MXMS U.S. History

Plantation: large farm on which crops are raised mainly for sale.

Indentured servant: a person who works for another person for a specified period of time, usually seven years, under a contract, in exchange for transportation, food and shelter.

Mayflower Compact: agreement in which settlers of Plymouth colony agreed to obey their governments laws and created a direct democracy.

Jamestown: the first permanent English settlement in the New World; founded in Virginia in 1607.

​Virginia Company of London: financed the establishment of Jamestown as a business venture.

The Lost Colony: an early English settlement in North Carolina that mysteriously disappeared between the time of its founding (1587) and the return of the expedition's leader (1590).

Triangular Trade: trade between America, Europe and Africa.

Middle Passage: the force transfer of slaves from Africa to the Americas.

Captain John Smith: English soldier, explorer and author who was a leader of the Jamestown Colony between 1608 and 1609. 

Pocahontas: arguably the most famous Native American associated with the Jamestown Colony.

Cash crops: valuable crops grown to sell or export.

Colony: a group of people in one place that is ruled by a parent country somewhere else.

Government: the ruling authority for a community.

Citizen: community member who owes loyalty to the government.

Pilgrims: English separatists who founded the Plymouth Colony in 1620. 

New England Colonies: established in the 17th and 18th centuries and consisted of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

Middle Colonies: established in the 17th and 18th centuries and consisted of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.

Southern Colonies: established in the 17th and 18th centuries and consisted of Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia.

Import: bringing goods, services, or articles into a country to sell or trade.

Export: to send a commodity, service, or article to another area or the article itself.