APUSH Unit 1 (1491 - 1607)

Treaty of Tordesillas

split the globe into two hemispheres. Allowed for the Spanish to explore in the western hemisphere and for Portugal to explore in the eastern hemisphere (Treaty of Saragossa will determine the boundary on the other side of the world)

Age of Exploration

Spanish, French, and English settlers to the New World

Aztecs in Mexico:

Hernan Cortes who will conquer the Aztecs

Incas in Peru:

Francisco Pizzaro who will conquer the Incas

Economic imperialism

took over mita system, forced them to work in the mines, used them as slave labor, took all valuable land and resources (including foods that will help stabilize and increase European populations) = encomienda system (Spanish at the top and native populations at the bottom)

Social imperialism

casta system (hierarchy based on racial mixing w/ Spanish at the top) - if you are at the top of the social hierarchy, you will be at the top of the economic hierarchy

Biological imperialism

- introduction of deadly disease (accident!) - 90% of hispaniola will be killed within one year

Ecological imperialism

plants and animals introduced disrupted the natural environment (horses and oxen = good, destruction of natural enviro = bad)

Religious imperialism

forced conversion to Catholicism (violent) = Bartolome de las Casas (who believed in being paternal to Native populations), Sepulveda (does not believe in kind treatment, sees Native populations as savages)

Great Plains

horses to conquer their neighbors (Apache / Comanche), mix of settlements and nomadic tribes, trade (Bison)

Great Lakes

mix of settlements and nomadic tribes, trade heavily, intermarry with the French, begin fur trade → fight w/ Iroquois

Northeast Tribes

interact w/ the English the most, reliant on game trials (share with English), help English settlers survive, first Thanksgiving, settled

Mississippi Valley (Eastern Woodlands): Cahokia -

mound builders (largest Native American settlement in North American settlement with around 30k) → mostly intermarried w/ other tribes when Europeans arrived

Eastern Seaboard:

along the coast of eastern America, heavily dependent on the sea, also have settlements that farm (helped Jamestown survive) → will be the target of the Indian Removal Act

The Spanish Armada (1588) was sent to confront the British - the Spanish were upset that:

• sent to confront the British, the Spanish were upset that the English supported the recent conversion of the northern Netherlands to Protestantism,

• The English were “interfering” in Catholic Ireland

• The English were sending ships (under Sir Francis Drake) out into the Atlantic to pillage Spanish ships (full of gold and other precious items)

• The Spanish Armada was defeated (natural disaster contributed) and this freed the Atlantic for the English → they could now travel, trade, and explore freely