Chapter 1: Indigenous America
Be Prepared to Discuss the Following
Migration and advancements of Native Societies before European contact
The motivations of European exploration and colonization
The impact of exploration and colonization on Native societies and Europeans
Details of Spanish conquest in the Americas
Introduction
Native Americans have lived in the Americas for over ten thousand years and have built cultivated, complex systems; they have traded and fought with other tribes;
Columbian Exchange is the exchange of goods & services between the Americas, Europe, & Africa
One of the most consequential developments of all of human history (started everything— diseases, trade, geographical separation, recurring violence)
The First Americas
Native American history & stories of their origin have been passed down orally and in writing through millennia— all of which share their creation & migration histories
Before the Ice Age, continents were relatively connected and accessible to travel through; a land bridge connected Asia and North America across the Bering Strait
Native Americans were very diverse in culture, language, and practices
Slavery and captive trading became an important way that Native communities regrew and gained or maintained power
Slavery was defined as a system without kinship; very often, a formerly enslaved person could become a fully integrated member of the community
Agriculture
Mesoamericans in modern-day Mexico and Central America relied on domesticated maize to develop the hemisphere’s first settled population
Corn was reliable and could be harvested twice in a year
Corn, beans, and squash were essential crops needed to sustain life within cities and civilizations
Many farmers used shifting cultivation in areas with difficult soil; farmers would cut the forest, burn the undergrowth, and then plant seeds in the nutrient-rich ashes. When crop yields began to decline, they would move to another field to allow the land and forest to replenish before restarting the cycle
In fertile regions, such as the Eastern Woodlands, Native Americans engaged in permanent, intensive agriculture using hand tools
In most Woodland communities, women practiced agriculture while men hunted & fished
Agriculture resulted in societies experiencing weaker bones & teeth
Because farmers could produce more food than hunters, it allowed members of communities to pursue other skills
Customs, Culture, Religion
Native American culture relied on the matriarchy
Women wielded great influence on the local level
Most Native Americans harnessed and appealed to spiritual power; communities were tied by kinship
Native American culture afforded greater sexual and marital freedom
Native Americans felt a personal ownership of tools, weapons, or other items that were actively used, along with land and crops; the right to the use of land did not imply the right to permanent possession, however
Diverse, artistic forms of communication/leaving behind their “legacy”
Previous developments in agricultural technology enabled the explosive growth of large early societies like Tenochtitlan in the Valley of Mexico (Mesoamerican groups), Cahokia along the Mississippi River (Mississippian groups), and in the desert of the oasis of the Greater Southwest (Puebloan groups)
Puebloans (SW)
Chaco Canyon in northern New Mexico was home to ancestral Puebloan people (900-1300 CE)
Advanced agricultural practices, trading networks, and domesticated animals allowed a massive population; residential homes housed hundreds of Puebloan people
Kivas were sometimes included within residential homes (like Pueblo Bonito), which played an important role in a variety of ceremonies and served as an important center for Puebloan life and culture
Puebloan spirituality was tied to both the earth and the heavens
Puebloan community eventually collapsed and dispersed into smaller communities due to ecological disruptions, such as deforestation and overirrigation
Completed deserted after a 50-year drought in 1130
New groups took territory and adopted Puebloan customs
Cahokias (North)
A thousand years ago, the largest Mississippian settlement in Cahokia peaked at a population between 10k-30k
The city spanned two thousand acres and was settled on Monks Mound
Life & death in Cahokia were linked to the sun, moon, and stars, and their ceremonial earthwork structures reflect these important structuring forces
Cahokia’s political system was organized around chiefdoms, a hierarchical, clan-based system that gave leaders both secular and sacred authority
The size of the city suggested fewer chiefdoms, though
In 1050, Cahokia experienced the “big bang,” resulting in a political, social, and ideological shift
Massive population growth of 500% — new people groups absorbed by city and supporting communities
By 1300, a series of political, environmental, and more strains led to the collapse of the city
Key trading center because of its position near the Mississippi, Illinois, and Missouri Rivers. These rivers created networks that stretched from the Great Lakes to the American Southeast
Lenapes (Eastern Woodlands)
Eastern Woodland societies lived in smaller, dispersed communities to take advantage of rich soils and abundant rivers and streams
Lenapes were loosely bound together by political, social, and spiritual connections
Dispersed authority, small settlements, and kin-based organization contributed to the long-lasting stability and resilience of Lenape communities
One or more sachems governed Lenape communities by the consent of their people; they acquired authority by demonstrating wisdom and experience
Differed from the hierarchical organization of many Mississippian cultures
Avoided large-scale warfare with other tribes
Utilized the Three Sisters crops; Lenape women also planted tobacco, sunflowers, and gourds
Lenapes were resourceful and utilized the changing seasons, especially the harvesting season, to their advantage with food; Lenapes also utilized the land and waterways for housing
Prosperity was golden; civilization thrived
Pacific Northwest
Thrived in a land with a moderate climate, lush forests, and many rivers
Depended on salmon for survival & had spiritual respect for the fish
Pacific Northwest became one of the most densely populated regions of North America due to the food surpluses enabling significant population growth → created a unique social organization centered on elaborate feasts referred to as potlatches
Potlatches celebrated births & weddings and determined social status
Many people of the Pacific NW built elaborate plank houses out of the region’s abundant cedar trees
European Expansion
The Crusades linked Europe with the wealth, power, and knowledge of Asia, leading them to rediscover/adopt Greek, Roman, and Muslim knowledge → sparked the Renaissance & fueled European expansion
Since Asian goods were valued in the markets, that created demand for new commodities and an incentive for wealth
The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon & Isabella of Castile consolidated the two most powerful kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula → concluded centuries of intermittent warfare by expelling Muslim Moors and Iberian Jews from the Iberian Peninsula
With the new power from a new nation, the wealth of Asia had became desirable
New technological breakthroughs were made through the expansion of trade
The astrolabe allowed for precise navigation
The caravel was a rugged ship with a deep draft capable of making lengthy voyages on the open oceans, while carrying large amounts of cargo
Portugal (and some of Spain)
Economic and religious motivations established European colonialism of the African continent in the 15th century
Portuguese established forts along the Atlantic coast of Africa → new trading port → generated new profits → funded further trade and further colonization
Spanish & Portuguese stumbled on several islands off the coast of Europe and Africa
Azores, the Canary Islands, and the Cape Verde islands became training grounds for later colonization of the Americas and saw the first large-scale cultivation of sugar by enslabed labor
Sugar was valued among the nobility of Europe; however, it was hard to cultivate, which is why the Atlantic coast was important due to wide-scale production → led to demographic decline in Native Americans and ecological problems
Portugal traded its guns and manufactured goods with Africa in an exchange for enslaved Africans to do their labor source in the Atlantic (Euro-African slave-trading system (resembles chattel slavery in the US)
Spanish Conquest & the Effects on the Native Americans
Columbus, with Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand's permission, embarked on his expedition and landed in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492
The Indigenous Arawaks were gentle, innocent people who harnessed gold → they were eventually enslaved and violently stripped of their wealth
Bartolome de Las Casas described the violence the Native Americans endured
The Arawak population had declined drastically, basically into a state of decimation
The enslaved indigenous peoples were forced to labor on the encomiendas
Native American population declined drastically due to unaccustomed diseases they had not endured, compared to the Europeans who had adapted to diseases since the Black Death
Spanish Exploration and Conquest
After De Las Casas revealed the brutalities of the encomienda system, Spanish authorities abolished it and replaced it with the repartimiento
The repartimiento was intended as a milder system, but it still replicated many of the abuses of the older systems & the exploitation of Native Americans
Spanish expanded across the Americas
Aztecs
In Central America, the Maya civilization lived → advanced and complex systems with written languages, mathematics, calendars → collapsed due to drought & unsustainable agricultural practices
In the later years, the Aztec civilization rose in the Western Hemisphere
Aztecs were militaristic migrants from northern Mexico; they lived in the city of Tenochtitlan, rivaling the world’s largest cities in size and grandeur
The population of Tenochtitlan was fed by crops grown on chinampas; the city had numerous buildings and advanced waterways
The Aztecs dominated an enormous swath of central and southern Mesoamerica, ruling their empire through a decentralized network of subject peoples that paid regular tribute (normal goods to luxury goods) and provided military support for the empire
Aztec empire rested on fragile foundations with sub-divided regions/kingdoms → political tension
Hernan Cortes
Hernán Cortés organized an invasion of Mexico
Relied on a Native translator (Dona Marina/La Malinche) to gather intel and allies in preparation for conquest
Banded thousands of Native allies, defeated Spanish rivals, and entered Tenochtitlan → seized emperor Montezuma and used him to gain control of the Aztecs’ gold and silver and their network of mines
Aztecs fought back; however, the Spanish had more allies & better strategy → 85-day siege cut off the Aztecs’ food and fresh water → smallpox ravaged Tenochtitlan → Cortés, Spaniards, and Native allies sacked the city
Incas
Incas built a vast mountain empire that stretched around the western half of the South American continent
They cut terraces into the side of the mountains to farm fertile soil
Managed a thousand miles of Andean roads that tied together 12 million people
Incas fought often with conquered groups, which made the empire vulnerable to invasion
Spanish diseases spread through the Incas, killing half the population by smallpox alone → bloody war of succession ensued
Francisco Pizzaro was inspired by Cortés, and from political tension inside the civilization, he was able to deceive Incan rulers, taking control of the empire and seizing the capital, Cuzco, in 1533
The Spanish
A vast adminstrative hierarchy governed the new holdings: royal appointees oversaw an enormous territory of landed estates, and Indigenous laborers and administrators regulated the extraction of gold and silver and oversaw their transport across the Atlantic in Spanish galleons
Young Spaniards who sought the New World were typically men looking for land, wealth, and social advancements
Established a racial system called the Sistema de Castas to determine the purity of European blood within Native Americans
Political and social advancement
Penínsulares/españoles → Criollos → Mestizos → Indios
Spanish sometimes supported interracial marriage due to a lack of European women within the New World; the Church endorsed interracial marriage to prevent massive rape
Mestizos made up a large portion of the colonial population
Mestizos were considered in the middle of their social position and sometimes shielded, as best they were (depending on their whiteness), from racial prejudice
Sometimes people would manipulate the Sistema de Castas to gain political and social rights, along with more opportunities, for themselves and their children
Juan Diego reported that he was visited by the Virgin Mary, describing her as a dark-skinned Nahuatl-speaking Indigenous woman → reports of miracles spread across Mexico and the Virgin Mary became a national icon for a new mestizo society
Conclusion
Columbian Exchange resulted in terrible disease and decimation of the Indigenous population
Indigenous crops revolutionized Old World agriculture and spawned a worldwide population boom within Europe
European domesticated animals/plants/manufactured goods gave Indigenous peoples more resources; however, the animals would begin to decimate their nutrient-rich soil lands and forests, Indigenous people began to lose their essence of hunting, and disease from plants/animals spread