Prehistory and the Spanish Flashcards
Bering Land Bridge
Archeologists believe that around 40,000 and 20,000 years ago tribes of hunter-gatherers crossed this land bridge which once connected Siberia with Alaska.
Vinland
A colony in Newfoundland found by Leif Ericson in c. 1000.
The Iroquois Confederacy
A loose political alliance of five Indian nations, it was formed around 1451 and was finally destroyed during the American Revolution.
The Anasazi
Located in modern day Arizona and New Mexico, they created an advanced society of pueblos, cliff dwellings, roads, and irrigation canals. They collapsed after 1150 due to draught.
Woodland tribes
Native American tribes along the upper Atlantic seaboard. They moved seasonally. Men were responsible for hunting and fishing, women for agriculture.
Cahokia
The largest urban concentration of Indians north of Mexico, in modern day St. Louis. 40,000 inhabitants until it was abandoned in 1400.
Maize
Corn, the primary dietary staple of North American Indians.
Pangaea
The supercontinent which existed millions of years ago, evidence of its existence includes identical fish specimen.
Canadian Shield
The first part of the North American landmass to emerge above sea level.
The Great Ice Age
Occured about 2 million years ago, it carpeted North America with glaciers. When they retreated 10,000 years ago, it had left the Northern United States rocky and had created the Mississippi River, the St. Lawrence, and Lake Bonneville.
The Aztecs
Resided in Mexico and practiced human sacrifice.
The Incas
Resided in Peru
The Mayans
Resided in Mexico
Three-sister farming
Maize, squash, and beans.
caravel
A small, highly maneuverable three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in the exploration of the Atlantic.
Hispaniola
An island “discovered” by the Spanish. Following their discovery, the Taino natives decreased from 1 million to 200 people.
conquistadors
Spanish explorers who came to the New World for God, in search of gold and glory.
mestizos
Offspring of conquistadors and Indians, they were the cultural and biological bridge between the new and old worlds.
Colorless colonial administration
Replaced the conquistadors in Mexico in the 1530s and Peru in the 1550s
Hernan Cortes
Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico in 1519
Malinche
A female Indian slave who assisted Cortes in conquering Mexico by being his translator.
Tenochtitlan
The Aztec capital. The Spanish were amazed by its beauty.
Moctezuma
The Aztec leader who treated the Spanish as gods, until their greedy nature caused him to declare war on them.
Noche Triste
Sad Night, on June 30th, 1520 the Aztecs attacked the Spanish and on August 13th, 1521, the Spanish conquered the Aztecs.
St. Augustine
The location of a Floridian fortress built in 1565 by the Spanish to protect the sea lanes to the Caribbean.
Popé’s Rebellion
In 1680, Pueblo rebels killed scores of priests and Spanish settlers. It took half a century for the Spanish to gain control back over New Mexico.
kiva
A ceremonial religious chamber, one was built on the ruins of the Spanish plaza at Santa Fe following Popé’s Rebellion.
The Black Legend
A false concept which held that the Spanish merely tortured and butchered the Indians, stole their gold, infected them with smallpox, and left little but misery behind.
Christian crusaders
Participants in The Holy Crusades, their trips to the Middle East sparked explorative interest.
Marco Polo
A European explorer whose documented adventures sparked interest in discovering a faster route to Asia.
Unity of Spain
It occurred in the late fifteenth century and resulted in westward exploration. Caused by marriaged of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille and the explusion of infidel Muslim Moors.
Bartolomeu Dias
A Portuguese explorer who rounded Africa.
Christopher Columbus
An Italian seafarer persuaded by the Spanish to discover a route to Asia. He instead discovered an island in the Bahamas.
Treaty of Tordesillas
A 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain, declaring that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal.
Vasco da Gama
Portuguese explorer who reached India.
John Cabot
An explorer who traversed the Northeast coast of North America for England.
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
The first conquistador, he claimed all land touched by the Pacific Ocean for Spain.
Ponce de Leon
Discovered and claimed Florida for Spain while looking for the Fountain of Youth
Ferdinand Magellan
A Portuguese explorer who was the first to circumnavigate the globe.
Giovanni da Verrazzano
Explored the Eastern seaboard of North America for France.
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish conquistador who crushed the Incas.
Jacques Cartier
A French explorer who claimed Canada for France and discovered the St. Lawrence River.
Hernando de Soto
Spanish conquistador who explored the Southeast and discovered the Mississippi.
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
Discovered California for Spain.
Robert de La Salle
Claimed the entire Mississippi River for France.
English Protestant Reformation
An event caused by King Henry VIII in the early 1530s, breaking ties with the Catholic church, intensified the rivalry between Spain and England.
Francis Drake
English explorer who circumnavigated the globe and plundered Spanish ships.
