AP US History Unit 1 Notes (1491-1607)

Native American Societies Before European Arrival

  • Native Americans were a diverse group with varied societies adapted to their environments.

  • Not a monolithic group; cultures ranged from fishing villages to hunter-gatherer societies and complex urban centers.

Examples of Native American Cultures

  • Pueblo People:

    • Located in present-day Utah and Colorado.

    • Farmers cultivating beans, squash, and maize.

    • Advanced irrigation systems diverting river water to crops.

    • Built urban centers from hardened clay bricks and magnificent cliff dwellings.

  • Great Basin and Great Plains People:

    • Nomadic hunter-gatherers in regions from Colorado to Canada.

    • Hunted buffalo and gathered food.

    • Organized into egalitarian kinship bands, e.g., the Ute people.

  • Pacific Coast (Chumash & Chinook):

    • Permanent settlements due to abundant fish, small game, and plant life.

    • Chumash people in California built villages sustaining nearly 1,000 people and participated in regional trade networks.

    • Chinook peoples in the Pacific Northwest built extensive plank houses for families and kinship groups.

  • Iroquois People:

    • Located in the Northeast.

    • Farmers living communally in longhouses constructed from timber.

  • Mississippi River Valley Cultures (e.g., Cahokia):

    • Farmers due to the rich soil.

    • Participated in trade along waterways.

    • Cahokia: A civilization of approximately 40,000 people with a centralized government led by chieftains.

Key Takeaway

  • Native American societies were distinct, complex, and shaped by their environments.

  • Vast trading networks stretched from South America through North America.

European Arrival

Context for European Exploration

  • From the 1300s to the 1400s, European kingdoms underwent political unification, leading to stronger, centralized states governed by monarchs.

  • A wealthy upper class developed a taste for goods from Asia.

  • Muslims controlled land-based trading routes, hindering European trade.

  • Europeans sought sea-based routes for trade.

Portuguese Exploration

  • Portugal established a trading post empire around Africa and gained a foothold in the Indian Ocean trade network.

  • Employed new maritime technology and adapted old technology.

  • Maritime Technology: Having to do with the sea.

    • Updated astronomical charts and astrolabe for reckoning.

    • Smaller, faster, and nimble ships devoted to trade.

    • Borrowed technology like the Latine sail and stern post rudder for accurate navigation.

Spanish Exploration

  • Spain completed the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, fueling a desire to spread Catholic Christianity and seek economic opportunities.

  • Christopher Columbus sought sponsorship from Ferdinand and Isabella to sail west to find wealth in Asian markets.

  • In 1492, Columbus landed in the Caribbean, discovering a continent unknown to Europeans and found wealth among the inhabitants.

  • Tales of wealth in the New World led to fierce competition among European nations, like Portugal, France, and England, to explore these lands.

Columbian Exchange

  • Columbus's landing was a turning point, leading to massive ecological changes.

  • The Columbian Exchange is defined as the transfer of people, animals, plants, and diseases from the East to the West and vice versa.

    • from the Americas to Europe: potatoes, tomatoes, and maize.

    • from Europe to the Americas: wheat, rice, and soybeans.

    • from the Americas to Europe: turkeys

    • from Europe to the Americas: cattle, pigs, and horses..

    • Gold and silver were transferred from the Americas to Europe.

    • Europeans migrated to the Americas and introduced enslaved Africans.

    • Europeans brought smallpox to the Americas, decimating native populations due to lack of immunity. Syphilis was picked up by the Europeans, supposedly from the natives.

Economic and Societal Shift in Europe

  • The influx of wealth from the Americas led to a shift from feudalism to capitalism.

  • Feudalism: Peasants worked on a noble's land in exchange for protection.

  • Capitalism: An economic system based on private ownership and free exchange.

Joint Stock Companies

  • Rise of joint stock companies to fund exploration, which is a limited liability organization where investors pooled money to fund a venture.

    • Limited liability means that if a venture failed, no one suffered the consequences entirely but if it succeeded, everyone shared in the profits.

  • A different model for funding exploration than state-sponsored exploration like Spain.

Spanish Colonization

Encomienda System

  • Spain realized agriculture would generate wealth, leading to the encomienda system.

  • Spaniards forced natives to work on plantations and extract gold and silver and the natives had start escaping.

  • Natives continued to die from smallpox.

  • Slaves were imported from Africa because the Africans didn't know the Americas' geography and were less likely to escape.

  • Africans had more immunity to European diseases due to interactions with Europeans through trade networks.

Casta System

  • Spain dominated Central and South America, reordering society with the casta system.

    • Peninsulares: Spaniards born in Spain.

    • Criollos/Creoles: Spaniards born in the Americas.

    • Castas:

      • Mestizos: Spanish and Native American blood.

      • Mulatos: Spanish and African blood.

    • Africans.

    • Native Americans.

Relationship Between Europeans and Natives

  • Europeans viewed natives as exploitable for forced labor, military alliances, and Christian conversion.

  • Each group adopted practices from the other, such as natives teaching the English how to hunt and cultivate maize and the natives adopted iron tools and weapons by the English..

  • The relationship was difficult and brutal.

  • Europeans developed belief systems justifying their treatment of natives.

  • Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda argued natives were less than human and benefited from harsh labor.

  • Bartolomé de las Casas defended native humanity and persuaded the king to pass laws ending native slavery.

  • Laws ending slavery were eventually repealed due to pressure from wealthy nobles.

Justification for Exploitation

  • Europeans used the Bible to justify the exploitation of African laborers.

  • The curse of Ham was interpreted to mean black skin was a mark of Africans destined to be slaves.