Unit 1 Vocab (1450-1700)

Question 1

Tribute

Answer 1

Resources given to a ruler or ruling group as a sign of allegiance - captured peoples often pay tribute to the conquering group

Question 2

Matriarchy

Answer 2

Where power is passed down through the female line

Question 3

Patriarchy

Answer 3

Where power is passed down through the male line

Question 4

Primogeniture

Answer 4

The practice of bestowing all wealth upon the eldest son - this was common throughout Western Europe

Question 5

Peasants

Answer 5

Poor people who lived in small villages and farmed land owned by other wealthier people - often multiple families worked together on one person’s land. Extreme poverty

Question 6

Republic

Answer 6

A state that has no ruler or king, but is instead run by a group of people (often a guild)

Question 7

Civic humanism

Answer 7

An idea which praises public service to the state - doing things for your country. This was especially common in republics

Question 8

Renaissance

Answer 8

The increase in arts and learning from 1300-1450; many famous artists and thinkers came from this era

Question 9

Guilds

Answer 9

A group of people (usually merchants or artisans) who set practices and established trade - a foundation or union

Question 10

Christianity

Answer 10

A religion which grew out of Jewish monotheism and says that Jesus Christ was divine - 1 God

Question 11

Animism

Answer 11

The belief that the natural world is sufficed with spiritual power - dreams and visions were seen as connections to this spirit world

Question 12

Heresy

Answer 12

Ideas and thoughts that were inconsistent with Christian teaching - seen as the tools of Satan

Question 13

Islam

Answer 13

A religion which considers Muhammad to be God’s last prophet - at odds with Christianity

Question 14

Crusades

Answer 14

A series of advances intended to stop the Muslim advance into Europe - crusading armies marched into combat against Muslim peoples

Question 15

Predestination

Answer 15

The idea that God chooses people before they are born for either salvation or damnation - Calvinist teachings

Question 16

Protestant Reformation

Answer 16

The spreading of John Calvin’s doctrine and his ideas of Predestination throughout Europe - won many converts from all over, especially England and Scotland

Question 17

Counter-Reformation

Answer 17

A change in the Catholic Church in response to the Protestant Reformation

Question 18

Trans-Saharan Trade

Answer 18

Trade convoys sent across the Sahara, connecting West Africa empires to North Africa and thus to European goods

Question 19

Reconquista

Answer 19

The campaign by the Spanish to force Muslim Arabs to leave the European continent - completed by the Spanish rulers Ferdinand II and Isabella I in 1492

Question 20

Chattel slavery

Answer 20

The ownership of human beings as property - law in early colonies of Virginia and Maryland

Question 21

Neo-Europes

Answer 21

Societies where colonists sought to replicate what existed in Europe at that time period

Question 22

Encomiendas

Answer 22

What Spanish ruers gave conquistadors - allowed them to collect tribute and labor from Native Americans

Question 23

Columbian Exchange

Answer 23

The exchange of crops, diseases, goods, people, and ideas between Europe, Africa, and America

Question 24

Outwork

Answer 24

The European textile system in 1500 - merchants brought wool and sent it “out” to peasants to weave into cloth

Question 25

Mercantilism

Answer 25

A system of state-assisted manufacturing to reduce imports and increase exports - Elizabeth I in England, 1500s

Question 26

House of Burgesses

Answer 26

System of representative government in Virginia - first convened in 1619

Question 27

Royal Colony

Answer 27

King has control of colony instead of inhabitants - him and his ministers appoint the governor and leaders to keep the colony under control - also collect taxes

Question 28

Freeholds

Answer 28

Small farms of 30-50 acres owned by families - the original plantations

Question 29

Headright System

Answer 29

Employed by Virginia, this guaranteed 50 acres of land to anyone who payed the passage of an immigrant - by buying more slaves and servants colonists acquired more land

Question 30

Indentured Servitude

Answer 30

Bound people to work for others for a set amount of time, after which they’d be free

Question 31

Pilgrims

Answer 31

Religious separationists who followed Calvin’s teachings and moved to America to escape the Anglican Church

Question 32

Puritans

Answer 32

Protestants who did not wish to separate from the Church of England but instead to “purify” it

Question 33

Joint-stock Corporations

Answer 33

Commercial agreement allowing investors to pool their resources - Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by one

Question 34

Toleration

Answer 34

Religious freedom to worship God however you chose - magistrates didn’t have authority over it

Question 35

Covenant of Works

Answer 35

The idea that salvation could be earned through good deeds and behavior

Question 36

Covenant of Grace

Answer 36

God only saves those destined for salvation - good deeds have no effect

Question 37

Town meeting

Answer 37

The main institution of government, where most adult men got to vote in America