Chapter 1 - New World Beginnings, 33,000 b.c.e. - 1769

Question 1

Old World

Answer 1

Refers to Asia, Africa, and Europe before European contact with the Americas

Question 2

New World

Answer 2

Refers to the Americas and the Western Hemisphere due to the the lack of contact between Eurasia and the Americas.

Question 3

Appalachian Mountains

Answer 3

Mountain range in the Eastern US that provided an effective barrier to European settlers’ expansion until after the French and Indian War.

Question 4

Tidewater Region

Answer 4

Tidewater is a geographic area of southeast Virginia, Maryland, and northeastern North Carolina, part of the Atlantic coastal plain. The area is generally flat and low and composed of tidal marsh and large expanses of swamp

Question 5

Rocky Mountains

Answer 5

Mountain range that runs along the Western edge of the Great Plains. They are a much younger range than the Appalachians.

Question 6

Great Basin

Answer 6

Area between the Rocky Mtns on the East, and Sierra Nevada Mountains on the West. The Great Basin does not drain anywhere but into itself, so is home to many large inland lakes.

Question 7

Great Lakes

Answer 7

Lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. All were formed and filled by the receding glaciers at the end of the last ice age.

Question 8

Missouri-Mississippi-Ohio River System

Answer 8

The drainage system for the enormous basin between the Appalachians and the Rocky Mtns.

Question 9

Land Bridge

Answer 9

Appeared when much of the ocean water was locked into the ice caps and glaciers during the last Ice Age. Allowed people from Asia to walk across it, probably following migrating herds of animals, and eventually populate all the of the New World. The land bridge was closed as the glaciers melted and water levels rose.

Question 10

Maize

Answer 10

Large grain plant domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mexico in prehistoric times about 10,000 years ago. This as the staple food source for most early Americans.

Question 11

Aztecs

Answer 11

One of the Great 3 American civilizations, (along with the Incas and the Mayans) who dominated Central Mexico from the 1300s until they were destroyed by Hernan Cortez.

Question 12

Incas

Answer 12

Largest of the Great 3 American civilizations, (along with the Aztecs and the Mayans). They dominated the area of modern day Peru and the Andes Mountains from the 1100s until they were destroyed by Francisco Pizarro.

Question 13

Pueblo

Answer 13

Native American tribe from the American Southwest.

Question 14

Mound Builder

Answer 14

Early native culture that was active before the arrival of Columbus in the New World. Lived from modern day Illinois to Ohio.

Question 15

Three-sister Farming

Answer 15

The main agricultural crops of the North American native groups: squash, maize (corn), and beans.

Question 16

Cherokee

Answer 16

Native American tribe living in the Georgia and the Carolinas. Were considered one of the “Five Civilized Tribes” due to their adoption of agriculture.

Question 17

Iroquois

Answer 17

Powerful Northeastern Native American tribe. Led the Iroquois Confederacy during the colonial era.

Question 18

Caravel

Answer 18

a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean.

Question 19

Bartolomeu Dias

Answer 19

Portuguese explorer. He sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, reaching the Indian Ocean from the Atlantic, the first European known to have done so.

Question 20

Vasco da Gama

Answer 20

He was the first European to reach India by sea, linking Europe and Asia for the first time by an ocean route.

Question 21

Ferdinand and Isabella

Answer 21

Spanish monarchs that paid for the expeditions of Christopher Columbus

Question 22

Christopher Columbus

Answer 22

Explorer credited with “discovering” the New World in 1492.

Question 23

Corn

Answer 23

Staple food of the New World. Crossed the Atlantic in the Columbian Exchange.

Question 24

Potatoes

Answer 24

Staple food of the New World. Crossed the Atlantic in the Columbian Exchange.

Question 25

Sugar

Answer 25

Old World food that was transplanted to the New World. Became an enormous moneymaker in the New World climate, and dominated the African Slave Trade.

Question 26

Horses

Answer 26

Introduced to the New World by Europeans conquistadors.

Question 27

Smallpox

Answer 27

Old World disease that wreaked havoc on the New World. Estimates range from 50-90% of the total population of the Americas died in a the first century after the arrival of the Europeans.

Question 28

Treaty of Tordesillas

Answer 28

Agreement between Spain and Portugal aimed at settling conflicts over lands newly discovered or explored by Christopher Columbus and other late 15th-century voyagers. All lands to the east of the Treaty line would be controlled by Spain. Left basically Brazil as the only part that Portugal controlled.

Question 29

Vasco Nunez Balboa

Answer 29

Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador. He is best known for having crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513

Question 30

Ferdinand Magellan

Answer 30

First explorer to circumnavigate the globe….but he actually died in the Philippines. His ship and a few of his crew did make it all the way though.

Question 31

Juan Ponce de Leon

Answer 31

Spanish conquistador who explored the Florida peninsula.

Question 32

Francisco Coronado

Answer 32

Spanish conquistador who explored the American southwest. Was the first European to see the Grand Canyon.

Question 33

Francisco Pizarro

Answer 33

Conquistador responsible for defeating the Incan empire.

Question 34

Encomienda

Answer 34

The encomienda system was created by the Spanish to control and regulate American Indian labor and behavior during the colonization of the Americas. Natives could be given to people who had promised to convert them to Christianity. Slavery by another name.

Question 35

Hernan Cortes

Answer 35

Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Spain in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Question 36

Tenochtitlan

Answer 36

Capital city of the Aztec Empire. Site of the decisive battle that ended their empire.

Question 37

Montezuma

Answer 37

Aztec king.

Question 38

Mestizos

Answer 38

People of mixed Native and European heritage.

Question 39

John Cabot

Answer 39

first European exploration of the mainland of North America since the Norse Vikings’ visits to Vinland in the eleventh century.

Question 40

Giovanni da Verazano

Answer 40

Charted the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor in 1524.

Question 41

Jacques Cartier

Answer 41

Known chiefly for exploring the St. Lawrence River and giving Canada its name. … His exploration of the St. Lawrence River allowed France to lay claim to lands that would become Canada

Question 42

St. Augustine

Answer 42

The oldest European city in the United States. Located in Florida.

Question 43

New Mexico

Answer 43

Spanish colony in the same location as present day New Mexico. “Converted” huge amounts of native people. Treated its native populations horribly.

Question 44

Pope’s Rebellion

Answer 44

Uprising in New Mexico that killed 400 Spanish settlers, and drove the other 2000 out of the province.

Question 45

Mission Indians

Answer 45

Large group of Californian natives who were taught Christianity and European ideas in missions. Most lost their culture and died from diseases.

Question 46

Black Legend

Answer 46

The idea that the conquistadors did nothing more than torture and kill the natives, take their gold, and give them diseases.