Notes: Pacific Northwest Peoples and Early European Expansion

Pacific Northwest Peoples

Location and resources: Pacific Northwest with a moderate climate, lush forests, and many rivers; salmon central to survival and culture.
Salmon symbolism and harvesting: Salmon imagery on totem poles, baskets, canoes; spiritual respect; First Salmon Ceremony marks seasonal runs; elders regulate harvest to ensure future spawning.
Fishing and transport: Nets, hooks, and small tools; cedar canoes up to 50-foot long carrying many musicians (men) enabling large ocean fishing expeditions; potential catch of halibut, sturgeon, and thousands of pounds in a single canoe.
Social structure and feasting: Food surpluses led to high population density; potlatches organized around births, weddings; wealth display during multi-day feasts; hosts gain prestige by giving away wealth.

Dwellings: Elaborate plank houses carved from abundant cedar wood; e.g., Suquamish Oleman House, 500-foot-long, on Puget Sound.
Visual art: Large totem poles; masks; drums and rattles carved from cedar to tell stories and express identity.

Diversity: Native cultures in the Americas were diverse in languages, settlements, and lifestyles; many cultures adapted to different climates.
European contact: Arrival of Europeans introduced drastic cultural and demographic changes across the hemisphere.

Early Norse exploration: Scandinavian seafarers reached North America before Columbus; Leif Erikson reached Newfoundland around the year 1000; colony failed due to limited resources, weather, and resistance.
Renaissance and expansion: Crusades, rediscovery of Greek/Roman/Muslim knowledge, Asian trade, and rising nationalism drove long-term expansion; wealth competition among European powers.
Iberian consolidation: Ferdinand and Isabella united Castile and Aragon; Reconquista culminated in 1492; Columbus sought a westward route to Asia under Spanish sponsorship.

Portuguese leadership: Prince Henry the Navigator promoted exploration, funded technology and navigation advances.
Technological breakthroughs: Astrolabe for latitude; caravel capable of long ocean voyages with cargo.
Atlantic forts and trade: Forts along Africa’s Atlantic coast spurred wealth and further trade.
Sugar and slavery: Sugar grown on Atlantic islands (Azores, Canaries, Cape Verde, later São Tomé) using enslaved labor; established the first great Atlantic plantations; slavery linked to European colonial profits.
African slave sources: Initial enslaved workers sourced from African city-states; traders exchanged slaves for goods and weapons; distinct from later U.S. chattel slavery but part of the Atlantic slave system.

Guanches: Indigenous Canary Islanders enslaved or decimated after European arrival; foreshadowed demographic catastrophe seen in the Americas.

São Tomé: Early plantation system modeled for expansion across the Atlantic; enslaved labor used to work sugar fields.

Caravels and empire: Spain mastered caravels; sought direct access to wealth and empire independent of Iberian middlemen.
Columbus’s 1492 voyage: Three ships—Niña, Pinta, Santa María—landed in the Bahamas after about two months at sea; Arawaks (Taíno) inhabited the Caribbean; Columbus described them in favorable terms but sought wealth via gold and enslaved labor.
Motivations: Spanish crown aimed for wealth and labor to support empire-building; initial reports emphasized gold and potential for enslavement as justification for voyage.