Unit 1 1491-1607

Unit 1 makes up 4-6% of the exam

AP Notes:

• Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492
• North America was populated by Native Americans
• European settlers brought culture, religion, and technology
• Natives had their own societies, cultures, and religions
• Conflicts emerged between settlers and natives
  • Natives resisted European colonization and expansion
• Enslaved Africans arrived in 1501
• policies of forced relocation and assimilation implemented on both groups
• Native populations were reduced & cultures suppressed
• New ships like the Caravel allowed for longer exploratory voyages
• Colombus traveled on ships funded by the Spanish crown
• European explorers set to explore the New World in search of gold, glory, & God (to spread it)
• Columbian Exchange
  • rapid exchange of plants, animals, foods, people, & diseases
  • Europe established colonies away (in the US) from home
• Old world = Africa, Asia, & Europe
• Trade
  • old world to new world
  • horses, pigs, rice, wheat, grapes
  • new world to old world
  • corn, potatoes, chocolate, tomatoes, avocados, sweet potatoes
• Native VS European Views
  • Land
  • Natives:
    • land was a source of life, not a commodity to be sold
  • Europeans:
    • land should be tamed and in private ownership
  • Religious Beliefs
  • Natives:
    • natural world filled with spirits
  • Europeans:
    • Roman Catholic Church
  • Division of labor
  • Natives:
    • based on gender, age, and status
    • women could participate in decision-making
  • Europeans:
    • men did most of field labor
    • women in charge of child care and house labor
• enslaved Natives & indentured servants satisfied labor requirements until Africans’ arrival
  • Africans replaced them
• tobacco & rice expansion - meant more laborers were needed
• Bacon’s Rebellion → showed it was not in landowners’ interests to have landless, young, white males in colonies
• Southern landowners turned to enslaved Africans for labor
  • Africans don’t know the land → less likely to escape
  • Africans removed their homelands and separated from their family
• Middle Passage
  • shipping route brought enslaved people
  • trade route among colonies, Europe, & Africa
  • condition for Africans = brutal
• Slavery South
  • Chesapeake and Carolinas farmed labor-intensive crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo
  • treatment against slaves was vicious
• Slavery North
  • used on farms in NY, NJ, Pennsylvania
  • used in shipping operations
  • use as domestic servants
• Wealthy-owned enslaved people
• Encomienda System
  • Spanish take control of natives
  • Spanish got land from the Spanish crown
  • Spanish in return had to Christianize natives
  • Natives treated harshly
  • Heavy labor
  • African labor replaced it
• Joint-Stock Companies
  • corporate business with shareholders whose mission was to settle and develop lands
  • British East India Company, Dutch East India Company, Virginia Company
• Intermarriage between Spanish & French settlers & natives
• natives convert to Christianity
• Africans adapt to new environments → blending the language & religion of masters while maintaining traditions
• slave uprisings were uncommon
• John Rolfe
  • married Pocahontas
  • easing tension between natives and English
• House of Burgesses
  • property-holding, white males could vote
  • decisions made by HOB but had to be approved by the Virginia Company
• plantations dependent on slave labor
• New England VS Chesapeake
  • New England
  • families
  • longer life expectancy & larger families
  • sense of community
  • more religious
  • slavery rare
  • Chesapeake
  • single males
  • lived in smaller, spread-out farming communities
  • larger proportion of enslaved Africans