Chapter 6: Settling of the Western Hemisphere (1491-1607)

Important Keyword:

• Columbian Exchange: exchange of crops, animals, diseases, and ideas between Europe and colonies of the Western Hemisphere that developed in the aftermath of the voyages of Columbus.

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Key Timeline

• 2500 BCE: Migration of Asians to the Americas across the Bering Strait begins.
• 1492: Voyage of Columbus to the Americas
• 1519: Cortes enters Mexico
• 1520–1530: Smallpox wipes out many Native American tribes in South and Central America.
• 1542: Spanish explorers travel through the southwestern United States

Native America

• North and South America had many peoples, from hunter-gatherers to city-based empires.
• South America
  • In Mexico, Aztecs carved out an empire centered on their magnificent city of Tenochtitlan, crisscrossed with canals and adorned with great temples and palaces.
  • In Peru, the Inca Empire stretched south to parts of what is now Chile and Argentina, and north to portions of modern Colombia.
• North America
  • The Mississippian culture originated in the Mississippi River Valley and spread to the Midwest and Southeast.
  • It developed cities and mounds from 800 to 1600 A.D.
  • In Illinois, the Cahokia is at its peak in the 1200s may have been home to 20,000 people.
• In the southwest, the Puebloans built villages and towns, sometimes in the faces of cliffs for greater protection.
• Woodland Indians: The first English settlers in North America.
  • They lived on the bounty of the eastern forests, hunting and gathering their food.
  • Two of the major language groups:
  • Algonquian
  • Iroquioian

The Europeans Arrival

• The Renaissance revived interest in Europe's Classical Greek and Roman heritage, inspiring new worldviews.
• The Scientific Revolution inspired a new experimental approach to learning about the natural world, giving people the power to change it.
• The Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation began a period of religious upheaval that resulted in religious fervor and intense religious conflict that dominated European international relations for over a century.
• The Portuguese developed the caravel, a sailing ship capable of long ocean voyages.
• Improved navigational aids, such as the astrolabe and compass, made such voyages more practicable.
• The Crusades reintroduced Europeans to Asian markets, increasing demand for spices and other Asian goods.
• European merchants, blocked from these goods by Islamic powers in the Middle East, sought alternative routes to Asia.

Colombus

• In the mid-1400s, Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator funded explorations to the Azores and Africa.
• After Henry's death, Portuguese mariners reached the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.
• In 1489, Vasco da Gama led an expedition around the Cape of Good Hope and sailed on to India.
  • Da Gama was the first to connect Europe to Asian markets.
• Christopher Columbus believed he could reach China by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean and opening a trade route for East Asian treasures to enter Europe.
  • Columbus thought the world was smaller than it was, which fueled his enthusiasm for this voyage.
  • Columbus first sought sponsorship from the Portuguese, but they turned him down.
  • Columbus turned to Spain's newly united King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
  • These monarchs gave Columbus enough money to equip and crew three small ships.
• After a long voyage, Columbus sighted land on October 12, 1492.
  • Columbus landed on an island in the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador.
  • Columbus called the natives "Indians" because he thought he had reached the East Indies.
  • Columbus died believing he reached Asia's outer regions.
• Beginning with Columbus, the Spanish colonists forced Native Americans to work for them.
  • Encomienda forced Native Americans onto Spanish plantations for dubious "protection." Refusing was punishable by death.
  • European diseases inadvertently killed more Native Americans
• Columbian Exchange: The flow of products across the Atlantic that permanently altered both continents.
• Another exchange was initiated in the 1500s. European colonizers ran out of Native American labor due to new cash crops like sugar.
• Beginning in the 1540s, colonists sold African slaves, creating the great African diaspora in the Americas.

Cortes in Mexico

• The people whom Columbus first encountered lived in relatively simple societies.
  • The Spanish were intrigued by their small gold holdings and wanted to find their source.
  • Spanish explorers discovered wealthy Native American states on Mexico's mainland.
• In 1519, Hernando Cortes led a small army of 500 men from Cuba to Mexico.
  • Here he encountered representatives of the great Aztec Empire.
  • Some Aztecs considered Cortes a god.
  • Cortes reached Tenochtitlan through ruthless diplomacy and force.
  • Montezuma, the Aztec ruler, hosted him here. Relations between the Spanish and Aztecs soon soured.
  • Montezuma was killed and Cortes and his army were expelled in the violence.
  • Cortes rebuilt his forces and gathered Aztec-hating tribes.
  • He conquered Tenochtitlan in 1521, ending the Aztec Empire.
• Cortes was one of the first and greatest Spanish conquistadors to conquer Mexico, Central America, and Peru.
  • The conquistadors turned the Native Americans into a vast empire that sent gold and silver back to Spain.

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Chapter 7: Colonial America (1607–1650)