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The Americas
From Frontier to Supercontinent
Presenters: Aidan Fitzgerald, Su Ming Li, Min Jia Liu,
Gideon Soule, Amber Yang, Wendy Zhang
Contents
● Pre-Columbian Era, c. 40,000 BCE-1450 CE
○ Northern America
○ Mesoamerica
○ South America
● 1450-1750: Age of Exploration
● 1750-1900: Independence,
Industrialization, and Global Integration
● 1900-2014: Accelerating Change and
Realignments
Pre-Columbian Era
(c. 40,000 BCE-1450 CE)
● North and South America were originally
settled by migrating people from
northeast Asia, who may have arrived by
land (across the Bering land bridge, which
was high and dry during the Ice Age) or by
sea (along coastlines).
● The Paleo-Indians were skilled hunterforagers. After 8000 BCE, when the
climate became more stable, southward
migration started to take place as people
tried to find better environments to live
in.
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The Americas developed in social and
environmental isolation from the other three
major continents
Migration to Americas either by land or by sea
Pre-Columbian Northern America
● The history of precolumbian North
America is fragmented
and the people never
united.
● The largest social unit
was tribes, united
through kinship.
● Some tribes formed
political alliances, such
as the Iroquois.
Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica
The Olmecs, 1400-400 BCE
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The “mother civilization” of Mesoamerica
Organized politically as city states
Chief cities found in south-central Mexico
Did not have the benefit of being near a
major river system
Carved huge stone heads and jade
sculptures
The Olmecs built mounds for religious
celebrations led by the shaman and for
political leaders to show power
Worshipped the Jaguar God
Polytheistic, likely made human sacrifices
Their art, architecture, and religion
influenced other civilizations to come
Teotihuacan, 100-750 C.E
● One of Mesoamerica’s largest and most important cities
● Scholars have not decided on the founder of the city, but evidence shows
that it hosts a mixture of Mayan, Mixtec, and Zapotec culture
● The city was ruled by a group of elite family.
● Polytheism
○ Dedicated the largest pyramids to Quetzalcoatl, the god of agriculture
and arts.
○ Human sacrifice - sacred duty to the gods
● Renowned for the archaeological site and tourist attraction Avuenue of the
dead
● They used chinampas (floating gardens) which
permitted year long agriculture.
● Teotihuacan enjoyed peace during the beginning of
its empire, as evidenced by the lack of defensive
structures.
● By 750, the city had fallen to unknown causes.
Maya, 250-900 C.E
● The Maya lived in the Yucatan Peninsula.
● They were never unified because of rivalry among rulers in different city
states, which were ruled by god-kings.
● The Maya were deeply religious and infused warfare with religious meaning.
They often wage wars to capture prisoners to be sacrificed. (bloodletting was
an important religious ritual) However, during the 8th century, war started
to be motivated by conquest of other societies
● The center of cities displayed pyramids, palaces, temples and stone carvings
dedicated to their gods and rulers.
● They devised a calendar to set dates for important events.
● Agriculture: slash-and-burn, and complex irrigation
● Women participated in economical, political, agricultural, and religious
activities.
● Escalated warfare disrupted order, and construction of housing on farmland
lowered food production. As a result the city states began to decline slowly.
Mesoamerica, 600-1450
Postclassic Era (900-1450)
● The population of Mesoamerica expanded during this period. This led
to increasing demand for food and land to grow them on. More wars
were fought to meet this need.
● Many civilizations started to become more militaristic in order to
maintain control of their vast empire and to provide for their people.
● The Toltecs were one of the first to build a state based on military
power. They were an powerful empire that influenced much of
Mesoamerica, such as the Aztecs. The Aztecs copied many aspects of
Toltec religious practices and art.
● they worshipped a war god who demanded blood and human sacrifice
from his followers.
● Internal power struggles and military threat lead to the decline of the
Toltecs.
Aztecs, 1325-1521 C.E
● The Aztecs were nomadic people who came from northern Mexico.
Following a prophecy, they journeyed south and founded the city of
Tenochtitlan. Through alliances and military improvements, they became a
leading power.
● Like the Mayans, the Aztecs based their empire on military expansion.
○ Frequently sacrificed prisoners of war to supply their sun god with
human hearts.
○ They often demanded tribute from conquered people.
○ Declined when conquered states start to rebel against the demand for
tribute and sacrifices.
● Women enjoyed relative independence and power. However their military
culture singled out women and made them subordinate to men.
● The Spanish brought smallpox, which the natives were not immune to,
killing 25% of the empire. In 1521, Hernan Cortes captured Tenochtitlan and
banned their religion due to its cruelty.
● Change: Mesoamerican civilizations gradually became more militaristic.
In the beginning, cities such as Teotihuacan were peaceful as evidenced by
the lack of defensive infrastructures. By the end of the Classic Era (600900), civilizations began to go on conquest conquests for religious reasons.
They also demanded tribute from conquered people to help relieve the
demand for food as their empires continued to grow.
● Continuity: Women continued to be evidently influential in Mesoamerican
societies. In the Aztec and Maya societies, women had important roles at
home. They took care of the family and grew food. There were some cases
where the royal line could be traced matrilineally instead of patrilineally.
● Continuity: Religion continued to influence Mesoamerican societies, as
seen in most of their monument structures, innovations and daily life. All
Mesoamerican society built enormous pyramids and other religious
architecture to recognize and worship their many gods in their own
respective cities and empires.
Pre-Columbian
South America (600 BCE-600 CE)
South America
● The Andean cultures were skilled at
pottery, weaving, and metallurgy.
● The llama was the most important
domesticated animal, which provided
labor for farming and travel, and wool
for clothing.
● There was no written language, but a
system of record keeping by tying knots
in strings called quipu was developed.
● Labor was divided along gender lines.
(men farmed, while women tended the
home)
South America (cont’d.)
● Members of clans worked together to produce enough
food to survive the hard mountain environment
● Terrace farming was created to enable the people to
farm in the mountains
● Notable societies:
o Chavín, 850-250 BCE
o Nazca, 100-800 CE
o Moche, 200-700 CE
o Huari, 500-1000 CE
o Chimu, 800-1465 CE
Chavín, 850-250 BCE
● Dominated the Andean coastal plains and foothills of
modern Peru.
● A small elite, who were believed to have divine
connections, controlled power.
● Individual clans carried out different functions
(maintaining roads, bridges, irrigation etc.)
● Followed an animistic polytheistic religion.
● Developed a drainage system for their Chavín de
Huántar temple.
● Renowned for their artworks of carvings, pottery ,
metalwork and textiles
Nazca (100 BCE-800 CE)
● Developed in the river valleys along dry southern coast
of Peru.
● Lived in chiefdoms with plazas and mounds used for
gatherings and celebrations.
● Made beautiful ceramics, textiles, and geoglyphs (Nazca
lines). They also made underground aqueducts named
puquios.
● Worshipped a animistic religion with animal deities.
● Was an agricultural society that farmed maize, squash,
and sweet potato.
● Underwent decline after a devastating flood.
Moche (100-800 CE)
● Developed a powerful state based on irrigated
agriculture, goods exchange between ecological regions,
and was ruled by a religious elite.
● There were big social distinctions in society. The
powerful often dressed themselves in rich garments
while the poor devoted their time to farming.
● had many skilled artisans that produced textiles,
ceramics, metalworks, and weapons for military
purposes.
● Sacrificed losers of ritual battles to their gods.
● Natural disasters and climate changes caused the
decline of the Moche.
Inca Empire (1300s-1536 CE)
● The Incas conquered most of the societies mentioned before.
● The Incas worshipped the Sun God and other deities. The King was
considered as “the child of the sun”.
● The Inca Empire had a monarchy and used a feudal system. They built
advanced infrastructure including efficient highways that allowed the
government to rule the empire smoothly.
● The Inca military did not have metal weapons and were equipped the same
as other civilizations. However they were able to train new soldiers very
efficiently.
● Women had high social status and could be warriors and leaders as well as
wives and mothers.
● The mit’a system was used, where people would rotate labor/military
obligations for their clans. This was mandatory public service and helped
keep the society running. The colonizers later adopted this system.
● Large cities, such as the Machu Picchu complex, were constructed along
with transport and communicative systems.
● Brought to its end by the Spanish conquistadores.
The Inca Empire
Age of Exploration
(c. 1450-1750)
Spain and Portugal
● European interaction began in the 1490s with Christopher
Columbus’s exploration aimed at the West Indies.
● In 1494, the Pope’s lines of demarcation gave Portugal Brazil,
and Spain the rest of South America.
● Treatment of native populations was brutal. By 1522, the
Aztec Empire had been destroyed, and by 1536, the Aztec
empire had been as well. In their place was New Spain, a
colony that spread through most of the Americas.
● The Spanish and Portuguese were poor masters. Initially,
they enslaved the natives and forced them to work on
plantations and in mines, but they were too susceptible to
disease to be particularly effective. They then turned to Africa
for a labor source.
● A stratified racial system arose, with natives on the bottom.
Racial Stratification in Latin America
England, France, Netherlands
● The Dutch settled in New Netherland, until the British
took over
● The French controlled Louisiana and parts of Canada
and were primarily interested in fur
● The British settled throughout the Caribbean and North
America.
● Colonies were primarily British, as they were more
interested in permanent settlement than other nations.
● During this time, colonies were a source of raw
materials (sugarcane was a common one) and a market
for processed goods from Europe.
The Columbian Exchange™
The Atlantic Slave Trade
● The decline of native populations due to disease and their unfitness for
intensive labor led to importation of millions of slaves from Africa.
● These slaves worked on plantations throughout the Americas. Many
labored in South and Central America, producing sugarcane, the primary
cash crop.
● Approximately 12 million slaves were brought to the Americas between
1400 and the mid-1800s, even after the slave trade was made illegal by
most European countries (Great Britain spearheaded the ban in 1808)
● The slave trade formed one leg of the triangular trade system.
1750-1900: Independence,
Industrialization, and Global
Integration
American Revolution, 1765-1783
● British needed money to pay off debt during the French and
Indian War (1756-1763) where War pitted France, French
colonists, and their Native allies against Great Britain, the
Anglo-American colonists and the Iroquois Confederacy.
● “No taxation without representation”
● Colonies allied with France, Spain and Netherlands
● The war became unpopular among Brits.
● Treaty of Paris
○ granted unconditional independence and established
generous boundaries for the former colonies
○ In return, US has to pay prewar debts to British
merchants and allow loyalists to recover property
confiscated by patriot forces.
Independence: Latin America
● Haiti, 1789-1804
o slave revolt led by
Toussaint L’Ouverture
o supported by French
revolutionaries, but later
quashed by Napoleon
● Mexico, 1810-1823
o started by disgruntled
peasants, but finished by
conservatives (Iturbide)
o Iturbide overthrown,
shot, and a republic was
born
● South America, 18081825
o Napoleon invaded Iberia in
1808 → legitimacy crisis
o Portugal - royal family fled
to Brazil, then Brazil split off
through soft diplomacy
o Spain
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juntas formed to advocate
return of rightful king
some juntas declared
independence, led by
Simon Bolivar and Jose de
San Martin
Gran Colombia - tried but
failed to unite Ecuador,
Colombia, and Venezuela
Problem of Order, 1825-1890
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many new constitutional experiments
o lack of experience with elected legislatures and municipal governments → drafters of
constitutions had to experiment with untested and impractical political institutions
(e.g. U.S. - Articles of Confederation)
Personalist leaders- successful military leaders that used their military reputations as the
foundations of political power (challenged the limits of their authority)
ex. Andrew Jackson in America and Paez who ruled as dictator in Venezuela
Regionalism
○ after independence, the relatively weak central government were often unable to
prevent regional elites from leading secessionist movements
Wars (foreign and regional)
○ 19th C.: wars between Western Hemisphere nations and invasions from the
European powers often determined national borders, access to natural resources,
and control of markets
○ End of the 19th century: the US, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile had successfully waged
wars against their neighbors (established as regional powers)
Natives people
o No longer able to check the expansion of the whites.
o American military crushes them
Abolition of Slavery
United States of America
● abolitionists- Men and women who agitated for a complete end of slavery.
o pressure ended the British transatlantic slave trade in 1808 and
slavery in British colonies.
o in US, they play a role in the Civil war (1861-1865). (argued slavery
went against Christian morality and universal right in Declaration of
Independence.)
o Union vs. Confederate and 1865 slavery was abolished.
Latin America
● British an important trade partner with Spanish, Brazil and other
importers of slaves to eliminated slave trade. Use their navel to make them
compel.
● hard to abolish slavery due to whites being minorities and rebellion from
slaves scare the whites. .
● Brazil eliminated slavery in 1888. In Caribbean Cuba and Puerto Rico
abolish slavery in 1886.
Industrial Revolution (1700’s-1800’s)
● Industrialization spread from Europe to North America, resulting in
modernization of transport, communication, and the factory system.
● The Second Industrial Revolution continued throughout the 1800’s, giving
birth to new inventions such as automobiles, telephones, radios, and
airplanes.
● By the end of the century, the U.S. had surpassed Britain in industry.
● There was population growth due to declining death rates, and
urbanization as people moved from rural areas to cities
● Importance of trade and commerce skyrocketed, and capitalism became
the dominant economic system in America
● Imperialism: Industrialization gave the wealth, technology, scientific
knowledge, and weapons to conquer and colonize people
● The Industrial Revolution made US into a global power
New source of Labor
● Immigrants help foster rapid economic
growth.
o
o
many came as indentured servant.
European Jews seek to escape pogroms and discrimination in Russia which
prevent them from many educational system and jobs. Also some people like
the Irish came to Latin America and the Caribbean due to the potato famine.
● Racism
o
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the natives who worried that these cheap labors are taking their jobs and ruining their national
cultural.
Serotypes such as viewing Italian immigrant as violent and less honest than native-born
population was wide spread causing higher tensions between the two groups
Development vs. Underdevelopment
● Development - industrialization,
urbanization, rise of middle class,
heavy investment in education.
o
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When United States gain
independence, world economy
rapid growth. Steel production
grew,rail road build
Confederation of 1867 also
coincide with 2nd period of
global economic expansion.
Canada also has special trade
relationship with Britain.
● Undevelopment- low wages,
economies depend on export of
raw materials and plantation
crops, low investment in
education.
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Latin American nations gained
independence in 1820s when the
global economy contracted.
■ export faced increase
competition.
■ government resist union
activity and demands for
higher wages and by opening
domestic markets to foreign
manufactures. Undermined
industrialization in Latin
America.
1900-2014: Accelerating
Global Change and
Realignments
Elise Amendola - AP
Mexican Revolution, 19101940
● Porfirio Diaz: political corruption; feudalism (haciendas);
allowed foreign control of Mexican industries; marginalized
Mexican culture
● Francisco Madero: promised land redistribution and social
reform, but when he came to power he was met with
resistance from the government
● Revolutionary factions:
o Pancho Villa and Zapata - represented peasants, went
around on horseback seizing haciendas
o Carranza and Obregón - Constitutionalists, represented
middle class, wrote Constitution of 1917
● Cárdenas - 1st pres. under new constitution, carried out longawaited social reforms, regained oil industry
World War I
● Canada - fought for Britain (1914-1918)
● United States - joined in 1917, helped win the war in Europe
w/ non-weary soldiers. Gained a lot of money from supplying
the Allies.
● Latin America
o Previously supplied European countries their raw
materials - main revenue source
o Total war → tried to become extremely self-sufficient,
cutting them off
o Bad for economy, compounded by Great Depression
o Didn’t recover until the 1930s
The Depression hit Latin America hard, because their economies were tied
with those of Europe and U.S.
Brazil
● Getulio Vargas: - He instituted many reforms to help urban workers and
boost industrialization, but did not take any measures to help landless
peasants.
- Later on, he staged a coup and established the New State, with himself as
the supreme leader. Turned Brazil into a fascist state, and ultimately harmed
Brazil.
Argentina
● General Uriburu:- generals and oligarchy ruled, doing nothing to lessen
poverty of workers or frustrations of middle class
● Juan Peron:- appealed to urban workers, and wife Eva campaigned for social
benefits
- Argentina industrialized under state sponsorship
- Could not create a stable government, and soon after Eva died in 1952, he
was overthrown.
World War II
Allied Powers hell yea
● US joined bc of Pearl Harbor, also
German submarines
america produced stuff
D-Day created the third front against hitler
bombed japan
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Cold War - U.S.–LatAm relations
● United Fruit Company dominated export of bananas from Latin America.
Unpopular because it only used a small percentage of farmland
→ mass unemployment
● Nationalists created anti-corporate, anti-American but democratic gov’ts
o Sought to reduce economic influence of U.S.
o Land reform - redistribution of corporate-owned land.
● U.S. responded by attempting to replace apparently leftist
governments with anti-communist, often illegal dictatorships
o CIA-sponsored counterrevolution threw Guatemala into nearly 50
years of civil war
o Cuba - Bay of Pigs invasion (FAIL)
 Polarized Castro FOR REAL and led to even more revolutions
o “Brazilian Solution”: Brazil, Chile, Argentina
o Role of Catholic Church: El Salvador vs. Argentina
Cold War - Places “bombed” by
U.S.
References
● “American Revolution.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2014. Web. 11
May 2014.
● Bulliet, Richard W., et al. The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History. 5th
ed. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
● “Black Presence.” Black Presence. UK National Archives, 2003. Web. 13
May 2014.
● McCannon, John. AP World History. New York: Barron’s, 2012. Print.