armada fleet of warships

ascetic practicing severe abstinence or self-denial, generally in pursuit of spiritual awareness






bosch loppers “wood runners”; independent Dutch fur traders

buffalo American bison, native to North America and the stable of the Plains Indian economy between the 15th and nineteenth centuries






cabildo secular secular municipal council that provided local government in Spain’s New World empire

Caddoan family of languages spoken by the Wichitas, Pawnees, Arikaras, and other Plains Indians

Chickasaw Indians an urban, mound-building Indian people who lived on the lower Mississippi River and became a society of hunters after the change in climate and introduction of disease after 1400; they were successful in resisting French aggression throughout the colonial era

Choctaw Indians mound-building people who became a society of hunters after 1400; they were steadfast allies of the French in wars against the Natchez and Chickasaws

Community of Habitants of New France designed to make New France more efficient and more profitable; it gave significant political power to local officials in Canada

Company of New France company established by Cardinal Richelieu to bring order to the running of France’s North American enterprises

Company of the West modeled on the Dutch West India Company, it was designed to maximize profits to the Crown

conquistadors Spanish soldiers who conquered Indian civilizations in the New World

coureurs de bois “runners of the woods”; independent French fur traders who lived among the Indians and sold furs to the French

Creek Confederacy Alliance of Indians living in the Southeast; formed after the lethal spread of European diseases to permit a cooperative economic and military system among survivors

creole in colonial times, a term referring to anyone of European or African heritage who was born in the colonies; in Louisiana, refers to the ethnic group resulting from intermarriage by people of mixed languages, races, and cultures






Dakotas subgroup of the Sioux Nation of Plains Indians; the eastern branch, live mostly in the prairie and lakes region of the upper Midwest

Dakotas subgroup of the Sioux Nation of Plains Indians; the eastern branch, live mostly in the prairie and lakes region of the upper Midwest

decimation a practice originating in the Roman Empire in which one out of every ten people was killed in order to suppress resistance

Don Juan de Oñate Spaniard who conquered New Mexico and claimed it for Spain in the 1590s

Dutch inhabitants of the Netherlands/Holland

Dutch Reform Church Calvinistic Protestant denomination; the established church in the Dutch Republic and the official church in New Netherland

Dutch West India Company Dutch investment company formed in 1621 to develop colonies for the Netherlands in North America






encomienda system system of bonded labor in which Indians were assigned to Spanish plantation and mine owners in exchange for a tax payment and an agreement to “civilize” and convert them to Catholicism






feudal relating to a system in which landowners held broad powers over peasants or tenant farmers, providing protection in exchange for loyalty and labor

Fort Orange Dutch trading post established near present-day Albany, NY, in 1614

Francisco Vásquez de Coronado Spanish soldier who gave Spain a claim to most of the American Southwest in his search northward from Mexico for the fabled cities of gold






gentry class of English landowners ranking just below the nobility






Henry Hudson Dutch ship captain and explorer who sailed up the Hudson River in 1609, giving the Netherlands a claim to the area now occupied by New York

Hernando Cortés Spanish soldier and explorer who conquered the Aztecs and claimed Mexico for Spain

Hopi Indians “peaceful ones”; Indians who were related to the Comanches and Shoshones and took up residence among the Pueblo Indians as agricultural towndwellers

Hopi Indians “peaceful ones”; Indians who were related to the Comanches and Shoshones and took up residence among the Pueblo Indians as agricultural towndwellers






inflation rising prices that occur when the supply of currency or credit grows faster than the available supply of goods and services






katsina dolls painted wooden models that represent important spirit beings in Pueblo beliefs, often used in ceremonies and possessing great cultural significance






Lakotas subgroup of the Sioux Nation of Plains Indians; comprise the western branch, living mostly in the Great Plains

Louisiana French colony that included the entire area drained by the Mississippi River and all its tributary rivers






Mohicans Algonquin-speaking Indians who lived along the Hudson River, were dispossessed in a war with the Iroquois confederacy, and eventually were all but exterminated






Natchez Indians urban, mound-building Indian people who lived on the lower Mississippi River until they were destroyed in a war with the French in the 1720s

New France colony established by France in what is now Canada and the Great Lakes region of the United States

Northwest Passage rumored and much-hoped-for water route from Europe to Asia by way of America that early explorers tried to find






patroonship huge grant of land given to any Dutch West India stockholder who brought fifty colonists to New Netherland

privateer ship captain who owned his own boat, hired his own crew, and was authorized by his government to attack and capture enemy ships

Pueblo Revolt Indian rebellion again Spanish authority in 1680 led by Popé; succeeded in driving the Spanish out of New Mexico for nearly a decade






Roanoke Island island off North Carolina that Raleigh sought to colonize, beginning in 1585

Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle French explorer who followed the Mississippi River from tits origin to the Gulf of Mexico in 1683, giving France claim to the entire way and adjoining territory






Saint Augustine 1st colonial city in the present-day United States, located in Florida and founded by Pedro Menéndez de Aviles for Spain in 1565

Samuel de Champlain French explorer who traced the St. Lawrence River inland to the Great Lakes, founded the city of Quebec, and formed the French alliance with the Huron Indians

Santa Fe Spanish colonial town established in 1609; eventually the capital of the province of New Mexico

serfs peasants who were bound to a particular estate but, unlike slaves, were not the personal property of the estate owner and received traditional feudal protections

Sir Walter Raleigh English courtier, soldier, and adventurer who attempted to establish the Virginia colony

Stuart kings dynasty of English kings who claimed the throne after the death of Elizabeth I, who left no heirs

subsistence farming farming that produces enough food for survival but no surplus that can be sold






the Netherlands/Holland often used interchangeably; the two terms refer to the low-lying area in Western Europe north of France and Belgium and across the English Channel from Great Britain

Treaty of Tordesillas 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal that gave Spain control of most of the Western Hemisphere