Unit 1

• The encomienda system: a Spanish labor system that rewarded conquerors with the labor of particular groups of conquered non-christian people. The laborers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they labored, the Catholic religion being a principal benefit.
• The Columbian exchange: the permanent interaction between Europeans and Native Americans. Transatlantic trade of animals, plants, germs, and smallpox.
• The Renaissance was an age of exploration and scientific revolution.
• Native Americans felt a personal ownership of tools, weapons, or other items that were used, also applied to land and crops. The right to use the land did not imply ownership. The Europeans viewed land and personal items as things that can be bought
• As new diseases wiped out Native civilizations, newly imported food caused a European population increase.