AP US History Flashcards: Cultural Interactions Europeans Native Americans Africans

What this deck covers

This deck focuses on Cultural Interactions Europeans Native Americans Africans, giving you a quick way to review the definitions, rules, and examples that matter most for AP US History.

How to use these flashcards

Work through these flashcards in short sessions. Try to answer each prompt before flipping the card, then revisit any cards you miss until the explanation feels automatic.

Flashcard 1: What was the Atlantic slave trade's "Middle Passage"?

Answer: Forced transatlantic voyage transporting enslaved Africans to the Americas. Brutal oceanic journey with high mortality rates.

Flashcard 2: What term describes people of mixed European and African ancestry in Spanish colonies?

Answer: Mulatto. Spanish colonial term for mixed European-African heritage.

Flashcard 3: What was the Pueblo Revolt of $1680$?

Answer: Pueblo uprising that expelled Spanish from New Mexico temporarily. Led by Popé against forced conversion and cultural suppression.

Flashcard 4: What is the term for people of mixed European and Native American ancestry in New France?

Answer: Métis. French-Indian mixed heritage, especially from fur trade marriages.

Flashcard 5: What did "chattel slavery" mean in British North America?

Answer: Legal system treating enslaved people as inheritable property for life. Children inherited enslaved status from mothers, creating perpetual bondage.

Flashcard 6: What was the main purpose of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680?

Answer: Expel Spanish colonizers and resist forced labor and Christianization. Led by Popé, temporarily drove Spanish from New Mexico for 12 years.

Flashcard 7: What was Bacon's Rebellion of $1676$ primarily about on the frontier?

Answer: Settler anger over limited access to western land and conflict with Natives. Nathaniel Bacon led frontier farmers against Governor Berkeley's policies.

Flashcard 8: What was the primary goal of Spanish missions in borderlands regions?

Answer: Convert Native peoples and incorporate them into Spanish colonial society. Combined religious conversion with Spanish cultural and economic control.

Flashcard 9: What was the mita system in Spanish America?

Answer: Forced rotational Native labor, especially for mining. Inca system adapted by Spanish for silver mining at Potosí.

Flashcard 10: What was the cash crop most associated with early Caribbean plantation slavery?

Answer: Sugar. Labor-intensive crop drove massive importation of enslaved Africans.

Flashcard 11: What was the primary goal of Spanish missions in North America?

Answer: Convert Native peoples to Christianity and incorporate them into empire. Missions served as frontier institutions for Spanish colonization.

Flashcard 12: Identify the legal principle: a child's status followed the mother in English colonies.

Answer: Partus sequitur ventrem. Virginia law making children of enslaved mothers automatically enslaved.

Flashcard 13: What was the casta system in Spanish America?

Answer: Racial hierarchy that ranked people by ancestry and shaped legal/social status. Complex system determining privileges based on racial ancestry percentages.

Flashcard 14: What was the main economic purpose of mercantilism in European colonies?

Answer: Use colonies to enrich the mother country through controlled trade. Colonies existed to provide raw materials and markets for Europe.

Flashcard 15: What demographic factor most increased Native American mortality after $1492$?

Answer: Eurasian diseases (especially smallpox) causing epidemic depopulation. Native Americans lacked immunity to Old World diseases.

Flashcard 16: What does the term "creolization" describe in the Atlantic world?

Answer: Blending of African, European, and Native cultures into new hybrid cultures. Created unique languages, religions, and cultural practices.

Flashcard 17: What did Bartolomé de las Casas primarily advocate regarding Native peoples?

Answer: Ending Native enslavement and abusive labor practices. Dominican friar who documented Spanish atrocities and promoted Native rights.

Flashcard 18: What economic system linked Europe, Africa, and the Americas through trade in the Atlantic world?

Answer: Triangular trade. Ships carried manufactured goods, enslaved people, and raw materials.

Flashcard 19: What was the "praying town" system in Puritan New England?

Answer: Settlements to Christianize and culturally assimilate Native peoples. John Eliot established towns for converted Christian Indians.

Flashcard 20: What was the mita system as used by Spain in the Americas?

Answer: Forced Native labor draft, especially for mining. Adapted from Incan practice, particularly brutal in silver mines like Potosí.

Flashcard 21: What was the primary cause of King Philip's War (1675–1676) in New England?

Answer: Native resistance to English expansion and encroachment on land. Metacom (King Philip) united tribes against colonial land seizures.

Flashcard 22: What term describes cultural blending between Native, African, and European peoples?

Answer: Syncretism. Cultures merged to create new hybrid religious and social practices.

Flashcard 23: Which 1676 conflict in Virginia reflected tensions among colonists, Native peoples, and colonial elites?

Answer: Bacon's Rebellion. Frontier settlers vs. Governor Berkeley over Native American policy.

Flashcard 24: What Spanish labor system granted colonists control of Native labor and tribute?

Answer: Encomienda system. Spanish colonists received Native labor in exchange for protection and conversion.

Flashcard 25: Which Old World disease most devastated Native Americans after 1492?

Answer: Smallpox. Lacked immunity, causing 90% population decline in some areas.

Flashcard 26: What was Metacom's War (King Philip's War) of $1675$–$1676$?

Answer: New England conflict between English settlers and Wampanoag-led coalition. Last major Native resistance to English expansion in southern New England.

Flashcard 27: What was the encomienda system in Spanish America?

Answer: Crown-granted Native labor tribute to Spaniards in exchange for "protection". Exploited Native labor while claiming to provide Christian instruction.

Flashcard 28: Which region became a major destination for enslaved Africans due to sugar plantations?

Answer: The Caribbean (especially the West Indies). Sugar cultivation's extreme labor demands drove massive slave imports.

Flashcard 29: Identify the primary economic crop that intensified African slavery in the Chesapeake by the late 1600s.

Answer: Tobacco. Labor-intensive crop required year-round workers in hot climate.

Flashcard 30: Which European power is most associated with a fur-trade alliance network in Canada?

Answer: France. French coureurs de bois traded with Native allies for beaver pelts.

Flashcard 31: What is the name for communities of self-liberated Africans in Spanish America?

Answer: Maroons (palenques/quilombos in some regions). Escaped slaves formed independent communities resisting colonial control.

Flashcard 32: What was the Stono Rebellion of $1739$?

Answer: Major enslaved uprising in South Carolina aiming for freedom in Spanish Florida. Largest colonial slave rebellion before the American Revolution.

Flashcard 33: What system described Atlantic commerce linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas?

Answer: Triangular trade. Ships carried goods, slaves, and raw materials in three-leg route.

Flashcard 34: What was the main reason English planters increasingly shifted from indentured servants to enslaved Africans?

Answer: A more permanent, inheritable labor force for plantation agriculture. Servants gained freedom; enslaved people provided lifelong labor.

Flashcard 35: What were "praying towns" in New England?

Answer: Puritan-run settlements to convert and culturally assimilate Native Americans. Required adopting English customs, Christianity, and abandoning traditional ways.

Flashcard 36: What term describes people of mixed European and Native American ancestry in Spanish colonies?

Answer: Mestizo. Spanish colonial term for mixed European-Indigenous heritage.

Flashcard 37: What was the main purpose of the Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee) in diplomacy?

Answer: Coordinate defense and negotiate powerfully with European empires. Five (later Six) Nations united for collective strength.