Chapter 1: New Beginnings

(8-16)
Key Terms and Names
Middlemen

In trading systems, those dealers who

operate between the original producers of
goods and the retail merchants who sell to
consumers. After the eleventh century,
European exploration was driven in large
part by a desire to acquire alluring Asian
goods without paying heavy tolls to Muslim
middlemen.
Caravel

Small vessel with a high deck and

three triangular sails. Caravels
could sail into the wind, allowing
European sailors to explore the
western shores of Africa, which had
previously been made inaccessible
due to prevailing winds on the
homeward journey.
Plantation

Large scale agricultural enterprise growing

commercial crops (crops for sale) and usually
employing slave labor. European settlers
established plantations in Africa, South
America, the Caribbean (West Indies), and
the American South.
Columbian Exchange

The transfer of goods, crops, and diseases between New and Old World societies after
1492.
Treaty of Tordesillas 1494

Signed by Spain and Portugal, it divided the territories of the New World. Spain
received most of the territories in the Americas, and Portugal was compensated
with titles to lands in Africa and Asia.
Encomienda

Spanish government's policy to "commend" or give Indians to certain colonists in

return for the promise to Christianize them. This was part of a broader effort to
subdue Indian tribes in the West Indies and in North America.
Vocabulary

● Nomadic ● Whet
● Intricate ● Antiquity
● Dwell ● Extinction
● Scarcely ● Wrench
● Subdued ● Cataclysmic
● Trellis ● Clamored
● Menace ● Motley
● Endow ● Mutinous
● Venturesome ● Obscure
● Reverberation
Nomadic (Adjective): moving from one place to another rather than living in one place all of the time

Intricate (Adjective): having a lot of small parts that are arranged in a complicated or delicate way

Dwell (Verb): to live in a place or in a particular way

Scarce (Adjective):
Almost none
Scarcely (Adverb)

Subdue (Verb): to prevent something from existing or developing

Subdued (Adjective)

Trellis (Noun): a light frame made of bars of wood or metal crossed over each other, attached to a
wall for plants to grow up

Menace (Noun): something that is likely to cause harm

Endow (verb): to give a large amount of money to pay for creating a college, hospital, etc. or to provide
an income for it

Venturesome Used to describe a person who is willing to take risks, or an action or

(Adjective): behaviour that involves risks
 Whet (Verb): to increase someone's interest in and wish for something, usually by giving them a small
experience of it

Antiquity (Noun): the distant past (= a long time ago), especially before the sixth century

Extinction (Noun): a situation in which something no longer exists

Wrench (Verb): to pull and twist something suddenly or violently away from its position

Cataclysmic (Noun): an event that causes a lot of destruction, or a sudden, violent change

Clamor (Verb): to make a loud complaint or demand

Motley (Adjective): consisting of many different types that do not appear to go together

Mutinous (Adjective): (especially of a sailor or a soldier) refusing to obey orders or attempting to take control
from people in authority
Obscure (Adjective)
not known to many people:

Reverberation (Noun): a sound that lasts for a long time and makes things seem to shake
Discussion questions

Q1) What was one of the reasons (related to geography) that allowed ease to
europeans to subdue the native americans?

Q2) What caused the elaborate pueblo build by Anasazis and other ancient cultures
to fall and disappear?

Q3) What caused the spanish people to seek voyages westward?

Q4) What goods were being sent from new world to old world and old world to the
new world?
Writing prompt

Write a summary of 200-300 words for chapter 1 (first 8 pages) by using the key

terms and important vocabulary (at least 5-6) we discussed.