VIKINGS IN AMERICA

c. 1000 AD – a Viking expedition from Greenland led by Leif Ericson (‘Lucky Leif’) reaches North America

·       scattered Viking settlements from Newfoundland to Virginia: Helluland (Baffin Island), Markland (Labrador), Vinland (Newfoundland) - described in the sagas

·       LAnse aux Meadows, Newfoundland – a Viking settlement excavated in 1960 – UN World Heritage Site

·       conflicts with the natives (skraelings) leads to abandoning of Viking settlements by 1020

European exploration of the Americas in the 15^th century

European developments:

• growth of global trade, commercial towns, and modern corporations

• decline of feudalism and the formation of nations

• Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation

• greed, conquest, exploitation, oppression, racism, slavery

Reasons for exploration:

• search for SPICES (especially after the Ottomans closed overland trade routes to the East)

• search for GOLD and SILVER

• search for a new PASSAGE to Asia

• new shipping technologies

• the growth of Portugal and Spain:

• 1488 - Bartholomew Diaz reaches Cape of Good Hope

• 1492 – the end of Spanish Reconquista

• 1497 – Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India

EUROPEAN EXPLORERS

Christopher Columbus

(first voyage: Aug 3 - Oct 12, 1492)

·       a Genoese in service of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain in search of a sea route to the Indies and the Spice Islands (the Moluccas)

·       FOUR VOYAGES: first landing - San Salvador, Bahamas and Hispaniola (Haiti), followed by exploration of Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Central America

·       Columbus dies in 1506 certain of discovering Asia or India

·       INDIANS - the most (in)famous misnomer in world history

·       October 12, Columbus Day (celebrated since 1792)

Consequences:

·       Conquistadors and THE SPANISH EMPIRE (1492-1898)

·       the encomienda – system land grants with provision of Indian forced (tribute) labor

·       introduction of sugar cane from the Canary Islands leading to sugar plantations and rum production

·       EXTERMINATION of Caribbean Indians and subsequent SLAVE TRADE with Africa

·       COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE of plants, culture and diseases between the Old and the New Worlds

1494 - Treaty of Tordesillas – division of newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal

WHY 'AMERICA'?

1490s - Amerigo Vespucci from Florence describes the new land in letters

1507 - Martin Waldeseemuller calls the new land America in honor of Vespucci.

1541 – Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator (inventor of geographical latitude and longitude) applies the name to both continents.

European explorers of North America after Columbus

John Cabot (1497) - Italian explorer in service of Henry VII of England in America explores Newfoundland and Chesapeake Bay and opens English claim to America – New Found Land

Juan Ponce de León (1513) - first governor of Puerto Rico - sailing around Florida and claiming it for Spain - supposedly in search of the legendary Fountain of the Youth

Giovanni Verrazano (1524) - in service of Francis I of France explores the Atlantic coast of North America, including New York Bay and Narragansett Bay - establishing French claim to eastern North America

Jacques Cartier (1536) – explores St. Lawrence River up to Montreal and claims Canada for France: “area rich in fur and fish”

Hernando de Soto (1539-41) explores the South, from Florida to Texas, and discovery of the Mississippi river

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (1540-42) – expedition from Mexico in search of legendary 'Seven Cities of Cibola'  - exploration of the Southwest, the Pueblos, Colorado River, Grand Canyon, reaching Kansas

Francis Drake (1578) - claims San Francisco Bay for England during his circumnavigation

Henry Hudson (1609, 1610-11) in Dutch service - discovery of Hudson River, Hudson Strait, Hudson Bay – opening Dutch claim to America

SPANISH colonies in North America

NEW SPAIN: Mexico, California, Southwest, Florida

• 1565 - St. Augustine, Florida - the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the USA

• Juan de Oñate

• 1610 – establishment of Santa Fe, New Mexico – the oldest state capital in the USA

Characteristics:

• conquistadors and Catholic priests

• conquest and missionary activities

• tribute colonies - forced labor (later slavery)

• mission system – lack of big cities

• CONVERSION and forced assimilation of Indians (Spanish is learnt by natives)

• appointed officials answer only to the Spanish Crown

• peninsulares, creoles, mestizos

• mixed blood population

Linguistics impact:

-        state names: California, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Nevada

-        words: vaqueros, ranch, corral, lasso, lariat, chaps, bronco, rodeo

FRENCH colonies in North America

NEW FRANCE: Canada, Mississippi, Louisiana

• 1608 - Samuel de Champlain founds New France (Quebec)

• 1670s-1680s - Robert de La Salle claims Louisiana

Characteristics:

• fur traders and Jesuit priests

• extensive fur trade and sparse settlements (trading posts)

• Indians treated as allies and trading partners

• conversion of Indians in their own communities (not missions) and using the native languages

• mixed marriages – the Metis