LCHS Cards
Terms
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- Ice Age
- a period of extremely cold temperatures when part of the planet's surface was covered with sheets of ice
- Radiocarbon Dating
- method used to determine how old objects are
- Beringia
- an area of dry land between Asia and Alaska that was exposed during the Ice Age
- Nomads
- early Native Americans that moved from place to place and did not live in permanent settlements
- Agricultural Revolution
- the time period when early Americans learned how to plant and raise crops
- Maize
- the most important crop of early Americans, used to make bread, we know it as corn
- Civilizations
- permanent settlements turned into these, usually there was a system of trade and government and art and science and a written language
- Olmec
- the first people to build a civilization in America
- Mississippian Culture
- lived in Moundville, Alabama as well as other places, built huge cities with flat-topped mounds
- Land Bridge Theory
- the idea that the first people to come to the Americas walked across a land bridge from Asia to Alaska during the Ice Age
- DNA Testing
- method of testing bones, skulls, and teeth to tell how old they are
- Vikings
- people from Scandinavia who receive credit for being the first to land in the Americas, Leif Ericsson
- Christopher Columbus
- Italian who sailed for Spain to America
- Indians
- the name Columbus called Native Americans
- Columbian Exchange
- a mixture of cultures; Europe and Africa and Asia sent grains, fruits, coffee beans, livestock, and disease to the Americas; the Americas sent corn, peanuts, cocoa beans, and turkeys to Europe and Africa and Asia
- Disease and Native Americans
- diseases from Europe killed as many as 80% of Native Americans
- Amerigo Vespucci
- America was named after him and not Columbus
- Juan Ponce de Leon
- looked for the fountain of youth, named Florida
- Magellan
- his crew sailed around the world, he named the Pacific Ocean
- Balboa
- the first European to reach the Pacific coast of America and to see the Pacific Ocean
- 3 G's
- explorers sailed for gold, glory, and God
- Walter Raleigh
- tried to settle at Roanoke, named the area Virginia after the Virgin Queen Elizabeth
- The Lost Colony
- Roanoke
- Jamestown
- first successful attempt at settlement, settled by the Virginia Company
- Problems at Jamestown
- swampy land, mosquitoes, poor leadership, many unskilled workers
- Tobacco
- the crop that saved Jamestown
- House of Burgesses
- the first general assembly of people in Jamestown; the first government; a Governor, 6 councilors, and 20 representatives, 2 from each of the colony's ten towns
- Burgesses
- the representatives
- Pilgrims
- went to America to escape religious persecution, sailed on the Mayflower, helped by Squanto, settled in Plymouth
- William Bradford
- colonial leader in Plymouth
- John Winthrop
- led another group of Pilgrims to the Americas, stockholder in the Massachusetts Bay Company
- Roger Williams
- banished from Massachusetts, started a colony called Providence, where the government had no authority in religious matters
- Quakers
- everyone has an inner light from God, no need for church or ministers, led by William Penn, started the colony of Pennsylvania
- Georgia
- a colony started by James Oglethorpe for poor people in England who were in prison because they couldn't pay their debts
- Spanish Settlement
- Mexico, Florida, Texas, Central America, Caribbean, California, etc.; gold, silver mining, and ranching
- English Settlement
- Eastern seaboard of North America, trade and farming
- French Settlement
- Canada, St. Lawrence River, and Louisiana Territory; exporting furs