1491 - 1607

The first and last topics of each unit are just reviews so there are no note for them. These notes are based on Heimler History videos with some additions.

1.2 - Native American Peoples

Central and South America

Aztecs

Central America

Large Urban Centers, complex political systems, written language, irrigation systems, human sacrifices.

Mayans

Yucatan Peninsula

Large cities, complex irrigation and water storage system, stone temples and palaces, rulers were believed to be descended from gods.

Incas

Andes Mountains, Pacific Coast (Peru)

Massive empire, they ruled 16 million people, very large, and cultivated potatoes and other crops in fertile mountain valleys

The Importance of Maize

• Maize was a nutritious crop that supported economic development, settlement of peoples, advanced irrigation, and social diversification among societies.

North American Native Peoples

Southwest

• Pueblo People: Sedentary population, farmers of maize and other crops, built adobe and masonry homes

• Examples: present-day New Mexico and Arizona

Great Plains and Great Basin Regions

• Nomadic Peoples: Hunter-gatherer-type people who needed a lot of land, lived in small egalitarian kinship-based bands

• Examples: Ute People

Pacific Northwest

• Fishing Villages: Settled themselves into fishing villages, relied on elk and cedar trees to construct giant plank houses

• Examples: Chinook People, Chumash People (lived on the coast, still hunters and gatherers, but with permanent settlements)

Mississippi River Valley

• Larger and More Complex Societies: Fertile soil allowed for settled agriculture and development

• Examples:

  • Hopewell People: Lived in towns of 4,000-6,000 people, traded extensively with other regions

  • Cahokia People: Boasted the largest settlement, counted 10,000-30,000 people, led by powerful chieftains with centralized government and extensive trade networks

Northeast

• Iroquois: Lived in villages made up of several hundred people, grew crops like maize, squash, and beans, built and lived in longhouses with 30-50 family members

1.3 - European Exploration of the Americas

Motivations for Exploration

• Population growth: After the Black Death, Europe's population began to rebound, leading to increased demand for goods and resources.

• Political unification: Centralized governments, led by powerful monarchs, enabled the rise of a wealthy upper class seeking luxury goods from Asia.

• Economic interests: The desire for luxury goods drove the search for a new trade route to Asia.

The Problem with Existing Trade Routes

• “Why didn't they just utilize all the existing land-based trading routes that stretched across Afro-Eurasia?"

• These routes were largely controlled by Muslims, limiting European access to Asian markets.

Portugal's Solution

• Prince Henry the Navigator: Led the charge in finding a water-based route to Asia, focusing on sailing around Africa.

• Trading post empire: Portugal established a network of trading posts along the African coast, eventually dominating the Indian Ocean trade.

• Maritime technology:

  • Caravels: Nimble, trade-focused ships.

  • Maritime charts and astronomical tables: Aided in route planning.

  • Astrolabe and sternpost rudder: Borrowed technologies that improved navigation.

Spain's Entry into the Game

• Isabella and Ferdinand: United Spain under the Catholic Christian banner after the Reconquista, seeking to spread Christianity and gain economic power.

• Christopher Columbus: An Italian sailor who proposed sailing west to find a route to Asia, which Spain sponsored.

Columbus's Journey

• 1492: Columbus set sail across the Atlantic, landing in the Caribbean (San Salvador), believing it to be the East Indies.

• Indigenous inhabitants: The islanders were hospitable, but Columbus's discovery of their gold jewelry sparked Spanish interest in the New World.

The Aftermath

• Columbian Exchange: Columbus's discovery set off a process that would change the world in drastic ways, to be discussed in the next video.

1.4 - The Columbian Exchange

What is the Columbian Exchange?

The Columbian Exchange was the transfer of food, animals, minerals, people, and diseases between Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

Disease Transfer

• The transfer of diseases, specifically smallpox, from Europeans to Native Americans had a devastating impact on the native population.

• Africans, Europeans, and Asians had built up immunity to certain diseases through centuries of contact, but Native Americans had no immunity.

• Examples of the impact of disease transfer:

  • On the island of Hispaniola, smallpox led to the deaths of approximately 300,000 Native Americans.

  • In the Inca Empire, the population declined from 9 million to 500,000 over a century.

  • The combined population of the Aztecs, Mayans, and surrounding regions declined from 40 million to 3 million over 150 years.

Food Transfer

• New foods introduced from the Americas to Europe:

  • High-yielding and nutritious foods: maize, tomatoes, potatoes, cacao, and tobacco

• New foods introduced from Europe and Africa to the Americas:

  • Grain crops: rice, wheat, soybeans, rye, and oats

  • Fruits: lemons and oranges

Animal Transfer

• New animals introduced from Europe to the Americas:

  • Horses, pigs, cattle, and chickens

• Impact of animal transfer:

  • Horses revolutionized farming and warfare

  • Pigs and cattle transformed the diet of Native Americans

Mineral Transfer

• New minerals introduced from the Americas to Europe:

  • Gold and silver

• Impact of mineral transfer:

  • Made Spain wealthy beyond belief

  • Attracted large numbers of European colonizers to the Americas

  • Contributed to the transformation of Europe's economy and society

People Transfer

• The transfer of people, including:

  • Native Americans enslaved and taken back to Spain

  • Enslaved Africans brought to the Americas

• The Middle Passage:

  • The brutal and deadly journey across the Atlantic Ocean

Economic Impact

• The Columbian Exchange contributed to the transformation of Europe's economy and society.

• The influx of wealth from the Americas led to the end of the feudal system and the rise of capitalism.

• Key features of capitalism:

  • Private ownership

  • Free and open exchange of goods between property owners

1.5 - Labor Systems and Societal Restructuring

The Evolution of Slavery

When Europeans got involved in the African slave trade, the system of bondage changed significantly. In Africa, the selling of people into slavery had a long history, usually involving prisoners of war or people sold in payment for the death of another person. Slaves had some legal rights, and their bondage was not a permanent situation and was almost never an inheritable bondage.

The Columbian Exchange and Enslavement

During the Columbian exchange, Europeans established forts along the African coast, where they traded goods for enslaved people. The most desired goods were guns, which led to an increase in the intensity of raids and conquests by more powerful African groups.

Justification of Slavery

Europeans adopted thought systems to justify the inferiority of Black people, which helped them justify purchasing them as enslaved labor. One popular justification came from the Bible with the “mark of Canaan”

The Encomienda System of Labor

The Encomienda system was introduced by Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean and soon spread throughout the Spanish settlements. It was a system in which leading men called Encomenderos were granted a portion of land, and all the natives who happened to live on that land became the coerced labor force for farming, mining, or boat work.

• Encomenderos

• Leading men granted land and native labor

• Native Americans

• Coerced Labor force for farming, mining, or boat work

Justification of the Encomienda System

The Encomienda system was justified on religious grounds. Ferdinand and Isabella, the monarchs of Spain, issued a legal document called the Requerimiento, which granted Spanish monarchs the authority to claim lands in the Americas and to try to convert the natives they found there.

Limitations of the Encomienda System

• The Encomienda system didn't work out for the Spanish because:

  • Native Americans kept dying from European diseases.

  • Natives knew the land better than the Spaniards and could escape their slavery.

The Solution: Importation of African Labor

• The Spanish turned to importing African people to replace the natives, which worked because:

  • Africans had better immunity to diseases.

  • Africans were less familiar with the land and could not escape as easily.

The Transformation of the Americas and Spain

By the late 16th century, the Spanish had completely transformed the Americas, and their presence had transformed Spain as well. The influx of wealth, especially silver, transformed the Spanish economy, but only enriched the nobles, while contributing to the impoverishment of the peasantry.

The Spanish-Imposed Caste System

The Spanish imposed a complete new social order, a kind of caste system in the Americas, to impose taxes in an orderly way.

1. Peninsulares

2. Creoles

3. Mestizos

4. Mulattos

5. Africans

6. Native American

1.6 Spanish Colonial Dominance in the Americas

Hegemony and the Mission System

• Hegemony: the domination of one nation or group by another nation or group

• The Spanish used the Mission System to expand their empire northward, sending missionaries to convert Native Americans to Christianity instead of conquering with guns.

Cultural Differences between Native Americans and Spanish

Religion

Native American: Pantheists and animists, believing in a natural world filled with spirits

Spanish: Hierarchical Catholic system, believing in a single deity

Land Use

Native American: Spiritual nature of the land, not a commodity to be bought or sold

Spanish: Land existed for private ownership

Family

Native American: Kinship networks of extended families (50-70 members)

Spanish: Nuclear family (parents and their children)

Mutual Adoption of Culture

• Native Americans adopted metal tools, horses, and guns from Europeans.

• Europeans adopted the lucrative North American fur trade and arranged marriages with Native American women to secure trading rights.

• Cultural Exchange: both groups adopted parts of each other's culture, but misunderstandings arose due to their divergent world views.

Conversion and Resistance

• Some Native Americans, like the Pueblo people, were converted to Christianity, but they brought Christ into their pantheon of gods and continued their native religious practices.

• When Spanish priests tried to force singular devotion to Christ, some Native groups resisted with violence, like the Pueblo Revolt.

The Pueblo Revolt

• In 1610, the Pueblo people rose up against the Spanish, killing 400 colonizers and burning churches.

• Although the Spanish returned and reconquered the land 12 years later, the revolt was a victory for the Pueblo.

The Spanish Debate on Conquest

• King Charles convened a group to discuss the moral and legal fallout of Spanish conquest in the Americas.

• Some argued that conquest was necessary to bring Western civilization to the Native Americans, while others, like Bartolome de Las Casas, defended the dignity of the Native Americans and argued against brutal conquest.

System and Forced Labor

• The Encomienda System was a forced labor system put in place by the Spanish, which Bartolome de Las Casas argued was unjust and brutal.

• Instead, he suggested replacing Native Americans with Africans in the forced labor system, which the Spanish eventually did.