Flashcards: Period 1 (1491-1607)

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Columbian Exchange

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The widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, people, diseases, and ideas between the Americas, Europe, and Africa following Columbus’s voyages.

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Encomienda System

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A Spanish labor system where conquistadors were granted control over Indigenous populations and used them for forced labor in exchange for supposed protection and Christianization.

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Maize Cultivation

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The farming of corn, a staple crop originally developed by Indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica, which spread northward and supported complex Native societies.

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Conquistadores

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Spanish explorers and soldiers who led military expeditions in the Americas and were instrumental in the conquest of Native empires like the Aztecs and Incas.

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Mestizo

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A person of mixed European (usually Spanish) and Indigenous American descent; this became a prominent social class in Spanish colonial society.

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Pueblo Revolt (1680)

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A successful uprising of the Pueblo people in present-day New Mexico against Spanish colonizers due to religious suppression and forced labor.

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Joint-Stock Company

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A business arrangement in which investors pool their resources for a common purpose (e.g., funding colonies), sharing profits and losses (e.g., Virginia Company).

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Three Sisters

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A sustainable agricultural method used by Indigenous groups that involved growing corn, beans, and squash together to support soil health and food diversity.

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Indentured Servitude

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A labor system in which individuals worked for a set number of years in exchange for passage to the New World, often used before African slavery became dominant.

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Mercantilism

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An economic theory that emphasized government control of trade and the accumulation of wealth through colonies providing raw materials to the mother country.