Week One (Overview and New Spain )

Learning from your mistakes.

Honestly, this is one of the most important lessons from this class. On the macro-scale, you will see mistakes that were made in history and evaluate whether or not those lessons were learned. On a personal level, you will make mistakes on quizzes, tests, essays or in life. Don't think a small mistake is the end, it is simply an opportunity for you to learn and grow.

Closing Questions

One of the most important parts of my class. I will give you time at the end of each class to process the information delivered in the lesson. This is time for you to reflect, quiz yourself, and ask questions on anything not clear. Closing questions need to be finished each day.

Michigan

Mr. Taylor's home state.

The Learning Process for DCUSH

1. You are present, awake, attentive, and engaged during the lecture.

2. Ask questions. If you don't like asking in class, email me. I will do everything I can to help you!

3. You actually do your closing questions with 100% effort.

4. Use the review methods on Quizlet to study before the weekly quiz, review your closing questions and review the lecture notes. Ask questions if anything is not clear or YouTube one of the topics if you want it taught from a different person.

5. Go through the objective statements. Do a practice quiz online or in a review book. If you miss anything, try to learn from your mistake.

6. Think of history as a story, not a random facts or dates. Try to "connect the dots" between events and try to think about causes/effects rather than a simple definition.

Aztecs

Highly sophisticated civilization that settled in the valley of Mexico. Grew corn. Eventually conquered by Cortes

Cahokia

Mississippian settlement near present-day East St. Louis, home to as many as 25,000 Native Americans. Most populated Native American settlement in North America

three-sister farming

Agricultural system employed by North American Indians as early as 1000 A.D.; maize, beans, and squash were grown together to maximize yields.

Iroquois Confederacy

a group of Native American nations in eastern North America joined together under one general government. The Iroquois managed to hold power and territory longer than other tribes in the area.

Marco Polo

His accounts of his travels to China offered Europeans a firsthand view of Asian lands and stimulated interest in Asian trade, ultimately fueling exploration.

Caravel

A small, easily steerable ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in their explorations

1492

Columbus "Sailed the Ocean Blue" / Reconquista of Spain

Ferdinand and Isabella

During the late 15th century, they became King and Queen of a united Spain after centuries of Islamic domination. Together, they made Spain a strong nation and also provided funding to overseas exploration, notably Christopher Columbus.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.

Impact of Columbian Exchange on Europe

New crops from the Americas led to an increase in population, new wealth (gold and silver)

Impact of Columbian Exchange on Americas

90% of Natives died due to diseases, horse impacted travel and trade, new livestock, Mestizos

Horses

Animal introduced by Europeans that transformed the Indian way of life on the Great Plains

Comanche

lived in South Plains; fierce fighters; learned to ride horses and hunted buffalo

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain, declaring that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal.

Encomienda System

It gave settlers the right to tax local Native Americans or to make them work. In exchange, these settlers were supposed to protect the Native American people and convert them to Christianity

Asiento System

System that took slaves to the New World to work for the Spanish. Required that a tax be paid to the Spanish ruler for each slave brought over.

Noche Triste

"Sad night", when the Aztecs attacked Hernán Cortés and his forces in the Aztec capital, Tenochitlán, killing hundreds. Cortés laid siege to the city the following year, precipitating the fall of the Aztec Empire and inaugurating three centuries of Spanish rule.

Mestizos

A person of mixed Native American and European ancestory

Conquistador

A Spanish conqueror of the Americas. (Remember Hernan Cortes and maybe a couple of others from World History)

Battle of Acoma

In this 1599 battle, the Spanish severed one foot of each survivor. They proclaimed the area to be the province of New Mexico in 1609 and founded its capital at Santa Fe the following year.

Pope's Rebellion/Pueblo Revolt

1680 conflict that lead to death of hundreds of Spanish colonists and destruction of Catholic churches in the area. Took place in same geographic area as the Battle of Acoma

Bartolome de Las Casas

Dominican priest who spoke out against mistreatment of Native Americans

Black Legend

False notion that Spanish conquerors did little but butcher the Indians and steal their gold in the name of Christ.

White Legend

Belief that the Spanish protected the Indigenous people, especially from their own people

Valladolid Debate

In regard to the treatment of natives of the New World, Bartolomé de las Casas argued Amerindians were creations of God and deserved same treatment as Christian Europeans. Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda thought that the natives should be slaves because of their crimes against nature and against God.

1588

Defeat of the Spanish Armada and beginning of the decline of the Spanish Empire.

Hiawatha

Legendary founder of the powerful Iroquois Confederacy