AP US History

  1. Pre-Columbian Era
    Time before Columbus's arrival.
  2. Native Americans
    American Indians who populated the New World when Columbus arrived.
  3. Bering Strait
    Pathway that Asian immigrants may have taken to get to the New World around 20-40,000 years ago; the body of water was frozen and thus acted as a pathway for the immigrants to follow into Alaska and the rest of the continent.
  4. Native Americans on New World before Comubus
    1-5 million in Canada and US, 20 million in Mexico; belief in animism and reverence for nature; limited impact on environment; rugged areas had people who devoted energy to suvival while theess rugged areas had people developing societies, religions, and craft work; every tribe independent of eachother; slow to unite against European settlers.
  5. Norse People
    First Europeans to arrive in the New World; Leif Eriksson, and Bjarni Herjolfsson for example.
  6. Contact Period
    Time when Europe sustained contact with the Americas and introduced a widespread exchange of plants, animals, foods, diseases, and ideas.
  7. Colonies
    Territory settled and controlled by a foreign power; Norse couldn't make them because they lacked the technology; caused as a result of Columbus's trip to New World.
  8. Spain During Early Colonial Era
    THE colonial power; had conquistadors who plowed through Native Americans and conquered lots of territory; strong navy: the Spanish Armada, which kept other countries from exploring; had encomiendas and helped kill Indians by bringing smallpox; they Spanish Armada was defeated in 1588 by the English navy resulting in their loss of power and more French and English colonization; tried to convert Indians to Roman Catholicism.
  9. Conquistadors
    Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century.
  10. Spanish Armada During the 16th Century
    Spanish navy that kept other Europeans from settling in the New World; defeated in 1588, resulting in a loss of Spanish power and an increase in French and English colonization.
  11. Encomiendas
    A piece of land or a village given to Spanish settlers with all the Indians included; used to control the Native Americans.
  12. Smallpox
    Deadly disease that killed Native Americans when introduced to it by the Spanish conquistadors.
  13. Sir Walter Raleigh
    Founded the lost colony, Roanoke Island in 1587.
  14. Roanoke
    The "Lost Colony" founded in 1587 by Sir Walter Raleigh, but was gone in 1590.
  15. Jamestown
    First attempt at conization by the British since Roanoke; 1607 was when it was founded; joint-stock company for the Virginia Company; nearly perished but for John Smith's leadership.
  16. Joint-Stock Company
    Group of investors who bought the right to establish New World plantations from the king.
  17. Virginia Company
    Company that founded the first official English settlement, Jamestown; named for the Virgin Mary; led to the naming of the Virginia colony.
  18. Captain John Smith
    Imposed harsh martial law to keep Jamestown alive; "Those who will not work shall ont eat"; removed from power during the Starving Time of 1609-1610.
  19. Starving Time
    1609-1610; A time when colonists resorted to cannibalism because there was no food left.
  20. Powhatan Confederacy
    Group of Indian tribes who saved the colony by teaching the Jamestoen colonists what to plant and how; cheif's daughter, Pocahontas, married John Rolfe in 1614 and eased some tension, creating an alliance; alliance forgotten once more land was needed for tobacco, and the group was killed by English "Indian Fighters" in 1644.
  21. John Rolfe
    Married Pocahontas and introduced tobacco to Jamestown and thus to England.
  22. Tobacco
    Introduced by John Rolfe; very popular in England; saved Jamestown; destroys the soil and this requires constant expansion; led to plantation slavery in 1619; cash crop.
  23. Chesapeake
    Named after the bay; new settlements around Jamestown; area is now Virginia and Maryland; people came because of financial reasons.
  24. Indentured Servitude
    Started by overpopulation in England, famine, disease, and poverty; in exchange for free passage to the New World, servants typically promised 7 years of labor, after which they got their freedom; some got a small piece of property when they left servitude allowing them to survive and vote; nearly half of the servants died during servitude; very popular option.
  25. Headright System
    Introduced in 1618 by Virginia Company; meant to attract new settlers and address the labor shortage created by the emergence of tobacco farming; a colonists and potential settlers were given a tract of land about 50 acres large, and men already settled in Virginia were given 100 acres or two headrights; the basis for an emerging aristocracy in colonial Virginia; hindered the development of democracy because land was the basis of wealth and power.
  26. House of Burgesses
    Established in 1619; allowed any property-holding white male to vote; decisions had to be approved by the Virginia Company.
  27. Slavery
    Began in 1619 in English colonies.
  28. French Colonization of North America
    • Founded Quebec City in 1608; tried to convert Indians to Roman Catholicism; spread smallpox and killed many natives; exploring land as much as possible; few French settlers came to North America; most single
    • men; some married Indians; stayed on the move; "coureurs du bois" were fur trappers; French didn't really settle too much because the Edict of Nantes gave them equal religious rights in France.
  29. Edict of Nantes
    Gave the French Protestants, Hugenots, religious toleration, thus keeping them in the country.
  30. Puritanism
    Caused by a desire to purify the Anglican Church of Ran Catholic practices.
  31. Puritans
    Part of the puritan movement; needed a new place to stay.
  32. Separatists
    Left England because of the corruption of the English church; went to Holland first, then went to the New World aboard the Mayflower in 1620; set for Virginia, landed in Massachusetts; created the Mayflower Compact and settled in Plymouth, where they had landed; called Pilgrims.
  33. Mayflower
    Ship that the Separatists/Pilgrims took to the New World.
  34. Mayflower Compact
    First document that said legal power came from the governed, not God; created a legal authority and assembly; basic legal system for the colony.
  35. Pilgrims
    Separatists who travelled to the New World, signed the Mayflower Compact, received help from the Pokanokets.
  36. Absolutists
    A form of monarchists who believed that power came from God, not the governed.
  37. Squanto
    Translator for the pilgrims and his tribe, the Pokanokets.
  38. Massachusetts Bay Colony
    Established in 1629; Congregationalists; began the Great Puritan Migration.
  39. Congregationalists
    Puritans who wanted reform for the Anglican Church from within; founded Massachusetts Bay Colony.
  40. The Great Puritan Migration
    Massachusetts Bay developed along Puritan ideals.
  41. John Winthrop
    Led the Great Puritan Migration by gibing speeches.
  42. Covenant
Author
Anonymous
ID
17820
Card Set
AP US History
Description
AP US History
Updated