A New World of Many Cultures, 1491-1607

Cultures of North America

  • Native societies north of Mexico were generally smaller and less sophisticated than those in Mexico and South America.
  • Most people lived in semi-permanent settlements with groups seldom exceeding 300.
  • Men hunted and made tools, while women gathered plants and grew crops.

Cultures of Central and South America

  • The native population was concentrated in three highly developed civilizations: Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas.
  • Mayas (A.D. 300-800): Built cities in the Yucatán Peninsula.
  • Aztecs: Developed a powerful empire in central Mexico with a capital, Tenochtitlán, comparable in population to European cities.
  • Incas: Developed a vast empire in Peru.
  • All three civilizations had organized societies, extensive trade, and accurate calendars, and cultivated stable food supplies.

Language

  • American Indian languages were diverse, with over 20 language families and 400 distinct languages.
  • Examples: Algonquian (Northeast), Siouan (Great Plains), and Athabaskan (Southwest).

Southwest Settlements

  • Groups like the Hokokam, Anasazi, and Pueblos developed farming societies with irrigation systems in present-day New Mexico and Arizona.
  • They lived in caves, under cliffs, and in multistoried buildings.

Northwest Settlements

  • Along the Pacific coast, people lived in longhouses or plank houses and had a diet based on hunting, fishing, and gathering.
  • They carved totem poles to preserve stories and myths.
  • Mountain ranges isolated tribes, creating barriers to development.

Great Plains

  • People were either nomadic hunters or sedentary farmers.
  • Nomadic tribes hunted buffalo and lived in tepees.
  • Farming tribes lived in earthen lodges and grew corn, beans, and squash.
  • The introduction of horses in the 17th century transformed some tribes.

Midwest Settlements

  • Woodland American Indians prospered with a rich food supply from hunting, fishing, and agriculture.
  • The Adena-Hopewell culture is known for large earthen mounds.
  • Cahokia was one of the largest settlements with as many as 30,000 inhabitants.

Northeast Settlements

  • Descendants of the Adena-Hopewell culture combined hunting and farming.
  • The Iroquois Confederation was a political union of five independent tribes (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk).
  • They lived in longhouses and were a powerful force until the American Revolution.

Atlantic Seaboard Settlements

  • People of the Coastal Plains lived in timber and bark lodgings along rivers and relied on the rivers and Atlantic Ocean for food.

Europe Moves Toward Exploration

  • Columbus's voyages brought contact across the Atlantic, made possible by technological improvements.

Improvements in Technology

  • The Renaissance led to advancements like gunpowder, the sailing compass, shipbuilding, mapmaking, and the printing press (14501450s).

Religious Conflict

  • The Roman Catholic Church faced threats from the Ottoman Turks and the Protestant Reformation.
  • Spain's Catholic victory and the Protestant Reformation motivated Europeans to spread their versions of Christianity.

Expanding Trade

  • European kingdoms competed for trade with Africa, India, and China.
  • The Ottoman Turks blocking the land route to Asia spurred the search for new sea routes.
  • Portuguese explorations opened a sea route around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope.

Slave Trading

  • The Portuguese began trading for slaves from West Africa in the 15th century to work on sugar plantations.
  • Enslaved Africans resisted slavery and maintained aspects of their culture.

Developing Nation-States

  • Small kingdoms united into larger nation-states with common cultures and loyalty to a central government.
  • Monarchs depended on trade and the church to justify their rule.

Early Explorations

Christopher Columbus

  • Columbus gained the backing of Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain in 1492 to sail west to the "Indies."
  • He landed on an island in the Bahamas on October 12.
  • Columbus's voyages brought permanent interaction between people from all over the globe.

Exchanges

  • The Columbian Exchange involved the transfer of plants, animals, and germs between Europe and the Americas.
  • Europeans learned about new plants and foods, while introducing sugar cane, bluegrasses, pigs, and horses to the Americas.
  • The exchange of germs and diseases, such as smallpox and measles, caused a high mortality rate among natives.

Dividing the Americas

  • Spain and Portugal's overlapping claims led to the pope's line of demarcation in 1493, granting Spain lands west of the line and Portugal lands east.
  • The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) moved the line west, establishing Portugal's claim to Brazil.

Spanish Exploration and Conquest

  • Spanish conquistadores, such as Balboa, Magellan, Cortés, and Pizarro, secured Spain's supremacy in the Americas.
  • The Spanish increased their gold supply by more than 500500 percent, becoming the richest and most powerful nation in Europe.
  • They instituted the encomienda system and later brought enslaved people from West Africa under the asiento system.

Early Settlements in North America

  • England's earliest claims were based on John Cabot's voyages.
  • France claimed territory based on voyages by Verrazano and Cartier.
  • The first permanent French settlement was established by Samuel de Champlain in 1608 at Quebec.
  • The Dutch, led by Henry Hudson, claimed the area that would become New Amsterdam (New York).

Spanish Settlements in North America

  • The oldest city in North America founded by Europeans is St. Augustine, Florida (15651565).
  • Santa Fe was established as the capital of New Mexico in 1610.
  • Settlements were established in Texas and California.

European Treatment of Native Americans

  • Europeans viewed Native Americans as inferior and exploited them for economic gain.

Spanish Policy

  • The Spanish incorporated natives as laborers, intermarried with them, and developed a rigid class system.
  • Bartolomé de Las Casas advocated for better treatment of Indians and persuaded the king to institute the New Laws of 1542.
  • The Valladolid Debate (1550-1551) discussed the role of Indians in the Spanish colonies.

English Policy

  • The English settled in areas without large native empires and displaced the natives.

French Policy

  • The French viewed American Indians as potential economic and military allies and maintained good relations with them.

Native American Reaction

  • North American tribes saw themselves as distinct groups and allied with European powers to survive, or migrated to new lands.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES: WAS COLUMBUS A GREAT HERO?

  • Columbus has received both praise as a "discoverer" and blame as a "conqueror."
  • Revisionist histories have been critical of Columbus since the 1990s, while others defend his legacy.
  • His voyages established a permanent point of contact between Europeans and the first Americans.