Ideas

Description

Idea 1

50-100 million Native Americans lived in the Americas in the 1490s

Idea 2

Only 10 or less million people lived in the present day United States in Canada in the 1490s (due to a slow northward spread of corn)

Idea 3

Native Americans had more than 20 language families and more than 400 languages

Idea 4

The English settled in areas without large native empires and tried to coexist, trade, and share ideas. Soon though, they started to take the American Indians land and expel them.

Idea 5

The French viewed the American Indians as potential economic and military allies. They looked for furs and converts to Catholicism. Assisted the Huron’s in fighting the Iroquois. Had trade routes along the St. Lawrence Valley and the Mississippi River.

Idea 6

Columbus viewed as an opportunist and conqueror, not a discoverer. His actions led to significant suffering for Native Americans.

Idea 7

Some defend Columbus as driven by exploration rather than conquest, acknowledging both the negative impacts and the eventual positive developments in democratic institutions.

Area

Description

Types of Groups

Southwest

Farmers (maize); Advanced irrigation systems; Small urban centers made of hardened clay bricks. Drought when the Europeans arrived. Live dim caves, under cliffs, and in multi-stored buildings.

Hokokam, Anasazi, and Pueblos

Great Basin/Plains

Nomadic hunter/gatherers/sedentary people (buffalo); Small egalitarian kinship bands. Lived in tepees. Lived in permanently earthen lodges often along rivers. Raised corn, beans, and squash. Traded with other groups.

Ute, Apaches (migrated from Canada to Texas), Lakota Sioux

Pacific Coast (Northwest)

Permanent villages of almost 1,000 people; abundance of fish, small game and plant life; Coastal trade. Lived in longhouses or plan houses. Carved large totem poles. Mountain ranges isolated tribes.

Chumash in California,

Chinook in Pac NW

Northeast

Farmers, villages with longhouses, abundant resources (timber, furs, fish). Farming exhausted soil quickly, so people had to move to fresh land frequently.

Iroquois (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk)

Mississippi River (Midwest)

Farmers because of the rich soil, river-based trade

Cahokia (10-30,000 people) with strong, centralized gov’t

ADENA-HOPEWELL

Year

Event

8000 to 40000 BC

Migrants from Asia may have crossed a land bridge that once connected Siberia and Alaska, allowing them to migrate southward

300 to 800

Mayas built cities in the Yucatan Peninsula (Guatemala, Belize, South Mexico) - corn is the main crop

1300 to 1521

Several centuries after the decline of the Mayas, the Aztecs from central Mexico developed a powerful empire, building Tenochtitlan in 1325 - corn is main the crop

1200 to 1533

The Incas developed a vest empire in South America, based in Peru - potatoes are the main crop

1450s

The printing press was invented, aiding in the spread of knowledge across Europe

1491

Life of Americans before Columbus

1492

Columbus arrives in the Bahamas on October 12

1493

The Line of Demarcation

1494

Treaty of Tordesillas

1534-1542

Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River extensively

1542

New Laws of 1542 were created

1565

Spanish established a permanent settlement at St. Augustine, Florida after much Native American resistance. This is the oldest city in North America founded by Europeans.

1587

Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to establish a settlement at Roanoke Island off the North Carolina coast

1607

The first permanent English settlement was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, beginning the framework of a new nation

1608

Established the first permanent French settlement in America at Quebec

1610

Santa Fe was established as the capital of New Mexico in 1610. (Pueblo revolted in 1680 due to conversion efforts, Spanish driven from area in 1692)

1673

Louis Jolliet & Father Jacques Marquette explored the upper Mississippi River

1682

Robert de La Salle explored the Mississippi basin, named Louisiana after Louis XIV

early 1700s

Texas was established by Spain, which grew as Spain attempted to resist French efforts to explore the lower Mississippi river

1769

Spanish established a permanent settlement in San Diego (in response to Russian exploration from Alaska)

1776

Spanish established a permanent settlement in San Francisco

Person

Brief Summary

Prince Henry

Portugal’s leader in the late 1400s. Funded the opening of a long sea route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

Vasco da Gama

The first European to reach India via the South African route

Isabella & Ferdinand

Leaders of Spain that funded Columbus’ journey

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

a Spanish conquistador who traveled across the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean

Ferdinand Magellan

a Spanish conquistador who tried to circumnavigate the world but died before completing the trip

Hernan Cortes

a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire

Francisco Pizzaro

a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that led to the conquest of the Incas in Peru

Sir Frances Drake

England challenged Spanish shipping in the major oceans in the 1570s and 1580s. Therefore, he attacked Spanish ships, seized the gold and silver that they carried, and even attacked Spanish settlements on the coast of Peru

Sir Walter Raleigh

Attempted to establish a settlement at Roanoke Island off the North Carolina coast in 1587, but failed (English claims)

Giovanni de Verrazano

Italian navigator, sponsored by the French in 1524, hoping to find a northwest passage from the Americas to Asia, explored part of North America’s eastern coast, including the New York Harbor. (French claims)

Jacques Cartier

1534-1542, explored the St. Lawrence River extensively (French claims)

Samuel de Champlain

Established the first permanent French settlement in America at Quebec, a fortified village on the St. Lawrence River (1608), “Father of New France”. FRENCH CLAIM

Louis Jolliet & Father Jacques Marquette

Explored the upper Mississippi River (1673) FRENCH CLAIM

Robert de La Salle

Explored the Mississippi basin, named Louisiana after Louis XIV (1682) FRENCH CLAIM

Henry Hudson

an experienced English sailor, seeking westward passage to Asia through northern America. Sailed up the Hudson River in 1609. This established DUTCH claims to New Amsterdam (and later New York).

Father Junipero Serra

Founded nine of the many missions of the Franciscan order

Bartolome de Las Casas

An advocate for better treatment for Indians, persuading the king to institute the New Laws of 1542

Juan Gines de Sepulveda

argued that Indians were less than human

Term

Definition

Adena-Hopewell culture

The Adena culture is known for food cultivation, pottery, and commercial networks that covered a vast area from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Over a period of 500 years, the Adena culture transformed into what we call the Hopewell tradition.

Renaissance

A rebirth of classical learning prompting an outburst of artistic and scientific activity in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Moors

Islamic invaders from North Africa who conquered Spain. Isabella Castile) and Ferdinand (Aragon) married in 1469, joining their kingdoms, and eventually finishing conquering the Moors in 1492.

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement that challenged the practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church, leading to the establishment of Protestant churches. A series of religious wars followed.

Ottoman Turks

A group that revolted against the Pope’s authority and blocked the merchant route of Venice and Constantinople that reached the Chinese empire.

Nation-States

Developed in the 15th century as countries where the majority of people shared both a common culture and common loyalty towards a central government.

Columbian Exchange

An exchange between Native Americans and Europeans. Europeans got: Beans, corn, sweet and white potatoes, tomatoes tobacco, syphilis. Native Americans got: sugar cane, bluegrasses, pigs, horses, the wheel, iron implements, guns, smallpox, and measles

The Line of Demarcation (1493)

The Pope’s compromise to Spain and Portugal’s land dispute, granting Spain all lands to the west of the line and Portugal all lands to the east

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

The line was moved a few degrees west, giving Portugal Brazil and Spain the rest of the Americas

Conquistadores

Spain’s name for explorers and conquerors

Encomienda System

Crown-granted authority over natives

Colonist was obliged to protect those natives and convert them to Catholicism

In exchange, the colonist was entitled to those natives' labor for such enterprises as sugar harvesting and silver mining.

Asiento System

Required the Spanish to pay a tax to their king on each slave they imported to the Americas

Huguenots

Internal conflicts between these French protestants and Roman Catholics occupied the French’s time in the 1500s

Dutch West India Company

a private company with the right to control the region of New Amsterdam (& later New York)) for economic gain

Franciscan Order

A series of missions or settlements which had been established along the California coast by these members

New Laws of 1542

Laws that ended Indian slavery, halted forced Indian labor, and began to end the encomienda system which kept the Indians in labor (Conservative Spaniards convinced the king to repeal parts of these laws)

Valladolid Debate

A formal debate over the role for Indians in the Spanish Colonies (1550-1551) in Valladolid, Spain. Casas argued that Indians were human and morally equal to Europeans. Juan Gines de Sepulveda argued that Indians were less than human.

Algonquians

The Algonquians are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups. Quebec, Ontario.

Siouan

Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains

Woodland Mound Builders

Three important groups of mound builders were the people of the Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian cultures. They built many different types of mounds.