First Americans
the people who came to Americas via the Bering Straight; in 6000 BCE Indians began raising crops, maize, which helped encourage population growth, esp. in present day Mexico
Aztec Empire
Tenochtitlan was the capital; trading routes were established throughout the empire; used tribute
tribute
payment (taxes)
maize
major crop throughout Central and North America; found in Mississippi Valley
Eastern Woodlands
villages built around maize fields, also hunted and gathered; women were in charge of crops and played instrumental roles in community affairs; iroquois were matriarchal society
chiefdom
one individual claiming top power
paramount chiefdom
many communities with own local chiefs banded together under one ruler
matriarchal society
power based on female families
Great Plains and Rockies
hunted Buffalo; lack of natural resources made many Indians nomadic; horse introduced by Europe drastically changed life of Plains Indians
Arid Southwest
based on agriculture (maize) and built elaborate irrigation systems (Pueblo Indians)
Pacific Coast
Chinooks were strong warriors, relied heavily on fishing; built elaborate canoes
patterns of trade
many Indians traded w/ each other throughout the Americas; trade fairs b/w nomadic Navajos and Pueblos in SW; maize would be traded for meat, furs; trade united regions, enriched diets, enhanced economics and allowed powerful people to set themselves apart with luxury items
sacred power
animism; indians respected animals they hunted by performing rituals; women and men interacted differently with forces: women grew crops, maintained hearth, home village while men hunted and went to war
animism
religion associated with nature
animists
believed that natural world was suffused with spiritual power, interpreted dreams and visions to understand the world
hierarchy and authority of Western Europe
European families were patriarchal; females gave ump many rights when married
primogeniture
eldest son inheriting most of wealth; later encouraged immigration to colonies
peasant society
poor individuals, mostly farmers, made up most of immigrants to America; half of the children died before 21
expanding trade networks
merchant cities began to grow drastically; guilds helped regulate trade
republics
states that had no prince or king but instead were governed by merchant coalitions
civic humanism
ideology that praised public virtue and service to state and in time profoundly influenced European and American conceptions of gov't
guilds
artisan commercial transactions
Renaissance
cultural transformation from 1300 to 1450 involving arts and learning
myths, religions and holy warriors
Roman Catholic Church had tremendous power in Western Europe, individuals involved in heresies were persecuted
Christianity
grew out of Jewish monotheism, Jesus Christ himself was divine
Islam
religion whose followers considered Muhammad to be God's last prophet
heresies
ideas inconsistent with Christianity
crusades
in AD 1096 and 1291, these were undertaken by Christian armies to reverse Muslim advance in Europe and win back the holy lands where Christ lived
Protestant Reformation
-Martin Luther and his 95 Theses which protested the sale of indulgences
-John Calvin and Predestination
-England became Protestant nation
-it weakened the strength of Catholicism in Europe
Counter Reformation
-triggered by Protestant Reformation
-sought change from within and created new monastic and missionary orders, including Jesuits (soldiers of Christ)
empires, kingdoms, ministrates
-most of African Slave Trade was based out of West Africa, esp. along coastline b/c diseases were in interior
-Kings and Princes regarded as divine
-Ghana, Mali and Songhai Empires used extensive trade routes and used the military to control trade routes and get gold
-The Spirit World: Islam spread trade routes in Africa; many Africans still practiced versions of animism and were polytheistic
trans-Saharan trade
primary avenue of trade for West Africans before European traders connected them to Atlantic empires, it carried slaves and gold to North Africa in exchange for salt and other goods
portuguese expansion
portugal had extensive role in exploration and African Slave Trade; trading posts were established in West Africa
Prince Henry of Portugal
founded center for oceanic navigation, designed better-handling vessel, the caravel
Bartholomeu Dias
rounded Cape of Good Hope, southern tip of Africa
Vasco de Gama
reached East Africa and India, discovered present day Brazil
Sonni Ali
ruler of powerful Songhai Empire
Why did Europeans have little luck exploring the interior of African continent?
diseases- malaria
interior was well defended
African Slave Trade
-slavery was widespread throughout Europe and Africa
-slaves were used on sugar plantations, particularly yin Carribeans
-in mid-16th cent., African Slave trade expanded drastically and used in South America
Sixteenth century incursions
reconquista and inquisition
reconquista
Spanish Catholics tried to get rid of Muslims in Europe
inquisiton
against alleged Christian heretics
conquistadores
Spanish conquerors
Juan Ponce de Leon
explored coast of Florida
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
1st European to see Pacific Ocean
Christopher Columbus
believed Atlantic Ocean was narrow channel of water, separating Europe from Asia, financed by Ferdinand and Isabella
Hernan Cortes
led 600 men to defeat the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan; many of the Aztecs were defeated by the disease smallpox
Francisco Pizarro
defeated the Incas in Peru
effect(s) of the Spanish invasions
disease and war killed many Indians
sedentary
with individual ownership of land and intensive agriculture
semisedentary
with central fields and villages occupied seasonally
nonsedentary
hunter-gatherers
Chesapeake colonies
Made up of virginia and maryland
Relied heavily on tobacco
Used indentured servants greatly in the 17th century
Encroached onto Indian land after tobacco exhausted their soil
Chattel slavery
Slaves are property
Status of the child would be determined based on the MOTHER not the father (contradictory to English law/patriarchal societies)
Children born to slave owners and slave mothers were automatically slaves
Encomienda system
Harsh but profitable system
Spanish conquistadors received land from the crown
Based almost entirely on Indian slave labor
Casta system
Catholicism and the Spanish language were required.
Most➡️least power:
Peninsulares: pure spaniards born in Spain
Creoles: pure spaniards born in the Americas
Mestizos: Spanish + native ancestry
Mulattos: European + African ancestry
Zambos: African + native ancestry
Colombian exchange
Exchange of goods, people, disease, and ideas between Europe, Africa, and the Americas (cultural diffusion)
New crops introduced to Europe (potato and maize)
Horses introduced to Indians
Native population decreased greatly (up to 90% in some areas)
England/Spain in the 16th century
Spain had been very powerful, but England was rising up and began to built its navy up in the 16th century to challenge Spain
Mercantilism
Purpose: benefit the mother country by exporting more goods than importing
Plantations in the Americas
Grew due to increased demand for sugar and tobacco
As Indian populations decreased, African slave labor was introduced
Jamestown
Was a joint stock company (investors shared in the profits and losses of the colony. Like a business for profit) ➡️ became a royal colony (owned and run by the king) in 1624 where colonists had to pay taxes to support the church of England
The men wanted to get gold
Didn't give the men access to fresh water
Tobacco eventually became a major cash crop
House of Burgesses formed (first representative government in the US. It could make laws and impose taxes, but the governor and the Company council in England could veto its acts). Burgesses eventually took the vote away from landless freemen (1/2 of adult white men)
Governor: Berkeley
After the Indian War of 1622, the king and his ministers appointed the governor and a small advisory council, known as the privy council, which had to approve all of the House of Burgesses' legislation.
Royal colonies
An appointed governor
An elected assembly
A formal legal system
An established Anglican church
Owned and controlled completely by royalty
Proprietary colonies
Colonies where a single family owns them like personal property with full control and ownership rights (including rights normally given only to the state)