AP U.S. History - Unit 1 Notes

Native Societies Before European Arrival

• Native American societies were diverse and shaped by their environments.
• They weren't a monolithic group; their lifestyles varied.

Pueblo People

• Located in present-day Utah and Colorado.
• They were farmers, planting beans, squash, and maize.
• Their maize farming was supported by advanced irrigation systems, diverting river water to crops.
• They built small urban centers out of hardened clay bricks.
• Known for magnificent cliff dwellings.

Great Basin and Great Plains Region

• Nomadic hunter-gatherers lived here (present-day Colorado to Canada).
• They hunted buffalo and gathered food.
• Organized themselves into small, egalitarian kinship bands.
• Example: The Ute people.

Pacific Coast

• Native peoples developed permanent settlements due to abundant fish, small game, and plant life.
• Chumash people in California built villages sustaining nearly 1,000 people and participated in regional trade networks.
• Chinook peoples in the Pacific Northwest lived similarly to the Chumash, building extensive plank houses for whole families.

Northeast

• Iroquois people were farmers, living communally in long houses constructed from abundant timber.

Mississippi River Valley

• Groups here were farmers due to rich soil.
• They participated in trade along the waterways.
• The Cahokia civilization was the largest, with 10,000-30,000 people and a centralized government led by chieftains.

European Arrival

• European kingdoms underwent political unification from the 1300s to 1400s, developing stronger, centralized states governed by monarchs.
• A wealthy upper class developed, desiring luxury goods from Asia.
• Muslims controlled land-based trade routes, hindering European trade with Asia.
• Europeans sought sea-based trade routes.

Portugal

• Portugal was the first European mover, establishing trading posts around Africa, creating a trading post empire.
• They gained a foothold in the Indian Ocean trade network using new maritime technology.

Maritime Technology

• Includes anything having to do with the sea.
• Updated astronomical charts and the astrolabe aided in reckoning.
• New nimble ship designs were devoted to trade.
• Borrowed tech included the Latin sail and stern post rudder for accurate navigation.

Spain

• Spain entered the maritime game after finishing the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from North African Muslim Moors.
• The reconquest fueled a desire to spread Catholic Christianity.
• Spain sought new economic opportunities in the East.

Christopher Columbus

• An Italian sailor, Columbus sought sponsorship from the Spanish court of Ferdinand and Isabella to sail west to find wealth in Asian markets.
• He set sail in 1492 and encountered a giant continent unknown to Europeans (besides the Vikings).
• He landed in the Caribbean, finding wealth and leading to tales of the New World's hidden wealth.
• This created competition among European nations like Portugal, France, and England to explore these lands.
• Columbus's landing on San Salvador in the Bahamas marked a turning point in world and U.S. history.

The Columbian Exchange

• Definition: The transfer of people, animals, plants, and diseases from the East to the West and vice versa.

Food

• From the Americas to Europe: potatoes, tomatoes, and maize.
• From Europe to the Americas: wheat, rice, and soybeans.

Animals

• From the Americas to Europe: turkeys.
• From Europe to the Americas: cattle, pigs, and horses.

Resources

• Gold and silver were transferred from the Americas to Europe.

People

• Europeans made permanent homes in the Americas.
• Enslaved Africans were introduced to the Americas.

Disease

• Europeans brought smallpox to the Americas which decimated native populations because they had no immunity.
• Europeans may have contracted syphilis from the natives.

Economic Shift in Europe

• Wealth from the Americas shifted the European economic system from feudalism to capitalism.
• Feudalism: Peasants worked on a noble's land in exchange for protection.
• Capitalism: An economic system based on private ownership and free exchange.
• The rise of joint-stock companies spurred this shift; these are limited liability organizations where investors pool money to fund a venture, sharing profits.

Spanish Colonization

• Spain realized agriculture would make them wealthier than extracting precious metals.
• They introduced the encomienda system, where spaniards forced natives to work on plantations and extract gold/silver.
• Problems arose because natives escaped and died in large numbers due to smallpox.
• The solution was to import African slave laborers, who were less likely to escape (unfamiliar geography) and had some immunity to European diseases.

Social Reordering - The Casta System

• Spain introduced a new system of social classes based on racial ancestry.
  • Peninsulares: Spaniards born in Spain (Iberian Peninsula)
  • Criollos (Creoles): Spaniards born in the Americas
  • Castas:
    • Mestizos: Spanish and Native American blood.
    • Mulattos: Spanish and African blood.
  • Africans
  • Native Americans (lowest status)

Relationship Between Europeans and Natives

• Europeans largely looked down on natives, exploiting them for military alliances, forced labor, and Christian conversion.
• Despite contention, each group adopted practices from the other's culture.
• Example: Natives taught the English how to hunt and cultivate maize; natives adopted iron tools and weapons.
• The relationship was largely difficult and brutal, justified by European belief systems.
• Some Spaniards, like Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, believed Native Americans were less than human and benefited from harsh labor.
• Bartolomé de las Casas defended the humanity of natives and persuaded the king to pass laws ending native slavery, but wealthy nobles had these laws repealed.

Justification for Exploitation of African Laborers

• Europeans used the Bible to justify exploiting slaves.
• They interpreted the story of Noah cursing Ham's son Canaan to mean that black skin was the mark of Ham, destined for slavery.