Definitions

Explorations, Discovery, and Settlement (1492-1700): Definitions

* Sioux; Pawnee; Pueblo; Iroquois- the Sioux and the Pawnee followed the buffalo herds; the Pueblos in the southwest lived in multistoried buildings and developed intricate irrigation systems for their farming; in the Northeast, Iroquois tribes formed a political confederacy, the League of the Iroquois.

* Mayas; Incas; Aztecs- the Mayas built remarkable cities in the rain forests of the Yucatán Peninsula; the Aztecs in central Mexico and the Incas in Peru ruled over vast empires.

* Henry the Navigator- sponsored the voyages that succeeded in opening up a long sea route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

* Amerigo Vespucci-the land Columbus explored was named after this Italian sailor.

* Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)- the two disputing kingdoms of Spain and Portugal signed this treaty, which moved the map line a few degrees to the west.

* Vasco Nuñez de Balboa- crossed the isthmus of Panama and discovered the Pacific Ocean (1513).

* Ferdinand Magellan- sailed around the tip of South America (1520) and crossed the Pacific Ocean; one of his ships was the first ever to circumnavigate the globe.

* Hernan Cortés- conquered the Aztec empire in Mexico (1521).

* Francisco Pizarro- conquered the Inca empire in Peru (1532).

* Francisco Vásquez de Coronado- explored a vast territory in North America from present-day New Mexico into Kansas (1540-1542).

* Asiento System- the system in which the Spanish had to pay a tax to their king on each slave they imported to the Americas.

* John Cabot- an Italian sea captain who was under contract to England’s King Henry VII and explored the coast of Newfoundland in 1497.

* Giovanni de Verranzo- explored part of North America’s eastern coast hoping to find a northwest passage leading through the Americas to Asia.

* Samuel de Champlain- established the first permanent French settlement...