UNIT 1: 1491-1607

STUDY OR CRY

Aztecs

• Indigenous people of Central America

• Highly developed civilization with a complex social structure

• Cultivated corn to provide a stable food supply

Incas

• Vast indigenous empire in western South America

Corn/Maize (Historical Significance)

• Allowed for larger and more densely settled population due to its nutrition

• Allowed for economic growth

• Allowed for social diversification

• Allowed for development of irrigation systems

Southwest Settlement Characteristics

• Lived in caves, under cliffs, and multistoried buildings

• Greater variations between socioeconomic classes within societies

Great Basin/Plains Characteristics

• Adapted to dry climate by developing mobile ways of living

• Hunted buffalo

• Nomads!

Mississippi River Valley

• American Indians prospered with rich food supply

• Hunting, fishing, and agriculture supported permanent settlements

Northeast Settlement Characteristics

• Culture combined hunting and farming

• Formed political union: Iroquois Confederation

Atlantic Seaboard Settlement Characteristics

• Built timber and bark lodgings along rivers

• Rivers and Atlantic Ocean provided a rich source of food

Renaissance

• Inventions include gunpowder, sailing compass, printing press, and major improvements to shipbuilding and map making

• These inventions allowed for more efficient and effective global exploration

Protestant Reformation

• Certain Christians across Northern Europe revolted against the authority of the Pope in Rome

• Increased religious motive for Catholics and Protestants to spread their own versions of Christianity through exploration and colonization

Treaty of Tordesillas

• Overlapping territorial disputes with Spain and Portugal led to the Pope resolving it with a vertical, north-south line drawn through Brazil

• Portugal claimed Brazil (East)

• Spain claimed the rest of the Americas (West)

John Cabot

• Italian sea captain who sailed under contract to England

• Voyages validated England’s earliest claims to territory in America

Roanoke Island

• A failed attempt of a colonial settlement off the North Carolina coast by English settlers

Jacques Cartier

• French claims to American territory were based on his voyages

• Explored St. Lawrence River extensively

Sugar Plantations Significance

• Utilized by Portugal

• Produced sugar with enslaved labour was profitable

• So profitable that a similar system was used in later European colonies in America

Columbian Exchange

• A transfer of plants, animals, and germs from one side of the Atlantic to the other for the first time

• New World to Old World: Beans, Corn, Tomatoes, Tobacco

• Old World to New World: Sugarcane, Pigs, Horses, Smallpox, Measles

• Native population declined

• European population grew

Capitalism

• An economic system in which control of capital (money and machinery) became more important than control of land

• Commerce became increasingly important and political power shifted from large landowners to wealthy merchants

Joint-Stock Company

• A business owned by a large number of investors

• Reduced individual risk for investors

Reasons for European Exploration

• Economic and military competition

• New source of wealth/profit

• Desire to spread Christianity

Conquistadors

• Spanish conquerors

• Ferdinand Magellan

• Hernan Cortes

• Francisco Pizarro

Encomienda System

• Natives who lived on a tract of land were granted to individual Spaniards

• Spaniards received the fruit of Natives’ labour

• Natives received “care” from the Spanish

Asiento System

• Required colonists to pay a tax to the Spanish king on each enslaved person they imported to the Americas

Slave Trade

• Sent 10-15 million enslaved people from Africa

Middle Passage

• Voyage across the Atlantic Ocean where 10-15% of slaves died

Spanish Caste System

1. Pure-blooded Spaniards

2. Mixture of European, Native American, and African Heritage

3. Pure Native or Black Heritage

Slave Labour

• African labour began to replace Native labour in Spanish territories

• Spanish took inspiration from the Portuguese

• Natives died from diseases and brutality

Iroquois Confederation

• Powerful political union of Northeast tribes

• Battled American Indians and Europeans

Northeast Major Tribes

• Algonquions

• Iroquois

• Susquehannocks

• Hurons

Plains Major Tribes

• Mandans

• Paunees

• Omahas

• Witchitas

• Cheyennes

Southeast Major Tribes

• Cherokees

• Choctaws

• Chickasaws

• Creeks

• Seminoles

Southwest Major Tribes

• Mogollans

• Hohos

• Anasazis

• Apache

• Navajo

West Major Tribes

• Mono

• Paiute

• Bannock

• Shoshone

• Ute

• Gosiute

Juan Gines de Sepulveda

• Argued that Indians are naturally inferior, born to slavery, barbaric, do not follow individualism, and do NOT have private property/freedom/names

• Tried to convince Emperor Charles V to allow slavery and superiority of Spaniards over the American Indians

Bartolome de Las Casas

• Sepulveda’s greatest opponent (debates)

• Held liberal views of the American Indians

• Wanted peaceful conversion and considers the Indians as intelligent