APUSH – New World Beginnings & Spanish Conquest Study Notes

Transformation from English Colonists to an “American” People

• Initial mindset of European explorers & early settlers

  • They had no intention of founding a new nation; saw America as the western rim of European civilization.

  • Continued to think of themselves as subjects of the English king.

• Unifying experiences and ideals

  • Shared language (English) and an agricultural vision modeled on England.

  • New-World conditions fostered individual liberty, self-government, religious tolerance, economic opportunity.

  • A darker shared trait: willingness to subjugate outsiders—first Native peoples (war & disease) then Africans (slavery).

• Regional diversity & conflict

  • New England Puritans: tight, pious, semi-democratic, small family farms on rocky soil.

  • Southern colonies: coastal plantation elite (Anglican), enslaved African labor on tobacco/rice/indigo; disdain for back-country poor whites.

  • Middle colonies (NY ➜ DE): high diversity; New York merchants, Philadelphia Quakers, mixed estates & homesteads.

  • Internal clashes: economic rivalry, ethnic tension, religious differences.

• Imperial ties & rupture

  • 1756\text{–}1763 French & Indian War: strengthened British-colonial military cooperation yet removed French threat ➜ Britain seemed less “indispensable.”

  • Post-war taxation & trade restrictions by an indebted Parliament challenged colonial self-rule.

  • By 1775 the crisis escalated to war; Loyalists≈\tfrac15 of colonists.

  • Revolutionary War (8 yrs) forged national identity around “unalienable rights” of life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.

Geological Shaping of North America

• Pangaea: supercontinent \approx 225 million yrs ago; drift created Atlantic/Indian Oceans.

• Major mountain uplifts

  • Appalachians \approx 350 mya (pre-separation).

  • Rockies, Sierra Nevada, Cascades, Coast Ranges 135–25 mya (truly “American” ranges).

• By 10 mya continent’s basic contours set: Canadian Shield (ancient rocks), tidewater plain, midcontinental basin, Great Basin, Pacific Coast Ranges.

• Great Ice Age (≈2 mya ➜ 10{,}000 yrs ago)

  • 2-mile-thick ice sheets sculpted lakes (Great Lakes, Lake Bonneville), river systems, and depressed the Shield.

Peopling the Americas

• Land bridge (Beringia) exposed \approx 35{,}000–10{,}000 yrs ago ➜ nomadic Asian hunters crossed following megafauna.

• Cut off by rising seas \approx 10{,}000 yrs ago, leaving migrants “marooned.”

• By 1492 population ≈ 54 million; >2{,}000 languages.

• Migration southward reached Patagonia (≈15{,}000 mi from Siberia).

Native American Civilizations & Agriculture

• Incas (Peru), Mayas (Central America), Aztecs (Mexico): sophisticated states, accurate astronomy, mathematics, large cities, extensive trade.

  • Aztec human sacrifice: up to 5{,}000 victims at one coronation.

• Maize domestication (≈5000 B.C.) in highland Mexico

  • Enabled dense populations (\approx 20 million in Mexico alone).

  • Spread north and was foundation for Pueblo irrigation culture (\approx 1200 B.C.).

• Three-sister farming (maize + beans + squash) \approx A.D.\,1000 in Southeast ➜ high population densities (Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee).

• Cahokia (Mississippian culture, near East St. Louis): \approx 25{,}000 people; Chaco Canyon (Anasazi) >600 rooms.

• Iroquois Confederacy (inspired by Hiawatha, 16^{\text{th}} c.): robust alliance, matrilineal social structure.

• Most North American groups lived in small, scattered, often mobile settlements; women farmed, men hunted ➜ many societies matrilineal.

Early European Awareness & Indirect “Discoverers”

• Norse (Vikings) reached Newfoundland (L’Anse aux Meadows) \approx A.D.\,1000 (Vinland) but settlements failed.

• Crusades (11^{\text{th}}–14^{\text{th}} c.)—brought Asian luxuries (silk, spices, sugar) to Europe; created demand for cheaper eastern goods.

• Marco Polo (returned 1295) popularized Asian riches in Europe.

Portuguese Exploration & the African Prelude

• Development of the caravel & use of Azores return route (≈1450) allowed southward Atlantic navigation.

• Bartholomeu Días rounded Africa’s tip (1488); Vasco da Gama reached India (1498).

• Portuguese set up coastal gold & slave posts; refined slave-trading practices (separation of ethnic groups, distance from homelands).

  • >40{,}000 Africans shipped to Atlantic sugar islands in late 15^{\text{th}} c.

  • Plantation system (large-scale ag + forced labor) originated here.

Columbus & the Columbian Exchange

• Christopher Columbus (Italian, sailing for Spain) departed \text{Aug }1492; landfall 12\,\text{Oct }1492 in Bahamas.

  • Misidentified region as “Indies” ➜ term “Indians.”

• Global economic triangle established

  • Europe = capital, technology, markets.

  • Africa = labor (enslaved peoples).

  • Americas = precious metals, fertile soils for cash crops.

• Exchange of biota

  • New→Old: maize, potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, vanilla, cacao; fueled European & African population booms.

  • Old→New: wheat, sugar cane (led to Caribbean “sugar revolution”), rice, coffee, horses, cattle, pigs, disease pathogens (smallpox, measles, malaria, etc.).

  • Mortality: up to 90\% of Native Americans perished within decades.

  • Native counter-gift: possible transfer of syphilis to Europe.

Spanish Conquest & Empire Building

• Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): Spain got bulk of Americas; Portugal compensated with Brazil, Africa, Asia paths.

• Key conquistadores & feats

  • Balboa (1513): claimed Pacific & its shores for Spain.

  • Magellan (1519–1522): first circumnavigation (killed in Philippines).

  • Ponce de León: Florida (1513, 1521), killed by arrow.

  • Coronado (1540–1542): SW US, Grand Canyon, bison herds.

  • De Soto (1539–1542): SE US, discovered Mississippi; brutal to Indians.

  • Pizarro (1532): crushed Incas, captured immense silver at Potosí.

• Silver influx (Mexico & Bolivia) ➜ European price revolution (inflation up to 500\% in 16^{\text{th}} c.), spread of early capitalism & banking.

• Encomienda system: Indians “commended” to Spaniards for Christianization—functional slavery; condemned by Bartolomé de Las Casas (“moral pestilence”).

Cortés & the Fall of the Aztec Empire

• Expedition from Cuba (1519) with \approx 600 men, 16 horses, interpreters (Castaway & Malinche).

• Formed alliances with tributary foes of Aztecs; marched on Tenochtitlán (≈300{,}000 pop.).

• Moctezuma, believing Cortés might be Quetzalcoatl, admitted Spaniards.

• Noche Triste (30 Jun 1520): Aztec uprising; Spaniards retreat.

• Siege & smallpox ⇒ city fell 13\,Aug\,1521; population plunged from 20 million → 2 million in <100 yrs.

• Birth of mestizo culture; Malinche’s name became malinchista (“traitor”).

Spanish Borderlands & Missionary Frontier

• St. Augustine, Florida founded 1565 to block French & protect sea-lanes—oldest European settlement in future USA.

• New Mexico

  • Oñate expedition (1598); Battle of Acoma—severed one foot of survivors.

  • Capital Santa Fe (1609); Popé’s Rebellion (1680): Pueblo uprising destroyed churches, killed priests, set back Spanish control \approx 50 yrs.

• Texas: missions (e.g., Alamo, 1718) established partly in response to French La Salle on Mississippi (1680s).

• California missions

  • Cabrillo explored (1542) but intensive colonization delayed.

  • Father Junípero Serra: first mission at San Diego (1769); chain of 21 missions to Sonoma.

  • “Mission Indians’’ christianized but devastated by disease & cultural loss.

Cultural & Ethical Dimensions

• Black Legend: myth that Spaniards only killed, stole, and infected; reality—mix of cruelty & cultural fusion (law, language, religion, universities).

• Spanish often integrated with natives (intermarriage) vs. later English segregation.

• Early plantation slavery and encomienda set ethical precedent for exploitation.

Chronological Landmarks (Selected)

• c.\,33{,}000 B.C. – First humans cross to Americas.

• c.\,5000 B.C. – Maize domesticated.

• A.D.\,1000 – Norse at Vinland; three-sister farming reaches SE North America.

• 1488 – Días rounds Africa.

• 1492 – Columbus’s first voyage; Spain expels Moors (Granada).

• 1519–1521 – Cortés conquers Aztecs.

• 1532 – Pizarro overthrows Incas.

• 1540–1542 – Coronado & Cabrillo explorations.

• 1565 – St. Augustine founded.

• 1598 – Oñate enters Rio Grande valley.

• 1680 – Popé’s Rebellion.

• 1769 – Serra’s first California mission.

These bullet-point notes encapsulate geological foundations, peopling, Native cultures, European motives, African linkages, Columbian Exchange, Spanish conquest, missionary frontier, ethical debates, and key dates—providing a self-contained study outline that mirrors and enriches the original text.