Vocab 4.1 – 4.2

Spanish Conquests in the Americas / Competing Claims in North America

The Reconquista

• A reconquering; specifically, the regaining of all of Spain by Catholics, from Muslims in the fifteenth century.

Colonies

• A country or area under political control of another country, typically a distant one, and occupied by settlers from that country.

Conquistadors

• Any of a small group of adventurers who took part in the Spanish conquest of South and Central America in the 16th century.

The Encomienda System

• The system, instituted in 1503, under which a Spanish soldier or colonist was granted a tract of land or a village together with its Indian inhabitants.

Pilgrim

• A person who makes a journey for religious reasons.

Puritans

• A member of a group of English Protestants of the late 16th and 17th centuries who regarded the Reformation of the Church of England under Elizabeth as incomplete and sought to simplify and regulate forms of worship.