AP US History Chapter 1
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34 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Nation State | A country having its own unique culture and identity that is independent from any other country. |
| Matrilineal | Describes a system or custom in which the authority is passed down through the female line. |
| Confederacy | A collective group of smaller subgroups of people joined together for a common goal. |
| Primeval | Coming from the beginning or ancient times of something. |
| Saga | A group of stories or events from a wide length of time. |
| Middlemen | People who buy a product from one person and then sell it to another. |
| Caravel | A sailing ship with two or three masts that was used between 1300 and 1600. |
| Plantation | A large establishment for the farming of specific crops, often in a hot climate. |
| Ecosystem | A group of living things together in a specific region that interact with each other. |
| Demographic | A trait of a population, such as population size, density, race/gender distribution, birth, marriage, etc. |
| Conquistador | The Spanish word for conqueror, referencing a large group of Spanish explorers who took power in Central America during the 16th century. |
| Capitalism | A system of economics founded on a private possession of goods and services that cultivates growth and competition. |
| Encomienda | A system established in the early 1500's that gave a piece of land and its inhabitants to a Spanish colonist, on the condition that they would attempt to Christianize them. |
| Mestizo | A person of mixed foreign and native descent. |
| Province | A small section of a place or country. |
| Marco Polo | An Italian explorer who ignited a lot of interest in exploring new places, and indirectly helped the discovering of the New World. |
| Francisco Pizarro | A Spanish Conquistador who conquered the Incas in 1532 and gained a large amount of wealth for Spain. |
| Juan Ponce de León | A Spanish explorer who explored what would become Florida. |
| Hernando de Soto | A Spanish explorer and Conquistador who explored the Southeast of the United States. |
| Montezuma | The last Aztec emperor who was conquered by Cortés in the early 1500's. Initially, he welcomed Cortés with gifts and cordiality, but then turned against him when his greed began to become too terrible. |
| Christopher Columbus | An Italian explorer who got funded by Spain in an effort to find a Western route to India, but instead discovered the American continent. |
| Hernán Cortés | A Spanish Conquistador who conquered the Aztecs to gain gold and wealth. He brought disease, but also positive objects of globalization to the new world. |
| Francisco Coronado | A Spanish explorer who explored the regions surrounding the Rio Grande and Colorado River. |
| Renaissance | A period of development in the arts and in the human perspective that occurred through much of Europe beginning in the 14th century. Renewed confidence and new developments aided in the discovery and population of the new world. |
| Treaty of Tordesillas | A treaty between Spain and Portugal in 1494 that split the discovered land in the New World. Spain received the majority of the land in Central America and the southern end of North America, while Portugal gained land in Asia, Africa, and modern-day Brazil. |
| "Three Sister" Farming | A technique of farming used by the Native Americans; maize, beans, and squash were grown together for mutual benefit among the crops. This allowed for a large amount of crops, which in turn increased the population of the Indians. |
| Great Ice Age | The largest known Ice Age in Earth's history. Due to ice pack, it uncovered a land bridge between Asia and North America that most likely led to nomadic hunters coming to North America. These were the ancestors of Native Americans. |
| Canadian Shield | A large section of what is now Canada that is built on a solid layer of ancient rock. This was probably the first portion of North America to appear above the ocean's surface. |
| Mound Builders | A group of Native Americans in the Ohio River region that built mounds of earth for houses and other structures. |
| Spanish Armada | An armada of Spanish ships that intended to attack England to prevent privateering that was taking place against their ships. The attack failed, but later brought many benefits as well as troubles for both England and Spain. |
| Black Legend | An untrue idea that Spain conducted only horrible deeds to the Native Americans and their land in their voyages to the New World, when in actuality they set the precedence for much of the current political and cultural structure in the Americas. |
| Aztecs | A group of Native Americans with very advanced government, art, and architecture that were conquered by Cortés in the 1520's. |
| Popé's Rebellion | An event in 1680 where Pueblo Indians destroyed Roman Catholic churches and killed many priests and other Spanish inhabitants in response to religious suppression. |
| Pueblo Indians | A Native American tribe that was located in the Southwestern United States that was largely influenced by the Spanish Missions. |
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