| A | B |
|---|
| astrolabe | instrument used to measure the positions of the stars and figure out latitude |
| caravel | ship with a steering rudder and triangular sails |
| colony | group of people settled in a distant land that are ruled by the government of their native land |
| Middle Ages | period from 500-1350 when most Europeans lived on feudal manors ruled by lords |
| Crusades | series of religious wars fought by European Christians against Turkish Muslims in an attempt to gain control of the Holy Land (the Middle East region) |
| Magnetic Compass | which pointed north, helped ship captains to sail straight course |
| Renaissance | period from the late 1300s- 1600 when Europeans experienced a "burst in learning" |
| Christopher Columbus | founded the first Spanish colony in the Americas on an island he called Hispaniola |
| Columbian Exchange | the exchange of goods and ideas between the Americas and the rest of the world |
| Hernando Cortes | Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztec empire with just 600 men |
| Montezuma | ruled the Aztec empire at the time of its defeat by the Spanish |
| Francisco Pizarro | conquered the Inca Empire |
| Vasco Nunez de Balboa | first European to see the Pacific Ocean |
| Ferdinand Magellan | led the first expedition to sail around the world |
| conquistador | Spanish word for conqueror |
| Tainos | Native Americans who Columbus encountered in the Caribbean |
| Vikings | Scandinavian sailors who briefly settled in present-day Canada around 1000 AD |
| Protestant Reformation | 16th century religious movement aimed at reforming the Roman Catholic Church; resulted in the establishment of Protestant churches |
| encomienda | Right to demand taxes and labor from Native Americans in the Spanish colonies |
| Laws of the Indies | code of laws that stated how the Spanish colonies would be ruled and organized |
| Plantations | large estate farmed by many workers |
| Northwest Passage | waterway through or around North America that European explorers were hoping to discover, in order to find a shorter route to Asia |
| couriers de bois | French trappers and traders known as “runners of the woods” |
| Mestizo | Person of mixed Spanish and Native American background |
| Peninsulares | Person born in Spain but who lived in the Spanish colonies; highest social class in the Spanish colonies |
| Creoles | Person born in the Americas to Spanish parents |
| Pueblos | towns in New Spain that were the centers of farming and trade |
| Presidios | forts in New Spain where Spanish soldiers lived |
| Missions | religious settlements in New Spain that were run by Catholic priests and friars |
| viceroy | person sent by Spain to rule the Spanish colonies |
