Significan Mercantilism In The Columbian Exchange

Encomiendas: An encomienda was a grant of Native American labor given to prominent European men in the Americas by the Spanish king. This grant allowed European men to extract tribute from natives in the form of labor and goods. The value of the grants was dramatically increased with the discovery of gold and silver in the Americas. The significance of this term is that although this system was eventually repartitioned, it initiated the tradition of prominent men controlling vast resources and monopolizing native labor.

Columbian Exchange: The Columbian Exchange was an exchange of peoples, animals, diseases, and foods between hemispheres. Foods and diseases from the New World, such as maize, potatoes, and syphilis, were carried to Europe. Food, livestock, and diseases, such as wheat, barley, cattle, horses, smallpox, measles, and influenza, traveled across the Atlantic to the New World. This term is

significant because it represents the major biological transformation that took place and its tremendous impacts. For example, the exchange of foods significantly increased agricultural yields and population growth, while the exchange of diseases decimated native communities.

Mercantilism: Mercantilism is a system in which governments of European nations heavily regulated trade and commerce in hopes of increasing national wealth.

It was expected to result in a favorable balance of trade, with imports not exceeding exports. The significance of this term is that this system allowed gold and silver to flow into England, bringing economic expansion. As a result, these mercantile policies laid the ground for overseas colonization and allowed England to rise as a challenge to Spanish power in the New World.

Jamestown: Jamestown was an English settlement in America, located in Virginia and named after King James I. The first group of men to arrive were dispatched to Jamestown by the Virginia Company of London. The men of Jamestown experienced several problems, such as lack of gold, inadequate food and water, disease, and an inability to dominate the native population. This term is significant because Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in America, laying the foundation for the eventual colonization of the rest of

America.

House of Burgesses: The House of Burgesses was a system of representative government created by the Virginia company in response to manage the flow of migrants to America. The House of Burgesses could make laws and levy taxes, but could be vetoed by the governor and company council. The significance of this term is that the House of Burgesses was one of the first judicial systems or legislative body to be established in America.

Royal colony: The royal colony was what Virginia was transformed into after King James became alarmed at the Native American uprising and repealed the Virginia company’s charter. The governor and a small advisory council were appointed by the king and his ministers. The House of Burgesses was kept, but the king’s Privy Council must approve all legislation. James also decreed the establishment of the Church of England, causing residents to pay taxes to support the clergy. This term is significant because the institutions of this royal colony became a model for royal colonies that would develop throughout English America.

Headright system: The headright system in Virginia granted 50 acres of land to anyone who paid the passage of a new immigrant to the colony. The significance of this term is that it attracted new settlers to the region and addressed the labor shortage. Also, the colony’s largest planters accumulated greater holds on the land as they imported more indentured servants and slaves.

Indentured servitude: Indentured servitude was a contract that bound men to work for a master for 4 or 5 years, afterward gaining the right to marry and work for themselves. Indentured servants were mercilessly exploited by their masters and few escaped poverty, with only a quarter of them achieving property. This term is significant because indentured servants became a main part of the labor force in the Chesapeake colonies and were the precursors to African slaves.

Pilgrims: Religious separatists, the Pilgrims were one of the first Protestant groups to come to America, following threats from the Church of England. 67 migrants from England were led by William Bradford on the Mayflower to the New World. The significance of the term is that the Pilgrims established the first permanent community, Plymouth, in New England, paving the way for additional Neo-European colonies to be founded.

Mayflower/Mayflower Compact: The Pilgrims traveling to America sailed aboard the Mayflower. Lacking a royal charter, the Pilgrims created the Mayflower Compact, which used the self-governing religious body of the Puritans as a model for political structure. This term is significant because the Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony, establishing a framework for government.

Puritans/predestinations: The Puritans were Protestants who, unlike the Pilgrims, did not separate from the Church of England but rather hoped to purify it of its ceremony and hierarchy. They also believed in the Calvinist concept of predestination, the idea that God saved only a few chosen elect. The Puritans fled to America when King Charles’s Archbishop William Laud began to target dissident ministers. The significance of this term is that the Puritans shaped early Christian early beliefs in America and emphasized certain virtues, such as self-reliance and frugality, influencing social and economic life.

John Winthrop: John Winthrop was a well-educated country squire who led 900 Puritan migrants to America. Winthrop eventually became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony settled by the Puritans. He envisioned a new home in America, both materially and religiously, for his family and followers. This term is significant because Winthrop believed religious change was essential and acted as a chief figure among the Puritans for an extended amount of time, maintaining the civic and social order of a large group.

Joint-stock corporation: The joint-stock corporation was a commercial agreement that allowed investors to pool their capital and receive shares of stock in proportion to their investment. The Puritans adopted this agreement, eventually transforming it into a representative political system with a governor, council, and assembly. The significance of this term is that joint-stock corporations allowed English merchants to facilitate the colonization of America.

Roger Williams: Roger Williams was the Puritan minister in Salem. He opposed the Puritan decision to establish an official religion, advocating religious tolerance, and favored the idea of separation of state and church like the Pilgrims. Williams also questioned the Puritans’ seizure of Native lands and, consequently, was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, causing him to form Providence with his followers. This term is significant because Williams was able to lead dissidents away to form a separate colony, acquiring full authority to rule themselves and the right to worship God as they pleased.

Anne Hutchinson: Anne Hutchinson, the wife of a merchant, was another threat to Puritan magistrates. Hutchinson argued that salvation could not be achieved through good deeds and that God “revealed” divine truth directly to individuals. Condemned for her supposedly heretical views, Hutchinson was banished and also went into exile in Rhode Island. This term is significant because Hutchinson posed as another threat to religious authorities in Massachusetts Bay Colony and was especially momentous due to her gender.

Salem 1692: Salem was a town in Massachusetts where an extremely dramatic episode of witch hunting occurred in 1692. Several women were accused of practicing witchcraft, with 175 people being tried and 19 being executed. The significance of this term is that this mass hysteria marked a turning point since government officials, who were alarmed at the number of deaths, now discouraged legal prosecutions of alleged witches. Furthermore, several adopted a rational, scientific view of the world, in which events attributed earlier to supernatural forces were now explained by “natural causes”.

Puritan-Pequot War: After their alliance with the Dutch the Pequots became a hindrance to English traders. A combined force of Massachusetts and Connecticut militiamen and Narragansett and Mohegan warriors attacked a Pequot village, massacring about five hundred people. In the following months, the New Englanders drove the surviving Pequots into hiding and divided their lands. This term is significant because experiences like the Pequot War confirmed the colonists’ belief that God intended for them to obtain the natives’ lands and thus was eliminating the natives.

Metacom’s War: Metacom was the Wampanoag leader who concluded that the English colonists must be eliminated as coexistence did not seem like an option. He aligned himself with the Narragansetts and Nipmucks and attacked white settlements throughout New England. The bloody fighting continued until the Native American warriors ran out of gunpowder and Metacom was killed by other hired Native American warriors. The significance of this term is that Metacom’s war destroyed Native Americans’ chance at existing as independent peoples in New England, forcing them to move west and intermarry with other tribes.

Bacon’s Rebellion: Nathaniel Bacon, a young migrant from England, emerged as the leader of rebels who desired to gain land currently secured for the natives by governor Berkley. After mobilizing his neighbors and attacking natives, Bacon was arrested and expelled from the council. After being released, Bacon and his army burned Jamestown to the ground and plundered the plantations of Berkeley’s allies.The significance of this term is that it reminded Virginia leaders to appease their lesser neighbors.