Period 1: 1491-1607 - Context, Native Societies, Exploration, Columbian Exchange, Colonial Systems, Cultural Interactions, Causation

1.1 Contextualizing Period 1 (1491-1607)

  • Learning Objective: Explain the context for European encounters in the Americas from 1491 to 1607.
  • The United States is a synthesis of people from around the world.
  • The first people arrived in the Americas at least 10,000 years ago.
  • Columbus's first voyage in 1492 initiated lasting contact between people on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean and was a turning point in world history.
  • Founding of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 marked the beginning of a new nation.
  • Cultural diversity in the Americas existed due to differences in geography and climate.
  • Native Americans transformed their environments through irrigation and controlled fires.
  • European explorers, including Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and English, competed for land in the Americas.
  • Motives for exploration included spreading Christianity and seeking wealth (gold, silver, trade routes, plantations).
  • Europeans often used violence to subdue or displace native inhabitants.
  • The Columbian Exchange was a transatlantic trade in animals, plants, and germs that altered life for people around the globe.
  • American crops like corn, potatoes, and tomatoes revolutionized European diets.
  • European germs caused epidemics in the Americas, leading to significant population decline (90% within a century).
  • Enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas for low-cost labor, adding to the diversity of people.
  • Africans and Native Americans resisted European domination by maintaining cultural elements.
  • European colonies, particularly Spanish and Portuguese, relied on natives and enslaved Africans for labor in agriculture and mining.
  • Mines in Mexico and South America produced vast amounts of silver, making Spain wealthy in the 16th and 17th centuries.

1.2 Native American Societies Before European Contact

  • Learning Objective: Explain how various native populations interacted with the natural environment in North America before European contact.
  • The original discovery and settlement of North and South America began at least 10,000-40,000 years ago.
  • Migrants from Asia may have crossed a land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska.
  • People migrated southward and adapted to varied environments, evolving into hundreds of tribes with different languages.
  • By 1491, the population in the Americas was likely between 50 million and 100 million.
  • Cultures of Central and South America:
    • Mayas: Built cities in the rain forests of the Yucatán Peninsula between 300 and 800.
    • Aztecs: Developed a powerful empire in central Mexico with a capital, Tenochtitlán, of about 200,000 people.
    • Incas: Based in Peru, developed a vast empire in western South America.
    • All three civilizations had organized societies, extensive trade, accurate calendars, and cultivated crops (corn for Mayas and Aztecs, potatoes for Incas).
  • Cultures of North America:
    • Population in the region north of Mexico in the 1490s may have been anywhere from under 1 million to more than 10 million.
    • Native societies in North America generally had fewer people and less complex social structures than those in Mexico and South America due to the slower spread of corn (maize) cultivation.
    • Most people lived in semi-permanent settlements of under 300 people. Men hunted; women gathered plants and grew crops.
    • American Indian languages constituted more than 20 language families (e.g., Algonquian, Siouan, Athabaskan).
  • Southwest Settlements:
    • Groups like the Hohokam, Anasazi, and Pueblos in present-day New Mexico and Arizona lived in caves, cliffs, and multistoried buildings.
    • Maize cultivation led to economic growth and irrigation systems. Extreme drought and hostile natives impacted these groups.
  • Northwest Settlements:
    • People along the Pacific coast lived in permanent longhouses or plank houses and had a diet based on hunting, fishing, and gathering.
    • They carved totem poles to remember stories. High mountain ranges isolated tribes.
  • Great Basin and Great Plains:
    • People adapted to the dry climate by developing mobile ways of living, hunting buffalo, and living in tepees.
    • Some tribes lived in earthen lodges along rivers and raised corn, beans, and squash, trading with other tribes.
    • Horses, acquired in the 17th century, allowed tribes like the Lakota Sioux to follow buffalo herds more easily. Tribes merged or split as needed.
  • Mississippi River Valley:
    • Woodland American Indians east of the Mississippi River prospered with a rich food supply.
    • The Adena-Hopewell culture in Ohio is known for large earthen mounds.
    • Cahokia, near present-day East St. Louis, Illinois, had as many as 30,000 inhabitants.
  • Northeast Settlements:
    • Descendants of the Adena-Hopewell culture spread into New York, combining hunting and farming. Farming techniques exhausted the soil quickly.
    • The Iroquois Confederation (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscaroras) was a powerful political union that battled rival American Indians and Europeans.
  • Atlantic Seaboard Settlements:
    • Coastal Plains people (e.g., Cherokee, Lumbee) lived from New Jersey south to Florida.
    • Many were descendants of Woodland mound builders and built timber and bark lodgings along rivers.

1.3 European Exploration in the Americas

  • Learning Objective: Explain the causes of exploration and conquest of the New World by various European nations.
  • Until the late 1400s, the Americas had no connection to Europe, Africa, and Asia.
  • Religious and economic motives prompted Europeans to explore more widely, bringing the two parts of the world into contact.
  • European Context for Exploration:
    • Vikings had visited Greenland and North America around the year 1000, but these voyages had no lasting impact.
    • Columbus's voyages of exploration finally brought people into ongoing contact across the Atlantic.
    • Several factors made sailing across the ocean and exploring distant regions possible and desirable in the late 15th century.
  • Changes in Thought and Technology:
    • The Renaissance prompted artistic and scientific activity in Europe.
    • Europeans improved inventions like gunpowder and the sailing compass (adopted from Arab merchants).
    • Major improvements were made in shipbuilding and mapmaking.
    • The printing press in the 1450s aided the spread of knowledge across Europe.
  • Religious Conflict:
    • The Roman Catholic Church dominated most of Western Europe for centuries, but its power was threatened by Ottoman Turks and rebellious Christians.
  • Catholic Victory in Spain:
    • Islamic invaders (Moors) from North Africa conquered most of Spain in the 8th century.
    • Spanish Christians reconquered much of the land.
    • Isabella and Ferdinand united two of the largest kingdoms in 1469.
    • In 1492, the Spanish conquered the last Moorish stronghold in Granada.
    • Columbus received funding for his first voyage.
  • Protestant Revolt in Northern Europe:
    • Christians in Germany, England, France, Holland, and other northern European countries revolted against the authority of the pope in Rome during the Protestant Reformation.
    • Conflicts between Catholics and Protestants led to religious wars.
    • Both groups wanted to spread their version of Christianity to Africa, Asia, and the Americas, adding a religious motive to exploration.
  • Expanding Trade:
    • Economic motives for exploration grew out of competition for increased trade with Africa, India, and China.
    • The land route to Asia was blocked in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks seized Constantinople.
  • New Routes:
    • The challenge was to find a new way to the rich Asian trade by sailing south along the West African coast or west across the Atlantic Ocean.
    • Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator sponsored voyages that opened up a sea route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.
    • In 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India via this route.
  • Slave Trading:
    • The Portuguese began trading for enslaved people from West Africa and used them on sugar plantations on the Madeira and Azores islands.
    • This system was later used in the Americas.
  • Developing Nation-States:
    • Small kingdoms were uniting into larger ones (e.g., Castile and Aragon forming Spain).
    • Multiethnic empires were breaking up.
    • Nation-states emerged with common culture and loyalty toward a central government.
    • Monarchs depended on trade and the church to justify their rule.
  • Dividing the Americas:
    • Western European monarchs used their power to search for riches and spread Christianity.
  • Spanish and Portuguese Claims:
    • The Pope drew a line of demarcation in 1493, granting Spain all lands to the west and Portugal all lands to the east.
    • The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 moved the line west, establishing Portugal’s claim to Brazil, while Spain claimed the rest of the Americas.
  • English Claims:
    • England’s earliest claims rested on John Cabot’s voyages in 1497.
    • England took more interest later, challenging Spanish shipping under Queen Elizabeth I.
    • Sir Francis Drake attacked Spanish ships, and Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to establish a colony at Roanoke Island in 1587, but it failed.
  • French Claims:
    • France sponsored Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 to find a northwest passage, exploring part of North America’s eastern coast.
    • Jacques Cartier (1534–1542) explored the St. Lawrence River.
    • French colonization developed slowly due to European wars and internal conflicts.

1.4 Columbian Exchange, Spanish Exploration, and Conquest

  • Learning Objective: Explain causes of the Columbian Exchange and its effect on Europe and the Americas after 1492.
  • Contact between Europeans and the original inhabitants of the Americas resulted in the Columbian Exchange.
  • Christopher Columbus sought a sea route to Asia but found lands of far greater importance.
    • Columbus won backing from Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain.
    • He landed on an island in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492.
    • He found little gold or spices in subsequent voyages.
  • The Columbian Exchange:
    • It was a transfer of plants, animals, and germs from one side of the Atlantic to the other for the first time.
    • Europeans learned about beans, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and tobacco.
    • These food items transformed and spurred population growth in Eurasia and Africa.
    • Europeans also contracted syphilis.
    • People in the Americas learned about sugar cane, bluegrasses, pigs, and horses, as well as new technology.
    • Germs and diseases brought by Europeans decimated the Native American population.
      • In Mexico, the native population declined from around 22 million in 1492 to about 4 million by the mid-16th century.
  • The Rise of Capitalism:
    • Population growth and new resources encouraged trade, leading to economic, political, and social changes.
    • The medieval system of feudalism declined.
    • Capitalism rose, with control of money and machinery becoming more important than control of land.
    • Political power shifted from landowners to wealthy merchants.
    • Europeans developed the joint-stock company to finance trade voyages more safely, promoting economic growth.
  • Columbus's role is debated.
    • Some view him as a skilled navigator and a symbol of European expansion.
    • Others see him as a conqueror who brought devastation to indigenous cultures.
    • Regardless, his voyages marked a turning point in world history.

1.5 Labor, Slavery, and Caste in the Spanish Colonial System

  • Learning Objective: Explain how the growth of the Spanish Empire in North America shaped the development of social and economic structures over time.
  • Spanish dominance was based on ambitious leaders, explorers (conquistadores), and labor from Indians and enslaved Africans.
  • Spanish Exploration and Conquest:
    • Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama.
    • Ferdinand Magellan's ships circumnavigated the world.
    • Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs in Mexico.
    • Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas in Peru.
    • Conquistadores sent gold and silver back to Spain, increasing its wealth.
  • Indian Labor:
    • The Spanish encountered the well-organized Aztec and Inca empires.
    • They used the encomienda system to control the surviving Indians, forcing them to farm or work in the mines.
  • Enslaved African Labor:
    • The Spanish began trading for enslaved people to replace Indians who died from diseases and brutality.
    • They used the asiento system, paying a tax to the Spanish king for each enslaved person imported.
    • More Africans than Europeans crossed the Atlantic during the colonial era.
    • Between 10 million and 15 million enslaved people were sent from Africa, with 10-15% dying on the Middle Passage.
  • African Resistance:
    • Africans resisted slavery by running away, sabotaging work, or revolting.
    • They maintained aspects of African culture, particularly in music, religion, and folkways.
  • Spanish Caste System:
    • The combination of Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans made the Spanish colonies ethnically diverse.
    • The Spanish developed a caste system that defined the status of people based on their heritage.
      • Pure-blooded Spaniards were at the top.
      • People with mixed heritage were in the middle.
      • People of pure Indian or Black heritage were at the bottom.

1.6 Cultural Interactions in the Americas

  • Learning Objective: Explain how and why European and Native American perspectives of others developed and changed in the period.
  • The contact between Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans in the Americas involved violence on a large scale.
  • Europeans and Native Americans held conflicting worldviews.
  • European Treatment of Native Americans:
    • Europeans generally viewed Native Americans as inferior people.
  • Spanish Policy:
    • The Spanish subjugated Native Americans but also debated their status.
  • Bartolomé de Las Casas:
    • He became an advocate for better treatment of Indians and persuaded the king to institute the New Laws of 1542, which ended Indian slavery.
    • Conservative Spaniards pushed the king to repeal parts of the New Laws.
  • Valladolid Debate:
    • Las Casas argued that Indians were human and morally equal to Europeans.
    • Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda argued that Indians were less than human.
  • English Policy:
    • The English settled in areas with no large native empires and showed little respect for American Indian cultures.
    • They occupied the land and forced tribes to move away.
  • French Policy:
    • The French viewed American Indians as potential economic and military allies.
    • They maintained good relations and built trading posts throughout the St. Lawrence Valley, the Great Lakes region, and along the Mississippi River.
  • Survival Strategies by Native Americans:
    • Some allied with one European power or another.
    • Others migrated west to get away from settlers.
    • Conflicts arose due to strong tribal loyalty.
  • The Role of Africans in America:
    • Africans contributed a third cultural tradition.
    • Their experience growing rice resulted in it becoming an important crop in the colonies.
    • They brought musical rhythms and styles of singing.
    • Europeans justified slavery with biblical passages and the belief that Africans were biologically inferior.

1.7 Causation in Period 1

  • Learning Objective: Explain the effects of the development of transatlantic voyages from 1491 to 1607.
  • Causation is a key reasoning skill for evaluating this period.
  • Consider the factors that caused Native Americans to develop diverse societies.
  • Factors that caused the European explorations.
    • Desires to spread Christianity and for economic gain.
  • Historians debate the significance of various causes.
  • Causation implies that an event or development had an effect.
  • The results of the contact are viewed as the Columbian Exchange.
  • One can argue as to the historically significant effects.
  • Factors that resulted in Native American groups developing their own unique cultures.
  • Significant development in Europe by the 15th and 16th centuries that caused a surge in exploration.
  • The extent to which the Columbian Exchange had beneficial effects on both the Native Americans and Europeans.