1.
atlantic slave trade: Lasted from 16th century until the 19th century. Trade of African peoples from Western Africa to the Americas. One part of a three-part economical system known as the MIddle Passage of the Triangular Trade.
2.
aztec: a member of the Nahuatl people who established an empire in Mexico that was overthrown by Cortes in 1519.
3.
christopher columbus: Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506).
4.
columbian exchange: The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.
5.
conquistadores: Spanish 'conqueror' or soldier in the New World. They were searching for the 3-G's: gold, God, and glory.
6.
encomienda system: priviledge given by Spain to Spanish settlers in the Americas which allowed to control the lands and people of a certain territory.
7.
ferdinand magellan: Portuguese navigator who led the Spanish expedition of 1519-1522 that was the first to sail around the world.
8.
francisco pizarro: Spanish explorer who conquered the Incas in what is now Peru and founded the city of Lima (1475-1541).
9.
hernando cortes: Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico (1485-1547).
10.
inca: a member of the small group of Quechuan people living in the Cuzco valley in Peru who established hegemony over their neighbors to create the great Inca empire that lasted from about 1100 until the Spanish conquest in the early 1530s.
11.
maya: a family of American Indian languages spoken by Mayan peoples.
12.
middle passage: the route in between the western ports of Africa to the Caribbean and southern U.S. that carried the slave trade.
13.
montezuma: evergreen tree with large leathery leaves and large pink to orange flowers.
14.
new france: French colony in North America, with a capital in Quebec, founded 1608. New France fell to the British in 1763.
15.
new netherland: a Dutch colony in North America along the Hudson and lower Delaware rivers although the colony centered in New Amsterdam.
16.
pre columbian: Period of North and South American history before the arrival of the Europeans in the late 15th century. aztecs mayas and incas.
17.
prince henry: Portuguese prince who started a school for sailors and sponsored early voyages of exploration.
18.
vasco de gama: A Portugese sailor who was the first European to sail around southern Africa to the Indian Ocean.
