Conquistadores

Title given to one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century; This title
empowered holders with signi cant military, political and economic power

Aztec Empire
A member of a people of central Mexico whose civilization was at its height at the time of the
Spanish conquest in the early 16th century.

Inca Empire
A member of the group of Quechuan peoples of highland Peru who established an empire from
northern Ecuador to central Chile before the Spanish conquest.

New Spain
Was a colonial territory of the Spanish Empire, in the New World north of the Isthmus of Panama. It
was established following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521, and following
additional conquests, it was made a viceroyalty (Spanish: virreinato) in 1535.

Tenochtitlan
Was the capital city of the Aztec Empire from the middle of the 1300s to the early 1500s.

Atahualpa
Last independent Incan emperor (1532-1533), who defeated his half-brother Huáscar (1532) and
brie y reunited the empire after years of civil war. He was captured by the Spaniards, convicted of
plotting against Pizarro, and executed by garrote despite his agreement to a vast ransom.

Viceroys
A ruler exercising authority in a colony on behalf of the Spanish royal.

John Cabot
Was a Genoese navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America under the
commission of Henry VII of England is commonly held to have been the rst European exploration of
the mainland of North America since the Norse.

New Amsterdam
A settlement established by the Dutch near the mouth of Hudson River and the southern end of
Manhattan Island; annexed by the English in 1664 and renamed New York.

Hispaniola
Site on Columbus' initial landing; located in the Caribbean island group, the Greater Antilles. It is the
second largest island in the Caribbean after Cuba

Columbian Exchange
Was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, and ideas
between the Americas and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries, related to European
colonization and trade after Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage.

Encomienda
A grant by the Spanish Crown to a colonist in America conferring the right to demand tribute and
forced labor from the Indian inhabitants of an area.
Encomiendo System
"New World" Economic system that was based on the Reconquista institution in which Spanish
were given the right to extract tribute from Muslims or other peasants in areas that they had
conquered and resettled; this essentially planted feudalism in the Spanish colonies in the western
hemisphere

Mit'a System
Was mandatory public service in the society of the Inca Empire.

Transatlantic Slave Trade

Was the biggest deportation in history and a determining factor in the world economy of the 18th
century. Millions of Africans were torn from their homes, deported to the American continent and
sold as slaves.

Creoles
A person of mixed European and black descent, especially in the Caribbean.

Peninsulares
Was a Spanish-born Spaniard residing in the New World or the Spanish East Indies.

Castas
Was a hierarchical system of race classi cation created by Spanish elites (españoles) in Hispanic
America during the eighteenth century.

Mestizos
A man of mixed race, especially the o spring of a Spaniard and an American Indian.

Mulattoes
A person of mixed white and black ancestry, especially a person with one white and one black
parent.

Zambos
Racial terms used in the Spanish and Portuguese Empires and occasionally today to identify
individuals in the Americas who are of mixed African and Amerindian ancestry (the analogous
English term, considered a slur, is sambo).

Christopher Columbus
Italian explorer who sailed to the Caribbean trying to nd a western route to Asia but instead found
America

Colonies
lands that are controlled by another nation for the purpose of nancial gain under mercantilism

Hernan Cortes
Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico (1485-1547)

Mexico City
Capital of New Spain; built on ruins of Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.

Francisco Pizarro
Spanish conquistador who conquered the Incas
Treaty of Tordesillas
set the boundary established in 1493 to de ne Spanish and Portuguese possessions in the
Americas; not e ectively enforced, but was the rst attempt at dividing colonial assets among
European powers

Quebec
First permanent French settlement in North America, founded by Samuel de Champlain

New France
Area of the Americas explored and claimed by France

Virginia
First of England's colonies, struggled with economic and political problems (bacon's rebellion)

Jamestown
The rst permanent English settlement in North America, found in East Virginia

Henry Hudson
English navigator who discovered the Hudson River; in 1610 he attempted to winter in Hudson Bay
but his crew mutinied and set him adrift to die

Caravel
a small, fast Spanish or Portuguese sailing ship of the 15th-17th centuries.

small pox
Infectious disease brought to America by the Spanish that devastated native populations.

Potosi
largest new world silver mine; located in Bolivia

Galleons
large Spanish sailing ships of long ago, having many decks

sugarcane
a grassy plant that is a natural source of sugar

Northwest Passage
A water route from the Atlantic to the Paci c through northern Canada and along the northern coast
of Alaska. Sought by navigators since the 16th century.

Vodun
African religious ideas and practices among descendants of African slaves in Haiti.

Santeria
Cuban religion that combines Catholic and West African beliefs

Candomble
African religious ideas and practices in Brazil, particularly among the Yoruba people.

engenhos
Portuguese term for sugar cane mill and the associated facilities

cash crops
crops, such as tobacco, sugar, and cotton, raised in large quantities in order to be sold for pro t

London Company
owner of Jamestown, it was a joint-stock company headquartered in England

tobacco
Cash crop that made a pro t and saved Jamestown

indentured servitude
penniless persons who bound themselves to work for a number of years to pay their passage