| A | B |
|---|
| Christopher Columbus | Italian navigator who asked Portuguese for their shelp. Wanted to reach the Indies by sailing west. |
| Hernan Cortes | Spanish explorer who landed on Mexican coast in 1519. Cortés and allies captured and demolished Tenochtitlán - then built Mexico City |
| Malinche | Indian woman who helped Hernan Cortés arrange alliances with discontented Indian groups; he negotiated rather than slaughter them |
| Moctezuma | Aztec emperor. welcomed Cortés to his capital but was killed when Aztecs and Spaniards fought |
| Francisco Pizarro | explorer who arrived in Peru just after Atahualpa (Incan leader) beat brother in civil war; Pizarro captured Atahualpa |
| Atahualpa | Incan ruler who fought brother in civil war. Spanish demanded huge ransom when Atahualpa was captured. Incas paid it, but Spanish killed Atahualpa anyway |
| Bartolomé de las Casas | priest who spoke about evils of encomienda system, |
| Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz | turned down by Univ. of Mexico, so entered a convent at 16. Known as one of the greatest poets to write in Spanish |
| Samuel de Champlain | explorer, geographer and mapmaker. Considered the Father of New Fance |
| Aztecs, Inca, Maya | 3 major civilizations in Central and South America |
| Pilgrims | Enlgish Protestants who rejected the Church of England; settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts |
| Olaubah Equiano | slave from Igo tribe, taken when he was 11 from his village, famous writer |
| Tainos | groups of native people who lived in the Caribbean Islands that Columbus treated very badly |
| Quetzalcoatl | God in Aztec mythology |
