King Henry VIII
king of Englad; broke with Roman church in 1530s, launching English Protestant Reformation; led to battle between Catholics and Protestants in England
Queen Elizabeth
queen of England in 1558; Protestant; Protestantism became dominant in England (increasing rivalry with Catholic Spain)
Francis Drake
English buccaneer who traveled around world and returned in 1580 with Spanish booty; netted profits of about 4,600 percent to his financial backers (including Queen Elizabeth); knighted by Elizabeth
Sir Humphrey Gilbert
English; effort of English colony at Newfoundland collapsed when he died at sea in 1583
Sir Walter Raleigh
Sir Humphrey Gilbert's brother; tried another English attempt at colonization; landed in 1585 on North Carolina's Roanoke Island (this colony eventually vanished)
Phillip II
Spanish; foe of the Protestant Reformation; built up Spanish Armada
Lord De La Warr
new governor of Jamestown; declared war against Indians in Jamestown
Pocahontas
daughter of Powhatan; saved John Smith from his captors; her marriage to John Rolfe sealed peace agreement of First Anglo-Powhatan War
Powhatan
Indian chieftain in Jamestown area; also the name of the peoples of the region
Handsome Lake
Iroquois prophet; told Iroquois to return to old customs (forsake alcohol, revive family importance); died in 1815
John Rolfe
married Pocohontas, first interracial union in Virginia; later became father of tobacco industry and economic savior of Virginia colony; by 1612, perfected methods for raising and curing the plant, improving taste
Lord Baltimore
awarded estates in Maryland to Catholic relatives; created Act of Toleration
Act of Toleration
statute in Maryland that permitted all forms of Christian worship (Protestant, Catholic, etc.), but atheists and Jews were still executed; passed in 1649 by local representative assembly
James Oglethorpe
soldier-statesman who helped found Georgia; interested in prison reform; saved "Charity Colony"
Oliver Cromwell
English Puritan-soldier; ruled 1649-1659 after Parliament beheaded King Charles I for dismissing them
Santa Fe
first main Spanish outpost in North America; founded in 1610
Quebec
first main French outpost in North America; founded in 1608
Jamestown
first main English outpost in North America; founded in 1607
Ireland
English-Spanish battle began with Spain trying to free this Catholic country from Protestant English rule; Spain provided little help and England seized even more control over this country
enclosure
economic practice occurring in England; where landlords cut off crop lands for themselves (to produce wool) and small farmers economically forced to emigrate to America
joint stock company
a company made up of a group of shareholders; ex. Virginia Company
King James I
English king who gave charter to Virginia company, searching for gold and a route to Indies; eventually revoked charter of Virginia Company (dislilked House of Burgesses and tobacco), putting it directly under his control
law of primogeniture
eldest son receives all of the inheritance; forced younger sibling to look for wealth elsewhere (America)
royal charter
creed issued by the crown to settle in the New World
Chesapeake
where the members of the Virginia Company landed; this region was good for planting tobacco, but was disease-stricken
Virginia Company
company in 1606 received charter from King James I; looking for gold/route to Indies; settlement intended to be impermanent (caused pressure to quickly find gold); were still considered English (had same rights) due to charter; settled in James River region; founded Jamestown
John Smith
captain who took over Jamestown in 1608; saved by Pocahontas from her father; forced settlers to produce food for themselves, not just find gold
First Anglo-Powhatan War
declared by Lord De La Warr when he took over Jamestown; marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe (first interracial union in Virginia) ended war in 1614
Second Anglo-Powhatan War
caused by Indian revolt in 1622; war began in 1644, Indians were defeated; peace treaty of 1646 banished Indians (extinct by 1685)
Powhatan's Confederacy
union formed between few dozen tribes which Powhatan ruled over
House of Burgesses
London Company let colonists in Virginia assemble (first assembly in America)
Maryland Act of Toleration
guaranteed toleration to all Christians, not Jews or atheists; passed in 1649 by local representative assembly
slave codes
system created by English in the West Indies to control slaves
Barbados slave code
English-devised rule to control slaves; created in 1661; denied fundamental rights to slaves and gave masters almost complete control over slaves; later adopted in the Carolinas
Charles I
English king who dismissed Parliament in 1629, but recalled it in 1640; later beheaded by Parliament (1649)
Charles II
restored to crown in 1660; son of Charles I; promoted royal involvement and intensity in empire building
Savannah Indians
tribe who had helped English settlers in Carolinas with Indian slave trade, but were later annihilated by the colonists when they tried to leave
Charles Town
busiest seaport in the South; located in Carolinas; sons of English aristocrats came for money, French and Protestants came for religious toleration
John Wesley
English missionary who preached in Georgia; later returned to England and founded Methodist church
George Percy
accompanied Captain John Smith on hiw expedition to Virginia; served as deputy-governor in 1609-1610; returned to England in 1612 and wrote A Discourse of the Plantation of Virginia about his experience
William Penn
founded colony of Pennsylvania, which promised better relations between whites and Indians; Savannah Indians tried to flee there from the Carolinas
sea dogs
English buccaneers who sought to promote Protestantism and plunder by seizing Spanish treasure ships and raiding Spanish settlements
Richard Hakluyt
English writer who exhorted his countrymen to cast off their "sluggish security" and undertake the colonization of the New World after the defeat of the Spanish Armada
Spanish Armada
Spanish fleet (made by Phillip II) that was conquered by smaller, swifter English ships and a storm in 1588; marked the beginning of the end of Spanish imperial dreams and ensured English naval dominance in the North Atlantic
Deganawidah and Hiawatha
two leaders who founded the Iroquois Confederacy in the late 1500s
Iroquois Confederacy
union that bound together the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas; founded by Deganawidah and Hiawatha in the late 1500s; vied with Indians, French, English, and Dutch for territory; eventually fell victim to European diseases, muskets, and whiskey
longhouse
Iroquois wooden structure that was eight to two hundred feet in length; held related, nuclear families
George II
Georgia was named after this English king
nation-state
A unified country under a ruler which share common goals and pride in a nation. The rise of the nation-state began after England's defeat of the Spanish Armada. This event sparked nationalistic goals in exploration which were not thought possible with the commanding influence of the Spanish who may have crushed their chances of building new colonies
slavery
the forced use of human labor; made up 14% of the Virginian population by 1700; more common in the southern colonies (esp. Carolina)
yeoman
man or farmer owning small estate; middle-class farmer
proprietor
owner of a colony (ex. Lord Baltimore of Maryland); had attained charter from the crown
squatter
someone who settles on land without right or title; often impermanent
indentured servitude
penniless persons who bound themselves to work for a number of years to pay their passage
starving time
Jamestown winter of 1609-1610 which only sixty colonists survived; nearly lead to them giving up on Virginia colony (until stopped by Lord De La Warr)
surplus population
remarkably mobile population in England due to footloose farmers from enclosure; went to New World to work and gain money
Restoration
1660; when Charles II was restored to the throne of England; lead to greater royal involvement and intensity in colonialism
Protestant Reformation
started in England when King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s
English Civil War
civil war in England between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists under Charles I; distracted England from New World colonial happenings
Colonial Virginia Company Charter
guaranteed overseas settlers the same rights of Englishmen that they would have enjoyed if they had stayed at home; later fed resentment of meddlesome mother country and nourished need for independence