APUSH Period 1: 1491-1607 -- The Meeting of Three Peoples

4-6% of exam

context for period 1

in the late 1400s to early 1600s, the meeting of American Indians, Europeans, and West Africans on the North American continent led to a broad transformation of much of the world

cause for diversity among native peoples

interactions with other native peoples and with the environment

societies of the Southwest

• Pueblo people - small towns = “pueblos”

• cultivation of maize in settled communities

• complex and technologically advanced - architecture

• dispersed in 1200s-1300s because of climatic change — weakened on eve of European contact

societies of the Great Basin

• mobile lifestyles because of lack of natural resources

• very few resources in Great Basin

  • “desert culture” = seasonable mobility (hunters and foragers), basketmaking

• Shoshone, Paiute, Ute

societies of the Great Plains

• mobile lifestyle hunting bison

  • Sioux, Blackfoot, Arapaho

• more sedentary, agrarian lifestyles closer to the MS River

  • Osage, Wichita, Omaha

• introduction of horses from Europe changed societies signficantly

societies of the East

• mix of agricultural and hunter-gatherer economies

• permanent settlements

• Algonquian-speaking peoples in northern interior by St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes

  • hunted, fished, grew maize (less farming in cold New England and upper Great Lakes)

• Iroquois League in New York

  • confederation of Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas (+ Tuscaroras)

  • farmed the “3 sisters” — maize, beans, squash

  • matrilineal society

societies of the Pacific Northwest

• mix of foraging and hunting — vast resources of Pacific Ocean and rivers

• Chinook people in Washington and Oregon

  • foraging, hunting, fishing

  • settled communities

  • economic development and social stratification

factors contributing to European exploration

God, Gold, Glory:

• push for new converts to Christianity

• desire for new sources of wealth

• competition for power and status

effects of the Crusades

• decline in European feudalism

• increased interest in trade with Asia

effects of the Black Death

• European population down 30-60%

• food and land more plentiful

• people are more willing to take risks and seek opportunities

• undermined stability of feudalism

effects of the Renaissance

• spirit of curiosity inspired exploration

• humanism caused the spread of knowledge of new discoveries

• Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press helped spread information and stimulate interest in discoveries

effects of the Protestant Reformation

• renewed religious zeal and desire to spread gospels

• Martin Luther and John Calvin broke with the Roman Catholic Church — Lutheranism and Calvinism

• English King Henry VIII’s creation of the Church of England didn’t satisfy the Puritans

• Counter-Reformation of the Catholic Church — Jesuits sought to spread gospel throughout the world

the Columbian Exchange

the exchange of crops (tobacco, potatoes), disease (syphilis to Europe, smallpox to Americas), precious metals, livestock (horses), people etc. across the Atlantic Ocean

impacts of conquest and the Columbian Exchange on Europe

• influx of silver and gold caused Spain to suffer inflation and decline

• introduction of new crops (potatoes) and livestock to Europe led to population growth

• introduction of new sources of wealth helped faciltiate transition from feudalism to capitalism

impact of technological advances

developments in maritime technology encouraged exploration

• compass, astrolabe, quadrant, hourglass, Portulanos, caravels

joint-stock company

• model in which shareholders control part of the company in proportion to the number of shares they own

• risks spread among multiple investors

• funded exploration and colonization

Christopher Columbus

• Italian navigator funded by Spanish monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand

• sailed to San Salvador in 1492 and called Taino people “Indians”

Treaty of Tordesillas

• 1494 treaty between Spain and Portugal

• settled competing claims by drew longitudinal line through Atlantic Ocean and S. America (Portugal = east, Spain = west)

conquistadores’ conquests

• the Spanish took control of much of Central and South America and spread into CA, NM, the area around the MS River, and FL

• Hernan Cortes defeated Aztecs 1518-1521

• Francisco Pizarro defeated Incas 1532

disease and death in native populations

• Old World diseases devastate native populations because they had no immunities to foreign germs

• smallpox is especially deadly

• 50-90% of native population in Americas died 1500-1650

• Spanish policies of subjugating natives: warfare, brutal conquest, harsh working conditions —> decline of native populations

impacts of the Columbian Exchange on the Americas

• diseases introduced from Europe killed many

• sugar, wheat, bananas, goats, cows, chickens introduced

• the horse transformed many native cultures

the encomienda system

system in which Spanish encomenderos were granted land and the right to extract labor from Native Americans

• resembled Old World feudalism

• led to brutal exploitation

impacts of the slave trade in the 1500s

• starting in the 1500s, slavery was seen as a permanent and inheritable condition

• African slaves were considered property with no rights

• entire generations of strong, young people were taken from Africa

• the introduction of European manufactured items undermined the traditional African economy

resistance to slavery in the 1500s

• cultural resistance attempted to preserve tradition and maintain a sense of autonomy

• Maroon communities formed among Africans who escaped slavery and preserved African traditions

the casta system

• Spanish caste system in the New World defined by social origin and race — result of racial intermixing

• from top to bottom: peninsulares, creoles, mestizos, mulattos, American Indians and Africans

cultural differences between Native Americans and Europeans

• many Native American societies were matrilineal

• European socieities were patrilineal

• many Native Americans saw land as a communal resource

• Europeans highly valued individual land ownership

Native American resistance to the Spanish

• some Native Americans fled from invading Spaniards — led to population pressures and conflicts elsewhere

• both violent and passive resistance

  • Juanillo’s Revolt 1597 killed several missionaries

  • Acoma Pueblo people resist conquistador Juan de Onate — 15 Spanish vs. 800 Acoma killed

development of white superiority

• Europeans developed racist ideas to justify the subjugation of nonwhite people

• Spanish racial hierarchy based on traditional notions about “pure blood”

Bartolome de Las Casas

• Spanish priest who criticized Spanish treatment of Native Americans in the encomienda system

• wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (written 1542, published 1552)

• initially advocated transition to enslavement of Africans

Juan Gines de Sepulveda

• Spanish theologian who defended Spanish treatment of Native Americans

• asserted that Native Americans were “natural slaves” and insisted that battles of New World conquest were “just wars”

“Black Legend”

• the anti-Spanish propaganda written by English, Italian, Dutch, and other European writers

• English writers may have tried to demonize Spanish behavior to portray English behavior in a more favorable light

animism

• the belief that the natural world is suffused with spiritual power

• influenced gender roles and rituals in many Native American societies

civic humanism

• an ideology praising public virtue and service to the state

• celebrated in the Italian Renaissance

• influenced European and American ideas of government

primogeniture

a practice where the eldest son receives all of his father’s land

predestination

idea that God chooses certain people for salvation before they are born and condemns the rest for eternal damnation — preached by John Calvin

Identity (theme)

• American Indians and Africans in the New World adapted to European culture, but were able to maintain some elements of their own cultures

Work, Exchange, Technology (theme)

• maize cultivation was very important to the economic development of North American Indians

• the Portuguese and Spanish intiated the transatlantic slave trade, working with some Africans to acquire slave labor

• the Spanish developed the encomienda system with Native Americans and African slaves

Peopling (theme)

• Native Americans migrated throughout N. America and developed diverse and complex societies

• NA societies that depended on agriculture and hunting tended to live in permanent settlements

• the Columbian Exchange brought significant changes to native peoples and to Europeans in the New World and Europe — disease, slavery

Politics and Power (theme)

• Native Americans and Africans attempted to maintain autonomy despite European efforts to control them

America in the World (theme)

• European arrival in the 1400s-1500s led to demographic and social change

• Spanish and Portuguese conquests led to epidemics, racial mixing, and a caste system

• the Spanish introduced new crops and domesticated animals to the W. Hemisphere — economic, political, and social change

• Spanish and Portuguese explorers had little understanding of Native Americans

Environment and Geography (theme)

• Native Americans and Europeans adapted to and transformed varied evnrionments

• due to a scarcity of natural resources, Native Americans in the Plains and Great Basin were largely mobile

Ideas, Beliefs, and Culture (theme)

• Europeans came to the New World to spread Christianity (as well as to gain wealth and power)

• European exploration and settlement of the W. Hemisphere contributed to the end of feudalism in Western Europe

• European exploration and contact with Native Americans led to debate over the definition of “civilized” and the treatment of native peoples