Transcript Transatlantic Encounters and Colonial Beginnings

1450-1690
 How did the people in Mesoamerica and the Andes
region compare and contrast with the people in North
America?
 What forces led to the Age of Exploration?
 What are the similarities & differences among the
Spanish, French, & British patterns of colonization in
America?
 What were the advantages & disadvantages of Spanish,
French, & English colonial patterns in terms of long-term
colonization in America?
 Migration began 35,000-15,000 years ago
 Cut off from the Eastern Hemisphere
 Agriculture independently invented
 Nomadic hunters and gatherers
 Spread throughout North and South America
 3,000 BCE – settlement in Central and South America
 Crops such as maize, squash, beans, tomatoes, and
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potatoes are cultivated
Settlements developed into large, complex societies
Few animals were domesticated
Human labor supplied the work of agriculture
Religious centers developed into cities along the Gulf
of Mexico
1,200 BCE – emergence of the Olmec
 Emerged during the 3rd century BCE
 Lived in modern day Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El
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Salvador, and southern Mexico
Developed a system of writing
Made advances in math and astronomy
Developed an accurate calendar
Organized into city-states
 Teotihuacan was a center of religion and government
 Believed to be the first great city of the Western
Hemisphere
 Population estimated to have been between 125,000200,000
 The Toltecs unified central Mexico after the decline of
Teotihuacan
 The Aztec replaced the Toltec after the exile of the
Toltec leader Topilzin
 The main city was Tenochtitlan with an estimated
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population of 300,000 at its height
The Aztec drained swamps, constructed irrigation
works and terraces, and used floating gardens
(chinampas)
Chinampas boosted agricultural production
The Aztec rose to power through military might and
aggressive expansion
Imposed a tribute system on conquered peoples to
support Tenochtitlan
 The Chavin emerged in the region of modern day Peru
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around the time of the Olmec in Mesoamerica
After the decline of the Chavin, the Moche flourished
from 100-700 CE
The Moche built an irrigation system and cultivated
maize, beans, manioc, sweet potatoes, and coca
The Inca became the most powerful civilization in the
Andes region
A system of roads connected the empire, and runners
carried messages so the ruler could keep in touch with
his subjects
 No major civilization controlled large amounts of land
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in North America
Different languages and lifestyles emerged in North
America
Some groups were nomadic hunters of bison, deer,
whales, seals, and walruses (in the Arctic region)
Some groups gathered nuts, berries, and roots to
supplement fish or meat
Development of agriculture did allow permanent
settlements to grow
 Developed in the southwestern United States
 Used river water to irrigate their crops of maize, beans,
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squash, and sunflowers
By 700 CE, the Anasazi constructed permanent
pueblos (stone and adobe buildings)
Most pueblos contained a ritual enclosure called kivas
Villages were connected by roads
The Anasazi abandoned the area by about 1300
 Agricultural societies emerged in the woodlands east
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of the Mississippi River
Cultivated maize and beans
Lived in an environment with abundant trees and rain
Many built earthen mounds used for ceremonial
stages, dwellings, and burial sites
The largest mound settlement was at Cahokia
Mound settlements began to be abandoned around
1300 – the same time the Anasazi began to abandon
their dwellings
 By 1450 most people lived in small kinship-based
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groups
Variety of languages spoken
Observed different customs
Nomadism and subsistence agriculture was common
Population estimated to be 10-25 million at the time of
contact with Europeans
Settled societies generally traced lineage through
matrilineal descent
Nomadic groups generally traced lineage through
patrilineal descent
 North American group that came closest to mirroring
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the organizations of the Aztecs and Inca
Loose alliance of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas,
Cayugas, and Senecas
Bound together by a common Iroquois language
Had the political and military organizational skills to
dominate its neighbors
Hiawatha was leader who first organized the Iroquois
 Portugal began explorations in the early 1400s
 Henry the Navigator led ventures down the African
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coast and established a navigation school
Navigation technology and advances in ship design
pushed exploration forward
Bartholomew Dias and Vasco Da Gama set out to
sail around the tip of Africa
In 1500, Pedro Cabral reached South America and
claimed Brazil for Portugal
Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic for
Spain
 Did Portugal or Spain control newly discovered lands?
 In 1493, the Pope drew an imaginary line from north to
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south
Spain claimed all lands to the west of the line
Portugal claimed all lands to the east of the line
Brazil became Portugal’s only claim in the Eastern
Hemisphere
Spain began to explore and colonize the Americas
 Conquistadors set out in search of gold and to convert
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Native Americans to Christianity
Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec in 1519
Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca in 1532
Native populations were decimated by disease
At the end of the 16th Century, Spain had a massive
empire in the New World
 Native Americans were eager for European trade; they
were not initially victims of Spanish exploration
 They became dependent on and indebted to
Europeans
 Disease decimated perhaps 95% of Native American
population
The Spanish used the encomienda system to
create large cash crop plantations using Native
American & African slave labor
 By 1650, 1/2 million Spaniards immigrated to the New
World
 Mostly unmarried males came to New World;
intermarriage led to mixed-blood mestizos & mulattos
 Distinguished between social classes: peninsulares &
creoles
 The Spanish gov’t operated strict control over the
colonies
Spanish missionaries focused heavily
onPonce
converting
Native
Americans
& for
 Juan
de Leon came
to FL
in 1513, searching
wealth and establishing
the fountain of missions
youth
 Francisco Cornoado searched for the seven golden
cities of Cibola in 1540
 Hernan De Soto led an army in search of gold across
the Southeast, and discovered the MS River
 In 1565, St. Augustine, FL became the first permanent
settlement in North America
 Missions were established in FL and in NM and CA
 Organized joint-stock companies like the Dutch East
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India Company
Initial Dutch explorations focused on East and
Southeast Asia
In the late 17th century, the Dutch entered the transAtlantic slave trade
In 1624, the Dutch West India Company established
the colony of New Netherland
Henry Hudson sailed into New York Harbor and
claimed the area for the Netherlands
 Interested in extending trading network
 Little interest in conquest
 Took a practical approach with Native Americans that
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did not involve conquest or religious conversion
New Netherland was not a democracy
Land given to patroons who ruled like medieval lords
No elected assembly, but more religious freedom
Developed a diverse population
Women had some legal rights
 In 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded
Quebec; French Empire eventually included St.
Lawrence River, Great Lakes, Mississippi
 Because the fur trade was the basis of the
colonial economy, Indians became valued
trading partners (not exploitive like Spain)
 Jesuit priests tried to convert the natives to
Christianity
 Population grew slowly in the French colonies
due to the cold Canadian climate
Like Spain, the French gov’t
encouraged converting Native
Americans & establishing missions
 Britain was late in their attempts to explore and
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colonize the New World
Internal struggles and religious conflict took focus off
colonization
Queen Elizabeth I brought stability to Britain
Defeat of the Spanish Armada made Britain a superior
naval power
Britain’s first attempt at colonization was a failure (the
“Lost Colony”)
 In the 1600s, English settlers arrived in North
America
 Several joint-stock companies were formed to
begin English settlement
 English colonization differed from Spanish &
French because the English gov’t had no desire
to create a centralized empire in the New World
 Different motivations by English settlers led to
different types of colonies
 17th century England faced major social
changes:
 The most significant was a boom in
population – led to competition for land,
food, and jobs
 British gov’t supported efforts to relocate
their surplus population to North America
(preserved law and order at home)
 Motives for migration to America:
Religious: purer form of worship
 Economic: Escape poverty or the threat of
lifelong poverty
 Personal: to escape bad marriages or jail
terms
 Migration to America was facilitated by the
English Civil War & Glorious Revolution
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 The values of the migrants dictated the
“personality” of the newly created colonies;
led to distinct (not unified) colonies
 The Chesapeake
 New England
 Middle Colonies
 The Carolinas & Georgia
By the early 1600s, Spain, England, & France had
large territorial claims in North America (but
these colonies were not heavily populated,
especially in Spanish & French claims)
These colonial claims came largely at
the expense of the Native Americans
already living there
 Govt’s in English colonies had more independence
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from Britain than Latin American colonies
Colonial govt’s were all organized differently
Govt’s had assemblies, often with two houses
Colonists came to think they should share the right to
determine colonial rules and regulations
No authoritarian viceroys were established
Large urban areas did not develop until much later
 Less rigid social classes based on ethnicity developed
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in the English colonies
Southern colonies did eventually develop strict social
classes between black and whites
Social classes in the middle and northern colonies
were more fluid than in Latin American colonies
Most colonists were farmers, and labor patterns
emerged differently than in Latin American colonies
Indentured servants and slaves were used primarily in
the middle and southern colonies where larger farms
developed
 How did the people in Mesoamerica and the Andes
region compare and contrast with the people in North
America?
 What forces led to the Age of Exploration?
 What are the similarities & differences among the
Spanish, French, & British patterns of colonization in
America?
 What were the advantages & disadvantages of Spanish,
French, & English colonial patterns in terms of long-term
colonization in America?
Advantages
for long-term
colonization
Spain
France
England
Disadvantages
for long-term
colonization