APUSH Unit 1 Notes: Christopher Columbus & Columbian Exchange

Christopher Columbus

  • Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailor, sought sponsorship from the Spanish Court (Ferdinand and Isabella) to sail west to find new wealth in Asia.
  • They funded his voyage.
  • In 1492, he sailed the Ocean Blue and landed in San Salvador in the Caribbean, which was rich in resources.
  • This "New World" discovery created fierce competition with European nations.

Columbian Exchange

  • Changes occurred, bringing together the two hemispheres.
  • The Columbian Exchange involved the transfer of people, animals, plants, and diseases from east to west.
    • Food
      • From America to Europe: potatoes, tomatoes, and maize.
      • From Europe to America: wheat, rice, soybeans.
    • Animals
      • From America to Europe: turkeys.
      • From Europe to America: cattle, pigs, and horses.
    • Minerals: Gold and silver from America to Europe.
    • Peoples: Europeans, American settlers, and enslaved Africans.
    • Disease: Smallpox to America, syphilis to Eurasia.

Wealth and Economic Systems

  • Wealth from the Columbian Exchange influenced economic systems.
    • Europe saw a shift from feudalism to capitalism.
      • Feudalism: Peasants worked and lived on nobles' land in exchange for the nobles' protection.
      • Capitalism: An economic system based on private ownership and free exchange.
    • Joint-Stock Company created.

Spanish Colonization

  • The Spanish found wealth not only through minerals but also through agriculture.
    * Encomienda System: A colonial labor system where the Spanish enslaved native people to farm/mine.
    * Issues: It was hard to keep natives enslaved due to their ability to escape and their vulnerability to diseases.
    * Solution: Importation of African enslaved laborers because they were unfamiliar with the geography and were more resistant to diseases.

Spanish Re-Ordering of Society

  • Caste System: A racial hierarchy with Spaniards at the elite level.

Adaption to Each Others Culture

  • Natives taught Europeans how to hunt in forests and cultivate maize.
  • Natives adopted iron tools and weapons introduced by Europeans.

Brutal Relationship

  • Justification: Sepulveda (a priest) argued that Native Americans were less than human and benefited from labor.
  • Opposition: Las Casas saw the humanity of the natives and persuaded the king to pass laws ending the slavery of natives.
  • African Justification: Use of the bible to promote the idea that black skin destined them to be enslaved.

Native Societies

  • Diverse people with diverse societies.
    • Coastal Regions: fishing villages.
    • Pueblo: farmers of beans, squash, and maize, with advanced irrigation, urban centers, and cliff dwellings.
    • Great Plains/Basin: nomadic, hunter-gatherers, buffalo, small kinship bands, Ute.
    • Northwest: permanent villages, fishing, Chumash.
    • Pacific Northwest: Chinookz - same but plank houses.
    • Northeast: Iroquois farmers, lived in longhouses (timber).
    • MRV: farmers because of rich soil, trade, Cahokia.
  • Overall: Native Americans had distinct and complex societies shaped by their environment.

European Arrival

  • European Domestic Change
  • Political unification, centralized states.
  • Growing wealthy class that wanted goods from Asia, but Muslims blocked land-based routes.
    • Portugal: established posts around Africa, creating a "Trading Post Empire".
      • Had a stronghold in the Indian Ocean trade network.
    • Technology (new maritime/old (sea))
      • Astronomical charts/astrolabe to help with navigation.
      • Smaller ship designs (smaller and faster).
      • Borrowed Latin sail + Stern-post rudder for navigation.
  • Spain had just finished the re-conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.
    • Led them to spread Catholic Christianity.
    • Led them to seek new economic opportunities to the east.