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AMH 2010
AMH 2010 American History to 1877 University of Florida
28
History
Undergraduate 2
07/19/2009

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Cards

Term
Spanish Conquistadors
Definition
Spaniards who came to the New World and beginning the Columbian Exchange of products and diseases while conquering natives.

Cortez- Aztecs 1521
Pizarro- Incas 1532 (20 bil. in gold/ 200 lbs)
Ponce de Leon- 1513, pushed out, killed on return
Menendez- St. Augustine 1565
Term
Ottoman Empire
Definition
Blocked the overland trade routes from Europe to Ming China in Africa, Asia Minor, and the near East, halting the spice trade and leading Europeans to look for new routes to the East.
Term
Ming China
Definition
A powerful dynasty that ruled China from the mid 1300s to the mid 1600s that supplied many of the spices desired in Europe. The trade routes were profitable for both continents, and when the Ottomans blocked off the passage, navigators tried to find ways around the world by taking a route across the Atlantic Ocean.
Term
Potato Famine
Definition
A period of starvation in Ireland during the 1800s when a quarter of the population died. This is one of the rare events where a crop from the Americas actually had a bad effect on a population. This caused many Irish to immigrate to the US.
Term
Columbian Exchange
Definition
This was the exchange of agriculture, people, and pathogens from Europe to the Americas and back after the influx of Europeans to the continent.
Americas -> Europe
Crops like potatoes, beans, and squash. Turkeys. Syphilis was the only disease that came from the Americas to hurt Europe.
Europe -> Americas
Diseases like smallpox and cholera, domesticated livestock, and grains.
Term
Syphilis
Definition
Only pathogen to go East across the Atlantic. Brought back by one of Columbus's ship captain who managed to spread it not only to Europe, but also to Africa.
Term
Smallpox
Definition
The number one killer of Native populations. When Columbus brought it to America, it resulted in millions of deaths in the Native population. Never having been exposed to the disease, they had no immune reaction to fight it. Domesticated animals are a cause of the disease and until Europeans arrived, very little large animal domestication existed. Only llamas in Peru and some scattered animals in villages and cities. Blankets and water containers which were the most traded things, could also be easily infected and reach natives. Blankets were more effective in subduing the Native population than conventional weapons.
Term
Hernan Cortes
Definition
Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztecs led by Montezuma in 1521. He wiped out one of the largest civilizations in America in a very short amount of time simply by spreading disease. With 600 soldiers he conquered the empire of 1,000,000. The Aztecs were convinced he was a god, so he held their king ransom.
Term
Divine Mandate
Definition
The ease that the Europeans experienced when it came to the defeat of the natives led them to believe it was a call from god to conquer the heathen and lesser people and spread the "right" culture and people throughout the world.
Term
Spanish Armada
Definition
The influx of silver and gold to Europe changed the politics of the land. Suddenly whoever could conquer the most in America would become a power in Europe. Spain used this to build up a huge fleet and effectively rule the Atlantic until they were eventually defeated by Queen Elizabeth.
Term
Henry VII
Definition
Politics in Europe change when Henry VIII makes an enemy out of the Spanish crown by divorcing Catherine of Aragon who was Spanish royalty. He now has an enemy of one of the richest European countries and is limited in his sea going efforts by the Spanish Armada. His marriage to Anne Boleyn results in Elizabeth I who would eventually crush the Spanish Armada.
Term
Enclosure
Definition
Europe existed for hundreds of years in a feudal system where serfs worked small plots of farms for food to live off of and a small surplus to send to their lord as rent. With the influx of money from the Americas, a market develops and lords can now afford to raise sheep, a much more profitable venture. Serfs are kicked off the land during the 15th and 16th centuries, making cities crowded with poor who have no valuable skills. From 1560-1580, the population of London increases twelve fold. England begins to see colonization as a solution to the poor.
Term
Humphrey Gilbert
Definition
Before the massive migration to the Americas, English moved in on Ireland condemning it as a land of barbaric Catholics that could be used as a buffer to the Spanish Armada. The Irish of course fought back, but the English are brutal in subduing a people they think are beneath them. Sir Humphrey Gilbert decorates a walkway to an English fort with Irish heads. This sets the precedent for violent takeover across the Atlantic and brutality toward "lesser" people.
Term
Roanoke
Definition
Roanoke was the English's first attempt at colonization in 1585. Unfortunately, these were veterans of the Irish campaign and instead of gaining the help of the natives, they immediately make them their enemies and are forced off of the island. Three years later the English attempt a resettlement under the more temperate John White. He is forced to return to England for supplies and is stuck for three years because of war with Spain. When he finally returns, they find the word Croatan carved on a fence post. As the Croatan tribe was friendly, it is likely that the colonists were absorbed into the tribe. There were reports of white natives in this area.
Term
Indulgences
Definition
Martin Luther began his reformation over anger that the church would sell indulgences to allow people to get themselves or loved ones out of purgatory. He is excommunicated for his teachings, but outrage over the sale of indulgences and the power of the church to declare the afterlife leads to the Protestant reformation and the displacement of many people who are no longer accepted in Catholic countries. Eventually America opens to freedom seekers and Calvinists begin the Puritan colonies in New England.
Term
Martin Luther
Definition
German priest who believed the Catholic church was corrupt with its sale of indulgences and the power of the pope. He posts his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg church in Germany. He is excommunicated but gains a huge following in Germany that spreads through Europe. He taught that God's love extended to all men.
Term
John Calvin
Definition
Calvin followed Luther away from the Catholic church, but his teachings were of a much darker God. He believed God was not wholly forgiving and the only way to be worthy of God was to work constantly and exercise extreme self discipline. It was his teachings that the Puritans of New England followed and after finding no freedom in Holland, most settled in the Massachusetts area.
Term
King James I
Definition
After the failure of the colony at Roanoke, many English questioned the idea of colonization. In 1603, Elizabeth dies and King James I takes her place. He makes colonization a priority and in 1607, colonists arrive at Jamestown. He thinks he has found an island protected from the Spanish Armada and good for growing crops, but the island is too marshy and full of mosquitoes to be healthy. After the end of the first year, only a little over half of the settlers were still alive. But thanks to John Rolfe the colony became successful.
Term
Jamestown
Definition
In 1607, colonists arrive at Jamestown. King James thinks he has found an island protected from the Spanish Armada and good for growing crops, but the island is too marshy and full of mosquitoes to be healthy. After the end of the first year, only a little over half of the settlers were still alive. 1609 began with 500, and during that year all but 60 died. The settlers are starving to death either because they were poor peasants with a weak work ethic, they simply couldn't farm the swamp, or it was due to salt poisoning. But thanks to John Rolfe the colony became successful.
Term
John Rolfe
Definition
Introduces tobacco from Trinidad. Tobacco is a labor and land intensive crop, so this pushes the colonists off of the inhospitable island and onto the better mainland. Also, many more workers are needed to care for the tobacco, so more colonists enter America. During the early 1600s, tobacco production boomed. The headright system is developed to supply labor from John Rolfe's introduction.
Term
Headright System
Definition
It is simply indentured servitude. If a person was in the colony, they could get 100 acres or go to the colony for 50 acres, plus 50 acres per head they brought to America. The servants would agree to work the land for 7 years and they would receive land of their own. This creates a distinct elite and working class in the southern colonies. Unfortunately very little infrastructure stems from this because only men are entering the colonies and money is spent on tobacco instead of churches or schools. There was a huge need for workers, but Natives were dying, so more and more men flooded from England.
Term
Bacon's Rebellion
Definition
The natives are constantly pushed off of their land for more tobacco room, so they fight back forcing the English to build forts through the countryside. Bacon and a group of workers go into the countryside and slaughter all the natives they can find. He is declared a rebel and in retaliation attacks Jamestown. This is essentially a stirring of the later commoners against the crown and leads to a turn away from indentured servitude.
Term
Great Fire of London
Definition
After an already devastating plague in London, in 1666 a fire breaks out and destroys 13,000 homes. Jobs open up in England that were unavailable before the reduction of the population so there is less of a hurry to go to America. Since no indentured servants are arriving, the planters turn to the African slave trade.
Term
Elmina
Definition
A huge slave trading post on the coast of Ghana made getting slaves from the interior of the country simple. The English simply bought slaves from the English or Dutch and had them shipped to their islands and then further up the coast to the planting communities.
Term
Atlantic Creoles
Definition
These were people of European and African descent, originally coming mostly from Europe, the Caribbean, or West African trading posts. Later, many indentured women had children with slaves, and since slavery is inherited from the maternal side, these mixed people were free. Later this became taboo, but the Atlantic Creoles who lived at the beginning of the slave trade often grew up to become successful planters and slave owners themselves.
Term
Triangular Trade Route
Definition
A complex trade system between Europe, Africa, and America that can be simplified as textiles and guns sent to Africa from New England or Europe that were used to buy slaves who were sent to the Caribbean or southern plantations where sugar was exported to New England or Europe where the process was repeated.
Term
Monoculture
Definition
The widespread growing of one item. It ties the economy to one crop that the community must depend on. In Virginia and the southern colonies of America, that crop was tobacco. The same practice was held in Ireland, leading to the Potato Famine.
Term
Plantation Revolution
Definition
change from a society with slaves to a slave society. with indentured servants no longer profitable, and a firm monoculture, slaves became easier and easier to import, and slaves from the African interior replaced the familiar Atlantic Creoles, adding to racism and a belief that these people could be nothing better than slaves.
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