OCR GCSE History B key terms

A recipient of an encomienda, entitled to receive tribute from the Indigenous community assigned to them.

A system in Spanish America that granted a recipient the right to receive tribute, including goods or labour, from an Indigenous community, in return for supposed duties of protection and Christian instruction. It did not legally grant ownership of the community’s land or people.

A person living in a country whose nationality was that of a state at war with their country of residence. The classification did not prove that the person supported the enemy.

A company organising English merchants’ overseas trade, whose representatives sought trading privileges from Jahangir.

An eighteenth-century intellectual movement in which thinkers used reason to question established ideas, including ideas about human behaviour and how society should be organised.

A person treated as another person's property, who could be bought and sold and was not legally free.

A person who sets up a business, taking financial risks in the hope of making a profit.

A representative sent to carry messages or negotiate on behalf of a ruler or government.

A long poem about heroic characters and their deeds.

A widespread outbreak of an infectious disease within a population.

The European Union: a grouping of European countries cooperating politically and economically.

The principle allowing citizens of European Union countries to move between member states to live and work, subject to applicable rules.

The regular activities and living conditions of people in the past, including work, food, accommodation, worship and leisure.

A Church penalty excluding a person from receiving the sacraments, the Church’s sacred religious ceremonies.

Living away from one’s country after being forced to leave, often following a loss of political power.

African Americans who migrated from the southern United States to Kansas in the late 1870s and early 1880s, seeking greater freedom, safety and economic opportunity.

Extending a state’s power into additional territories, for example through exploration, conquest and colonisation.

Using people or their work unfairly for another person’s benefit, often through coercion and without adequate protection.

Goods sold to buyers outside the country or region where they are produced.

Forcing people to leave a country or territory. Edward I ordered the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290.

Relatives beyond parents and their children, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

A trading establishment where company merchants conducted business and stored goods.

An animal or spirit believed to assist a witch in carrying out magic or harmful deeds.

A severe shortage of food affecting many people, which can cause widespread hunger and death.

An imperial order which could grant rights or privileges, such as permission for a company to trade.

A Shiʿa Muslim dynasty based in Egypt, with a rival caliphate in Cairo. The Fatimids recovered Jerusalem in 1098 before losing it to the crusaders in 1099.

Sworn loyalty to a lord or ruler.