English-Native Relations
Early English Colonization
Pre-Columbian America
Columbian Exchange & Beyond
Pre-Revolution Slavery
100

This Algonquin chief was the first Native political leader to make contact with the English colonists at Jamestown

The Powhatan
100

This was the first "boom crop" of the New World for English colonists in the West Indies; its success led to the passage of the Navigation Acts

Sugar

100

Most American-Indian groups followed this type of lineage which placed women at the top of the social-political pyramid as keepers of the villages and advisers to chiefs.

The Matralineal

100

Of all the European nations who encountered American Indians, this one enjoyed probably the most cordial relationship through mutual understanding and gift giving. 

France

100

The introduction of this advanced weapon by Europeans allowed coastal African tribes to gain a military advantage over their neighbors which helped add numbers to the booming slave trade in the 1600s-1700s.

Firearms/Guns
200

Born Metacomet, this Wampanoag leader organized a confederacy of Native American tribes against the English settlers of Massachusetts

King Philip

200

This system of granting 50-100 acres of land to one who paid for the import of an indentured servant to Virginia during the 1600s added to the wealth/economic power of the plantation owners but left little to those servants who eventually became free.

The "headright system"

200

This confederacy of 5 Nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Cayuga) Dominated most of upstate New York and Canada

The Iroquois

200

The import of this New World vegetable to Africa in the 1500s sharply increased their indigenous population but at the same time made them prime candidates for slavery soon after. 

Maize (Corn)

200

South Carolina's original settlers came from this Caribbean sugar colony and meant to recreate the same type of plantation lifestyle as well as install their version slavery on N. American soil.

Barbados

300

The alliance of the Iroquois, first with the colony of New York, and then with the British empire and its other colonies became the model for relations between the British Empire and other Native American people.

The "covenant chain"

300

This outpost, established in 1607, became the first permanent English colony as it grew into what is now known as Virginia.

Jamestown

300

Located throughout Mexico, this empire's capital city of Tenochtitlan boasted nearly 350,000 residents prior to the arrival of Hernando Cortez in 1516.

The Aztecs

300

Although born in Genoa, Italy, Columbus sailed for this nation state in 1492 on his fateful voyage west across the Atlantic. 

Spain

300

By the early 1700s, most slaves were classified as this term, literally meaning "personal, movable property".

Chattel

400

These villages, established by Massachusetts resident John Eliot, were for Native Americans who had converted to Christianity and renounced their "savage" customs for protection from Puritan attacks on their land/culture.

The "praying towns"

400

Puritan leader whose "City on a Hill" sermon in 1630 set the stage for mass colonization of Massachusetts Bay as well as the notion of Puritans (later Americans) being an "exceptional" people. 

John Winthrop

400

Known as the "people of the first light", this Algonquin tribe occupied the coastline of what would become known as Massachusetts for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the English in 1620.

The Wampanoags

400

Formally established in 1610 by the Spanish as a northern province of New Mexico, it today remains the oldest capital city in what is now the United States.

Santa Fe

400

This leg of the South Atlantic System brought captured Africans to the Caribbean and eventually N. America.

Middle Passage

500

This sacred object made from clam shell beads was often used by coastal and inland Algonquin tribes to "seal" a new friendship, alliance, etc. The English used it as a form of currency to obtain furs during the 1600s.

The wampum

500

This region of British North America became the target destination for thousands of indentured servants during the 1600s. 

Chesapeake

500

The practice of having smaller, weaker nations pay goods/gold to stronger nations for protection or due to being conquered was practiced by many tribes including the Aztec, Inca, and Algonquians. 

The Tribute System

500

More than any other factor of the Columbian Exchange, this impacted American Indian people the most, decimating their population to only a few hundred thousand in the present day. 

Disease

500

A key event in Virginia that set into motion the idea that black Africans were to be "permanent slaves" in order to drive a wedge between them and the poor white population.

Bacons Rebellion