Unit 1 Flashcards
Cahokia
Center of Mississippian culture. Rise is consistent with maize cultivation. Disproves myth that native American culture is insignificant.
Maize
Corn, responsible for creation of larger population centers. Reliable, predictable, supports large populations. Good and bad, made population too large and therefore unsustainable.
Iroquois
Eastern woodland tribe in Western NY. Different than other tribes as they lived in communal long houses and gave significantly more power to women. Contrast Pueblos who lived in separate residences and were patrilineal.
Irrigation
Environmental adaptation that brought water to places that didn’t have it.
Polytheism
Belief in more than one god. Belief of most Native American tribes.
Bartolome de Las Casas
One of few reliable sources on Columbus explorations. Portrays negative view of Columbus and culture he brought with him to the Western Hemisphere.
Historiography
Idea of historical argumentation.
Mestizos
Mixed race populations. Common in Spanish exploration, many men furthered population with Indian women.
Encomienda System
Forced labor that supported Spanish agriculture. Early version of plantation labor.
Colombian Exchange
Products that went back and forth as a result of contact with the New World. Crops, livestock, natural resources, disease. Benefits only seen in Old World Europe (population boom). Native Americans are plagued with disease, wiping out lots of population.
Horses
Labor saving, transformative for mobility.
Smallpox
The disease responsible for wiping out millions of Native Americans.
Missions
As the Spanish realize the peak of their control of the natives they convert to mission-style settlements. The central focus of colonization and enforcement is through the church.
Mercantilism
The economic system in which Europeans establish colonies in North America exclusively for the benefit of European economies. Consistent with the Spanish search for gold and metals.
