Chapter 1 Indigenous America Flashcards
Columbian Exchange
the arrival of Europeans initiated a global exchange of people, animals, plants and microbes
Three Sisters
Native Americans cultivated maize (corn), squash, beans
matrilineal
mother’s side
Pre-Columbian environmental disasters
significant ecological disruptions that occurred in the Americas before European contact, often caused by factors like over-farming, deforestation, drought, and natural events like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
Cahokia
The largest city in the Mississippian Empire
Native American slavery
not based on property ownership, but rather on the absence of kinship networks
not always permanent, enslaved individuals could integrate into the community through adoption or marriage
kinship
Strong kinship ties
potlach
Pacific Northwest was known for its unique social organization centered around elaborate fests, where hosts demonstrated wealth and power by giving away food and possessions.
Crusades
Trips to the Americas intent on establishing their rule and their settlements
Reconquista
European nation-states consolidated under powerful monarchs, and Spain, in particular, expelled the Moors (Muslim Moroccans) and Jews from the Iberian peninsula in 1492.
sugar cultivation
originally grown in Asia became a profitable luxury item in Europe
enslaved people did the cultivation
Christopher Columbus
Sponsored by Spain
He landed in the Caribbean islands in 1492
encomienda
system created to control indigenous labor
forced indigenous farm labor for large plantations owned by the Spanish
Bartolome de Las Casas
First to expose the oppression of the indigenous people
Tenochtitian
The Aztecs built a vast empire here
an impressive city on Lake Texcoco
