APUSH Week 1 Pre Columbus

I. The Shaping of North America

• Earth was first Pangaea. Then continental drift and the movement of tectonic plates caused it to split into 7 continents

• Ice age forming glaciers caused Bering straits from Serbia to Alaska to form (land bridge)

• end of Ice age caused glaciers to melt and sea level to rise (undo land bridge)

• NA mountains and geographical features were done by movement of tectonic plates, volcanic activity, and Ice age

II. Peopling the Americas

• First people of Americas were Nomadic Vikings, Asians, and Indians

• Asians and Indians came here by boats or by land bridge because people wanted better lifestyles and diets

• Difference between Europeans and Indians: Indians were more spirituous and less technological change. They were less on the change side

III. The Earliest Americans

• Earliest Americans (Indians) depended on Maize

• Maize was a corn that built populations and led to irrigation innovation/systems. It was a crop that also were ingrained in Pueblo culture. How vulnerable a civilization can be determined by how early they adapted to Maize because the earlier the agriculture of maize, the more a civilization was socially connected and stronger. Maize also change people from being nomadic to Agricultural subsistent.

• Mound builders: People in the ohio river valley

• Cheeroke: known for using the 3 sister planting method

• Iroquois: Native Americans that lived small settlements

• Matrilineal culture: many Indians shared this culture where women where superior and things were inherited to women

IV. Indirect Discoverers of the New World

• Marco polo return from China and realized China and Asia got lots of goodies and he inspires Europeans to find trade routes to the west

  • Little did they know that they accidentally discovered America

V. Europeans enter Africa

• Africa back door was Sub Sahara desert and Europeans entered from there

• Portuguese did a circumnavigation around Africa (Bartolomeu) and established ports on the coast of Africa

• Exchange in diets, goods, diseases but ultimately introduced slavery

VI. Columbus comes upon the World & When Worlds Collide

• Columbian exchange: exchange of new world goods and old world goods (disease, diets, slavery)

• Columbus noticed that Native Americans were religion less and could be enslaved.

VII. The Spanish Conquistadores & Makers of America: The Spanish Conquistadors

• Spain golden age after 2 monarchs married

• Reconquista and expelled Muslims and also to create unity.

  • Created a sense of militarism

• Conquistadors wanted land, gold, god, and glory. Carried the sense of militarism with them

• Encomienda system introduced to East Indies to subjugated them then teaching them Christianity

• Competed with Portuguese and were rivals. This also motivated them to trade and conquest more

• Later conquest in America lead to massive flow of silver and price revolution and a new economy (capitalism)

• Bartolome de Las Casas: disagreed with Encomienda and advocated for Indian rights

• During Conquistador conquest, they married Indian women due to lack of Spanish women during conquest and created a new type of race called mestizo

VIII. Conquest of Mexico

• Hernan Cortes sailed to Cuba and discovered Mexico

• On his way, he rescued a translator and got another translator that told him about the wealth of the Aztecs

• He was motivated by the desire for gold

• He made it to Technotitlan and met Montezuma who thought Hernan was god from the east and destined to meet the Aztec

• Montezuma was a chief so he let him in the capital. This made it easy for Europeans to conquer them

• Diseases and Montezuma was a major reason for Aztec downfall

IX. Spread of Spanish America

• Spaniards spread to California, Texas, and established first colony which was St Augustine. They then fortified it to prevent French ambitions and European ambitions. Also protect sea routes.

• New Mexico: Coronado expedition to upper Rio Grande and Colorado and found New Mexico (full of wealth, fur and gold and people to be converted to Christianity)

• Pope rebellion was caused by Spaniards attempt to make everyone Christian. Pope led a revolt full of pueblos who destroyed churches and killed priest

• Black legend: blame on Spaniards for bringing tragedy and death to Americans