Term
| How did humans first come to the Americas? |
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Definition
| Via a land bridge connecting Asia to Alaska more than 15,000 yeas ago, during the ice age. |
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Term
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Definition
| an undocumented, though long-lasting, British policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws, meant to keep the American Colonies obedient to England. |
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Term
| Why did England end the salutary neglect policy? |
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Definition
| After the 1763 French and Indian War, England no longer worried about France as a threat, but faced huge war debts. England believed the colonies should bear the brunt of the debt because the war was for their benefit. |
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Term
| Which European group made it to the Americas long before Christopher Colombus? |
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Definition
Around A.D. 1000, Viking Norsemen led by Leif Ericson sailed from Norway across the Atlantic Ocean and settled in Newfoundland, in northeast Canada. These Vikings also explored some distance up and down the coast. This settlement, however, was short-lived. The Norsemen soon sailed back across the ocean, having had little to no effect on North America.
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Term
| The "maritime revolution" which took place during the age of exploration, spurred the creation of which three inventions? |
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Definition
| The astrolabe, a device used to determine latitude; the caravel, an large ship of unprecedented speed; and the magnetic compass. |
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Term
| What role did Spain play in the Age of Exploration? |
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Definition
sponsored Christopher Columbus’s journey westward, across the Atlantic Ocean, in search of Asia.
In 1565, Spain established the first successful European settlement in North America—a fortress in St. Augustine, Florid |
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Term
| What was The Treaty of Tordesillas? |
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Definition
| In 1494, this treaty divided all future discoveries between Castile (a region of Spain) and Portugal. The Treaty of Tordesillas reveals that both Portugal and Spain led the charge in exploring the New World. But while the Portuguese focused on navigation and geographical observation, the Spanish put their efforts into expedition and colonization. |
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Term
| What role did France play in the Age of Exploration? |
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Definition
| the French engaged in the highly profitable fur trade, setting up trading outposts throughout Newfoundland, Maine, and regions farther west. Samuel de Champlain founded the first permanent French settlement in 1608 at Quebec, and established a fur trade with the region’s Native American tribes. By the end of the seventeenth century the French controlled the St. Lawrence River, the Mississippi River, the Great Lakes and, therefore, much of the land in the heart of the continent. Of all the European colonial powers, the French enjoyed the best relationship with Native Americans. |
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Term
| What role did the Netherlands play in the Age of Exploration? |
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Definition
| In 1625, the Dutch bought Manhattan island from the natives who lived there and established the settlement of New Amsterdam at the mouth of the Hudson River. The English took over New Amsterdam, renaming it New York. After 1664, Dutch influence waned. |
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Term
| What role did England play in the Age of Exploration? |
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Definition
Englad became a major naval force after its defeat of the Spanish Armada.
Joint stock companies formed to gather funding for colonization through the sale of public stock. These companies were responsible for most of English colonization from the 17th century.
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Term
| What effects did colonization have on the Natives? |
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Definition
| Colonization had a disastrous effect on the native population. War, slavery, and starvation claimed many lives, but disease, especially smallpox, had the most devastating effect. |
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Term
| What unintentional gift did the Spanish provide the Native Americans with and what effect did it create? |
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Definition
| During the conquistadors’ expeditions into the Southwest, some horses escaped and formed large herds on the Great Plains. Within a few generations, Native Americans in the plains region became experts on horseback, expanding their hunting and trading capabilities and dramatically transforming Native American culture. |
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Term
| What were the three types of British colonies and what were their key characteristics? |
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Definition
royal, proprietary, and self-governing
- Royal colonies were owned by the king.
- Proprietary colonie were basically land grants from the British government. Individuals were awarded huge tracts of land that they would then supervise and govern, usually in return for political or financial favors.
- Self-governing colonies formed when the king granted a charter to a joint-stock company, and the company then set up its own government independent of the crown.
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Term
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Definition
The 105 original Jamestown colonists were all men. The colonists focused all their efforts on getting rich. As a result, more than half of the colonists died of malnourishment and starvation within the first year.
Captain John Smith organized work gangs to ensure the colony had food and shelter and made rules to control sanitation and hygiene.
In the end, Jamestown was saved because it had the perfect climate for growing tobacco.
The profits produced by tobacco saved Jamestown and ensured the settlement’s success.
Jamestown’s House of Burgesses, formed in 1619, was America’s first representative government.
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Definition
In 1620, 102 settlers sailed across the Atlantic on the Mayflower. Most of these settlers were Separatists from England, who wanted to separate from the Anglican Church (the Church of England). Separatists who came to the New World were called, insisted that all males sign the Mayflower Compact, which established the colony of Plymouth Plantation as a “civil body politic” under the sovereignty of James I of England.
The Mayflower Compact is often described as America’s first example of true self-government.
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Term
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Definition
| In 1628, the Puritans struck a deal with the English government, under which the Puritans would leave England and settle north of the Plymouth Plantation. The Puritans wanted their colony to be a theocracy, and emphasized religion over trade. In 1630, under the leadership of John Winthrop. But by mid-1631, the colonists had put the worst behind them and the Massachusetts Bay Colony began to thrive. |
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