apush key terms 1+2 Flashcards
canadian shield
a zone undergirded by ancient rock, probably the first part of what became the North American landmass to have emerged above sea level
incas
located in Peru ; members of a South American Indian people living in the central Andes before the Spanish conquest
aztecs
located in Mexico which shaped sophisticated civilizations. They advanced agriculture through the cultivation of maize and also routinely sought the favor of their gods by offering human sacrifices, cutting the hearts out of the chests of living victims.
cahokia
A Missipian settlement ; near present-day East St. Louis, was at one time home to as many as 25 thousand people
three sister farming
beans growing on the trellis of the corn stalks and squash covering the planting mounds to retain moisture in the soil. The rich diet provided by this environmentally clever farming technique produced some of the highest population densities on the continent, among them the Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee peoples.
caravel
developed by the Portuguese mariners ; a ship that could sail more closely into the wind, but they had discovered that they could return to Europe by sailing northwesterly from the African coast toward the Azores, where the prevailing westward breezes would carry them home.
plantation
Portuguese adventurers in Africa began the origins of this ; was based on large-scale commercial agriculture and the wholesale exploitation of slave labor. This kind of plantation economy would shape the destiny of much of the New World.
columbian exchange
The transmission and interchange of plants, animals, diseases, cultures, human populations (including slaves), and technologies between the New World and the Old World. Greatly benefited Europe and Asia while simultaneously bringing catastrophe to American Indian populations and cultures.
treaty of tordesillas
allowed Spain to secure claim to Columbus’ discovery. It divided with Portugal the “heathen lands” of the New World. The lion’s share went to Spain, but Portugal received compensating territory in Africa and Asia, as well as title to lands that one day would be Brazil.
encomienda
developed by Spain, It allowed the government to “commend,” or give, Indians to certain colonists in return for the promise to try to Christianize them. In all but name, it was slavery.
mestizos
people of mixed Indian and European heritage.
battle of acoma
1599) fought between Spaniards under Don Juan de Onate and the Pueblo Indians in present day New Mexico Spaniards brutally crushed the Pueblo peoples (severed foot of each survivor). They proclaimed the area to be the province of New Mexico in 1609 and founded its capital at Santa Fé the following year .
