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AP US History Chapter 1 Transformations of North America 1491-1700 Flashcards

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13588205785Hunters and gatherersSocieties whose members gather food by hunting, fishing and collecting wild plant rather than relying on agriculture or animal husbandry. Because hunter-gathers are mobile, moving seasonally through their territory to exploit resources, they have neither fixed townships nor weighty material goods.0
13588277128Semisedentary societiesSocieties whose members combine slashing and burn agriculture with hunting and fishing. Semisedentary societies often occupy large village sites near their fields in summer, then disperse during the winter months into smaller hunting, fishing, and gathering camps, regathering again in spring to plant their crops.1
13588281058Mississippian CultureA Native American culture complex that flourished in the Mississippi River basin and the southeast from around A.D. 850 to around 1700. Characterized by maize agriculture, mound building, and distinctive pottery styles, Mississippian communities were complex chiefdoms usually located along the flood plains of rivers. The largest of these communities was Cahokia, in modern day Illinois.2
13588284559Eastern woodlandsA culture area of Native Americans that extended from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the Great Plains, and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. The eastern woodlands could be subdivided into the southeastern and northern woodlands. Eastern Woodlands people were generally semisedentary, with agriculture based on maize, beans and squash., Most, but not all, were cheifdoms.3
13588292375Algonquian cultures/ languagesA Native American language family whose speakers were widespread in the eastern woodlands, Great Lakes, and subarctic regions of eastern North America. The Algonquian language family should not be confused with the Algonquins, who were a single nation inhabiting the St. Lawrence Valley at the time of first contact.4
13588529358Iroquoian cultures/ languagesA Native American language family whose speaker were concentrated in the eastern woodlands. The Iroquoian language family should not be confused with the nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, which inhabited the territory of modern- day upstate New York at the time of the first contact.5
13588532843Iroquois ConfederacyA league of five Native American nations - The Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas- probably formed around A.D. 1450. A sixth nation, the Tuscaroras, joined the confederacy around 1720. Condolence ceremonies introduced by a Mohawk named Hiawatha formed the basis for the league. Positioned between New France and New Netherlands (later New York), the Iroquois played a central role in the era of European colonization.6
13588535658Great lakesFive enormous, interconnected freshwater lakes - Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior- the dominate eastern North America. In the era before long-distance overland travel, they comprised the center of the continent's transportation system.7
13588535659Great PlainsA broad Plateau region that stretches from central Texas in the south to the Canadian plains in the north, bordered on the east by the eastern woodlands and on the west by the Rocky Mountains. Averaging around 20 inches of rainfall a year, the Great Plains are primarily grasslands that support grazing but not crop agriculture.8
13588539978Rocky MountainsA high mountain range that spans some 3,000 miles, the Rocky Mountains are bordered by the Great Plains on the east and the Great Basin on the west. Native people fished, gathered roots and berries, and hunted elk, deer, and bighorn sheep there. Silver mining boomed in the Rockies in the nineteenth century.9
13588944470Great BasinAn arid basin-and-range region bounded by the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Sierra Mountains on the west. All of its water drains or evaporates within the basin. A resource-scarce environment, the Great Basin was thinly populated by Native American hunter-gatherers who ranged long distances to support themselves.10
13588944471PeasantsThe traditional term for farm workers in Europe. Some peasants owned land, while others leased or rented small plots from landlords.11
13588947994RepublicA state without a monarch or prince that is governed by representatives of the people.12
13588953283ChristianityA religion that holds the belief that Jesus Christ was himself divine. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church was the great unifying institution in Western Europe, and it was from Europe that Christianity spread to the Americas.13
13588953284IslamA religion that considers Muhammad to be God's last prophet. Following the death of Muhammad in A.D. 632, the newly converted Arab peoples of North Africa used force and fervor to spread the Muslim faith into sub-Saharan Africa, India, Indonesia, Spain, and the Balkan regions of Europe.14
13588958078CrusadesA Series of wars undertaken by Christian Armies between A.D. 1096 and 1219 to reverse the Muslim advance in Europe and win back the holy lands where Christ had lived.15
13588961107Protestant ReformationThe reform movement that began in 1517 with Martin Luther's critiques of the Roman Catholic Church and that precipitated an enduring schism that divided Protestants from Catholics.16
13588963644Counter-ReformationA reaction in the Catholic church triggered by the Reformation that sought change from within and created new monastic and missionary orders, including the Jesuits (founded in 1540), who was themselves as soldiers of Christ.17
13588967835Plantation SystemA system of production characterized by unfree labor producing cash crop for distant markets. The Plantation complex developed in sugar-producing areas of the Mediterranean world and was transferred to the Americas, where it took hold in tropical and subtropical areas, including Brazil, the West Indies, and southeastern North America. In addition to sugar,the plantation complex was adapted to produce tobacco, rice, indigo, and cotton.18
13589296531HiawathaHiawatha was a precolonial Indian leader and co-founder of the Iroquois Confederacy. He was a leader of the Onondaga people, the Mohawk people, or both. According to some accounts, he was born an Onondaga but adopted into the Mohawks.19
13589300654Martin Luther95 Thesis, posted in 1517, led to religious reform in Germany, denied papal power and absolutist rule. Claimed there were only 2 sacraments: baptism and communion.20
13589304267Christopher ColumbusHe mistakenly discovered the Americas in 1492 while searching for a faster route to India.21
13589311592Hernán CortésSpanish explorer and conquistador who led the conquest of Aztec Mexico in 1519-1521 for Spain.22
13589314396MoctezumaAztec emperor defeated and killed by the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes.23
13589319951Pedro Alvares CabralPortuguese leader of an expedition to India; blown off course in 1500 and landed in Brazil24

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