APUSH Period 1

South America + Central America (before contact)

Mayan, Incan, Aztec, organized societies, trade, scientific observations, corn, potatoes

North America (before contact)

smaller, slower spread of maize, semi permanent settlements, men made tools and hunted, woman farmed and gathered

Southwest (before contact)

irrigation farming, large numbers, drough conflicts - hostilities - weakened tribes

Northwest (before contact)

hunting, fishing, agriculture, permanent long houses, totem poles, mountains isolated tribes

Great Plains

hunted buffalo, built tepees, nomadic, three-sister farming, horses=tribes like Lakota Sioux became more nomadic, often merge or split

Midwest (before contact)

hunting, fishing, agriculture - Cahokia, permanent settlements, Adena-Hopewell culture

Northeast (before contact)

hunting and farming lead to soil exhaust causing often migration - Iroquois

Iroquois Confederation

A political alliance of several Native American nations in the Northeast, formed to promote mutual defense and cooperation among tribes such as the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, remained powerful for a while

European Technology

rebirth of classic learning, gunpowder, compasses, ship building, map making, printing press

Religious Conflict

Isabella and Ferdinand sent Columbus which signaled power for the Roman Catholic Faith, Protestant Reformation against the pope, different Europeans wanted to spread different forms of Christianity

Trade

started with Portugal for plantations, monarchs needed colonial trade (mercantilism)

Columbian Exchange

Europeans learned about beans, corn, sweet and white potatoes, tomatoes, and tobacco

Contracted syphilis disease

Americas were introduced to sugarcane, bluegrass, pigs, and horses / wheel, iron implements, and guns / smallpox and measles - 90 percent of the native population died

Treaty of Tordesillas (Line of Demarcation)

divided the americas between Portugal and Spain, Portugal got Brazil while Spain got the rest of the Americas

Spanish Exploration

Conquest of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizzarro, export of gold and silver made Spain’s gold supply increase by 500% making it the richest Euro country, encomienda system, asiento system

Encomienda System

A labor system that granted Spanish colonists the right to extract labor from Indigenous people in the Americas in exchange for protection and Christianization.

Asiento System

A system that regulated the transatlantic slave trade, granting Spanish colonists the right to buy enslaved Africans.

French Claims

slow to develop, Samuel De Champlain was the first and lead to the exploration of the Mississippi River

Dutch Claims

Hudson River Area - Dutch West India Company

Spanish Settlements

St. Augustine - Florida - 1565

Santa Fe - New Mexico - harsh effort to Christianize led to the Pueblo Revolt in 1680

Settlements in Texas grew in the 1700s

San Diego - California - permanent settlements in 1784

Spanish Policy

many natives died from forced labor

casta system

Las Casas - subjugation of natives - New Laws of 1542

Valladoid Debate

Valladoid Debate

A debate in 1550-1551 regarding the treatment of indigenous peoples in the Americas, focusing on the morality of Spanish colonization and the status of natives as rational beings.

New Laws of 1542

Reforms aimed at protecting indigenous peoples from exploitation and abuse in Spanish colonies.

English Policy

English and natives coexisted

Natives grew weary as English pushed farther West

French Policy

fur trade

good relations

Built trading posts throughout the St. Lawrence Valley, the Great Lakes region, and along the Mississippi River

Native American Reaction

Tribes were distinct - no worry about tribes working together

Initially wanted to get along but after decimation they sought new ways of survival

some tribes worked with Euro countries

Social Causes

Spreading Christianity and Catholicism

Discrimination of Native Americans

Atlantic slave trade

Converting Native Americans to European religions

Conquering or discriminating against Native Americans because of cultural differences and their disparities in language, writing, etc.

Use of Native Americans as indentured servants, slaves, or serfs on sugar plantations (hacienda and encomienda systems)

New Laws of 1542 - ends Native American slavery

Social hierarchies related to race

Slaves on sugar plantations

Political Causes

English expansion

Spanish expansion

Native Americans were pushed to interior regions

Gained knowledge and traded with Native Americans

Smallpox and measles spread and wiped out 90% of the Native American population

Incas and Aztecs were wiped out - remaining were used as indentured servants

English excused their expansion as - helping prevent brutality of the Spanish rule

Establishment of social hierarchies - pure-blooded Spaniards at the top

Treaty of Tordesillas split Spanish and Portugal’s land

Smallpox and measles spread and wiped out 90% of the Native American population

Economic Causes

French expansion

Spanish colonies and mining

Dutch colonies

Controlled fur trade by developing civil relationships with Native Americans

Owned trading ports along the Mississippi

Need for more indentured servants and slaves after Native populations died

Silver and gold sent back to Spain led to a 500% increased of gold and made Spain the most rich and powerful European country

Motivation for more European countries to explore the Americas

Dutch West India Trading Company controlled colonies for economic gains