Period 1 PowerPoint

New World Beginnings

• Timeframe: 33,000 BC to AD 1769
• Glaciers shaped geography, creating rivers, Great Lakes, and Plains (beginning $2{,}000{,}000$ years ago)
• Earliest Americans arrived between $11{,}000$ and $35{,}000$ years ago from Asia
  • Genetic markers on the Y chromosome are shared between Native Americans and Asians
• Early Migration
  • First Migration (about $9{,}000$ years ago): walked across the Berengia land bridge during the Ice Age when ocean levels were dropped
  • Second Migration (about $8{,}000$ years ago): traveled by water; brought Navajos and Apaches
  • Third Migration (about $5{,}000$ years ago): traveled by water

Shaping of North America

• By 1492, glaciers and postglacial changes had set the stage for diverse cultures and environments

By 1492 Population and Diversity

• About $54{,}000{,}000$ people lived in the Americas
• Diverse cultures developed, with over $2{,}000$ languages
• Each tribe adapted to its local environment

Earliest Americans

• Corn (maize) cultivation began around $6{,}000$ BC
• Domesticated crops and animals led to civilization and ended nomadic lifestyles
• Cultures/people
  • Anasazi, Hohokam, Mogollon (Pueblo) Indians
  • Built apartment-style adobe and cliff dwellings
  • Known for pottery, textiles, baskets, and kokopelli
  • Engaged in long-distance trade with tribes as far away as Mexico

Earliest Americans (continued)

• Mound Builders and Mississippian Culture
  • Built towns in flood plains to access fertile soil
  • Had connections to Mexico
  • Cahokia: about $40{,}000$ residents; located in western Illinois
  • Built temples and houses on top of mounds
  • Serious decline began around $1350$
• Three Sisters Farming (American Southeast)
  • Cropping system: beans, squash, and corn grown together
  • Cultivated by Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee
  • Improved diet and supported Cahokia growth

Eastern Woodlands and the Iroquois League

• Iroquois League created by Hiawatha
  • Members: Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga
  • Councils with leaders chosen by women
  • Planned for defense and cooperation among member tribes
  • Built longhouses; communal property
• Native American worldview:
  • Belief that people should live with the environment, not dominate it
• Social structure:
  • Lineage- and custom-based societies

Norse Discoveries

• First Europeans to reach North America were Vikings
• Leif Eriksson (circa $1001$) established a temporary settlement at L\’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland
• Referred to as Vinland
• Did not widely disseminate knowledge of the new territory

Causes of Exploration: Crusades

• European Christians went to the Middle East to take back the Holy Land from Muslims
• Wars ended with some success but created a long-term demand for trade with the East (silk, perfumes, spices, etc.)

Causes of Exploration: Marco Polo and Trade

• Marco Polo traveled to China, stayed about $17$ years, and wrote about wealth and products there
• Silk Road and Arabian trade were slow and expensive; Polo’s accounts stimulated European interest
• Helped develop Italian trading states (Genoa, Florence, Pisa, Venice)
• Wealth from trade funded investment and encouraged pursuit of more efficient trade routes

Causes of Exploration: Technology

• Caravel: ships capable of sailing with or against the wind, enabling broad exploration
• Compass: provided reliable direction
• Europeans did not fear the world was flat; but sailing against winds and currents remained challenging
• Portuguese developed the idea of sailing west to return from Africa
• Astrolabe: determined latitude (North–South)
• Longitude (East–West) could not yet be determined

Causes of Exploration: Intellectual and Political Development

• Mid-1400s: Gutenberg press spread books, maps, and scientific ideas
• Reconquista, completed in 1492: Spanish unification and expulsion of Moors, spurring Spanish growth and competition with Portugal
• Nation States: Kings consolidated power and sought wealth and allegiance to the Crown
• Renaissance: fostered optimism, adventure, and curiosity

Causes of Exploration: Conditions in Europe

• By around $1450$ most Europeans were peasants with limited rights and possessions
• Hereditary nobility and men dominated society
• Christianity emphasized constant defense against temptation
• Limits on economic opportunity: manorial obligations to nobility; guilds controlled trades

Europeans Enter Africa

• Europe was aware of sub-Saharan civilizations but had little direct contact initially
• Portuguese established trading posts on the coast beginning in the $1450s$, trading gold and slaves
• Slaves were used on sugar plantations in Atlantic islands and formed the foundation for an Atlantic plantation system
• Bartholomeu Dias rounded Africa in $1488$

Columbus Comes Upon a New World

• Columbus plan was rejected by Portugal
• King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain funded the voyage; ships: Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria
• Left Spain on $August 3, 1492$; arrived on $October 12$; first land sighted was in the Bahamas
• By $1494$ Columbus decided to subjugate by force of arms the Taino, Arawak, and Carib people
• Replicas of Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria featured on the 500th Anniversary World Map (1492)

Columbian Exchange

• Exchange of people, products, and ideas between the Old and New Worlds
• Ecosystems impacted: intentional and unintentional spread of plants and animals
• Effects:
  • Diet, living patterns, hunting, warfare, and social systems changed in both worlds
  • New World crops (potatoes, maize, tomatoes, beans, sugar, etc.) essential to Europe and Africa
  • Gold and wealth altered European power structures
  • Disease devastated Native American populations
  • Horses and guns transformed fighting and hunting in the Americas
• Theme: When Worlds Collide

Treaty of Tordesillas

• 1493: Pope divided the world between Spain and Portugal; Spain would get the west, Portugal the east
• 1494: Treaty formalized the line; Brazil became Portuguese territory
• 1502: Cantino Map provided a cartographic record of this division

Spanish Conquistadores

• Balboa (1513): First European to see the Pacific by crossing Panama; claimed lands for Spain
• Magellan (1519–1522): Led the first successful circumnavigation of the globe; killed in the Philippines
• Ponce de Leon (1513, 1521): Explored Florida in search of the Fountain of Youth

Coronado and De Soto

• Coronado (1540): Sailed with 300 Spanish, 1,000 Indians, 1,500 horses; traveled from the Grand Canyon to Kansas, seeking Cibola
• De Soto (1539–1542): Explored the southeastern U.S. in search of the city of gold (Cibola); discovered the Mississippi River

Aztecs

• Central Mexico: Warrior culture with human sacrifice
• Aztec pyramids and large cities; Tenochtitlan built in 1325; population around $200{,}000$ by the year 1500

Maya and Yucatán Peninsula

• Maya civilization spread across the Yucatán Peninsula and surrounding regions
• Achievements include an accurate calendar and the building of pyramids
• Notable centers and sites referenced include Teotihuacán, Monte Albán, Tikal, Copán, Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, Calakmul, Cobá, Mayapán, and others
• The extent of the Maya Empire and its major sites are depicted on regional maps (examples listed in the source)

The Conquest of Mexico

• Noche Triste (June 30, 1520): Moctezuma drove Cortés from Tenochtitlan
• August 13, 1521: Cortés conquers the Aztecs
• Disease played a major role in population declines, dropping from about $20{,}000{,}000$ to $2{,}000{,}000$ in central Mexico
• 1519: Cortés landed in Mexico with 550 soldiers, 16 horses, 10 cannons
• Malinche: female slave who served as Cortés’ interpreter and was essential to his success
• Quetzalcoatl legend contributed to Moctezuma not resisting Spanish presence initially
• Cortés sent large quantities of gold to Spain, turning the Americas into a destination for European conquest and wealth

Caribbean and Andean Empires: Incas

• Incas located in Peru and the Andes; built a vast road network
• Machu Picchu and Titicaca Basin prominent features
• Quipu: knot-based recording system
• Terrace farming used to cultivate slopes across the Andean highlands

Pizarro and Peru

• Pizarro and parties arrived in Peru in $1531$ with 180 soldiers and 27 horses
• The Incas provided the Spanish with approximately $13{,}000$ pounds of gold and $26{,}000$ pounds of silver (worth about $187{,}000{,}000$ in May 2009 dollars)
• Pizarro and Cortés inspired other conquistadors to search for gold
• By $1600$, the influx of gold and silver contributed to a price revolution in Europe due to an increased money supply

Impact of Spain on Natives

• Disease killed large portions of Indian populations; smallpox most devastating
• Native Mexican population declined from about $20{,}000{,}000$ to $2{,}000{,}000$; Inca population from about $9{,}000{,}000$ to $500{,}000$
• Encomienda System: the King granted land and the people on it to colonists; similar to an early feudal system
• Encomienda evolved into the Hacienda system and similar plantation structures
• Bartolomé de Las Casas (1542) wrote about the Destruction of the Indies and protested the impact of Spanish policies on Native peoples

Threats from England and France

• England: Cabot (1497–1498) sought a Northwest Passage and explored northeastern North America
• France: Verrazano (1524) along the east coast; Jacques Cartier (1534) down the St. Lawrence River
• Spain responded by protecting New Spain with forts and missions along borders to prevent rival powers from taking territory
• First settlements and missions: St. Augustine, Florida (1565); Santa Fe, New Mexico (founded after 1600); Spain expanded settlements and built forts near borders

Missions and Pueblo Revolt

• Missions established to convert Native peoples to Catholicism and to limit other European influence
• Popé’s Rebellion (1680): Pueblo revolt against Catholic missions; attacked priests and missions; Spain briefly lost control of Santa Fe and New Mexico for about 50 years
• Beginning in $1769$ missions were expanded and operated by religious orders (efforts to protect New Spain)

New Spain Government

• New World colonies were the King’s personal property; governed by a Viceroy who acted on the King’s behalf
• Settlers: Spaniards often married Native peoples and incorporated native cultural elements into the Spanish colonial system
• Spanish settlements were largely self-sufficient with limited external contact; Indigenous peoples taught Spanish and integrated

Spanish Economy and Mercantilism

• Mercantilism: belief that there is a fixed amount of wealth in the world
• Wealth could be increased by creating a favorable balance of trade and by extracting wealth from colonies
• The colonial system was designed to benefit the mother country; Spain enforced mercantilist policies to maximize control and wealth

Results of the Spanish Conquests

• Ended many pre-Columbian Indian civilizations and initiated mixed cultures with new hybrid identities
• Created many cities, towns, and missions in the Americas; wealth from the New World elevated Spain’s power in Europe
• Charles I of Spain became Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, as a result of Spain’s global power
• Easy wealth and accumulation of resources contributed to Spain becoming a dominant European force

Continued Spanish Influence and Power

• By $1580$, King Philip II of Spain controlled Mexico, Peru, Italy, the Spanish Netherlands, Portugal and its colonies
• Philip II sought to defend Catholicism against Ottoman Muslims in the eastern Mediterranean and Protestants in Europe