| A | B |
|---|
| mestizos | people of mixed Native American and European (usually Spanish or Portuguese) ancestry |
| cultural diversity | a society where groups of people with different customs, beliefs, arts, and ways of life live together |
| encomienda | a grant by the Spanish King under which a Spanish soldier or colonist was granted a piece of land or a village together with its Native American population |
| indigenous population | people already living in a particular region or environment before exploration by Europeans |
| pandemic | a disease occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting a very high number of people |
| Ladinos | a mix of mestizos and Spanish peoples |
| ethnic | defined by the food, language, and cultural traditions of a particular group making it different and unique from others |
| cultural exchange | groups of people who share and adopt different aspects of their lives |
| Northwest Passage | a route by sea between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans along the northern coast of North America |
| polytheism | belief in many gods |
| conquistador | a conqueror, especially one of the 16th century Spanish soldiers who defeated the Indian civilizations of Mexico, Central America, or Peru |
| ethnic group | a group sharing a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, and way of life |
| Middle Passage | the forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas |
| demographics | data about population characteristics |
| New World | North America, Mesoamerica, the Caribbean, and South America |
| immune | cannot be affected by a disease |
| slavery | a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold and are forced to work |
| culture | the beliefs, customs, arts, and way of life of a particular society, group, place, or time |
| turning point | a moment when the course of events is changed or a significant change occurs |
