APUSH Unit 1-Indigenous Cultures and European Colonization

Oct 2nd 2025

Iroquois Culture

family oriented, lacrosse, unity across civilization

What type of society was the Iroquois?

matrilineal, women have most political power

The Three Sisters (agriculture)

women and children were in charge of food production, called “corn mothers”

long houses

houses built for extended families, as Iroquois valued family very much

Europeans view on women as farmers in Iroquois culture

they were judgey and confused, their “argument:” land was not productive with women charge

Haida

had long houses with totem poles, lived with nuclear family, told lots of oral stories

type of society Haida was

matrilineal

Holiday in Haida society

Haida people would put most high-quality things into a potlatch box to sacrifice and keep culture.

Pueblo Indians (American Southwest)

had corn mothers, lived with relatives, vertical housing systems, complex irrigation systems

kiva (Pueblo Indians)

used for religious purposes, had big circle with hole in the middle

Aztecs & Mayans & Incans (Mesoamerica)

stone is very common, amazing engineers, good at math, fruits and veggies, patriarchal (believed in blood sacrifice)

Aztec Society

military society, violent, had to give and sacrifice blood to maintain power and authority

Incas

very good architecture, socialist ways, good at math

Spanish Colonization Background

5th century—>settled by Gothic Kingdoms united by Catholicism. 8th century—>Jewish merchants and scholars came in, golden age in Spain, Reconquista against Spain. 14th and 15th century—>Spain unites under Ferdinand and Isabella and then Inquisition comes (catholic attempt to root out incorrect belief)

Expulsion of Jews/Muslims (Spanish Colonization)

idea of race and blood started, “races are a sign of different intelligence” Catholicism: ideas of religion outside the church would not be accepted 

Portugal

wanted to get to East without Muslims, built trade on the East Coast of South America and built CARAVEL—> Ship that could sail into the wind

Prince Henry

navigator of Portugal, uses money to invest in university

Law of Discovery

wherever you can control, you discovered it

Taino Indians after Colombus

population went from 500,000 to less than 1,000

Genocide from Spanish Colonization

murder, rape, theft of resources, destruction of structures & disease: 98% death rate because Indigenous didn’t have same immunities, disease from animals, old world diseases

Spanish conquest of California

Spain wanted gold and more resources, set up along road California coast “Rio Royale”

Indigenous response to Spanish Conquest of California

they stopped reproducing, Pope Rebellion: pushes Spanish out of New Mexico for 1,000 yrs.

White people in the Caste System during the colonization of Spanish

Peninsulares, Criollos

People of color in the Caste System during the Spanish colonization

Mestizos (worked on farms), African Slaves (worked on farms), Native Americans (lowest)

Colombian Exchange

exchange of foods, ideas, diseases, animals between Old World and the New, beginning of an economic shift from Asian markets to Atlantic Markets

Sugarcane

rich mans crop

Tobacco

poor mans crops

After Colombian exchange there was…

capitalism

Egyptians in Africa - near nile river

“bread basket” rich soil, produce many cycles of crops

Swahili city-states - east coast of Africa

culture, architecture, part of Indian ocean trade, desired place to live, spices, gold, silver, $$

Great Zimbabwe (near Limpopo river)

known for trade, grew cattle smaller bread basket, grew special cattle Watusi Cattle (giant horns making it easy to live in hot climates)

Congo - middle of Africa

rubber, copper, fish, exotic animals, art, exotic animal trade

Mali Empire (near Niger River)

Mansa Musa:well known king, fine weapons, education, Timbuktu: scholarship, science, education, silver, gold, slaves, crops

Islam Comes to Africa

Zanj People (People from East Africa), worked on sugarcane plantations. Arab flesh merchants, came and took 12-15 million people.

Zanj Rebellion

slaves went to Iraq—>terrible conditions, slaves came together, as more and more slaves came the resistance became stronger

Ali Ibn Muhammad (Zanj Rebellion)

main goal was to improve slave conditions UNDER HIM, and told the slaves he was their savior, he began to build a religious following and helped the Zanj people with the rebellion

Almuctara

Guarded city after Zanj Rebellion for civilization growth 

Basra (Zanj Rebellion)

city needed to be captured by the Zanj, but the Zanj were pushed back and the rebellion failed.

Slavery in early Africa

you had to be captured in war, debt slavery, punishment for crime. NOT CONNECTED TO RACE, TEMPORARY

Zanj

enslaved because of skin color passed down to children, pagans—>non-muslims, “allowed to be enslaved” because they weren’t muslims THIS TYPE OF SLAVERY FROM ISLAMS WAS USED TO JUSTIFY THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE

The Middle Passage-most violent part of slave trade

people preferred death over slavery, naked on ships, no water, no food, families split apart, didn’t see Africans as people, White people wanted to control the slaves, so they didn’t give them water, disgusting smells DEHUMANIZATION seasoning:people built up immunites to disease

Finance during Middle Passage

“insure your cargo”, if the cargo was lost at see—> excuse to insure, they said they were losing money but were killing slaves and beating them to death

Atlantic Slave Trade (went on for centuries)

kings in Africa sold their people, excuse for war, people were thrown overboard, Africa lost 10s of millions of people, contributes to racism.

Slavery in Islamic Civilization

not linked exclusively to race except for Zanj Rebellion, Curse of Ham, Pagan:no rights/lesser beings

Bubonic Plague

“Black Death” 24,000,000 people die, weakens Catholic and Church, Feudalism (political power house, isolating power, people being stuck in one place)

result of the Bubonic Plague URBANIZATION

rebirth of ancient knowledge —> humanization:people can do great things without the divine, Secularism:ideas not founded in religion 

Universities in Europe

astronomy, biology —>scientific revolution

Refermation (1500s CE)

splitting of the Christian Church into Roman Catholic or Protestant

Martin Luther

wrote 95 theses—>begins protestantism (get rid of nepotism, unfair advantage in work, and no simony, sale of church offices, no indulgance

Enlightenment Movement

logic and reason = truth

Linnaeus (scholar in englightenment movement)

homo-europeans: white, tall blue eyed, intelligent, thrifty homoAsiaticus: yellowskinned, short crafty, bound by tradition, superstitious homoamericanus: red, lazy, ruled by women, no beards, lacked imagination homoafricanus: wild, uncultured, lacking in intelligence, not inventive, overly sexual

Reconquista

Christians raided Islams in Spain and Portugal→conquistadors

Tudor Dynasty starts

Arthur dies and Katherine marries Henry, then divorces him and Henry gets many more wives

Anne Bolynne (Protestant)

harrased, Katherine (old wife) becomes mad at her, has daugther Elizabeth I, executed for treason

Edward VI (son of Henry and Jane Seymour)

“true believer”, radical protestant, “low church”

Mary I (Bloody Mary, daughter of Henry and Katherine)

restores Catholic Church, marries Spanish prince, when she dies there is no more alliance

Elizabeth I (daughter of Henry and Anne Bolyne)

practical monarch, sacraments are good, allows for high and low church services, TEST ACT: people could practice protestantism, no other religion 

HIPP

h: historical context i:intended audience p:point of view p: purpose

Treaty of Tordesillas 

Treaty that splits New Land between Spain and Portugal created by the Pope

What caused the Jamestown colony?

England was broke, so they wanted gold and silver

Joint Stock Company & Virginia Company

The Virginia company was built so that the Europeans could have money to explore America (this was a joint stock company)

Indentured Servants

servants that employed themselves because they were in debt or they wanted to go to the Americas

John Smith

he said that those who do not work shall not eat → half the population died

Black Legend

this was created so that England looked better than Spain-→cause of the Pocahontas story

Lord De La Warr → Irish Tactics

Tactics used against the Irish, rape, pillage, burn, starving to death

John Rolfe

grows sweet tobacco, way more desirable “brown gold”

head right system

each person you pay to arrive in colonies=50 free acres of land

1619

house of Burgesses was established→new form of government

Virginia Charter

document of democracy:extended the rights of all Englishmen to the colonists

Bacon’s Rebellion

causes:tobacco loses profitability, lack of land from tabacco. effect:Native American murder and Jamestown is burned POINT WHERE AFRICAN SLAVERY IS FULLY EMBRACED

London Fire of 1666

CAUSED SLAVERY → more people wanted to work in London, so they lost people coming

Loss of Regal African Co. Charter

CAUSED SLAVERY→ now there is competition, which lowers price of human beings

Barbados Slave Codes

laws that were created and denied basic human civil rights to Black/enslaved people. Makes slavery perpetual status (through your mother)