European Exploration and Colonization Study Guide

Directions: On a separate sheet of paper, answer the following questions in short form.

1. What did exploration and colonization initiate or begin? 2. What products were exchanged between the Americas and Europe? 3. To what ideas did European colonization in the Americas eventually lead? 4. What does religious toleration mean? 5. What factors shaped regional economic differences in the American colonies? 6. What large group of immigrants to the New World came involuntarily? 7. Why did the Puritans settle New England? 8. Define the term Puritans. 9. What was another name for the Anglican Church? 10. Who were the Pilgrims? 11. Where did the Pilgrims settle? 12. What is a covenant? 13. What was the Mayflower Compact? 14. Who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony? 15. What basic unit of settlement was used by Puritan church congregations in the Massachusetts Bay Colony? 16. What is the historical significance of the Puritan town meetings? 17. Explain how direct democracy worked at New England town meetings. 18. Name the four New England colonies. 19. What ancient model did New England town meetings follow? 20. What were the two major reasons why the Puritans settled in New England? 21. What European groups chiefly settled the Middle Atlantic region? 22. Why did European immigrants settle in the Middle Atlantic region? 23. What served as the major reason for the settlement of Virginia and the other Southern colonies? 24. Who were the Virginia “cavaliers”? 25. What was the occupation of many poor English immigrants to Virginia and in what part of the colony did many of them settle? 26. Define the term artisans. 27. Define the term indentured servant. 28. Who were these indentured servants and from where did they often come? 29. What was the first permanent English settlement in North America, and when was it settled? 30. What was the Virginia House of Burgesses, and why was it important? 31. What has been the name of Virginia’s lawmaking body, since independence from Great Britain? 32. What regions of the Western Hemisphere did the Spanish explore and settle? 33. How did European colonization affect the American Indians? 34. What region of the Western Hemisphere did the French explore? 35. How did the effects of French exploration differ from those of English exploration? 36. What institution was introduced into the New World as a result of the agricultural economy which developed in the Southern colonies and the Caribbean Sea? 37. What was the result of European introduction of African slavery in the New World? 38. What were the three regions of English settlement along the Atlantic coast? 39. What formed the economic basis of colonial New England? 40. Define subsistence farming. 41. What Puritan values were reflected in the prosperity of the New England colonies?

1 42. Name the middle colonies. 43. What formed the basis of the middle colonies’ economy? 44. What two cities in the middle colonies began to grow as seaports and commercial (trade) centers? 45. What was the basis of the economies in the eastern coastal lowlands of Virginia and the other Southern colonies? 46. What are Virginia’s eastern coastal lowlands called? 47. Name the Southern colonies. 48. What was the cash crop of colonial Virginia? 49. What were the two cash crops of colonial South Carolina? 50. What formed the basis of the economy of the Southern colonies in the mountains and valleys of the Appalachian foothills? 51. What strong belief regarding property rights was shared by all the English colonies in North America? 52. What two labor systems supplied the labor needs of the plantation economy which developed in the Southern colonies? 53. What was the origin of most of the indentured servants in colonial Virginia? 54. Where and when did the first Africans arrive in colonial America? 55. What is believed to have been the legal status of the first Africans brought to Virginia? How did the status of Africans change over time? 56. Define the term Middle Passage. 57. What two developments resulted from plantation economies and labor shortages in the English colonies? 58. Eventually what war was caused by the development of a slavery-based agricultural economy in the Southern colonies? 59. What served as the basis of society in colonial New England? 60. What was the Puritans’ attitude towards religious dissenters? 61. Define the term religious dissenters. 62. What dissenter founded the colony of Rhode Island, and why did he start a new colony? 63. What religious groups settled in the middle colonies and in which colony did each group settle? 64. Who were the Huguenots? 65. What religious groups generally believed in religious tolerance? 66. What socio-economic class developed in the middle colonies and in what ways did members of this class earn a living? 67. Define the term entrepreneur. 68. What formed the basis of the social structure in Virginia and the other Southern colonies? 69. Who dominated the colonial government and society in the Southern colonies? 70. What was the most important church in Virginia and the other Southern colonies? 71. Which region of the American colonies generally maintained stronger ties with Great Britain: the Southern colonies, the New England colonies, or the middle colonies? 72. Who played leading roles in the colonial legislatures of the Southern colonies? 73. Who made up society in the mountains and valleys of the inland South? 74. Define the term Scots-Irish. 75. What was the “Great Awakening”? 76. Who was the major leader of the “Great Awakening”? 77. What two Protestant denominations experienced rapid growth as a result of the “Great Awakening”? 78. How did the “Great Awakening” relate to the American Revolution?