APUSH Unit 1 Review Notes

Native American Societies Before European Contact

  • The big picture is understanding the societal makeup of the Americas before European arrival and the effects of European arrival on these societies.
  • Native American societies were diverse and adapted to their environments.

Diversity of Native American Cultures

  • Native Americans were not a monolithic group.
  • They lived in diverse societies based on their environments.
  • Some lived in fishing villages, others were hunter-gatherers, and some built cities and empires.
Pueblo People
  • Located in present-day Utah and Colorado.
  • Farmers who cultivated crops like beans, squash, and maize.
  • Developed advanced irrigation systems.
  • Built urban centers made of hardened clay bricks.
  • Known for cliff dwellings.
Great Basin and Great Plains People
  • Nomadic hunter-gatherers in present-day Colorado to Canada.
  • Hunted buffalo and gathered food.
  • Organized into small, egalitarian kinship bands.
  • Example: Ute people.
Pacific Coast People
  • Developed permanent settlements due to abundant resources.
  • Chumash people in California:
    • Built villages sustaining nearly 1,000 people.
    • Participated in regional trade networks.
  • Chinook peoples in the Pacific Northwest:
    • Similar to Chumash but built extensive plank houses.
Iroquois People
  • Located in the Northeast.
  • Farmers who lived communally in longhouses constructed from timber.
Mississippi River Valley People
  • Farmers due to the region's rich soil.
  • Participated in trade along waterways.
  • Cahokia civilization:
    • Largest civilization with 10,000-30,000 people.
    • Centralized government led by chieftains.

Native American Societies: Key Takeaways

  • Native Americans developed distinct and complex societies shaped by their environment.
  • They utilized vast trading networks.

European Arrival and the Columbian Exchange

European Context (1300s-1400s)

  • European kingdoms were undergoing political unification, developing stronger, centralized states governed by monarchs.
  • A wealthy upper class desired luxury goods from Asia.
  • Muslims controlled land-based trade routes, hindering European trade with Asia.
  • Europeans sought sea-based routes.
Portuguese Exploration
  • Portugal established a trading post empire around Africa.
  • Gained foothold in the Indian Ocean trade network.
  • Utilized new and adapted maritime technology.
    • Updated astronomical charts.
    • Astrolabe.
    • Smaller, faster ships dedicated to trade.
    • Borrowed technology like the lateen sail and stern post rudder.
Spanish Exploration
  • Spain completed the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors.
    • Motivated to spread Catholic Christianity.
    • Sought new economic opportunities.
  • Christopher Columbus:
    • Sought sponsorship from Ferdinand and Isabella to sail west to Asia.
    • Landed in the Caribbean in 1492.
    • Initiated European exploration and competition for wealth in the New World.

The Columbian Exchange

  • Definition: The transfer of people, animals, plants, and diseases between the East and West hemispheres.
Specific Exchanges
  • Food:
    • From Americas to Europe: potatoes, tomatoes, maize.
    • From Europe to Americas: wheat, rice, soybeans.
  • Animals:
    • From Americas to Europe: turkeys.
    • From Europe to Americas: cattle, pigs, horses.
  • Resources:
    • Gold and silver from the Americas to Europe.
  • People:
    • Europeans migrated to the Americas.
    • Enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas.
  • Diseases:
    • Smallpox from Europe decimated Native American populations.
    • Syphilis (potentially) from Americas to Europe.

Economic and Societal Shifts in Europe

  • Influx of wealth from the Americas led to a shift from feudalism to capitalism.
  • Feudalism: Peasants worked on a noble's land in exchange for protection.
  • Capitalism: Economic system based on private ownership and free exchange.
  • Rise of joint-stock companies to fund exploration:
    • Limited liability organizations where investors pool money.
    • If a venture failed, the consequences were shared; if it succeeded, everyone shared the profits.

Spanish Colonization

Spanish Empire in the Americas

  • Agriculture became the primary source of wealth.
  • Encomienda system:
    • Spaniards forced natives to work on plantations and extract gold/silver.
  • Problems with the encomienda system:
    • Natives resisted enslavement and escaped.
    • Natives died in large numbers due to diseases like smallpox.
  • Solution: Importation of African slave laborers.
    • Africans were less likely to escape due to unfamiliarity with the geography.
    • Africans had more immunity to European diseases.

Casta System

  • A new social class system based on racial ancestry.
    • Peninsulares: Spaniards born in Spain.
    • Criollos (Creoles): Spaniards born in the Americas.
    • Castas:
      • Mestizos: Spanish and Native American blood.
      • Mulattos: Spanish and African blood.
    • Africans.
    • Native Americans.

Interactions Between Europeans and Native Americans

  • Europeans generally looked down on Native Americans, viewing them as good for exploitation, military alliances, forced labor, and conversion.
  • Both groups adopted customs from each other.
    • Natives taught the English how to hunt and cultivate maize.
    • Natives adopted iron tools and weapons.
  • Relationship was largely difficult and brutal.
  • Europeans developed belief systems to justify their treatment of Native Americans.

Justifications for Treatment of Native Americans and Africans

  • Some Spaniards believed Native Americans were less than human.
    • Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda argued Native Americans benefited from harsh labor.
    • Bartolomé de las Casas defended Native American humanity and persuaded the king to pass laws ending slavery, but they were later repealed.
  • Exploitation of African laborers was justified using the Bible.
    • The curse of Ham was misinterpreted to mean black skin was a mark of slavery.