APUSH: Period 1 (1491-1607) & Period 2 (1607-1754)

Native American Culture (Prior to Colonization)

Year(s): Before 1491

Summary: Native groups adapted to their environments with regional innovations like irrigation (Pueblos), mound building (Mississippians), and nomadic bison hunting (Great Plains).

Significance: Demonstrated that Native societies were diverse, complex, and well-adapted before European contact.

The Three Sisters

Year(s): Before 1491

Summary: Corn, beans, and squash

Significance: Supported population growth, permanent settlements, and social development in Native cultures.

The Columbian Exchange

Year(s): Began in 1492

Summary: Exchange of crops, animals, people, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds.

Significance: Devastated Native populations through disease; introduced new foods and wealth to Europe, fueling population growth and capitalism.

Age of Exploration

Year(s): 1490s-1600s Summary:

Discovery of new lands led to wealth accumulation, scientific advances, and spread of Christianity.

Significance: Stimulated European economic, political, and cultural shifts toward exploration, colonization, and imperialism.

Feudalism

Feudalism was a hierarchical social, political, and economic system prevalent in medieval Europe

European shift from feudalism to capitalism

Year(s): 1500s Summary:

Wealth from colonies and trade encouraged private investment and profit-based economies.

Significance: Helped break down feudal land systems and promoted the rise of a market economy and merchant class.

Joint-Stock Companies

Year(s): 1500s-1600s

Summary: Businesses in which investors pooled money to fund colonies and share profits and risks.

Significance: Enabled European powers to fund colonization with reduced risk, leading to expansion in the Americas.

New Spain

Year(s): 1500s Summary:

A Spanish colonial empire built on wealth from silver/gold, Catholic missions, and rigid class structures.

Significance: Established long-lasting Spanish influence in the Americas and modeled future colonial systems.

Warfare

Year(s): Throughout 1500s

Summary: Spanish often used military force to subjugate Native populations (e.g., conquest of Aztecs, Inca).

Significance: Led to rapid European dominance and destruction of Native civilizations and power structures.

Deadly Epidemics

Year(s): 1492-1607 Summary:

Diseases like smallpox brought by Europeans wiped out 50-90% of some Native populations.

Significance: Weakened resistance to colonization and transformed demographic and cultural landscapes.

Encomienda System

Year(s): Established in 1503

Summary: Spanish labor system where colonists received land and Native labor in return for Christianizing them.

Significance: Enabled exploitation of Native peoples; laid foundations for forced labor systems and slavery.

Spanish Caste System

Year(s): 1500s

Summary: Racial hierarchy in New Spain based on bloodlines (Spanish > mixed > Native/African).

Significance: Institutionalized inequality and justified social control and resource distribution.

West African Slave Trade

Year(s): Began in 1500s Summary:

Europeans partnered with African leaders to trade goods for enslaved people.

Significance: Fueled transatlantic slavery; millions of Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas.

Trade Impact

Year(s): 1490s-1600s

Summary: New trade routes and goods

Significance: Created a global commercial network and increased wealth and competition in Europe.

Diplomatic negotiations

Year(s): 1500s

Summary: Some Native groups formed alliances or treaties with European powers for trade or protection.

Significance: Showed Native agency; temporarily helped some tribes preserve autonomy or gain advantages.

Military Resistance of Native Peoples

Year(s): 1490s-1600s

Summary: Native peoples resisted colonization through armed conflict

Significance: Delayed or challenged European domination, proving Native resilience.

The "Black Legend"

Year(s): 1500s

Summary: Anti-Spanish propaganda claiming Spain was uniquely brutal to Native peoples.

Significance: Used by rivals (like England) to justify their own colonization efforts as more humane.

Las Casas vs. Sepúlveda

Year(s): 1550-1551

Summary: Las Casas argued for Native rights; Sepúlveda defended conquest and enslavement.

Significance: Early debate over human rights and racial superiority in colonial policy.

Spanish migration and colonization

Year: 1600s-1700s

Summary: Spanish established missions, used forced Native labor, and built a caste system to manage colonial society.

Significance: Introduced European control, religion, and exploitation into Native lands, particularly in the Southwest.

French migration and colonization

Year: 1608-1763

Summary: France created trading posts and built alliances with Native tribes, especially through the fur trade, and intermarriage.

Significance: Led to relatively peaceful Native relations and slowed British westward expansion.

Dutch migration and colonization

Dutch Colonization Year: 1609-1664

Summary: The Dutch founded New Netherland to expand trade and welcomed religious and cultural diversity.

Significance: Created early centers of trade and tolerance, but lost land to the British by 1664.

British migration and colonization

Year: 1607-1754

Summary: British settlers came to establish permanent communities focused on agriculture, trade, and religion.

Significance: Their expansion led to land disputes with Native peoples and eventually to the founding of the United States.

Virginia (Jamestown)

Year: 1607

Founder: Virginia Company (Joint-stock company)

Purpose: Economic gain through gold and later tobacco farming

Massachusetts (Plymouth & Massachusetts Bay)

Year: 1620 (Plymouth), 1630 (Massachusetts Bay)

Founder: Pilgrims (Separatists, Plymouth), Puritans (Massachusetts Bay)

Purpose: Religious freedom for English Protestants

New Hampshire

Year: 1623

Founder: John Mason and settlers from Massachusetts

Purpose: Trade, fishing, and some religious freedom

Maryland

Year: 1632

Founder: Lord Baltimore (Cecilius Calvert)

Purpose: Safe haven for English Catholics.

Connecticut (Hartford)

Year: 1636

Founder: Thomas Hooker and Puritan dissenters from Massachusetts

Purpose: Religious freedom and better political structure

Rhode Island (Providence)

Year: 1636

Founder: Roger Williams

Purpose: Religious freedom (ie. Anne Hutchinson) and separation of church and state

Delaware (New Sweden)

Year: 1638

Founder: Swedish settlers; later taken by the English

Purpose: Trade and farming

North Carolina (Albemarle)

Year: 1653

Founder: Settlers from Virginia; chartered by King Charles II

Purpose: Farming and trade

South Carolina (Charles Town)

Year: 1670

Founder: Eight English nobles (Lords Proprietors)

Purpose: Agriculture and trade, especially rice and indigo

New York (New Amsterdam)

Year: 1664

Founder: Originally Dutch (New Netherland); taken by the English

Purpose: Trade and military strategy

New Jersey

Year: 1664

Founder: Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret

Purpose: Land grants and religious freedom

Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)

Year: 1681

Founder: William Penn

Purpose: Safe haven for Quakers and religious freedom, model of religious tolerance

Georgia (Savannah)

Year: 1732

Founder: James Oglethorpe

Purpose: Buffer colony against Spanish Florida; refuge for debtors

Mercantilism

Year: 1600s-1700s

Summary: Mercantilist policies required colonies to provide raw materials and buy finished goods from England.

Significance: Caused growing resentment in the colonies and laid economic foundations for revolution.

Chesapeake Colonies

Year: 1607-1700s

Summary: Virginia and Maryland grew wealthy through tobacco farming, initially using indentured servants.

Significance: Their reliance on labor set the stage for widespread adoption of African slavery.

Middle Colonies

Year: 1660s-1700s

Summary: Colonies like New York and Pennsylvania featured religious freedom, ethnic diversity, and mixed economies.

Significance: Became cultural melting pots and models for democratic governance.

Colonial Self-Government

Summary: Colonies developed representative assemblies.

-House of Burgesses: the first democratically elected legislative assembly in the British American colonies

-Mayflower Compact: An attempt to establish a temporary, legally-binding form of self-government in Plymouth

Significance: Fostered political independence and later resistance to British rule.

Commercial Transatlantic Exchanges; Triangular Trade

Year: 1600s-1700s

Summary: Trade routes connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas through goods, slaves, and raw materials.

Religious Transatlantic Exchanges

Year: 1600s-1700s

Summary: Protestant religious ideas and revivalism moved between Europe and the colonies.

Significance: Inspired movements like the Great Awakening and increased religious pluralism.

Philosophical Transatlantic Exchanges

Philosophical Transatlantic Exchanges Year: 1700s

Summary: Enlightenment ideas emphasized reason, liberty, and individual rights.

Significance: Influenced colonial leaders and encouraged demands for political change.

Powhatan Wars

Year: 1610-1646

Summary: A series of wars in Virginia between English settlers and Powhatan tribes.

Significance: Ended with Native defeat and solidified English control in the region.

Metacom's (King Philip's) War

Year: 1675-1676 Summary: Major war between New England Natives and colonists over land and sovereignty.

Significance: Destroyed Native power in the Northeast and expanded English territory.

Pueblo Revolt

Year: 1680

Summary: Pueblo Indians in New Mexico rose against Spanish rule and temporarily drove them out.

Significance: One of the most successful Native uprisings; led to more tolerant Spanish policies.

Great Awakening

Year: 1730s-1740s

Summary: A Protestant religious revival that emphasized personal faith and emotional sermons.

Significance: Unified the colonies spiritually and encouraged individual thought and equality. Think preachers as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards.

Enlightenment Era

Year: 1700s

Summary: A movement focused on logic, liberty, and scientific reasoning (Locke, Montesquieu).

Significance: Inspired colonial leaders and shaped revolutionary ideology.

Anglicization

Year 1607-1754

Summary: Colonists adopted English customs, government structures, and consumer habits.

Significance: Strengthened colonial ties to Britain, but also led to expectations of equal rights.

Bacon's Rebellion

Year: 1676

Summary: Poor farmers in Virginia rebelled against colonial elites and Native policies.

Significance: Exposed class tensions and encouraged a shift toward African slavery.

Indentured Servitude vs. Chattel Slavery

Year: 1607-1700s

Summary: Indentured servants worked temporarily, while enslaved Africans were property for life.

Significance: Shift to slavery provided permanent labor and entrenched racial hierarchies.

African Resistance to Slavery

Year: 1607-1754

Summary: Enslaved Africans resisted through rebellion, escape, work slowdowns, and cultural preservation.

Significance: Showed African resilience and influenced early African-American culture and identity.