Chapter 1: Worlds and Time, to 1584 — Study Notes

Page 1

• Focus: 19th-century U.S. political economy and slavery-era demographics; a slide from a World History or American history text presenting data and classifications about slaveholders and congressional representation.
• Economic snapshot (likely from a post office or fiscal report):
  • Amount received for Pres…: 391.86
  • Revenue: 2{,}010{,}253.64
  • Expenditures: 600{,}281.99
  • Conclusion drawn on this page: In the Free States, yearly receipts exceed expenditures by about 2{,}000{,}000 (i.e., there is a yearly surplus of roughly two million dollars). In the Slave States, expenditures exceed receipts by about 600{,}000.
• Slaveholders in 1850: a breakdown by number of slaves owned.
  • 1 slave
  • Holders of 5 and under
  • Holders of 10 and under
  • Holders of 20 and under
  • Holders of 50 and under 100
  • Holders of 100 and under 200
  • Holders of 200 and under 300
  • Holders of 300 and under 500
  • 500 and under 1,000
  • 1,000 and over
  • Total number of slaveholders (summary stat appears but not legible in the scan)
• Congressional representation (illustrating slavery’s political influence):
  • 16 Free States vs 5 Slave States
  • Slaveholding interests are said to enjoy a political advantage in the House of Representatives; phrasing notes that this yields an advantage of about 30 votes for slavery over freedom.
  • House composition: Free States ≈ 144 members; Slave States ≈ 90 members (noted in the slide, though exact counts vary by census/year).
• The slide emphasizes the political leverage slavery held in national governance, alongside the economic extracts above.
• Source cue: This data is presented in the “Post-Office Statistics”/fiscal accounts section of the chart and is tied to the broader argument about regional economic flows and political power.
• Visual note: The slide includes numerous place-names (a colonial-era map) to visually locate trade routes, ports, and territories; the scan shows place names such as Charleston, St. Marys, Newnanaville, Augustine, Cilach, Mtquito, Brooke, Charlotte, etc. (these appear as scattered labels on the map).
• Copyright notice on the slide: Copyright © 2023 W. W. Norton & Company

Page 2

• Outline & Guiding Question for the chapter/lesson:
  • 1. Origin Stories
  • 2. Why the Europeans?
  • 3. European Conquest and Settlement
  • 4. Spain’s Empire
  • 5. New Europes in North America
  • 6. Conclusion
• Central guiding question: How do historians know about the early history of the many indigenous peoples of the Americas?

Page 3

• The Historical Record:
  • Historians study what remains of the past.
  • The historical record is biased and imperfect.
  • Attempts to “decolonize” American history involve looking beyond written records (e.g., archaeology, oral histories, material culture).

Page 4

• Origins of Native American Peoples:
  • Humans first migrated to the Americas about 2.0 imes 10^{4} years ago.
  • Evidence sources: fossil record, artifacts, Paleo-Americans and their descendants.

Page 5

• Early Indigenous Societies:
  • Varied settlement patterns: nomadic, sedentary, and semi-sedentary.
  • Some sedentary groups developed complex urban societies.
  • Examples: Mississippian mound-builders; Mesoamerican empires.

Page 6

• North America, 500 CE to 1500 CE:
  • After around 700 CE, agricultural revolution enabled cultural flourishing, dense settlement, and consolidation of political power.
  • The “three sisters”: maize, squash, and beans.
  • Notable centers: Cahokia, Chaco Canyon.
  • Native groups held communal rights to ancestral lands.
  • Complex exchange networks connected diverse North American peoples.

Page 7

• Indigenous peoples and regions (illustrative ethnographic map listing many groups):
  • Examples across regions include Tshimshian, Inuit, Kwakiutls, Makah, Nootkin, Skagit, Cheyenne, Lakota, Dakota, Nez Perce, Huron, Iroquois (Haudenosaunee), Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Wampanoag, Narragansett, Pequot, Powhatan, Lenape, Haudenosaunee complex networks, and numerous nations around the Hudson Bay, Great Lakes, Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Plains, and Southeast.
  • Geographic cues include Hudson Bay, Great Lakes (Ontario, Erie), Mississippi/Ohio river systems, Pacific coast, Atlantic coast, Gulf coast, St. Lawrence, Lake Ontario, Lake Huron, etc.
  • The slide also locates major Indigenous nations: Iroquois Confederacy components (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca), Algonquin, Mi’kmaq, Lenape, Powhatan, Narragansett, Wampanoag, etc.
  • Note: The map emphasizes the incredible diversity and geographic spread of Indigenous peoples before European contact.

Page 8

• Discussion Question:
  • What are some of the ways that early Native American societies differed from one another, and why did so many various cultures develop?

Page 9

• Europe, Africa, and Asia before 1492 CE:
  • Old webs of exchange and conflict connected Europe, Africa, and Asia.
  • Western Europe predominantly Christian; Africa broadly Islam-influenced at various periods.
  • The page underscores a pre-contact global tapestry of trade, ideas, and conflict.

Page 10

• Why the Europeans?
  • Western Europeans were less likely than other groups to cross oceans seeking new lands in earlier eras.
  • Struggling European monarchs sought alternate routes to Africa and Asia to avoid expensive Mediterranean routes and Ottoman control.
  • The pursuit of new routes contributed to the Portuguese-driven African slave trade and broader maritime ambitions.

Page 11

• A Sailor from Genoa: Columbus
  • Christopher Columbus proposed sailing west to reach Asia.
  • After the Spanish Inquisition, Ferdinand and Isabella sponsored Columbus’s voyages.
  • Columbus’s objectives included trade, conquest, and the spread of Christianity.

Page 12

• Writing Truth and Declaring Possession:
  • Columbus chronicled his journeys; he declared Spanish possession of lands and peoples encountered.
  • Written records tend to outlive other sources; Gutenberg’s printing press amplified their reach.
  • Written accounts shape our understanding of historical “truths.”

Page 13

• A New World:
  • Amerigo Vespucci described North and South America as a “new world.”
  • Influenced later literary works (e.g., Thomas More’s Utopia) and a broader rethinking of world geography.
  • European mapmakers revised depictions of the world; in 1507, Martin Waldseemüller first used the name “America” on a map.

Page 14

• Visual/cultural artifact: Cosmography map excerpt
  • The page shows a Latin cosmography map/diagrams associated with Amerigo Vespucci and Ptolemy, illustrating 16th-century cartographic theory and the naming of the New World.
  • Notable: The Library of Congress reproduction and the emphasis on scholarly authority for mapping the globe.

Page 15

• Discussion Question:
  • How did the act of writing impact our modern-day understanding of historical “truths” about Europeans’ arrival in the Americas?

Page 16

• Contested Conquest:
  • Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divided the Americas and western Africa between Spain and Portugal.
  • The treaty was contested by Native Americans and Europeans alike; it sparked debates about rights to land and the justice of conquest.

Page 17

• Capitalism and Slavery:
  • Possession of the Americas catalyzed rapid European economic growth.
  • Atlantic trade fostered capitalism and the spread of slavery.
  • Enslaved Africans provided labor for economic expansion; the Spanish shifted to African slavery after subjugating Native populations.

Page 18

• Biological Exchange:
  • Plants, animals, and diseases moved between Europe/Africa and the Americas (Columbian Exchange).
  • Europeans interpreted these exchanges as signs of divine favor.
  • Old World crops and livestock proliferated; infectious diseases devastated indigenous populations.

Page 19

• Nature and Property:
  • Native peoples generally practiced communal ownership of land and goods.
  • Europeans questioned Native sovereignty and governance.
  • Advisors to the Spanish Crown consulted Roman law and Aristotle; beliefs included that Native Americans had no sovereignty and that slavery could be justified by “nature.”
  • The Requerimiento (Reading) became part of Spanish conquest rituals and legal logic.

Page 20

• Conquistadors in the Southwest:
  • Hernán Cortés led the brutal campaign against the Aztec city Tenochtitlán (1519).
  • Few written records from the conquest survived; 1540: Francisco Vázquez de Coronado fought against the Zuni.
  • Spanish conquest produced a mixed-race society; famous embodiments include La Malinche and the rise of mestizos.

Page 21

• “Are they not men?”
  • Protestant clerical dissent against conquest; voices challenging the treatment of Indigenous peoples.
  • Antonio de Montesinos (1511) and Bartolomé de Las Casas (A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, 1542) argued on moral grounds.
  • In 1550, the Spanish king held a debate to assess the lawfulness of conquest, which yielded no decisive solution.

Page 22

• Indigenous polities and New World encounters (New Sweden, New France, New Netherland):
  • Geographic frame: St. Lawrence River, Great Lakes (Ontario), Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Neutral Nation, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Wendat (Huron), Petun, Algonquin, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Michican/Mahican, Pawtucket, Nipmuck, Mohegan, Pequot, Massachusett, Wampanoag, Narragansett, etc.
  • Key hubs: Quebec, Montreal, Fort Orange (Albany), New York Harbor (Manahatta).
  • The map illustrates the complex web of Indigenous alliances and the encroachment of Europeans from multiple colonial powers (French, Dutch, Swedish, English).

Page 23

• Newcomers and Trade:
  • Early French, Dutch, or Swedish presence largely depended on trading companies (e.g., Dutch West India Company; Company of New France; Virginia Company).
  • Europeans entered existing Indigenous trade networks; Indigenous peoples gained access to new materials and weapons.
  • The Iroquois used access to new weapons to overthrow neighbors and foes, influencing regional power dynamics.

Page 24

• New France:
  • Samuel de Champlain established the first permanent French settlement in the Americas.
  • French alliances with Algonquin and other Indigenous groups through diplomacy and marriage; emergence of the Métis (families formed from unions between Frenchmen and Native women).
  • French missionaries sought to convert Indigenous peoples; syncretism or rejection in religious practice.

Page 25

• Discussion Question:
  • What significant similarities and differences existed between New Spain and New France?

Page 26

• Spain and England:
  • English colonization began relatively late compared with Spain.
  • Elizabeth I used colonization to challenge Spanish dominance; religious conflict (Protestant Reformation) and anti-Spanish sentiment.
  • Narratives framed as liberty vs tyranny in political rhetoric.

Page 27

• England’s Early Attempts:
  • 1584: Elizabeth I issued a license to Walter Raleigh to sail to the Americas.
  • Raleigh’s voyage carried 104 men to present-day North Carolina.
  • Initial accounts promised bounty but early settlers faced starvation; Drake’s return; later Roanoke colony became mysteriously vanished.

Page 28

• Conclusion:
  • Europeans had limited, often biased knowledge of Native American peoples.
  • They tended to view Indigenous peoples as lacking laws or faith or as living in a state of nature—an ideological framing that supported conquest.
  • Questions raised: Why might European historical viewpoints be privileged in many records? How should we construct historical “truths” about America’s founding?

Page 29

• Additional Resources:
  • Lecture resources point to Norton Combined Volume and Volumes 1 & 2 for further reading:
  • Combined Volume: https://digital.wwnorton.com/thesetruthswsources
  • Volume 1: https://digital.wwnorton.com/thesetruthswsourcesv1
  • Volume 2: https://digital.wwnorton.com/thesetruthswsourcesv2
• Copyright note: Copyright © 2023 W. W. Norton & Company