Ch. 11 Hx Vocab
Order by
24 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 John Jacob Astor | American fur trader and financier; he founded the fur trading post of Astoria and the American fur company |
| mountain men | Fur traders and trappers |
| Oregon Trail | 2000 mile long trail that stretched from Independence, Missouri or Council Bluffs, Iowa, west into Oregon country |
| Santa Fe Trail | important path west; led from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| Mormons | members of Joesph Smith's church |
| empresarios | agents |
| Stephen F. Austin | started a Texas colony on the lower Colorado River |
| Brigham Young | American religious leader who headed the Mormon church after the murder of Joseph Smith; led thousands through Mormon Trail to main settlement at Salt Lake City |
| Father Miguel y Costilla | Mexican priest and revolutionist; led a rebellion of about 80,000 Indians and mestizos against Spain |
| John Sutter | American pioneer who built Sutter's Fort; gold was discovered leading to the California Gold Rush |
| Treaty of Guadlaupe Hidalgo | Signed in Feb 1848 by the US and Mexico; officially ended the war and forced Mexican to turn over much of its northern territory to the US |
| placer miners | used pans or other devices to wash gold nuggets out of loose rock and gravel |
| Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna | Mexican general and politician; President of Mexico and became a dictator; fought in Texas Revolution |
| Alamo | An abanded mission near San Antonio that became an important battle site in the Texas Revolution |
| Battle of San Jacinto | Texas captured Santa Anna and forced him to sign a treaty giving Texas its independence |
| Manifest Destiny | Obvious fate to settle land all the way to the Pacific Ocean in order to spread democracy |
| James K Polk | 11th President of US; settled Oregon boundary w/ Great Britain and successfully conducted Mexican-Indian War |
| Vaqueros | cowboys who managed the large herds of cattle and sheep |
| Californios | early California settlers |
| Bear Flag Revolt | Americans declared California to be an independent nation |
| Gadsen Purchase | US gov. paid Mexico $10 million. In exchange, US received southern parts of Arizona and New Mexico |
| Donner Party | Group of western travelers who went to California but were stranded in the Sierra Mtns during winter |
| forty-niners | gold-seeking migrants to California |
| prospect | search for gold |
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