Period 1: 1491-1607 - A New World of Many Cultures Notes
Overview of Period 1 (1491-1607)
Historical Definition: The United States is characterized as a synthesis or combination of diverse global populations. This period tracks the evolution from native societies in 1491—one year prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus—to the establishment of the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.
Chronological Markers: * 1491: Represents the state of the Americas prior to lasting European contact. Historians favor this start date to emphasize the vibrancy of native cultures rather than the moment of European arrival. * 1607: The founding of Jamestown, marking the beginning of the framework for a new nation.
The Columbian Exchange: A trans-Atlantic trade system involving animals, plants, and germs that fundamentally altered global life and thought.
Labor Systems and Resistance: * Spanish and Portuguese settlers utilized natives and enslaved Africans for agricultural labor and mining. * Resistance to oppression was maintained through the preservation of original cultural elements by both Native Americans and Africans.
Historical Shifts in Perspective: * Traditional View (mid-20th century): Columbus and settlers were viewed as great adventurers who established modern democracies. * Modern/Revisionist View: Focuses on the diverse native cultures that were destroyed by European diseases and violence. * The Great Dying: The native population declined by an estimated following European contact due to lack of immunity to foreign diseases.
Key Concepts (AP Standards): * 1.1: Native populations migrated and settled across North America, developing complex societies by adapting to and transforming diverse environments. * 1.2: Contact among Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans led to the Columbian Exchange and caused significant social, cultural, and political changes on both sides of the Atlantic.
Cultures of Central and South America
Original Settlement: Archaeologists estimate the first people arrived in North America between and years ago. Migrants from Asia likely used a land bridge (now submerged under the Bering Sea) connecting Siberia and Alaska.
Demographics: Estimates for the total native population in the 1490s range from million to million people.
Major Civilizations: * The Mayas (A.D. 300-800): Built remarkable cities in the rain forests of the Yucatán Peninsula, encompassing present-day Guatemala, Belize, and southern Mexico. Their food supply was stabilized by corn (maize). * The Aztecs: Centered in central Mexico, they developed a powerful empire following the Mayan decline. * Tenochtitlán: The Aztec capital with a population of approximately , rivaling the largest European cities. * Staple Crop: Corn (maize). * The Incas: Developed a vast empire based in Peru, South America. * Staple Crop: Potatoes.
Common Traits: These civilizations were highly organized, engaged in extensive trade, and created calendars based on accurate scientific observations.
Cultures of North America
General Characteristics: Populations north of Mexico were smaller and less sophisticated than those to the south. * Demographics: In the 1490s, the population in present-day U.S. and Canada ranged from under million to over million. * Settlement Patterns: Most lived in semipermanent settlements of fewer than people. * Gender Roles: Men typically crafted tools and hunted; women gathered plants/nuts or farmed crops (corn, beans, tobacco).
Language Diversity: While European languages belonged mostly to the Indo-European family, American Indians had more than language families comprising over distinct languages. * Major Families: Algonquian (Northeast), Siouan (Great Plains), and Athabaskan (Southwest).
Regional Settlements: * Southwest: Included groups like the Hokokam, Anasazi, and Pueblos. They used irrigation for farming and lived in caves, cliff dwellings, or multistoried masonry buildings. Their decline was accelerated by drought and hostile tribes before Europeans arrived. * Northwest Coast: Spanned from Alaska to northern California. Residents lived in permanent longhouses (plank houses) and relied on hunting, fishing, and gathering. They carved totem poles to record stories and legends but were often isolated by high mountain ranges. * Great Plains: Consisted of nomadic hunters (buffalo-dependent) and sedentary farmers. * Nomads: Lived in tepees (pole frames covered in animal skins) for easy transport. * Farmers: Lived in earthen lodges along rivers, growing corn, beans, and squash. * Introduction of Horses: Acquired in the 17th century from the Spanish. Groups like the Lakota Sioux shifted from farming to mobile hunting. * Midwest Settlements: The Woodland American Indians lived in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. * Adena-Hopewell Culture: Known for massive earthen mounds, some reaching feet in length. * Cahokia: A major settlement near modern East St. Louis with up to inhabitants. * Northeast Settlements: Groups like the Iroquois Confederation (consisting of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk) lived in the Mohawk Valley. They utilized mother-related lineage in longhouses up to feet long. Their farming exhausted soil quickly, requiring frequent migration. * Atlantic Seaboard: People of the Coastal Plains used the rivers and ocean for food, building timber and bark lodgings.
European Context and Motives for Exploration
The Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries): A rebirth of classical learning that fostered scientific and artistic outbursts.
Technology Improvements: * Gunpowder: Invented by the Chinese. * Sailing Compass: Adopted from Arab merchants (originally Chinese). * Shipbuilding and Mapmaking: Significant European enhancements improved navigation. * Printing Press (1450s): Facilitated the rapid spread of knowledge.
Religious Motives: * Catholicism in Spain: Isabella (Castile) and Ferdinand (Aragon) united Spain in 1469. In 1492, they conquered Granada (the last Moorish stronghold) and funded Columbus. * Protestant Reformation (early 1500s): The revolt of Christians in Northern Europe (Germany, England, France, Holland) against the Pope. This created a competitive drive to spread different versions of Christianity globally.
Economic Motives (The Search for Trade Routes): * The overland route to Asia from Venice/Constantinople was blocked in 1453 by the Ottoman Turks capturing Constantinople. * Portuguese Routes: Prince Henry the Navigator pioneered the route around Africa's Cape of Good Hope. Vasco da Gama reached India via this route in 1498.
The Slave Trade: The Portuguese began trading for West African slaves in the 15th century to work sugar plantations on the Madeira and Azores islands. This established the model for future American colonies.
The Rise of Nation-States: Small kingdoms united into countries where people shared a common culture and loyalty (e.g., Spain, Portugal, France, England). Monarchs used trade revenue and religious justification to bolster their power.
The Voyages and Legacy of Christopher Columbus
Financing: Columbus spent eight years seeking support before winning the backing of Isabella and Ferdinand in 1492.
The Voyage: Departed Canary Islands on Sept 6; landed in the Bahamas on Oct 12.
Titles: Named governor, admiral, and viceroy of all lands claimed for Spain.
Assessment of Success: * Initial View: A "success" for reaching land, but later viewed as a failure for finding little gold, few spices, and no path to China/India. * Identity: He mistakenly named the inhabitants "Indians" and died in 1506 believing he had reached Asia.
The Columbian Exchange Details: * To Europe from Americas: Beans, corn, sweet and white potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, and the disease syphilis. * To Americas from Europe: Sugar cane, bluegrasses, pigs, horses, the wheel, iron implements, guns, and diseases (smallpox, measles). * Impact: Mortality rates for natives exceeded .
Competition and Colonial Claims
Dividing the Americas: * Line of Demarcation (1493): Pope-drawn vertical line; Spain got lands west, Portugal got lands east. * Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): Moved the line a few degrees west, securing Brazil for Portugal and the rest of the Americas for Spain.
Spanish Conquistadores: * Vasco Núñez de Balboa: Crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific. * Ferdinand Magellan: His ship circumnavigated the globe. * Hernan Cortés: Conquered the Aztecs in Mexico. * Francisco Pizarro: Conquered the Incas in Peru. * Economic Impact: Increased Spain's gold supply by more than .
Spanish Labor Systems: * Encomienda System: King granted land and natives to Spaniards; natives farmed/mined for masters who were supposed to "care" for them. * Asiento System: Required Spanish to pay a tax to the king for every West African slave imported.
English Claims: * John Cabot (1497): Explored Newfoundland. England failed to follow up due to religious conflict (Henry VIII's break with the Catholic Church). * Sir Francis Drake: Attacked Spanish ships/settlements for gold. * Sir Walter Raleigh: Failed attempt at Roanoke Island (1587).
French Claims: * Giovanni da Verrazano (1524): Explored the eastern coast (NY harbor). * Jacques Cartier (1534-1542): Explored the St. Lawrence River. * Samuel de Champlain (1608): Founded Quebec ("Father of New France"). * Later Explorers: Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette (Upper Mississippi, 1673); Robert de La Salle (Mississippi basin/Louisiana, 1682).
Dutch Claims: * Henry Hudson (1609): Seeking a Northwest Passage, he explored the Hudson River. This led to Dutch claims of New Amsterdam (New York). * Dutch West India Company: Granted control of the region for economic gain.
Spanish Settlement in North America
Florida: St. Augustine founded in 1565; the oldest European-founded city in North America.
New Mexico: Santa Fe established in 1610. The Pueblo people revolted in 1680 due to harsh Christianization efforts, driving the Spanish out until 1692.
Texas: Settlements expanded in the early 1700s to counter French exploration.
California: San Diego founded in 1769; San Francisco in 1776. Father Junípero Serra established nine missions along the coast.
European Treatment of Native Americans
Spanish Policy: Incorporated natives as laborers. A rigid class system developed, dominated by pure-blooded Spaniards despite intermarriage with natives and Africans. * Bartolomé de Las Casas: A priest who advocated for better treatment. He helped pass the New Laws of 1542, which aimed to end Indian slavery and the encomienda system (though parts were later repealed). * Valladolid Debate (1550-1551): * Las Casas: Argued Indians were human and morally equal to Europeans. * Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda: Argued Indians were less than human and benefited from the encomienda system.
English Policy: Initially coexisted and traded (e.g., in Massachusetts), but soon turned to conflict. The English viewed natives as "savages" and pursued a policy of expulsion/displacement rather than subjugation.
French Policy: Viewed natives as economic/military allies. They focused on the fur trade (beaver pelts) and maintained generally good relations. French soldiers assisted the Huron against the Iroquois.
Native Reaction: Tribes saw themselves as distinct groups, preventing a unified response. Some allied with specific European powers; others migrated to avoid settlers. Life post-1492 would never return to what it was.
Questions & Discussion
Perspectives on Columbus: * Heroic View: Extolled by Washington Irving (1828); established as a national holiday by FDR in 1934. * Critical Revisionist View: Argues Columbus was a religious fanatic and conqueror who brought liquidation to non-Christians (David E. Stannard, 1992). * Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.: Argues Columbus was driven by the challenge of the unknown, not just greed.
Source Analysis (John Brereton, 1602): * Content: Brereton describes New England's soil as "delicate" and "sweet" with clear lakes and large meadows. He claims the climate improved the health of the crew compared to England. * Point of View: Highly positive/promotional toward colonization. * Limitations: The account completely ignores the existing indigenous population.
Source Analysis (Walter A. McDougall, 2004): * Argument: English colonists were "hustlers or hustled," coming for material or spiritual goals, often leaving a competitive England for greater opportunity. Supports the idea of American exceptionalism.
Chief Elias Johnson (Iroquois Chief): * Argued for native unity ("one voice… one fire") to oppose destruction. Historically, this was rare because tribes had deep traditions of independence.
Francisco Coronado (1542): * Reported that in the province of Quivira, there was "not any gold nor any other metal," reflecting the exploratory nature of mid-16th century Spanish efforts.