Transcript Chapter 1, Section 1 - steilacoom.k12.wa.us

Converging Cultures

Big Ideas:
 South and Central American natives had advanced
and well established cultures.
 The native tribes of North America were
numerous and diverse.
▪ A tribe’s culture and way of life was heavily influenced
by the natural resources of the region they occupied.
Research indicates that
the first humans arrived in
North America 10,000 to
30,000 years ago.
Early Civilizations:

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
The Olmecs of southern
Mexico were among the
earliest American
civilizations.
The Mayans and Aztecs of
central America built
impressive temples and
pyramids. Their agricultural
tech spread to other regions.
Native American
Diversity



Eastern woodland natives
combined hunting, fishing,
and farming. Most spoke
Algonquian or Iroquoian
languages.
Cherokee were the largest
group to occupy the
Southeast along with the
Choctaw, Natchez, and
Creek. Women did most of
the farming while men
hunted.
 In the Southwest, the
Apache roamed the land
as nomads, and hunted a
variety of animals while
the Navajo relied mainly
on farming.
 Sioux lived on the Great
Plains and hunted buffalo.
 Fishing was the primary
food source for tribes
living along the Pacific
coastline. The abundance
of salmon meant that the
coastal peoples could
build permanent
settlements, while tribes
like the Yakima relied on
hunting and gathering
techniques to survive.

Reading Check
 How did climate and
food sources help shape
Native American
lifestyles?

Answer
 Native Americans living
in areas with long
growing seasons, fertile
crops, or abundant
fishing tended to remain
in the same area; those
living in harsher climates
hunted wildlife, and
some became nomadic
in order to hunt herds.

Big Ideas:
 The discovery of the New World by Europeans
destroyed native civilizations.
▪ Their numbers were eventually replaced with slaves.
 By colonizing the Americas, European countries
created empires over vast distances.
▪ Distance kept the colonies detached from the mother
country and made them difficult to manage.
The “Great Crusades”
(1095-1291) brought
Europeans into contact
with sources of wealth,
silk, and spices. This
demonstrated the
profitability of
exploration.
 The voyages of Columbus

 In 1492 Columbus left Spain
in an effort to chart a new,
faster route to India across
the Atlantic Ocean.
 After five weeks at sea,
Columbus and crew made
landfall on an island in what
is now called The Bahamas.
 He believed he had reached
Asian islands called at the
time “The East Indies.”
 Columbus made 3 additional
voyages with greater
numbers of men and ships.
“As I saw that they were very friendly to us,
and perceived that they could be much
more easily converted to our holy faith by
gentle means than by force, I presented
them with some red caps, and strings of
beads to wear upon the neck, and many
other trifles of small value, wherewith
they were much delighted, and became
wonderfully attached to us.
It appears to me, that the people are
ingenious, and would be good servants
and I am of opinion that they would very
readily become Christians, as they appear
to have no religion. They very quickly learn
such words as are spoken to them. If it
please our Lord, I intend at my return to
carry home six of them to your
Highnesses, that they may learn our
language.”
 Columbus died a rich man
in 1506, but others
continued to explore the
New World.

Continuing Expeditions.
 Other Europeans traveled
to the new land in hopes of
striking it rich.
▪ Many of these people were
lesser nobles who knew they
would get no where by
staying home.
 Spain was eager to use the
newly discovered lands to
create an empire.
 In order to avoid conflict
between Spain and Portugal,
Pope Alexander VI (a
Spaniard) ordered that the
new world be divided
amongst the two kingdoms.
This became known as The
Treaty of Tordesillas.
▪ The treaty gave Spain control
of nearly all of the New World.
 Using their superior
weapons and armor,
the Spanish conquered
the native peoples.
▪ Hernán Cortés defeated
the Aztecs of Mexico in
1521.
▪ Francisco Pizzaro
conquered the Inca in
Peru in 1532.
▪ Juan Ponce de León
claimed Florida in 1513.

Cultural Changes
 With the natives defeated,
Europeans began
colonizing the new
territory.
 Europeans introduced
livestock, wheat, rice,
coffee, and horses to the
natives.
 The natives introduced the
Europeans to potatoes,
chocolate, tobacco, corn,
squash, and pumpkins.
 The trade of goods between old and new worlds is known as
“The Columbian Exchange.”

Disease
 The most devastating effect
of European exploration was
the introduction of smallpox,
mumps, measles, and other
diseases to which the natives
had no immunity.
 By the time Cortez conquered
Tenochtitlan, over the ½ the
people were already dead.
 Native populations declined
by nearly 90% by 1592.

Reading Check
 Why did millions of
Native Americans die
after contact with the
Europeans?

Answer
 Many died because they
had no immunity to
European diseases;
others were killed while
battling the Europeans.
1.
Why do Americans
refer to Columbus as
the guy who
discovered America if
people were already
living there?
2.
Is it fair or not to
blame European
explorers for
spreading diseases
across the New
World? Why?

Big Ideas:
 God and money were the two main reasons
Europeans had for colonizing in N. America.
 European governments saw colonization as a
means to get rid of the unwanted, expand
influence, and procure raw materials.
 James Town was the first
long lasting English
settlement (Virginia1607)Life in Jamestown
▪ Jamestown was funded by a
joint-stock company made
up of investors who pooled
their money together to pay
for the enormous cost of
founding a settlement.
 Colonization was more
difficult than anyone
imagined.
▪ They had no experience with
farming and built their fort in a
swamp.
▪ Most people did not survive
even five years in Jamestown.
▪ Between 1609-10, 80% of the
inhabitants died.
▪ By 1614 tobacco was being
successfully grown and the
colony began to improve and
grow.

Big Ideas:
 There were three types of colonies:
▪ New England – Puritans: fishing & timber
▪ Middle – Quakers: farming & light industry
▪ Southern – Plantation owners: tobacco & rice
 Because the colonies were far from their
homelands, they had to learn to govern
themselves.
 New England colonists
made their living off the
bounty of the ocean and
forest.
▪ They sold fish, whale oil,
and lumber.
▪ The weak soil prevented
New Englanders from
growing any cash crops.
They relied on subsistence
farming to provide food
for their families to eat.

The Middle Colonies
 In 1609 Henry Hudson
settled the colony of New
Amsterdam on Manhattan
Island.
 The Dutch encouraged
immigration and New
Amsterdam grew to
become a very
competitive port city.
 King James didn’t like the
competition and captured
the region for England.
▪ It was renamed ‘New York’.
 William Penn founded
Pennsylvania in 1681.
▪ Penn wanted a place his
fellow Quakers could go
to escape persecution.
 Unlike New England,
the Middle Colonies had
good soil and made
money growing and
selling wheat and flour.

The Southern Colonies
 In 1630 Maryland was
founded as a
proprietary colony. It
was owned by George
Calvert (aka: Lord
Baltimore).
▪ Since he owned the colony
he could govern however
he wished, and granted
religious freedom to all
Christians in the colony.
 The southern economy
was based on cash crops
that could be grown and
sold.
▪ They had plenty of land
but not enough workers.
▪ They looked to
indentured servants to
do the labor.
▪ These were people who sold
their labor in exchange in
order to get to the colonies.
 The problem with
indentured servants is
that they are eventually
set free, and want land
of their own.
▪ As a result wealthy
planters relied on an
increasing number of
slave workers.