Native peoples supported themselves by hunting, gathering, and ocean resources.
permanent villages: Fixed, year-round settlements developed by some Native societies, especially in the Northeast and Mississippi River Valley.
Pueblo peoples: Native American groups of the Southwest who built permanent stone villages and relied on maize agriculture and irrigation.
religion (divergent worldviews): Differing spiritual beliefs held by Europeans and Native Americans that shaped conflict and cultural interaction after contact.
Roanoke colony: An early English settlement attempt on the Carolina coast (1580s) that mysteriously disappeared; documented by John White.
search for wealth: The drive to find gold, silver, and new trade routes, a primary motivation for European exploration and conquest.
Secotan: An Algonquian-speaking Native community near the Roanoke colony, documented in John White's watercolors (1585–1587).
Shoshone: A mobile Native people of the Great Basin who adapted to arid environments through hunting and gathering.
slavery: The forced, unpaid labor of people who are treated as property; introduced by Europeans in the Americas on a large scale.
social diversification: The development of distinct social roles, classes, or structures within a society, often tied to agricultural surplus.
Southwest (region): The arid region of present-day Arizona and New Mexico where maize-farming Native societies like the Pueblo and Hohokam lived.
Spanish conquest: The military takeover of Indigenous civilizations in the Americas by Spanish forces in the 16th century.
Spanish Empire: Spain's colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere, built through conquest and exploitation of Native labor and resources.
spread of Christianity: The desire to convert Indigenous peoples to Christianity, one of the three main motivations for European exploration.
Tlingit: Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast known for rich material culture and reliance on ocean resources.
Ute: Native people of the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains who adapted to arid environments with mobile lifestyles.
White, John: English artist and governor who created watercolors of Indigenous life near the Roanoke colony in 1585–1587.

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