Period 1: 1491-1607 Notes

Period 1: 1491-1607

Main People

  • Ferdinand and Isabella
  • Christopher Columbus
  • Bartolomé De Las Casas
  • Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda
  • Hernan Cortes

Pre-Contact Civilizations

  • Aztecs (Mesoamerica):
    • Tenochtitlan
    • Written language, irrigation, sacrifices.
  • Mayans (Yucatan Peninsula):
    • Large cities, stone temples, irrigation systems.
  • Incas (South America Pacific):
    • Andes Mountains (Peru)
    • Fertile Mountain valleys, potatoes.
  • Commonality:
    • Cultivation of maize supported economic development and social diversification.

Regional Native American Groups

  • Southwest:
    • Pueblo (New Mexico, Arizona)
    • Settlement, highly organized.
  • Great Plains/Basin:
    • Nomadic, hunter-gatherer (UTE people).
  • Pacific Northwest:
    • Sea-based, fishing villages (Chinook people), plank houses.
  • Mississippi River Valley:
    • Larger, complex societies (Cahokia), fertile soil for farming.
  • Northeast:
    • Iroquois, villages, crops (maize, squash, beans), longhouses.

European Exploration: God, Gold, and Glory

  • Motivations: Population increase, political unification, luxury goods, desire for new trade routes.
  • Prince Henry the Navigator (Portugal) sought water routes around Africa.
  • Technological Advancements: Caravels, maritime charts, astrolabe, stern post rudder.
  • Spain's Involvement:
    • Ferdinand and Isabella aimed to spread Christianity and find a route to Asia.
    • Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1492 to the Caribbean (San Salvador).

Columbian Exchange

  • Transfer of food, animals, minerals, people, and diseases between Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
  • Disease Transfer: Smallpox decimated native populations (e.g., Aztecs).
  • Food Exchange:
    • Americas to Europe: Maize, tomatoes, potatoes, cacao, tobacco.
    • Europe/Africa to Americas: Rice, wheat, soybeans, rye, oats, lemons, oranges.
  • Animals: Horses, pigs, cattle, chickens revolutionized food and warfare.
  • Influx of silver and gold led to economic growth in Western Europe.
    • Shift from Feudalism to Capitalism.

Labor, Slavery, and Caste in the Americas

  • Europeans traded goods for enslaved people on the African coast.
  • Encomienda System:
    • Spanish landowners used native coerced labor under the guise of spreading Christianity.
    • Requerimiento: Authority to claim lands in the Americas to convert.
    • Disease and escape led to importation of enslaved Africans.
  • Caste System:
    • Racial hierarchy determined tax obligations.
    • Order: Peninsulares, Criollos, Mestizos, Mulattoes, Africans, Native Americans.

Cultural Interactions

  • Hegemony: Domination of one nation or group by another.
  • Mission System: Spanish missionaries aimed to convert natives after 1573.
  • Clash of Cultures: Differing beliefs about land, religion, and family.
  • Natives desired metal tools and horses; Europeans wanted fur trade.
  • Pueblo Revolt: Resistance to forced conversion in 1680.

Other Important Things

  • Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): Divided land between Spain and Portugal.
  • Asiento System: Spanish agreement granting other European power the rights to supply enslaved Africans to Spanish colonies.
  • Valladolid Debates (1550): Bartolomé de las Casas vs. Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda on the treatment of indigenous people. De las Casas advocate for the rights of Natives; Sepúlveda for their subjugation.