Explorers & Colonizers
Italian navigator funded by Spain, credited with discovering the 'New World' in 1492.
Christopher Columbus
The first representative assembly in the New World, established by the Virginia Company.
House of Burgesses
1676 uprising led by Nathaniel Bacon against individuals sympathetic to Native Americans, resulting in the burning of Jamestown.
Bacon's Rebellion
Religious revival in the 1730s and 1740s, profoundly impacting the spiritual landscape of colonial America.
Great Awakening
Lucrative trading network involving New England, Africa, and the West Indies, primarily centered around the exchange of slaves and goods.
Triangular Trade
Italian explorer who discovered the northeastern coast of North America for England in 1497.
John Cabot
Agreement to establish a basic form of government where decisions were made by the majority, considered a precursor to self-government in the Northern colonies.
Mayflower Compact
Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, who maintained a complex relationship with the English settlers, including John Smith and John Rolfe, and was the father of Pocahontas.
Powhatan
Prominent American theologian whose sermons played a key role in the religious revival, notably 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God'.
Jonathan Edwards
Laws in the 1660s that restricted colonial trade to England exclusively.
Navigation Acts
English explorer who sponsored the first English colony in America on Roanoke Island in 1585.
Sir Walter Raleigh
Constitution drafted in 1639 by settlers in the Connecticut River colony, serving as a model for other colonial charters and constitutions.
Fundamental Orders
Scots-Irish settlers in the Appalachian hills who protested the lenient treatment of Native Americans, sparking the Regulator Movement.
Paxton Boys
Preacher during the Great Awakening, known for his impassioned sermons and missionary work.
George Whitefield
System in the southern colonies granting 50 acres of land to immigrants or plantation owners who sponsored an immigrant's passage.
Headright System
Military leader at Jamestown who played a crucial role in the survival of the settlement and had a significant encounter with Pocahontas.
John Smith
Firms that pooled the capital of multiple investors to fund colonial ventures, laying the groundwork for modern corporations.
Joint Stock Companies
Unsuccessful revolt in New York City between landowners and merchants from 1689-1691.
Leisler's Rebellion
Female religious dissenter who challenged the religious and political norms in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, sparking a significant crisis.
Anne Hutchinson
A labor system in Spanish America where Spanish landowners were granted a number of Native American laborers, often abused and exploited.
Encomienda System
English colonist in Virginia, known for introducing and successfully cultivating tobacco, which became a major source of income for the Virginia colony.
John Rolfe
System where English individuals worked in the Americas for a set period before gaining their freedom.
Indentured Servitude
Legal document in Maryland allowing for religious freedom for all Christians and providing protection for Catholics against Protestant hostility.
Act of Toleration
Set of beliefs established by John Calvin, adhered to by the Puritans, emphasizing simple worship, strict morals, and the concept of predestination.
Calvinism
Forced and perilous transatlantic journey from Africa to America, primarily involving the transportation of enslaved individuals.