Unit 1 of APUSH A New World of Many Cultures, 1491-1607

Period 1 Overview: 1491-1607

• Synthesis and Interaction: Today's United States is defined as a synthesis, or a combination, of people from across the globe. This period marks the beginning of that synthesis, starting in $1491$, the year before Christopher Columbus arrived, and ending in $1607$, with the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement.

• The Columbian Exchange: Interaction between Europeans and Native Americans sparked a trans-Atlantic trade in animals, plants, and germs. This biological and cultural exchange permanently altered global life and thought.

• Labor and Resistance: Within one hundred years of contact, Spanish and Portuguese settlers developed colonies reliant on the labor of natives and enslaved Africans for mining and agriculture. Both groups resisted oppression by maintaining elements of their original cultures.

• Shifting Historical Perspectives:

  • Traditional View: Until the mid-$20^{\text{th}}$ century, historians viewed European explorers as great adventurers who founded the precursors to modern democracies.

  • Revisionist View: Modern historians emphasize the vibrant, diverse native cultures that existed before Columbus. They highlight how disease and violence destroyed these societies, noting a population decline of approximately $90\,\%$ after European contact.

  • Chronological Shift: To reflect this emphasis on indigenous history, the period now begins in $1491$ rather than $1492$.

The First Americans and the Original Discovery

• Timeline of Settlement: Original discovery occurred at least $10,000$ years before Columbus. Some archeologists estimate settlement as far back as $40,000$ years ago.

• The Land Bridge Theory: Migrants from Asia are believed to have crossed a land bridge (Beringia) connecting Siberia and Alaska, which is now submerged under the Bering Sea.

• Migration Patterns: People migrated south from the Arctic Circle to the southern tip of South America, adapting to varied environments and evolving into hundreds of tribes with distinct languages and cultures.

• Population Estimates: Estimates for the native population in the Americas in the $1490s$ range from $50,000,000$ to $100,000,000$ people.

Civilizations of Central and South America

• Core Civilizations:

  • Mayas ($300$–$800\,AD$): Built remarkable cities in the rain forests of the Yucatan Peninsula (modern-day Guatemala, Belize, and southern Mexico).

  • Aztecs: Developed a powerful empire in central Mexico after the decline of the Mayas. Their capital, Tenochtitlan, housed approximately $200,000$ people, rivaling the largest European cities.

  • Incas: Based in Peru, they managed a vast empire in South America.

• Shared Characteristics:

  • Highly organized societies and extensive trade networks.

  • Calendars based on accurate scientific observations.

  • Stable food supplies based on cultivated crops: corn (maize) for Mayas and Aztecs, and potatoes for Incas.

Cultures of North America

• General Characteristics: North of Mexico (present-day U.S. and Canada), societies were generally smaller and less sophisticated than those in the south. In the $1490s$, the population was between $1,000,000$ and $10,000,000$.

• Slow Development: A primary reason for simpler social structures was the slow northward spread of corn (maize) cultivation.

• Social Organization: By Columbus's time, most lived in semipermanent settlements of fewer than $300$ people. Men hunted and made tools; women gathered plants/nuts or grew crops (corn, beans, tobacco).

Regional Native Settlements

• Language Diversity: Unlike European languages (mostly Indo-European), Native American languages comprised more than $20$ language families and over $400$ distinct languages (e.g., Algonquian in the Northeast, Siouan on the Great Plains, Athabaskan in the Southwest).

• Southwest (Hokokam, Anasazi, Pueblos):

  • Evolved multifaceted societies supported by irrigation-based farming.

  • Lived in caves, under cliffs, and in multistoried stone/masonry buildings.

• Northwest Coast (Alaska to Northern California):

  • Lived in permanent longhouses or plank houses.

  • Rich diet from hunting, fishing, and gathering.

  • Carved totem poles to preserve stories and myths; mountain ranges isolated tribes.

• Great Plains:

  • Nomadic Tribes: Hunted buffalo for food, tools, and clothing; lived in easily transported tepees.

  • Sedentary Tribes: Lived in earthen lodges along rivers; farmed corn, beans, and squash.

  • Impact of Horses: Acquired in the $17^{\text{th}}$ century from the Spanish. The Lakota Sioux moved from farming to nomadic buffalo hunting.

• Midwest (Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys):

  • Adena-Hopewell: Famous for large earthen mounds (some up to $300$ feet long).

  • Cahokia: Near present-day East St. Louis; housed up to $30,000$ inhabitants.

• Northeast:

  • Farming/Hunting: Soil exhaustion required frequent relocation.

  • Iroquois Confederation: A political union of five independent tribes (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk). Families lived in matrilineal longhouses (up to $200$ feet long).

• Atlantic Seaboard:

  • Descendants of Woodland mound builders who lived in timber and bark lodgings along rivers and the coast.

European Context and Exploration Drivers

• Technology Renaissance:

  • Rebirth of learning in the $15^{\text{th}}$ and $16^{\text{th}}$ centuries.

  • Improvements on existing inventions: gunpowder (Chinese), sailing compass (Arab/Chinese).

  • Advancements in shipbuilding, mapmaking, and the printing press ($1450s$).

• Religious Conflict:

  • Catholic Spain: Islamic Moors conquered Spain in the $8^{\text{th}}$ century. In $1469$, Isabella (Castile) and Ferdinand (Aragon) united the kingdoms. In $1492$, they conquered Granada and funded Columbus.

  • Protestant Revolt: Early $1500s$ Protestant Reformation in Northern Europe led to religious wars and a desire to spread specific versions of Christianity globally.

• Economic Competition:

  • The land route to Asia (Silk Road) was blocked in $1453$ when Ottoman Turks seized Constantinople.

  • Portugal: Prince Henry the Navigator sought a sea route around Africa. Vasco da Gama reached India in $1498$.

  • Slave Trade: Portuguese used enslaved West Africans for sugar plantations in the Madeira and Azores islands, proving the profitability of slave labor.

• Nation-States: Small kingdoms and multiethnic empires were replaced by nation-states (shared culture and loyalty to a central government).

Columbus, Claims, and the New World

• Christopher Columbus:

  • Sought backing for $8$ years; funded by Spain in $1492$.

  • Landed on an island in the Bahamas on October $12$, $1492$.

  • Died in $1606$ incorrectly believing he found a route to Asia.

• Dividing the Americas:

  • Line of Demarcation ($1493$): Set by the pope to divide claims between Spain (west) and Portugal (east).

  • Treaty of Tordesillas ($1494$): Moved the line slightly, securing Portugal's claim to Brazil and Spain's claim to the rest of the Americas.

• Spanish Conquest:

  • Conquistadores: Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Panama to Pacific), Ferdinand Magellan (circumnavigation), Hernan Cortes (Aztecs), and Francisco Pizarro (Incas).

  • Economic Impact: Gold supply increased by more than $500\,\%$, making Spain the richest nation in Europe.

  • Labor Systems: The Encomienda system granted land and natives to Spaniards. Once disease reduced the native population, the Asiento system (tax on imported enslaved Africans) was implemented.

Competing European Claims in North America

• English: John Cabot explored Newfoundland ($1497$). Later, Queen Elizabeth I challenged Spain through Sir Francis Drake (piracy) and Sir Walter Raleigh (failed Roanoke colony, $1587$).

• French: Giovanni da Verrazano (NY harbor, $1524$) and Jacques Cartier (St. Lawrence River, $1534$–$1542$). Permanent settlement: Quebec ($1608$) by Samuel de Champlain ("Father of New France"). Mississippi claims: Louis Jolliet/Father Jacques Marquette ($1673$) and Robert de La Salle ($1682$, named Louisiana).

• Dutch: Henry Hudson ($1609$) explored the Hudson River, leading to claims in New Amsterdam (New York) managed by the Dutch West India Company.

• Spanish Settlements:

  • Florida: St. Augustine ($1565$) - oldest European-founded city in N. America.

  • New Mexico: Santa Fe ($1610$). Pueblo Revolt ($1680$) drove Spanish out until $1692$.

  • California: San Diego ($1769$) and San Francisco ($1776$); missions founded by Father Junípero Serra.

European Treatment of Native Americans

• Spanish Policy: Encountered complex empires; used natives for forced labor. Developed a rigid class system dominated by pure-blooded Spaniards but allowed for intermarriage (mestizos).

  • Bartolome de Las Casas: Spanish priest who advocated for better treatment; helped pass the New Laws of $1542$ (ending Indian slavery/encomienda).

  • Valladolid Debate ($1550$-$1551$): Las Casas (Indians are humans/equals) vs. Juan Gines de Sepulveda (Indians are less than human).

• English Policy: Settled in areas without large empires. Initially coexisted but eventually viewed natives as "savages" and expelled them from their land rather than subjugating them. Intermarriage was rare.

• French Policy: Viewed natives as economic/military allies. Controlled the fur trade and maintained better relations. Supported the Huron against the Iroquois.

• Native Reaction: Tribes did not see themselves as a unified group, preventing a singular response to Europeans. They survived through alliance-building, migration, or adopting new European technologies (copper pots, guns).

Questions & Discussion

• Historical Debate: Was Columbus a Hero?

  • Traditional View (e.g., Washington Irving): Extolled his virtues as a discoverer. President Franklin Roosevelt made October $12$ a national holiday in $1934$.

  • Revisionist View (e.g., David E. Stannard): Criticizes him as a religious fanatic and conqueror who brought about the "American Holocaust." Argues expansion was inevitable with or without him.

  • Middle View (e.g., Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.): Suggests the primary motivation was the challenge of the unknown, though acknowledging the negative consequences.

• Question 1 (Iroquois Chief Elias Johnson):

  • Prompt: How did Indians react to Europeans contrary to his call for unity?

  • Context: Most common reactions included migrating westward and the fact that most tribes maintained a tradition of independence, making unity rare.

• Question 2 (Bartolome de Las Casas on workers):

  • Prompt: What was the underlying cause of Spanish actions?

  • Context: The desire for wealth was the primary driver for the brutal treatment of native workers described by Las Casas.

• Question 3 (Primary Source - John Brereton, $1602$):

  • Analysis: Brereton describes New England as having "clear lakes" and "sweet soil." His purpose was likely to encourage English investment in colonization by emphasizing the region's health and lack of disease.

• Question 4 (Secondary Source - Walter A. McDougall, $2004$):

  • Argument: Colonists were "hustlers or hustled," coming from a competitive Europe with limited opportunities to find material or spiritual improvement in the Americas.