Transcript Unit 1: 1491-1607

Unit 1: 1491-1607
A New World of Many Cultures
Created by: Ellie Dinsmore
AP US History 2013-14
Mr. Hoefler’s Teacher’s Aide 2014-15
Original Settlers in the Americas
• First people in North and South America
came at least 10,000 years before
Columbus
• Probably from Asia -> crossed on land
bridge that once connected Siberia and
Alaska (now covered by water)
• Over time, dispersed to all corners of
continent
• Estimates of native population by 1490
= appx 50-100 million people
Cultures of Central and South America
• Native pop. concentrated in three
highly developed areas:
• Mayans on Yucatan Peninsula
• Aztecs in central Mexico (Tenochtitlan as
capital, with population equivalent to
largest European cities)
• Incas in Peru -> vast empire
• Highly organized societies -> trade,
scientifically accurate calendars,
stable food supply (corn for Mayans
and Aztecs, potatoes for Incas)
Cultures of North America
• Natives societies smaller and less sophisticated
than those of Central/South America -> b/c slow
northward spread of corn cultivation from Mexico
• A lot of societies disappeared by 15th century ->
unclear why
• By time of Columbus, most lived in semipermanent settlements in small groups ( > 300
people)
• Men -> making tools , hunting for game
• Women -> gathered plants and nuts, grew crops
such as corn, beans, and tobacco
Cultures of North America: Language
• More than 20 diverse types of
language families*
• Algonquian in Northeast, Siouan on
Great Plains, Athabaskan in
Southwest
• Together these 20 families
included more than 400 languages
*language family- group of languages related
through descent from a common ancestor, i.e.
English is part of Indo-European family
Cultures of North America
Southwest Settlements
• Southwest = region that now
includes Arizona and New Mexico
• Farming with irrigation systems ->
arid land
• Lived in caves, under cliffs, and in
multistoried buildings -> used
stone and masonry
• Faced challenges such as extreme
droughts and other hostile natives
• i.e. the Hokokam, Anasazi, and
Pueblos
Northwest Settlements
• Along Pacific coast -> Alaska to
northern California
• Lived in permanent longhouses or
plank houses
• Hunting, fishing gathering nuts,
berries and roots
• Recorded stories on carved totem
poles
• High mountain ranges -> isolated
tribes and created barriers to
development
Cultures of North America
Great Plains Settlements
Midwest Settlements
• Nomadic hunters -> buffalo,
lived in tepees,
• Sedentary farmers & traders ->
permanent earthen lodges along
rivers, grew corn, beans and
squash, trade
• Didn’t get horses until 17th cent.
• Migration = common
• i.e. Apaches and Lakota Sioux
• East of Mississippi River ->
“Woodland American Indians”
• Rich food supply -> hunting, fishing
and agriculture
• Permanent settlements (especially
in Mississippi & Ohio River Valleys)
• One of largest settlements =
Cahokia
• Adena-Hopewell -> woodland
mound builders
Cultures of North America
Northeast Settlements
• Hunting and farming -> farming
techniques quickly exhausted
soil
• Iroquois Confederation- political
union between 5 independent
tribes in NY
• Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, & Mohawk
• Multiple families related thru
mother lived in longhouses
Atlantic Seaboard Settlements
• New Jersey south to Florida
• “Coastal Plains”
• Timber and bark lodgings
along rivers
• Rivers and Atlantic ocean =
rich source of food
Europe Moves Toward Exploration
• Improvements in technology -> Renaissance
(rebirth of classical learning) -> gunpowder,
printing press, sailing compass, improvements
in ship building and mapmaking
• Religious conflict -> Roman Catholic Spain
pushed Moors out of Europe, funded
Columbus’ journey -> all signaled new
leadership, hope, and power for RC Europeans
• Protestant Reformation -> “Church of
England” split from Roman Catholic church ->
added religious motive for exploration and
colonization
Protestant: Blue
Roman Catholic: Olive
Islamic: Red
Expanding Trade
• Needed to find new routes b/c Ottoman Turks seized control
of Middle East
• Either go south along African coast or west across Atlantic Ocean
• Portuguese went south -> Vasco de Gama first to India
• 15th cent -> Portuguese started slave trade of W. Africans to
use on sugar plantations -> very profitable
• Africans resisted slavery -> ran away, sabotaged work,
revolted -> held on to their culture (music, religion, folkways)
• Developing nation-states -> countries in which majority of
people shared common culture and loyalty to central
government (i.e. Spain, France)
• Depended on trade for revenue, church to justify right to rule
• Used power to search for riches and spread Christianity (esp.
overseas)
• Henry the Navigator of Portugal
Early Explorations
• 1492- Columbus gets financial backing from King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain -> landed
in Bahamas -> didn’t find valuable trade route to
Indies
• His voyages brought about permanent interaction
between people from all over the globe
• Columbian Exchange – transfer of plants, animals
and germs from both sides of Atlantic -> disease
killed millions
• Spain and Portugal disagreed of who got lands ->
Pope drew line of demarcation (which was later
moved a little by Treaty of Tordesillas) -> Spain =
west, Portugal = east
Early Explorations cont’d.
• Spanish dominance in New World -> power
of conquistadores (i.e. conquest of Aztecs by
Hernando Cortes, conquest of Incas by
Francisco Pizarro)
• Increased gold supply by 500% -> Spain = richest
and most powerful European country
• Encomienda system – Spanish king gives land
grants and native fruits to individual Spaniards,
Indians had to work as slaves on farms
• Asiento system -> Spanish had to pay tax to king
on each slave they imported to Americas
• English claims -> based on voyages of John
Cabot -> didn’t really do anything in 15th
century b/c of religious drama (breaking
away from Roman Catholic Church)
Early Exploration cont’d.
• England’s Roanoke Island colony venture
literally disappeared
• French claims based on Jaques Cartier’s
voyages -> slow to develop colonies b/c
of conflict with Huguenots
• First permanent French settlement =
Quebec in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain
• French explored and claimed Louisiana
territory in late 1600s
• Dutch explorer Henry Hudson = Hudson
River -> surrounding area became New
Amsterdam (later New York) -> controlled
by Dutch West India Company
Spanish Settlements in North America
• Florida- hostile natives and multiple
failures, eventually established St.
Augustine in 1565
• New Mexico- Santa Fe est. as capital in
1610, harsh efforts to Christianize natives
lead to Pueblo revolts, Spanish driven from
area until 1680
• Texas- attempted to resist French
expansion down Mississippi River
• California- San Diego and San Francisco est.
1769 in response to Russian exploration of
Alaska, series of “missions” (settlements)
along coast by Franciscan order (religious)
European Treatment of Natives
• Viewed natives as inferior people to be exploited for
economic gain, converted to Christianity, or used as
military allies
• Spanish Policy- natives died of disease or were
forced into slavery, a lot of intermarriage, rigid class
system dominated by pure-blood Spaniards
• Bartolome de Las Casas- advocate for better treatment
of Indians, got king to make New Laws of 1542- ended
Indian slavery/forced labor, economienda system
• Valladolid Debate- Las Casas (above) vs Juan Gines de
Sepulveda (Indians less than human)
• English Policy- initially, coexisted, traded and shared
ideas, soon gave way to conflict and open warfare
• English viewed Indians as “savage,” Indians saw way of
life threatened
• Took native lands -> made Indians leave instead of
making them slaves
European Treatment of Natives cont’d.
• French Policy- maintained good
relations, built trading posts to control
fur trade -> traded with Indians
• Few colonies meant French were less of a
threat to natives
• Native American Reaction- no unified
response b/c saw themselves as distinct
groups
• Initially, goods such as copper pots and guns
motivated Indians to trade
• Violence and disease decimated native pop.
• Some allied with one European power or
another
• Some migrated to new land