1. New World Beginnings 33,000 B.C.E.-1769 C.E. - Key Terms Flashcards
Battle of Acoma
(1599) 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.
Aztecs
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.
Black Legend
False notion that Spanish conquerors did little but butcher the Indians and steal their gold in the name of Christ
Cahokia (c. 1100 A.D.)
Mississippian settlement near present-day East St. Louis, home to as many as 25,000 Native Americans
Canadian Shield
First part of the North American landmass to emerge above sea level
Capitalism
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.
Caravel
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.
Columbian Exchange
The transfer of goods, crops, and diseases between New and Old World societies after 1492.
Conquistadores
Sixteenth-century Spaniards who fanned out across the Americas, from Colorado to Argentina, eventually conquering the Aztec and Incan empires.
Encomienda
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
Incas
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.
Mestizos
People of mixed Indian and European heritage, notably in Mexico.
Middlemen
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.
Nation-States
Political entities that exist simultaneously as sovereign geo-political units and national cultural communities.
noche triste
(June 30, 1520) “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 inaugurating three centuries of Spanish rule.
