nomadic
These were hunters and gatherers - one of the indian lifestyles that existed in the Americas during the early European explorations.
Mayas
This civilization was located on the Yucutan Peninsula of Mexico and in Guatemala and flourished from AD 300 to 900.
Aztecs
This civilization was a Native American Empire that lived in Mexico. Their capital was Tenochtitlan. They worshipped everything around them especially the sun. Cortes conquered them in 1521.
Incas
A Native American people who built a notable civilization in western South America in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The center of their empire was in present-day Peru. Francisco Pizarro of Spain conquered the empire.
Vikings
first European people known to have visited the Americas
Leif Ericson
Viking explorer who reached North America around 1000 and found "the strange land to the west" and called it "Vinland.
King Ferdinand
King of Spain who agreed to finance Christopher Columbus's expedition to the Americas in 1492
Queen Isabella
Funded the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492
Amerigo Vespucci
The Italian sailor who corrected Columbus's mistake, acknowledging the coasts of America as a new world. America is named after him
Vasco de Balboa
Spanish explorer who became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean in 1513 while exploring Panama
Ferdinand Megellan
Portuguese captain in spanish service; began the first circumnavigation of the glove in 1519-1522; died during voyage; allowed Spain to claim possession fo the Philippines
conquistadors
Spanish soldiers and explorers who led military expeditions in the Americas and captured land for Spain
Hernando Cortes
Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico (1485-1547)
Francisco Pizarro
Spanish explorer who conquered the Incas in what is now Peru and founded the city of Lima (1475-1541)
Sea Dogs
English sea captains authorized to raid Spanish ships and towns
Sir Francis Drake
English explorer/pirate who circumnavigated the globe (The second person to do this) from 1577 to 1580 and was sent by Queen Elizabeth I to raid Spanish ships/settlements for gold. He was a "Sea Dog.
Queen Elizabeth I
Queen of England during the defeat of the Spanish Armada. She favored Sir Francis Drake.
Jacques Cartier
French explorer who explored the St. Lawrence river and laid claim to the region for France in 1534.
Robert de La Salle
Frenchman who followed the Mississippi River all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, claiming the region for France and naming it Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV (1681-1682)
Huguenots
French Protestants
John Cabot
Italian explorer who led the English expedition in 1497 that discovered the mainland of the North American Atlantic coast and explored the coast from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland (ca. 1450-1498)
Sir Walter Raleigh
An English adventurer and writer, who was prominent at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, and became an explorer of the Americas. In 1585, Raleigh sponsored the first English colony in America on Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina. It failed and is
Jamestown
First permanent English settlement in North America 1607
John Smith
Helped found and govern Jamestown. His leadership and strict discipline helped the Virginia colony get through the difficult first winter.
House of Burgesses
The first elected legislative assembly in the New World established in the Colony of Virginia in 1619, representative colony set up by England to make laws and levy taxes but England could veto its legistlative acts.
Roman Catholicism
What religion did the Spanish spread as they explored the New World?
fur trading
The major business activity of the Frenchmen who came to North America
Norsemen
Another name for Vikings
tobacco
The 'cash' crop for the settlers of Jamestown.
Montezuma
leader of the Aztecs
Francisco Pizarro
conquered and enslaved the Incas
Spanish Armada
devastated by the English and by storms