Unit 1: Exploration and Colonization

why was Columbus’ Los Indios misleading?

1. he was not in India, an Asian subcontinent

2. by using a singular noun, he infers that the native people he encountered were all the same, when in fact they were not

What was the problem with pre-Columbian evidence?

the native people in what is now the USA did not use writing, so there is no written evidence of anything that occurred before 1492. we are dependent on archaeology and anthropology.

what is the estimate of the human population on the eve of European conquest?

10 million

evidence of human activity can be traced back to what year, where, and how long ago was that?

traced back to 13,500 BC in Texas, some 15,000 years ago

What was part of the ‘unity argument’? In other words, what did all ‘Indians’ have in common?

• polytheistic beliefs: many gods

• pantheistic beliefs: the idea that God(s) is the universe/nature and the universe/nature is God(s)

• they had a sense of territory but no sense of individual ownership (valuing the community over the individual)

What was part of the ‘diversity argument’? In other words, in what ways were ‘Indians’ different from each other?

• they were multi-lingual

• they divided into tribes, defined by some sort of extended family

• a variety of habitats created economic differences

What kind of civilization grew in the 900s AD and where?

a farming civilization centered around sites like Chaco Canyon (NM) and Mesa Verde (Colo.) in the Four Corners Region

what is the term for the farming civilization in the Four Corners Region and why are they named that?

ancestral Pueblans (aka Anasazi) because they are the ancestors of the pueblo people who live there today

what are the two probable causes of the disappearance of the people from the Four Corners region?

• dendrochronology (tree ring science) evidence suggests a drought that forced migration

• they practice slash-and-burn farming and this might have depleted the soil’s nutrients

  • they also moved their dwellings into the cliffside to get more farming space, but the drought may have made things worse

• area was vacated by 1300 with no signs of conflict

expand on the diversity argument concerning the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest and the Iroquois Indians of the Northeast

• Pueblo Indians:

  • men were farmers, women were crafters (baskets, ceramics, textiles)

  • they were organized under the chiefs and shamen (priests, doctors, historians) in a theocracy

• Iroquois Indians:

  • men were hunters/warriors, women were farmers

  • more militaristic

  • tribes were organized into a confederacy under the guidance of the Council of 49

  • representative, federal system of government

Why was it Europeans who first engaged in conquest and global exploration and not the Chinese?

• China was self-sufficient and did not need Europe’s textiles, leather, iron, etc.

• Admiral Cheng Ho reported there were no countries strong enough to threaten China by sea so they shifted efforts towards fortifying the Great Wall against Mongolia

• Europe, meanwhile, craved spices, silks, porcelain, golds, gunpowder, and compasses from the East

Describe the state of Europe and China in the 15th century.

• Europe: patchwork of small states

• China: most powerful state in the world (resources, science, tech, manpower)

Why did Columbus sail west?

• to get to Asia, they would have to pass through the Middle East

• the Muslim merchants controlled terms of trade and taxed them

• Columbus sailed west to avoid the price mark-up and middle man

Where was Columbus from? What was his name?

Cristofero Columbo from Genoa, Italy

Who was Columbus employed by?

Ferdinand and Isabella of the newly unified Spain in 1492

Who was America named after?

Amerigo Vespucci

Who disputed Columbus’ Asia claims after his death?

University of Salamanca in Spain and Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci

What were the four main consequences of colonization, for the Europeans?

• economic

• political

• social

• cultural

What were the economic consequences of colonization for the Europeans?

• merchant ships increasingly began making the voyage across the Atlantic

• Age of the Atlantic

• trade routes were the precursor of European Empires in what Europeans called the ‘New World’

What were the political consequences of colonization for the Europeans?

• gold became the wealth of choice, discovered by the Spanish and the Portuguese

• became the new definition of power

• before, power was defined by religion or military, but now in wealth

What were the social consequences of colonization for the Europeans?

• the middle/merchant class now began to rival the wealth of the older, aristocratic class

• people now lived in ‘market cities’ instead of the countryside

• bay areas and those closer to the Atlantic prospered (like London)

What were the cultural consequences of colonization for the Europeans?

• universities gained new knowledge about geography, botany, zoology, anthropology, and laid the basis for scientific revolution

What were the three main consequences of colonization for the American Indians?

• demographic

• ecological

• cultural

What were the demographic consequences of colonization for the American Indians?

• native people had no immunological defense against ‘Old World’ diseases like smallpox, malaria, measles, flu, etc.

• surviving populations were weakened

What were the ecological consequences of colonization for the American Indians?

• bison, deer, elk, pumas, parakeets populations, etc. were reduced due to over-hunting

• natural habitat loss because of plantations and family farms

What were the cultural consequences of colonization for the American Indians?

• imported beliefs (Christianity) disrupted traditional values and systems

• disease helped conversion to Christianity

What types of foods were being exchanged overseas during the Columbian Exchange?

• to America: wheat, citruses, apples, bananas, farm animals, sugar cane, olives, slaves

• to Europe: corn, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, squash, peppers, cassava, pineapples, tobacco (produced by slaves)

What were two of the most important things exchanged to either side during the Columbian exchange?

• horses and cattle for the Americas

• easy-to-grow carbohydrates for Europe (think corn, potatoes, tomatoes)

Was slavery a European invention?

no, it had existed for millennia and was practice across the world

Where was sugar planted by Columbus?

Caribbean islands of Cuba and Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti)

What was the direct cause of the trans-Atlantic slave trade?

demand for sugar in Europe because sugar production was labor-intensive and the Native American pool was an unreliable source of labor

How did slaves become slaves? Where did a lot of them come from?

they were either prisoners of war, sold into it to repay family debts, or criminals; a lot of them came from the coasts of West Africa

How long did it take to complete one triangular trade?

two years

What was the food exchange between Americas and Africa?

• Africa gave America sugar

• America gave Africa corn, potatoes, cassava, pumpkins

The greatest number of slaves came from, not Africa, but more where?

the West Indies (Caribbean islands) and Portuguese Brazil

why, when, and how did British get involved in American colonization?

• competitive response to wealth and sea power of the Spanish empire in the late 16th Century

• Inflation of Spanish gold forced them to find their own

• England quit the Catholic Church in 1533 so there was religious rivalry

• British Colonial America was initiated/funded by joint-stock companies (first, Virginia Co.) which founded Jamestown in 1607

What was the first permanent settlement in America?

Jamestown, Virginia

What did the Virginia Co. of London (aka?) seek in Atlantic America? Who was their board of directors made of?

• aka The London Company

• sought profits

• BoD = merchants and lawyers

Who were the Jamestown people in relations with nearby?

the Powhatans, including Pocahantas

Who grew tobacco and what was it a first example of? How did this affect their relationship with the Powhatans?

• John Rolfe, 1612

• first example of entrepreneurship in the history of capitalism in English-speaking America

• Wars with Powhatans over land, Powhatans lost

Who was Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts founded by? Which ship did they sail on?

• religious separatists who wanted to completely sever all connections with any of the established churches in Europe

• sailed on the Mayflower in 1620

What were the shareholder of the Plymouth Company motivated by?

profits, not religion

Where did the Plymouth Company people end up? How does this affect their economy?

• Cape Cod, MA

• rocky peninsula with poor economic potential

• struggled to survive

What were the three main colonies and where did they land?

• the Virginia Co. of London landed in Jamestown, VA

• the religious separatists of Plymouth Rock, MA/Cape Cod, MA

• the Puritans of Boston, MA

Who were the Puritans?

English Calvinists (Protestants) who rejected papal supremacy over what to believe and how to worship; they also disliked the Anglicans (Church of English, King Henry VIII)

Who was the leader of the Puritan colony?

John Winthrop

What was the Puritan ideology/lifestyle like?

• strict moral code

• came to America to practice what they tolerated

• however, would trade with Christians they disliked, prosperous

Why do so many Americans believe it all began with the Mayflower?

• many civilizations reinvent their origins as a way of projecting a desired image

• The Mayflower presented a moral lesson on believing in God