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2.6.1: Key Terms

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    348364
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    The following terms are essential words and phrases to help you grasp important concepts and events presented in this chapter.

    Black Legend
    Spain’s reputation as bloodthirsty conquistadors
    Calvinism
    a branch of Protestantism started by John Calvin, emphasizing human powerlessness before an omniscient God and stressing the idea of predestination
    Columbian Exchange
    the movement of plants, animals, and diseases across the Atlantic due to European exploration of the Americas
    commodification
    the transformation of something—for example, an item of ritual significance—into a commodity with monetary value
    encomienda
    legal rights to native labor as granted by the Spanish crown
    Hispaniola
    the island in the Caribbean, present-day Haiti and Dominican Republic, where Columbus landed on his first voyage to the Americas and established a Spanish colony
    indulgences
    documents for purchase that absolved sinners of their errant behavior
    joint stock company
    a business entity in which investors provide the capital and assume the risk in order to reap significant returns
    mercantilism
    the protectionist economic principle that nations should control trade with their colonies to ensure a favorable balance of trade
    mourning wars
    raids or wars that tribes waged in eastern North America in order to replace members lost to smallpox and other diseases
    Pilgrims
    Separatists, led by William Bradford, who established the first English settlement in New England
    privateers
    sea captains to whom the British government had given permission to raid Spanish ships at will
    probanza de mérito
    proof of merit: a letter written by a Spanish explorer to the crown to gain royal patronage
    Protestant Reformation
    the schism in Catholicism that began with Martin Luther and John Calvin in the early sixteenth century
    Puritans
    a group of religious reformers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who wanted to “purify” the Church of England by ridding it of practices associated with the Catholic Church and advocating greater purity of doctrine and worship
    Roanoke
    the first English colony in Virginia, which mysteriously disappeared sometime between 1587 and 1590
    Separatists
    a faction of Puritans who advocated complete separation from the Church of England
    smallpox
    a disease that Europeans accidentally brought to the New World, killing millions of Indians, who had no immunity to the disease
    sugarcane
    one of the primary crops of the Americas, which required a tremendous amount of labor to cultivate

    2.6.1: Key Terms is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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