Shifting and folding of the earth s crust thrust up mountain ranges years ago Appalachians million years ago,,

Transcription

1 Chapter 1 Meeting of Cultures The Shaping of North America Mountain Ranges Shifting and folding of the earth s crust thrust up mountain ranges years ago Appalachians million years ago,, Ice Age Occurred years ago Ice sheets crept from the polar regions to blanket parts of Europe, Asia, and the Americas When the glaciers retreated about years ago, they left the North American landscape much as we know it today Melting glaciers formed the Great Lakes They drained southward through the Mississippi River into the Melting glaciers left the Great Salt Lake Peopling the Americas Bering Land Bridge As the Ice Age was ending and the sea level dropped, it exposed a land bridge connecting Eurasia with North America in the area of the present-day between Siberia and Alaska Across that bridge, probably following migratory herds of game, ventured small bands of nomadic hunters Spreading Out and Surviving The original Americans eventually reached the far tip of By 1492, as many as 54 million people lived in the Americas Over 2,000 separate cultures arose Peru Central America Mexico Main crop was Didn t have horses, oxen, or even the wheel, but still managed to build large cities The Earliest Americans Corn 1

2 Corn spread across the Americas from Mexico Corn began to transform into settled agricultural villagers The Pueblo (means village) people in the Rio Grande valley constructed intricate irrigation systems to water their cornfields Population and the Complexity of Society No dense concentrations of population or complex nation-states comparable to the Aztec empire existed in North America outside of Mexico This was one reason for the relative ease with which the European colonizers subdued the native Americans The of the Ohio River valley, the Mississippian culture of the lower Midwest, and the desert-dwelling peoples of the Southwest did sustain some large settlements after the incorporation of corn planting around 1,000 AD. However, all fell (possibly due to drought) by AD The cultivation of maize, beans, and squash reached the southeastern Atlantic seaboard region of North America about 1,000 AD. This allowed some of the highest population densities on the continent, among them the Creek, Choctaw, and peoples A. Iroquois Located in the northeastern woodlands In the 16 th century, inspired by the legendary leader Hiawatha, they sustained the closest thing to the great nation-states of Mexico and Peru The Iroquois Confederacy developed the political and organizational skills to sustain a military alliance that menaced its neighbors, Native Americans, and Europeans alike, for well over a century Native American Settlements Most native Americans in North America were living in small, scattered, and impermanent settlements Women tended the crops Men hunted, fished, and cleared fields for planting This pattern of life frequently conferred substantial authority on women (power and possessions passed down the female side of the family line in many Indian cultures) Native Americans revered the physical world and endowed nature with spiritual properties They were so thinly spread across the continent that vast areas were virtually untouched by a human presence By 1492, there were about 4 million Native Americans in North America Indirect Discoverers of the New World History of the Americas Norse 2

3 15 Scandinavia seafarers landed in present-day Newfoundland about AD 1000 The area had many wild grapes, so they called it Vinland Their venture failed because they weren t supported by a nation-state Christian Crusaders Foiled in their military assaults on the Muslims in the Holy Land from the 11 th to 14 th centuries, the crusaders acquired a taste for the exotic delights of Asia Goods that had been virtually unknown in Europe now were craved: 1. Silk 2. Drugs 3. Perfumes 4. Draperies 5. Spices a. Sugar, a rare luxury in Europe before the crusades, was used to preserve and flavor food 1. Wanting a New Route The above goods had to be transported enormous distances from China and India in ships or on camel By the time the goods reached Europe, they were so costly that purchasers and profits alike were limited European consumers and distributors were naturally eager to find a less expensive route Europeans Enter Africa Marco Polo An Italian adventurer returned to Europe in 1295 and began telling tales of his nearly 20-year stay in China Portuguese and Africa With the development of better ships, the Portuguese mariners could overcome obstacles of wind and current As a result, the Portuguese began to creep down the West African coast in the middle of the 15 th century (Dark Continent) Beginning of Slavery for Europeans They set up trading posts along the African shore for the purchase of gold and slaves. Arabs and Africans had traded slaves centuries before the Europeans had arrived Slave trading became a big business. 40,000 Africans were carried away to the Atlantic sugar islands in the last half of the 15 th century Portugal was the origin of the modern plantation system, based on large-scale commercial agriculture and exploitation of slave labor Bartholomeu Dias (1488) 3

4 Wanting to find a water route to Asia, Dias rounded the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488 Vasco da Gama (1498) Rounded the tip of Africa and reached India (hence Indies refers to Asia East Indies Indonesia; West Indies Caribbean Sea Islands) Spain In the late 15 th century, Spain became more powerful from: The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon & Isabella of Castile Expulsion of the infidel Muslim Moors after centuries of Christian-Islamic warfare As a result of their new strength, the Spaniards were eager to outdo their Portuguese rivals. Since Portugal controlled the waterways around Africa, Spain looked west Columbus Comes Upon a New World The Stage Is Set Europeans Clamored for more and cheaper products from the lands beyond the Mediterranean Africa Was established as a source of cheap slave labor for plantation agriculture Portuguese voyages Demonstrated the feasibility of long-range ocean navigation Spain Was taking shape, with unity, wealth, and power to shoulder the formidable tasks of discovery, conquest, and colonization Renaissance In the 14 th century, it nurtured an ambitious spirit of optimism and adventure Printing presses Facilitated the spread of scientific knowledge Mariner s compass Possibly borrowed from the Arabs, eliminated some of the uncertainties of sea travel Christopher Columbus Italian seafarer who persuaded the Spanish monarchs to outfit him with three tiny ships (Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria). He intended to find a water route to Asia On October 12, 1492, the crew sighted an island in the Bahamas He felt for sure that he had skirted the rim of the Indies (Asia or China) so he called the native peoples Indians When Worlds Collide Positive Results of Columbus Discovery New World plants, such as tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes, and potatoes eventually revolutionized: The international economy The European diet (3/5 of the crops cultivated around the globe today originated in the Americas) Fed the rapid population growth Columbus returned to Hispaniola (Dominican Republic today) with cattle, swine, and horses North American Indian tribes like the Apaches, Sioux, and Blackfoot swiftly adopted the horse 4

5 Negative Results of Columbus Discovery The Europeans also brought the germs that caused smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria These diseases would quickly devastate the Native Americans. 90% of the Native Americans perished Indians infected early explorers with syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that was transferred to Europe Amerigo Vespucci (1497) Italian member of a Portuguese expedition Explored South America A cartographer mistakenly thought that Vespucci had an expedition to the New World before Columbus, so he named the continent America The Spanish Conquistadores Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) Spain secured its claim to Columbus s discovery in this treaty I It created a Papal Line of Demarcation, which divided with Portugal the lands of the New World east for Portugal and west for Spain. Most went to Spain, but Portugal received compensating territory in Africa, Asia, and what would become Brazil Spain Became the dominant exploring and colonizing power in the 1500s Spanish Explorers Vasco Nunez Balboa (1513) Discovered the Pacific Ocean and crossed Panama Ferdinand Magellan ( ) Set out to sail around the world (died in Philippines) Out of 5 only 1 ship made it home in 1522 first circumnavigation of the globe Juan Ponce de Leon (1513 & 1521) Explored Florida for gold and the fountain of youth Francisco Pizarro (1532) In South America, Pizarro crushed the Incas of Peru and added a huge booty to Spanish coffers Spanish Explorers Hernando de Soto ( ) He discovered and crossed the Mississippi River Francisco Coronado ( ) Wandered through Arizona and New Mexico in search of golden cities 36 Results of Spanish Discoveries By 1600, Spain had a huge amount of silver. This resulted in: The foundation of the modern commercial banking system Spread commerce and manufacturing 5

6 Paid for trade with Asia Islands of the Caribbean Sea (West Indies) served as bases for the Spanish exploration of mainland America The West Indies also served as a place to test the encomienda system. It allowed the government to give Indians to certain colonists in return for the promise to try to Christianize them. It was actually slavery. With the death of Native American slaves, Spaniards began importing African slaves The Conquest of Mexico Hernan Cortes (1519) Set sail from Cuba to Mexico with: 16 horses Many guns Several hundred men 11 ships He heard from the interpreters about gold and other wealth stored up in the legendary Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan Hernan Cortes (1519) Superstitious Moctezuma believed that Cortes was the god Quetzalcoatl, whose return from the eastern sea was predicted in Aztec legends. As a result, he allowed the conquistadors to approach his capital unopposed Cortes then laid siege to the city and it fell in August 1521, the same year a smallpox epidemic swept through the area The population of Mexico shrank from 20 million to 2 million in less than a century II The Planting of English America Chapter 2 Cabot voyage in 1497 claimed Newfoundland discovered only cod (Grand Banks) 42 What encouraged exploration mid-century changes in the status quo which encouraged exploration Spanish threat to the European balance of power and the break with the Pope increased sense of English rise of a commercial middle class and available venture capital evolution of theory a nation s power is measured by its wealth there is a amount of wealth in the world establishment of a balance of trade - the importance of colonies colonies exist for the good of the mother country 6

7 A. source of raw materials markets for manufactured goods depository for over population Anti-Spanish acts Royal encouragement of raids against Spanish shipping (Hawkins and Drake) Drake first Englishman to circumnavigate the world returned a profit of $9 million -263,000 pounds Elizabeth s share - profit Anti-Spanish acts Defeat of the Spain attempting to invade 130 ships sailors - 17,000 man invasion army week long engagement one half the Spanish fleet was destroyed (part by Britain - part by hurricane) English had better ships and better guns - sinking rather than boarding significance marks the end of Spanish and beginning of English naval domination marks a changing power structure in Europe elimination of threat encourages the establishment of colonies I MOTIVES FOR ENGLISH COLONIZATION England on the Eve of Empire Reasons To Explore Population in England swelled from 3 million in 1550 to 4 million in 1600 Landlords were enclosing croplands for sheep grazing Thousands of unemployed farmers and the homeless ventured to the New World To escape persecution by Protestants of Roman Catholics Only eldest sons were eligible to inherit landed estates, so many younger sons went to the New World (primogeniture) Initial attempts Sir Humphrey established trading post on the Penobscot River - raiding station St. Johns, Newfoundland - ordered all fishermen under the Queen s control 7

8 abandons attempt after losing a ship - Gilbert on the Squirrel lost at sea Sir inherits charter women and men settled on Roanoke Island Drake sent to check on them - takes them home - actually 15 remain men - 7 women - 11 children settle on Roanoke Island lacked support because of lost colony 8