Lecture Notes: Early Exploration, Conquest, and The Columbian Exchange

Beringia and the Pacific connection

• Map features mention SIBERIA, Arctic Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, and a scale showing distances labeled as km and mi (e.g., km 750 mi).

• Core concept: BERINGIA as a land connection between Siberia and NORTH AMERICA; implication for migration/movement across the region (as implied by the map elements).

• Regions named on the map inset: SIBERIA, ARCTIC OCEAN, NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN, BERINGIA, NORTH AMERICA, ATLANTIC OCEAN.

The Age of Exploration: Iberian claims, division of the world, and early empire

• The map/text layout includes references to NEW SPAIN, Gulf of Mexico, FLORIDA, CUBA, TENOCHTITLÁN (Aztec capital), VERACRUZ, YUCATÁN, AZTEC, and dates linked to early conquest (e.g., 1519, 1524–1526).

• The presence of a regional division between empires is signaled via terms like for Spain and for Portugal, with a 1454 treaty reference on the horizon (TESILLAS) and a later Treaty of TORDESILLAS illustrated on page 11.

• Key locations tied to the Spanish conquest of the Americas include: SANTIAGO DE CUBA (Cuba), VERACRUZ, TENOCHTITLÁN, YUCATÁN, ISLA SACRIFICIOS, COATZACOALCOS, SAN JUAN DE ULÚA, TLAXCALA, CEMPOLLA, HONDURAS, TRUJILLO, and CAMPECHE among others.

• Chronology glimpsed: expeditions or events associated with 1519 (Cortés), 1524–1526 (Aztecs), 1524–1527 (in the region of Peru), and 1531–1533 (Cuzco area) evident in the slide labels.

Treaty of Tordesillas and division of the world

• 1454: Treaty of TESILLAS referenced; division of newly encountered lands between Spain and Portugal on the horizon.

• 1494: Treaty of TORDESILLAS (page 11) formalizing the line of demarcation between Spanish and Portuguese spheres of influence in the New World.

• The map indicates the Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and the zones assigned to Spain and Portugal, with later shifts through colonial administration.

Cortés, Mexico, and the Aztec Empire (1519–1521 and beyond)

• On-page geography and labels show key sites involved in Cortés’s expedition and the conquest:

  • Veracruz (Mexico) and the founding of VERACRUZ as a port and settlement under Cortés.

  • TENOCHTITLÁN as the Aztec capital, with the Aztec domain indicated in the YUCATÁN region and surrounding shell of sites.

  • YUCATÁN, CHICXULUB, COZUMEL, TULÚM, CHICHÉ ITZÁ, and CAMPECHE (locations linked to Maya and Aztec sites along the Gulf and Caribbean coasts).

  • Isla Sacrificios, Coatzacoalcos, San Juan de Ulua, Tlaxcala, and Cempoala as nodes along the Cortés itinerary and alliances.

• Timeline cues visible: 1519 (Cortés), 1519–1521 (Aztec conquest), and associated places such as Tlaxcala and the Gulf coast entries indicating the route and engagements.

• Major belt of sites around the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean used to illustrate the Spanish advance and consolidation of New Spain.

Francisco Pizarro and the Inca conquest (1524–1533)

• On-page sequence for Francisco Pizarro includes phases: 1524–1525; 1526–1527; 1531–1533, reflecting the staged invasions and campaigns into PERU and the Andes.

• Key geography and targets listed:

  • Cuzco, Apurímac River, River Piura, Jauja, Cajamarca, Santa River, and the broader Andean corridor.

• Significance: shows how Spanish expeditions advanced from the Pacific coast into the highlands, culminating in conquista dynamics similar to Cortés in Mexico but in the Inca sphere.

The Columbian Exchange (Americas ↔ Europe/Africa/Asia)

• From the Americas to Europe, Africa, and Asia:

  • beans, peanuts, maize (corn), potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, chilli peppers, avocados, pineapples, squashes, cacao, pumpkins, wheat, tobacco, quinine, sugar, bananas (noted with a parenthetical as a medicine), and rice.

  • cattle, goats, dandelions, sheep, horses, chickens, pigs, and smallpox, measles, typhus.

• From Europe, Africa, and Asia to the Americas:

  • rice, cattle, grapes (wine), goats, dandelions, sheep, horses, chickens, pigs, smallpox, measles, typhus.

• Significance cues:

  • The exchange included crops and livestock that transformed diets, agriculture, and economies on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as devastating disease pandemics (smallpox, measles, typhus) introduced to the Americas.

The Pueblo Revolt and colonial governance in the Americas

• The Rebellion (The Pueblo Revolt) section explains: why it occurred and what happened, and its significance.

• Why it occurred:

  • Spanish priests and government suppressed Native religious practices that were inconsistent with Christianity.

  • Spanish demanded tribute and labor from Native peoples.

• What happened:

  • Pope (Native religious leader) was killed; hundreds were killed, and the Spanish were forced to flee.

  • Spain regained control in 1696.

• Significance:

  • Spanish efforts to religiously assimilate Native populations are described, alongside a note that Pueblos gained more freedoms from the Spanish after the revolt.

Spanish Empire: Labor, Slavery, and Caste Systems

• A dedicated section notes the system of labor and slavery under the Spanish Empire, along with caste-based social hierarchies that structured colonial society.

• Key ideas likely include encomienda/forced labor patterns, racialized social ordering, and the economic underpinnings of empire through coerced labor and extraction.

New France, 1750: Territorial control and colonial networks

• The map depicts New France and related territories around 1750, including major forts:

  • Fort Dauphin, Fort Bourbon, Fort La Reine, Fort Michillimakinac, Fort Beauharnois, Fort Chambly, Fort Frontenac, Fort Détroit, Fort Duquesne, Fort Orléans, Upper Louisiana (Illinois Country), Fort Rosalie, Baton Rouge (1720), Fort Toulouse, Mobile (1702), Biloxi (1699), Fort Rosalie, New Orleans (1718), Port-Royal (1605), Tadoussac (1600), Québec (1608), Montréal (1642), Richelieu, Acadia, Louisbourg (1719), etc.

• Territorial transfers and boundaries:

  • Territories ceded by France to Great Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713, including Canada, Acadia, Newfoundland, Plaisance (Louisiana), Isle Royale, and the assignations around Louisiana and the Atlantic seaboard.

• Geographic context:

  • The map situates FRANCE and its colonial reach in North America, along with adjacent British, Spanish, and Indigenous regions.

North American colonial map: British, Dutch, Swedish, and English settlement patterns

• The map shows the Atlantic seaboard and early colonies with labels:

  • ENGLISH: Jamestown, Plymouth, Boston, Providence, Philadelphia, Baltimore, etc.

  • ENGLISH colonization along the Chesapeake Bay, New England cluster (Massachusetts, Plymouth, Boston), and mid-Atlantic growth (Philadelphia).

  • DUTCH and SWEDISH presence in coastal regions (e.g., New Amsterdam/New York area) and other early settlements across the Atlantic frontier.

• Notable colonies and towns listed include: Jamestown (1607), Plymouth (1620), Boston (1630), Providence (1636 or later), Philadelphia (1681), Baltimore (1729).

• Major routes and urban centers along the Atlantic coast illustrate early European expansion and settlement patterns in 17th–18th centuries.

Santa Fe Exhibit and 20th-century/colonial-era overlays

• The page shows a modern exhibit label (OM B) with reference to an Indian Pueblo exhibit at Santa Fe and a San Diego Exposition in 195?—indicating a display or exhibit that contextualizes old-world interactions with Native peoples.

• This section connects historical material to cultural heritage displays and public history education.

Quick cross-links and thematic notes

• The Iberian-Atlantic dynamic includes: conquest (Cortés in Mexico), subjugation and restructuring of indigenous societies, and the extraction-based economic model (labor, slavery).

• The 1454/1494 division lines foreshadow the formalized global division of territories that would shape colonial rivalries and cultural exchanges for centuries.

• The Columbian Exchange illustrates a bi-directional transfer of crops, animals, and diseases, reshaping global demography, agriculture, and economies.

• The Pueblo Revolt demonstrates Native resistance to forced assimilation and economic coercion, with long-term implications for how colonial powers governed Indigenous communities.

• The New France and Atlantic World maps show how colonial competition structured political borders, military fortifications, trade networks, and settlement hierarchies across North America.

750\ \,\text{km}
750\ \,\text{mi}