APUSH Period 1 (1491—1607) Lecture Notes
APUSH | Period 1 | 1491—1607 | Supplemental Notes
Topic 1.1 Contextualizing Period 1
I. Overview of the big ideas
A. By 1600, Europeans had created the world’s first truly global economy.
B. The "age of discovery" resulted in the greatest human catastrophe the world has ever known:
90% of Amerindians killed by 1600; slavery of tens of millions of Africans.
C. Cultural differences between Europeans and Amerindians were immense, leading to inevitable conflict during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.
D. Summary of relations between the three major colonial powers in America and the Amerindians:
Spain sought to Christianize and control Indians through the encomienda, hacienda, and mission systems.
The French aimed to establish strong trade relations with Amerindians, with Jesuits seeking to convert them.
English settlers often sought to either move Indians westward or annihilate them.
II. Major Concepts
A. Native American civilization
Societies were more developed in Meso-America & South America;
North American Indians were mostly semi-sedentary.
Important North American tribes include: Pueblo, Moundbuilders, Creek, Cherokee, and Iroquois.
B. Major factors motivating European exploration:
Increased competition among European nation-states.
Desire for products in East Asia, leading to a search for new sea routes to bypass Middle-Eastern middle-men; Desire to break the Italian commercial cities' monopoly.
Religious competition: Catholicism vs. Protestantism.
Advances in science and technology provided the means for exploration.
The Renaissance spirit fostered exploration.
C. Major social factors contributing to British colonization:
Peace with Spain.
Population growth.
Unemployment as well as a search for adventure, markets, and religious freedom.
The formation of joint-stock companies.
D. Impact of contact on both Native Americans and Europeans:
Destruction of Amerindian population.
Introduction of cattle and horses revolutionized some Amerindian cultures.
Europeans experienced global empires for the first time, leading to the rise of capitalism and a revolution in diet.
E. Summary of relations between European colonial powers and Indians:
Spanish: sought to Catholicize, control, and use Indians for forced labor (mission system, encomienda, hacienda).
French: sought trade relations with Indians; Jesuits aimed to convert them to Catholicism.
English: sought to remove Indians or exterminate them.
Topic 1.2 Native American Societies before European Contact
I. Native Americans (Amerindians, Indians)
A. Population estimates around 100 million c. 1500 (high estimate); probably 50-70 million.
B. Arrived over 40,000 years ago via the Bering Strait (referred to as Beringia when it was above water) and spread to the tip of South America by 8,000 BCE.
First immigrants hunted animals for meat and furs; likely built small fishing vessels.
Beringia became isolated when the Bering Strait submerged around 10,000 years ago.
C. New research on the origins of Amerindians:
Old Crow site in Yukon may be 50,000 years old.
A French team in northeastern Brazil is working on a site that may date back 48,000 years.
In 1992, new archaeological research suggested the oldest inhabitants may have come from South Asia or even Europe before northern Asians, contrary to previous beliefs.
There is no evidence that humans lived in eastern Siberia (Russia) 30,000 years ago; it appears they only arrived about 12,000 years ago.
D. By 8,000 BCE, Amerindians had reached the tip of South America.
Hundreds of tribes with different languages, religions, and cultures inhabited America.
Between 4,000 and 1500 BCE, permanent farming villages dominated parts of Peru, south-central Mexico, northeastern Mexico, and the southwestern U.S.
Cultivated maize, amaranth (a cereal), manioc (tapioca), chili peppers, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and beans.
E. Development of civilizations ("sedentary societies"—non-migratory) during the late Stone Age:
Incas in Peru.
Mesoamerica: Aztecs in Mexico and Mayans in Yucatán (earlier), developed advanced agricultural techniques based primarily on corn. Built stone-carved cities rivaling many in Europe; studied mathematics and astronomy; enforced family surpluses for trade.
F. Less developed North American Indians, most classified as "semi-sedentary" by Columbus’s time:
Most lived in small, scattered nomadic settlements.
Exhibited some agriculture likely developed by women.
Men acted as hunters, and women as gatherers.
Women managed the majority of farming (except tobacco); engaged in "slash and burn" agriculture.
Europeans aimed to shift men into farming roles, which Indians perceived as "women's work"; hence, Europeans spoke of "reducing the Indian men to civility."
Indian males enjoyed significant leisure time, similar to European aristocracy.
Societies were primarily matrilineal and matrilocal: women owned property.
Men typically taught their children by persuasion and example.
Few sought to acquire more property than they could transport from one site to another.
No individual land ownership existed (even in sedentary societies).
Clans or families guarded their "use rights" to land allocated by chiefs.
Extensive trade occurred in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys:
The most respected men in tribes were those who gave the most away.
Trade was not akin to a contract as understood in European terms; cessation of trade was seen as an act of war.
G. Civilized societies in North America
1. Pueblo Indians: located in the Rio Grande Valley (New Mexico, Arizona, SW Colorado)
Engaged in corn planting and constructed elaborate irrigation systems; inhabited multi-storied terraced dwellings.
Some Pueblo villages are among the oldest remaining settlements in North America.
2. Mound Builder civilizations in the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys:
Mississippian culture (exemplified by Cahokia near E. St. Louis) possibly rivaled Egyptian architecture, housing as many as 40,000 people between c. 1000-1700 CE.
Central mound stood 100 ft. high, the world's largest earthen work.
Iron tools were produced, woven fabrics worn, and the dead were buried in collective graves.
Trade networks extended from the Appalachians to the Rockies and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.
3. Atlantic seaboard tribes began cultivating maize, beans, and squash around c. 1000 CE:
The Creeks practiced democratic styles of governance.
The Choctaw and Cherokee were also significant tribes in the region.
4. Iroquois in the eastern woodlands built a strong military confederacy, led by Hiawatha in the late 16th century:
Originated in the Mohawk Valley of what is now New York State.
Comprised Five Nations: Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas.
"Longhouses," varying from 8 to 200 feet in length, were foundational to Iroquois culture.
Topic 1.3 European Exploration in the Americas
I. European Explorers
A. Non-Europeans had arrived prior to Columbus but did not establish lasting settlements:
Afro-Phoenicians (c. 1000 BCE-300 AD) may have reached Central America.
West Africans from Mali (c. 1311-1460) sailed to Haiti, Panama, and possibly Brazil.
B. The Vikings and Leif Erickson had a temporary settlement at Newfoundland around c. 1000 CE.
C. European Motives for Exploration during the Age of Discovery:
Emerging nation-states sought power and competed against rivals, including a conflict between Catholics and Protestants that reflected national purposes.
Technological advancements enabled Europeans to exert dominance from approximately 1500 onward:
Gunpowder and mounted cannons were placed on ships.
The Portuguese and Spanish mapped prevailing winds and currents in oceans.
They studied, adopted, and improved designs of Arab vessels.
Economic factors:
There was an urgent need for new markets, especially seeking spices.
Mercantilism necessitated new sources of precious metals and furs.
Desire to Christianize newly encountered peoples.
The Renaissance (starting late 14th c., continuing into the 16th c.) engendered a cultural atmosphere of rebirth, optimism, and exploration; secular Europe began to break free from religious domination.
D. Portuguese exploration led others forward:
Encouraged by Prince Henry the Navigator, who initially sought coastal points below the Sahara Desert to undercut Arab traders and establish profit margins.
Bartholomew Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa in 1488 in pursuit of a route to Asia.
In 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India, bringing back treasures that fostered European demand for eastern goods and opened the door for Portugal’s empire in the East.
Pietro Cabral discovered the east coast of Brazil during a failed voyage to India.
Brazil later became a Portuguese colony.
Amerigo Vespucci, in 1501-02, detailed his explorations in Brazil; a German geographer misattributed Vespucci’s claims as those of the first traveler to Brazil, naming the new continent "America" after him.
Portugal established numerous trade stations in regions including India, Africa, China, and the East Indies.
E. Spanish exploration
Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, sailed under the Spanish flag:
Spain was eager to compete with Portugal; Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand financed Columbus’s voyages.
Columbus’s motives included:
Religious: He aimed to spread the Gospel before the Millennium, possibly garnering saint status.
Wealth: Economic gain was a strong motivator.
Columbus landed in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, believing he had reached the East Indies (specifically Indonesia).
He proceeded to Hispaniola, where initial interactions with the Arawaks were friendly; he discovered tobacco and gold.
Columbus and his followers virtually exterminated the Arawak Indians.
Despite his findings, Columbus steadfastly maintained until his death in 1506 that he had reached the "Indies."
The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494):
Spain secured its claims to Columbus's discoveries; a division of the New World ensued: Portugal gained Brazil and territories in Africa and Asia; Spain dominated North and South America.
Spain did not acquire access to the West African slave trade through this treaty.
Spanish motives for discovery included the allure of gold and the conversion of pagan natives to Christianity.
Key Spanish discoverers:
Vasco Nunez Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean off Panama in 1513.
Ferdinand Magellan: His expedition became the first to circumnavigate the globe when his ship returned in 1522.
Ponce de Leon discovered Florida while searching for the fountain of youth in 1513, mistakenly believing it to be an island.
Cabrillo ventured as far north as Oregon and discovered San Diego Bay, establishing the groundwork for Spain’s claims to the northern Pacific Coast of North America.
As of 1519, Spain had amassed little economic benefit from exploration; gold and silver mines were not developed until the 1540s.
Conquerors (conquistadores):
Hernando de Soto embarked on a gold-seeking expedition (1539-1542), exploring much of the American Southeast and crossing the Mississippi River, treating Indians poorly.
Hernando Cortés conquered the Aztecs from 1519-1521; Montezuma's envoys believed Cortés was the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl.
Francisco Pizarro successfully defeated the Incas in 1532, acquiring vast amounts of gold and silver.
Spanish invaders enslaved Indians and forced them into hard labor mining precious metals.
Long-term impacts of the Spanish conquest in the New World:
Intermarriage resulted in a distinctive Latin American culture consisting of mestizos (individuals of mixed Amerindian and Spanish descent).
The empire stretched from California and Florida to the tip of South America, transplanting laws, religion, language, and forming the basis for numerous Spanish-speaking nations.
The "Black Legend": a false portrayal spread by Protestant nations suggesting that only Spain "killed for Christ," enslaved Indians, and caused suffering without displaying any benefits.
St. Augustine fortress, established in 1565, is the oldest European settlement in the U.S., intended to deter French incursions in Spanish territory and protect sea lanes in the Caribbean.
New Mexico was founded in 1609; Santa Fe became the capital, and a mission system was established in the 17th century.
Popé’s Rebellion (Pueblo Revolt, 1680): Amerindians uprising against Spanish rule that ultimately was subdued.
Texas: A mission system was initiated in 1716, including San Antonio (later known as the Alamo).
California: Concerns arose for Spanish interests regarding British and Russian activity in North America post-1763; Father Junipero Serra founded the first mission in San Diego in 1769, leading to the establishment of 20 missions later.
Topic 2.2 European Colonization
II. France in North America
A. French exploration endeavors:
Giovanni da Verrazano sailed along the American coast from Carolina to Maine in 1524; likely the first European to witness New York harbor.
Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River in the 1530s.
In response to these explorations, Spain fortified St. Augustine in Florida (1565) to secure against French advancements into North American territories and the Caribbean.
B. French effectiveness in establishing trade relations with Indians:
Unlike the English, who sought to exterminate or displace Amerindians; or the Spanish, who aimed to Christianize and compel forced labor among Indians, the French relied heavily on gift-giving (essential for navigating inter-tribal relations rooted in gift culture) during the late 17th century.
Trade was perceived not as a contractual transaction (as in European cultures) but as an ongoing relational process.
Discontinuing trade with another group was tantamount to declaring war.
C. The beaver trade catalyzed exploration throughout North America due to high demand for fur in European fashion:
Coureurs de bois ("runners of the woods"): Rough frontiersmen engaged to tap the lucrative fur trade.
French seamen/voyageurs recruited Indians into the fur trade.
D. Jesuits:
Catholic missionaries aiming to convert Indians and protect them from the fur trappers.
Some Jesuits faced brutal deaths at the hands of Indians, although they were often respected more than other European groups due to their endurance against torture.
Jesuits also played vital roles as explorers and geographers.
E. Other explorations:
Antoine Cadillac founded Detroit in 1701 to deter English settlers in the Ohio Valley.
Robert de La Salle sailed from Quebec through the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi River in 1682 with Indian guides:
His goal was to inhibit Spanish expansion into the Gulf of Mexico region.
Coined the name "Louisiana" in honor of Louis XIV.
The French established essential posts in the Mississippi region, with New Orleans (founded in 1718) as the most significant economic center:
This move aimed to impede Spanish expansion into the Gulf of Mexico.
Forts and trading posts were established in the Illinois Country: Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes, facilitating grain transportation down the Mississippi River for shipments to the West Indies and Europe.
F. The impact of French and British interactions on eastern woodland Indians led to:
Decimation through diseases, gun warfare, and alcoholism.
Many Amerindians perceived contact with Europeans as dangerous.
European weaponry escalated Indian warfare in the eastern woodlands during the late 17th century, causing depopulation in the Ohio Valley.
The Iroquois waged war against Huron and Algonquin tribes; subsequently, the French armed these tribes against the Iroquois, leading to Iroquois neutrality post-1700.
By the 1760s, regional tribes sought to cease hostilities against one another, aiming to revitalize Amerindian life by establishing alliances and reducing alcohol use in their communities.
III. England's search for Empire
A. Major causes of the British colonial impulse:
An eventual peace with Spain created overseas opportunities free from harassment.
Population growth ensured a supply of potential colonists.
Unemployment and a quest for adventure, access to farmland, markets, political freedom, religious freedom, and social change motivated emigration.
Joint-stock companies provided the necessary financial means; investors pooled resources for sea voyages.
B. Competition with Spain and later France:
Protestant England opposed Catholic Spain throughout the late 16th century.
John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) explored from Newfoundland to Virginia in 1497-98 on behalf of England; discovered no passage to India but engaged in fishing.
Martin Waldseemüller’s map charted Cabot's discoveries, asserting control over the newly discovered lands.
Frobisher explored the Labrador coast in 1576; Sir Francis Drake, referred to as "sea dogs," pirated Spanish ships and secured substantial profits for his investors (including Queen Elizabeth).
The Spanish Armada (1588):
The British Navy defeated this attempt to invade England, leading to significant shifts in naval dominance in the North Atlantic.
The peace treaty signed between England and Spain in 1604 marked the cessation of hostilities.
Topic 1.6 Cultural Interactions between Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans
I. Results of cultural interactions
A. Religious differences:
Christianity versus Amerindian belief systems:
Christian doctrine inferred from the Bible that God granted Adam dominion over animals and plants; thus, the Bible did not reference Amerindians.
Accusations by Europeans regarding Amerindian practices—sacrificial temples, skull racks, cannibalism—led to the view that Aztecs worshipped Satan; however, during 1500-1700, about 100,000 "witches" were executed in Europe, and the Spanish Inquisition burned thousands.
Similar human sacrifices were perceived differently by Amerindians.
Amerindian perspectives:
They had no means to commodify plants and animals, asserting that Christians devoured their god during the Eucharist while being less outraged by less significant human sacrifices to please Indian deities.
Amerindians lacked a Christian concept of heaven and preferred to be buried with their ancestors.
B. Differences in warfare:
Amerindians wondered why Europeans pursued decisive battles, seeing it as a waste of capable individuals who could replenish tribes or be sacrificed.
They often used guerrilla tactics instead.
European attempts to catch Amerindian warriors led them to resort to targeting women and children; the Pequot War in the 1630s exemplified this gruesome tactic.
Amerindians typically captured children from rival tribes for assimilation; adult warriors were sometimes sacrificed in Mesoamerica, with the Iroquois engaging in all-night torture rituals stemming from "Mourning Wars" to seek retribution for loved ones lost.
European weapons significantly heightened warfare among Amerindians:
Rapid population decreases were witnessed in the Ohio region during the late 17th century as Iroquois conflicts intensified against the Hurons and Algonquins.
By the 1690s, French and Algonquin forces regained dominance, coercing Iroquois neutrality.
II. Results of contact between Native Americans and Europeans
A. For Native Americans:
Mass deaths and genocide: Nearly 90% of the Native American population perished by 1600.
European diseases (e.g., smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria) were notably destructive.
The Central American and Caribbean populations, estimated at about 25 million in 1519, dwindled to roughly 1 million by 1605.
Cultural impacts from Europeans: Introduction of cattle, swine, horses, and firearms affected native lifestyles.
Great Plains tribes (like the Apache, Blackfoot, and Sioux) underwent transformative changes due to horses.
B. For Europeans:
Global empires emerged for the first time in history.
A significant boost in capitalism occurred (Commercial Revolution).
A dietary revolution ensued from the introduction of corn, beans, tomatoes, and especially potatoes, improving diets and leading to higher mortality rates, which subsequently increased populations and spurred emigration.
Stimulants such as coffee, cocoa, and tobacco resulted from these exchanges.
C. Contributions of Mother Countries to North America:
England: Democratic forms of local governance; a tradition of hardworking, zealous individuals, and the English language.
France: The introduction of language, culture, and religion into Canada and Louisiana, and significant trade with nearby Amerindians.
Spain: Establishment of schools, hospitals, and printing presses by missionaries; the influence of the Spanish language in the Southwest; instruction of Christianity and skilled trades to the Amerindians.