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The name given to the land that connected Alaska and Siberia thousands of years ago
Bering Land Bridge
Spanish explorers of the 16th and 17th centuries who traveled throughout the Americas in search of wealth. They often decimated Native American cultures during their conquests. Motto was Gold, Glory, and God. Find gold, bring glory to Spain, and convert natives to Christianity. Ex. Hernando Cortez and Francisco Pizzaro
Conquistadors
A miniature parliament in Virginia, the first legislative assembly in the Americas.
House of Burgesses
The voyage taken by African slaves to the Americas. They were chained in cramped quarters on slave ships in unsanitary conditions. As many as 25% would die on the journey.
Middle Passage
The first form of government for the United States. There was no President. It favored states and made the federal government weak. The federal government was unable to tax, keep a standing army, build roads, and much more. It was replaced with the U.S. Constitution.
Articles of Confederation
Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand (co-monarchs) reconquered the Iberian Peninsula for Christians, unifying Spain and pushing out Muslims.
Reconquista
A labor system used by the Spanish in the Americas. A Spaniard would be granted land and was given permission to enslave any Native Americans living on that land. Native Americans would pay tributes for protection from the landowner. It was similar to the plantation economy.
Encomienda System
a rebellion in 1676 in Virginia. Nathaniel Bacon led a militia that attacked Native American villages and the royal governor. The issue was over lack of protection of settlers who were illegally settling on land that had been designated for Native Americans. The militia was made up of a group of men who were former indentured servants who were not given land and some free blacks. Afterwards indentured servitude declined and slavery increased.
Bacon's Rebellion
Was part of the Seven Years’ War that began in Europe between France and Britain. Various Native American troops aligned with the British or the French. It ended with France ceding all territory east of the Mississippi to Britain, ending French dominance in North America. British colonists helped fight the war and had a great sense of British patriotism.
French and Indian War
British colonists who were loyal to Great Britain. After the American Revolution their property was confiscated. They faced persecution. Many moved to Canada or England.
Loyalists
Native Americans who lived in the modern-day southwestern United States. They lived in permanent settlements in adobe multistory homes.
Pueblo
Sparked when Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Thesis, a split in the Christian church. There was now the Catholic Church and Protestant religions such as Lutheran and Calvinist.
Protestant Reformation
A company that consisted of a group of investors who pulled their money together in order to speculate for a profit. It was less of a risk if the venture failed, as you weren’t the sole supporter of expeditions such as establishing settlements like Jamestown.
Joint stock company
a period of time in which the British government ignored much of what was occurring in the British Colonies in North America (largely during the 17th and 18th centuries). The colonies were acting independently with very little interference from Parliament.
Salutary Neglect
British Colonists were not allowed to settle west of this line in the Appalachian Mountains. It was meant to provide land for Native Americans that white colonists would not be able to push them from it. The order was frequently violated.
Proclamation Line of 1763
The first peoples of the Americas; Name of the early residents of North America whose spear points were found near what is now Clovis, New Mexico
Clovis People
Individuals who believed that reforms of the Church of England had not gone far enough in improving the Church, it was too similar to the Catholic Church.
Puritans
Parcels of land that was granted to colonists who brought indentured servants to America. It was used by the Virginia Company to encourage settlers to come to the colonies.
Headright System
A plan that was created in 1754 by William Shirley, the Massachusetts governor, Benjamin Franklin and several other colonial leaders. They wanted to create a united organization of the colonies in order to manage various affairs such as Native Americans and their defense.
The peace agreement that ended the American Revolution. Britain withdrew from the American Colonies but still retained Canada. The United States was recognized as an independent nation.
Treaty of Paris (1783)
A plague that swept through Europe in 1300s through the 1500s, also called the Bubonic Plague. It killed millions of Europeans, reducing the demand on the food supply. Native Americans had no immunity to this and other European diseases, they decimated them.
The Black Death
A Spanish priest who spoke out against the poor treatment of Native Americans, including their enslavement. He wrote books and letters, influencing the passing of laws to protect natives.
Bartolome de Las Casa
In 1620, an agreement that was made by male Pilgrims and others (referred to as strangers) aboard the Mayflower on their way to establish a colony in British North America. It was an agreement for self-government in the new colony.
Mayflower Compact
A slave uprising in 1739 in South Carolina. The Spanish had offered slaves freedom if they made it to Florida. They killed any whites that they ran across and gathered more slaves as they made their way south. The revolt was crushed, only a handful made it to Florida, and meetings among slaves were all but banned.
Stono Rebellion
A secret radical political organization that consisted of American Colonists to protest taxes placed by the British government on the American Colonies. Responsible for the Boston Tea Party and other resistance. Leaders included Samuel Adams and Paul Revere.
Sons of Liberty