Native American communities, A New World of Many Cultures:
Pre-Colonization:
Early inhabitants migrated from Asia across a land/ice bridge in the Bering Strait thousands of years ago.
Foods indigenous to the Americas: Maize (corn), potatoes, beans, squash, tomatoes
Native Americans worshiped many gods
NORTHWEST: Along the Pacific coast from present day Alaska to northern California, people lived in permanent longhouses or plank houses. Their diets and food supply revolved around hunting and gathering, as well as fishing.
To preserve their history, legends, and myths, they carved large totem poles. The high mountain ranges in the Northwest left tribes isolated from one another and resulted in barriers to development.
GREAT BASIN/PLATEAU: Native American tribes in the Great Basin (located in portions of the western U.S. from Nevada to Oregon) such as the Shoshone and Nez Perce knew the land extremely well and hunted and gathered, which allowed them to utilize the diverse and abundant resources of the region. The land provided for their nutritional needs as well as resources for clothing and shelter. They hunted small and large animals, while also gathering other food sources.
In particular areas in the region, tribes also fished and farmed small areas of land using irrigation techniques. Farming revolved primarily around growing maize (corn), squash, and beans. These three crops came to be known as the “three sisters”. These crops led to improved diets, permanent settlements based on agriculture, and larger populations. The tribes in the Great Basin were adaptable people and their societies were shaped by the diverse environment of the region.
SOUTHWEST: In the dry region of present-day New Mexico and Arizona, Native American tribes such as the Apache and Pueblos established diverse societies that relied on farming and irrigation techniques for their crops.
These tribes supported large populations and lived in caves, underneath cliffs, and in multi-storied structures.
Farming revolved primarily around growing maize (corn), squash, and beans. These three crops came to be known as the “three sisters”. These crops led to improved diets, permanent settlements based on agriculture, and larger populations.
GREAT PLAINS: Many of the tribes living on the Great Plains were either nomadic hunters or sedentary people whose lives revolved around farming and trading. The tribes relied on hunting buffalo, which was a major food source, as well as used for making tools, weapons, clothing, and shelter.
Tribes focused on farming lived in permanent settlements often near rivers where they were able to fish. These tribes also grew maize (corn), beans, and squash (“The Three Sisters”), as well as traded regularly with other tribes.
In the 17th century, horses were introduced to the Great Plains from the Spanish. Horses allowed for tribes such as the Lakota Sioux to transition from farming to hunting buffalo in the Great Plains.
Migration was also a common theme as evidenced with the Apache gradually migrating south from present day Canada to present day Texas as environmental conditions changed.
SOUTHEAST: The Native American tribes in the Southeast were exceptional farmers. Cherokee women planted and harvested crops including beans, squash, maize (“The Three Sisters”), and tobacco.
In addition to farming, the tribes also relied heavily on hunting and fishing. In present-day Southern Florida, the Calusa tribe developed fishing and trapping techniques for catching shellfish and other saltwater fish in the region.
NORTHEAST: The Iroquois Confederation was a political union of five independent tribes living in present-day New York (Seneca, Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Oneida). The tribes in the Northeast relied on hunting and farming. But, farming techniques exhausted the soil over time and led to tribes migrating often in search of adequate farmland.
Farming revolved primarily around growing maize (corn), squash, and beans. These three crops came to be known as the “three sisters”. These crops led to improved diets, permanent settlements based on agriculture, and larger populations. Multiple families related through a mother lived together in longhouses, which were up to 200 feet long.
East of the Mississippi River, Native American tribes relied on hunting, fishing, and farming. Many permanent settlements emerged in the region, as well. The Adena-Hopewell culture (located in present-day Ohio) built large earthen mounds, with some as large 300 feet long.
One of the biggest settlements was the Cahokia (located in present-day Illinois), with nearly 30,000 living there.
The rivers and the Atlantic Ocean provided large source of food for the tribes in the Northeast region. Also, coastal waterways were used by tribes for transportation and trade. Tribes in the Northeast used shells for making wampum beads. Wampum was an important aspect of tribal culture. Alternatively, Europeans viewed wampum as a form of currency when trading with Native American tribes in the Northeast.
Columbian exchange: the natives acquiring major loss in their people and resources while Europeans gained them.
The europeans colonized spain, france, england
SPANISH CONQUEST AND COLONIZATION: Hernan Cortes: In 1518, he explored Mexico and conquered the Aztecs, the most powerful empire in Central America.
Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca in Peru (1532-1538)
NEW SPAIN : Approximately 200,000 out in the new world.
Sugarcane found throughout the Americas by the 1700s.
The encomedia system the Spanish used this in the new world to enslave the natives and force them to labor in the fields of the minds looking for precious metals.
The natives had a 90% mortality rate due to the introduction of European diseases those who did not die from disease die from the force labor systems under the incomedia.
Bartolome De Las Casas:
De Las Casas was an advocate for treating the natives humanly and cold for the end of the encomedia system.
But he did not support bringing an African slave to the Caribbean.
The Vadalldolid debate:
In valladolid, Spain, bartolome De Las Casas and Juan de Sepulveda argued over the enslavement of the natives.
De Las Casas was against it and recommended using African slaves while Sepulveda are you in the favor of the encomendia.
The Spanish begin using the Aciento system which was the importing of slaves from Africa and replaced enslaving Native Americans.
The Catholic Church organized Spanish missions to convert this native to Christianity.
Document analysis:
The city of St Augustine was created in 1565 (the first permanent Spanish settlement in North America).
Pueblo Revolt of 1680:
This event occurred in present day Santa Fe New Mexico.
The Pueblo Indians revolted against the Spanish when they begin to suppress Indian tribal practices enforce them to convert to Christianity.
The Pueblo Indians drove the Spanish out of the city.
The Casta system:
Peninsulares: Natives of Spain that settled in the Americas.
Creoles: The Spain descent born in the New World.
Mestizos: In Spanish mix descendant descent
Muallatos: African mix descent
French colonies in Native America (New France)
French were primarily focused on trade and built trading posts.
The first trade was also the main focus of French colonial society.
Settlers formed close ties with Native Americans through the fur trade.
French traders married native women.
Missionaries attempted to convert the natives to Christianity and recorded the history of various tribes.
English exploration and colonization:
English England's first colony, Ireland, became a model for their colonial empire in north America.
Factors that prompted English colonization in america:
Prospects of gaining large sums of wealth pressured English merchants to invest in the English colonies.
A charter was acquired from a monarch giving a company a monopoly over trading in a particular area of the colonies.
Mercantilism: Relied on the idea that as a nation's power and wealth increase the nation then needed to look to acquire even more wealth and resources from colonies to continue to enrich the home country.
Many English settlers immigrated to North America with their families, Therefore, marrying the Native Americans was not common.
The English had no respect for Native cultures which they regarded as primitive and Savage.
The English occupied native lands and force the small tribes that they encountered to move away from the coast inland.
They wanted to distance themselves from the natives rather than enslaving them like the Spanish did.
The Lost Colony of Roanoke:
Early attempt at english colonization
Sir Walter Raleigh founded Virginia, in the name of England's version Queen and selected the site of runaway Island just off the coast of present-day North Carolina.
Roanoke Island disappeared in 1590 and the only clue to what happened to them was the word croatoan, which was carved onto a tree trunk.
The colonists were probably either attacked or incorporated into the local crotoan tribe.
European treatment of Native Americans:
Spanish
Forced labor (encomendia system)
Forced religious conversations to Catholicism
Development of rigid social hierarchy and new social categories (ex, mestizos, mulattos)
Frontier of inclusion
English….
Intermarriage was virtually non-existent.
Early temporary signs of trading Partnerships.
But soon came to regard natives as Savages.
Frontier of exclusion.
French……
Intermarriage was common with the natives.
Fur trading Partnerships(allowed for them to forge closed alliances)
Few colonies, french were not viewed as a threat.
Frontier of inclusion.