Hernando Cortes
Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico (1485-1547)
Conquistador
A Spanish conqueror of the Americas
Christopher Columbus
He mistakenly discovered the Americas in 1492 while searching for a faster route to India.
Samuel de Champlain
French explorer in Nova Scotia who established a settlement on the site of modern Quebec (1567-1635)
Jacques de Cartier
breton explorer who discovered what is now Canada for France
John Cabot
Italian explorer who led the English expedition in 1497 that discovered the mainland of North America and explored the coast from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland (ca. 1450-1498)
Leif Ericson
Viking who was the first European to visit America
Sir Frances Drake
England. 1577-1580 English First English to sail around the world-Defeated the Spanish Armada- Claimed California for England
Vasco de Gama
A Portugese sailor who was the first European to sail around southern Africa to the Indian Ocean, first to reach India by sea
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese navigator who led the Spanish expedition of 1519-1522 that was the first to sail around the world.
Henry Hudson
An English explorer who explored for the Dutch. He claimed the Hudson River around present day New York and called it New Netherland. He also had the Hudson Bay named for him
Juan Ponce de Leon
Spanish Explorer who discovered and named Florida while searching for the "Fountain of Youth
Sir Walter Raleigh
founder of England's first American colony
Treaty of Tordesillas
A 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain, declaring that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal.
John Smith
English explorer who helped found the colony at Jamestown, Virginia
Roanoke
Established in 1587. Called the Lost Colony. It was financed by Sir Walter Raleigh, and its leader in the New World was John White. All the settlers disappeared, and historians still don't know what became of them.
Bacon's Rebellion
1676 - Nathaniel Bacon and other western Virginia settlers were angry at Virginia Governor Berkley for trying to appease the Doeg Indians after the Doegs attacked the western settlements. The frontiersmen formed an army, with Bacon as its leader, which defeated the Indians and then marched on Jamestown and burned the city. The rebellion ended suddenly when Bacon died of an illness.
Congregationalism
The perspective, not held by Catholics, that each congregation is independent and autonomous
French and Indian War
(1754-1763) War fought in the colonies between the English and the French for possession of the Ohio Valley area. The English won.
First Great Awakening
Religious revival in the colonies in 1730s and 1740s; George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards preached a message of atonement for sins by admitting them to God. The movement attempted to combat the growing secularism and rationalism of mid-eighteenth century America. Religious splits in the colonies became deeper.
Mercantilism
An economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by selling more goods than they bought
Mayflower Compact
1620 - The first agreement for self-government in America. It was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower and set up a government for the Plymouth colony.
mayflower
the ship in which the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from England to Massachusetts in 1620
joint-stock company
A company made up of a group of shareholders. Each shareholder contributes some money to the company and receives some share of the company's profits and debts.
Indentured Servitude
A worker bound by a voluntary agreement to work for a specified period of years often in return for free passage to an overseas destination. Before 1800 most were Europeans; after 1800 most indentured laborers were Asians.
Anne Hutchinson
A Puritan woman who was well learned that disagreed with the Puritan Church in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her actions resulted in her banishment from the colony, and later took part in the formation of Rhode Island. She displayed the importance of questioning authority.
House of Burgesses
Elected assembly in colonial Virginia, created in 1618.
pilgrims
English Puritans who founded Plymouth colony in 1620
William Penn
A Quaker that founded Pennsylvania to establish a place where his people and others could live in peace and be free from persecution.
New England Confederation
1643 - Formed to provide for the defense of the four New England colonies, and also acted as a court in disputes between colonies.
Navigation Acts
Laws that governed trade between England and its colonies. Colonists were required to ship certain products exclusively to England. These acts made colonists very angry because they were forbidden from trading with other countries.
Puritans
A religious group who wanted to purify the Church of England. They came to America for religious freedom and settled Massachusetts Bay.
John Winthrop
Puritan governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Speaker of "City upon a hill
Roger Williams
A dissenter who clashed with the Massachusetts Puritans over separation of church and state and was banished in 1636, after which he founded the colony of Rhode Island to the south
Triangular Trade
A three way system of trade during 1600-1800s Africa sent slaves to America, America sent Raw Materials to Europe, and Europe sent Guns and Rum to Africa
treaty of paris 1763
Ended French and Indian War, France lost Canada, land east of the Mississippi, to British, New Orleans and west of Mississippi to Spain
Separatists
People who wanted to have a separate, or different church. Also known as Pilgrims.
Salem Witch Trials
Several accusations of witchcraft led to sensational trials in Salem, Massachusetts at which Cotton Mather presided as the chief judge. 18 people were hanged as witches. Afterwards, most of the people involved admitted that the trials and executions had been a terrible mistake.
Sautary Neglect
Unofficial policy of relaxed royal control over colonial trade and only weak enforcement of Navigation Laws. Lasted from the Glorious Revolution to the end of the French and Indian war in 1763
John Rolfe
He was one of the English settlers at Jamestown (and he married Pocahontas). He discovered how to successfully grow tobacco in Virginia and cure it for export, which made Virginia an economically successful colony.
Johnathan Edwards
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" author
Society of Friends
Quakers
City Upon a Hill
name for Mass. Bay Colony coined by Winthrop to describe how their colony should serve as a model of excellence for future generations
William Bradford
A Pilgrim, the second governor of the Plymouth colony, 1621-1657. He developed private land ownership and helped colonists get out of debt. He helped the colony survive droughts, crop failures, and Indian attacks.
Pequot War
1637 The Bay colonists wanted to claim Connecticut for themselves but it belonged to the Pequot. The colonists burned down their village and 400 were killed.
King Philip's War
1675 - A series of battles in New Hampshire between the colonists and the Wompanowogs, led by a chief known as King Philip. The war was started when the Massachusetts government tried to assert court jurisdiction over the local Indians. The colonists won with the help of the Mohawks, and this victory opened up additional Indian lands for expansion.
New Amsterdam
Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. This later became "New York City
Dominion of New England
1686 - The British government combined the colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut into a single province headed by a royal governor (Andros). The Dominion ended in 1692, when the colonists revolted and drove out Governor Andros.
John Peter Zenger
Journalist who questioned the policies of the governor of New York in the 1700's. He was jailed; he sued, and this court case was the basis for our freedom of speech and press. He was found not guilty.
Leisler's Rebellion
1689 - When King James II was dethroned and replaced by King William of the Netherlands, the colonists of New York rebelled and made Jacob Leiser, a militia officer, governor of New York. Leisler was hanged for treason when royal authority was reinstated in 1691, but the representative assembly which he founded remained part of the government of New York.
Albany Plan of Union
plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 that aimed to unite the 13 colonies for trade, military, and other purposes; the plan was turned down by the colonies and the Crown
Benjamin Franklin
American intellectual, inventor, and politician He helped to negotiate French support for the American Revolution.
Antinomianism
An interpretation of Puritan beliefs that stressed God's gift of salvation and minimized what an individual could do to gain salvation; identified with Anne Hutchinson.
Great Migration
movement of over 300,000 African American from the rural south into Northern cities between 1914 and 1920
Headright System
Headrights were parcels of land consisting of about 50 acres which were given to colonists who brought indentured servants into America. They were used by the Virginia Company to attract more colonists.
Middle Passage
A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies
Proprietary Colony
English colony in which the king gave land to proprietors in exchange for a yearly payment
Iroquois League
a league of Iroquois tribes including originally the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca (the Five Nations)
John Smith
English explorer who helped found the colony at Jamestown, Virginia