UNIT 1: VOCABULARY

ABSOLUTE MONARCHY: a system of government in which all the authority is held by the monarch.

AZTECS: a Pre-Columbian empire that dominated central Mexico.

CHANCILLERÍA: a royal court that ensured justice during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs.

CITY COUNCILS (CABILDOS): administrative city council that represented the interests of colonial land owners to the crown.

CORTES: a representative assembly made up of members of the nobility, clergy and high bourgeoisie.

DYNASTY: a succession of monarchs from the same family who hold power from one generation to another.

FEUDALISM: the social system in European Middle Ages. The monarch granted land to the nobility in exchange for loyalty and military assistance.

GOVERNOR: a government official responsible for ruling a province.

HUNDRED YEARS' WAR: a series of conflicts from 1137 to 1453 between England and France.

INCAS: a Pre-Columbian empire that dominated the Andean area.

INQUISITION: in Spain, it was a religious tribunal that acted with great severity against Christian converts that secretly practiced their previous religion.

MAYANS: a Pre-Columbian empire on the Yucatan Peninsula.

MORISCO: a Muslim convert to Christianity after the whole Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Christian kingdoms in 1492.

NASRID KINGDOM OF GRANADA: a Muslim emirate in Granada from 1238 to 1492.

RECONQUISTA: the recovery of territory from Al-Andalus by Christian armies between the 8th to the 15th centuries.

SANTA HERMANDAD: a type of very early police force that kept order in both the cities and the countryside.

VICEROY: a royal official who ruled a very large territory called a vice-royalty in the name of the monarch.

WORKSHOP: the building where a craftsman made his products.