New World Beginnings

  1. The Shaping of North America
  2. Continents Form
  3. 225 million years ago, a single supercontinent contained all the world’s dry land
  4. Enormous chunks of terrain began to drift away from this supercontinent. This had the following results:
  5. Opened the Atlantic and Indian Oceans
  6. Narrowed the Pacific Ocean
  7. Formed the landmasses of Eurasia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and the Americas
  8. The existence of a single original continent has been proved in part by the discovery of nearly identical species of fish that swim today in the long-separated freshwater lakes of the various continents
  9. Mountain Ranges
  10. Shifting and folding of the earth’s crust thrust up mountain ranges
  11. 350 million years ago – Appalachians
  12. 135-25 million years ago – Rockies, Sierra Nevada, Cascades
  13. Ice Age
  14. Occurred 2 million years ago
  15. Ice sheets crept from the polar regions to blanket parts of Europe, Asia, and the Americas
  16. In North America, the glaciers covered most of present-day Canada and the U.S. as far southward as Pennsylvania, Ohio, the Dakotas, and the Pacific Northwest
  17. When the glaciers retreated about 10,000 years ago, they left the North American landscape much as we know it today
  18. Melting glaciers formed the Great Lakes
  19. They drained southward through the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico
  20. Melting glaciers left the Great Salt Lake
  21. Peopling the Americas
  22. Bering Land Bridge
  23. 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 Bering Sea between Siberia and Alaska
  24. Across that bridge, probably following migratory herds of game, ventured small bands of nomadic Asian hunters
  25. Spreading Out and Surviving
  26. The original Americans eventually reached the far tip of South America
  27. By 1492, as many as 54 million people lived in the Americas
  28. Over 2,000 separate cultures arose
  29. Peru – Incas
  30. Central America – Mayans
  31. Mexico – Aztecs
  32. Main crop was maize (corn)
  33. Didn’t have horses, oxen, or even the wheel, but still managed to build large cities
  34. The Earliest Americans
  35. Corn
  36. Corn spread across the Americas from Mexico
  37. Corn began to transform nomadic hunting bands into settled agricultural villagers
  38. The Pueblo (means village) people in the Rio Grande valley constructed intricate irrigation systems to water their cornfields
  39. Population and the Complexity of Society
  40. Throughout the continent to the north and east of the land of the Pueblos, social life was less elaborately developed
  41. No dense concentrations of population or complex nation-states comparable to the Aztec empire existed in North America outside of Mexico
  42. This was one reason for the relative ease with which the European colonizers subdued the native Americans
  43. The Mound Builders of the Ohio River valley, the Mississippian culture of the lower Midwest, and the desert-dwelling Anasazi 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 1,300 AD
  44. 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 Cherokee peoples
  45. Iroquois
  46. Located in the northeastern woodlands
  47. In the 16th century, inspired by the legendary leader Hiawatha, they sustained the closest thing to the great nation-states of Mexico and Peru
  48. 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
  49. Native American Settlements
  50. Most native Americans in North America were living in small, scattered, and impermanent settlements
  51. Women tended the crops
  52. Men hunted, fished, and cleared fields for planting
  53. 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)
  54. Native Americans revered the physical world and endowed nature with spiritual properties. However, they did sometimes ignite massive forest fires to down trees for better hunting habitats, especially for deer
  55. They were so thinly spread across the continent that vast areas were virtually untouched by a human presence
  56. By 1492, there were about 4 million Native Americans in North America
  57. Indirect Discoverers of the New World
  58. Norse
  59. Scandinavia seafarers landed in present-day Newfoundland about AD 1000
  60. The area had many wild grapes, so they called it Vinland
  61. Their venture failed because they weren’t supported by a nation-state
  62. Christian Crusaders
  63. Foiled in their military assaults on the Muslims in the Holy Land from the 11th to 14th centuries, the crusaders acquired a taste for the exotic delights of Asia
  64. Goods that had been virtually unknown in Europe now were craved:
  65. Silk
  66. Drugs
  67. Perfumes
  68. Draperies
  69. Spices
  70. Sugar, a rare luxury in Europe before the crusades, was used to preserve and flavor food
  71. Wanting a New Route
  72. The above goods had to be transported enormous distances from China and India in ships or on camel
  73. By the time the goods reached Europe, they were so costly that purchasers and profits alike were limited
  74. European consumers and distributors were naturally eager to find a less expensive route
  75. Europeans Enter Africa
  76. Marco Polo
  77. An Italian adventurer returned to Europe in 1295 and began telling tales of his nearly 20-year stay in China
  78. Though he may in fact never have seen China, he must be regarded as an indirect discoverer of the New World. His book, with its descriptions of rose-tinted pearls and golden pagodas, stimulated European desires for a cheaper route to the treasures of the East
  79. Portuguese and Africa
  80. With the development of better ships, the Portuguese mariners could overcome obstacles of wind and current
  81. As a result, the Portuguese began to creep down the West African coast in the middle of the 15th century (Dark Continent)
  82. Slavery
  83. 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
  84. Especially expensive were slaves from distant places, who could not easily flee to their native villages. Slave traders also mixed tribes purposely so that it would be difficult to mount organized resistance
  85. Portugal built up their own slave trade to work the sugar plantations there and on their islands
  86. Slave trading became a big business. 40,000 Africans were carried away to the Atlantic sugar islands in the last half of the 15th century
  87. Portugal was the origin of the modern plantation system, based on large-scale commercial agriculture and exploitation of slave labor
  88. Bartholomeu Dias (1488)
  89. Wanting to find a water route to Asia, Dias rounded the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488
  90. Vasco da Gama (1498)
  91. Rounded the tip of Africa and reached India (hence Indies refers to Asia – East Indies – Indonesia; West Indies – Caribbean Sea Islands)
  92. Spain
  93. In the late 15th century, Spain became more powerful from:
  94. The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon & Isabella of Castile
  95. Expulsion of the “infidel” Muslim Moors after centuries of Christian-Islamic warfare
  96. 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
  97. Columbus Comes Upon a New World
  98. The Stage Is Set
  99. Europeans – Clamored for more and cheaper products from the lands beyond the Mediterranean
  100. Africa – Was established as a source of cheap slave labor for plantation agriculture
  101. Portuguese voyages – Demonstrated the feasibility of long-range ocean navigation
  102. Spain – Was taking shape, with unity, wealth, and power to shoulder the formidable tasks of discovery, conquest, and colonization
  103. Renaissance – In the 14th century, it nurtured an ambitious spirit of optimism and adventure
  104. Printing presses – Facilitated the spread of scientific knowledge
  105. Mariner’s compass – Possibly borrowed from the Arabs, eliminated some of the uncertainties of sea travel
  106. Christopher Columbus
  107. 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
  108. His crew was people from a mix of backgrounds (motley crew)
  109. Fearful of venturing into the oceanic unknown, the crew increasingly became mutinous
  110. On October 12, 1492, the crew sighted an island in the Bahamas
  111. He intended to find a new water route to India, but he bumped into an enormous land barrier. He felt for sure that he had skirted the rim of the “Indies” – (Asia or China) so he called the native peoples Indians
  112. Result of Columbus’ Discovery
  113. He returned with gold, encouraging further expeditions
  114. An interdependent global economic system would emerge
  115. Europe – provided the markets, capital, and technology
  116. Africa – furnished the labor
  117. New World – Offered its raw materials, especially metals and soil for sugar cane, tobacco, corn, and more
  118. When Worlds Collide
  119. Positive Results of Columbus’ Discovery
  120. New World plants, such as tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes, and potatoes eventually revolutionized:
  121. The international economy
  122. The European diet (3/5 of the crops cultivated around the globe today originated in the Americas)
  123. Fed the rapid population growth
  124. Columbus returned to Hispaniola (Dominican Republic today) with cattle, swine, and horses
  125. The horses reached the North American mainland through Mexico and in less than two centuries had spread as far as Canada
  126. North American Indian tribes like the Apaches, Sioux, and Blackfoot swiftly adopted the horse, transforming their cultures into highly mobile, wide-ranging hunter societies that roamed the grassy Great Plains in pursuit of the shaggy buffalo
  127. Negative Results of Columbus’ Discovery
  128. The Europeans also brought the germs that caused smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria
  129. During the Indians’ millennia of isolation in the Americas, most of the Old World diseases disappeared from them and so their bodies didn’t need the protective antibodies. These diseases would quickly devastate the Native Americans. 90% of the Native Americans perished
  130. Indians infected early explorers with syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that was transferred to Europe
  131. Amerigo Vespucci (1497)
  132. Italian member of a Portuguese expedition
  133. Explored South America
  134. A cartographer mistakenly thought that Vespucci had an expedition to the New World before Columbus, so he named the continent America
  135. The Spanish Conquistadores
  136. Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
  137. Spain secured its claim to Columbus’s discovery in this treaty
  138. 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
  139. Spain
  140. Became the dominant exploring and colonizing power in the 1500s
  141. Spanish conquistadores (conquerors) fanned out across the Caribbean and eventually onto the mainland of the American continents
  142. Spanish Explorers
  143. Vasco Nunez Balboa (1513)
  144. Discovered the Pacific Ocean and crossed Panama
  145. Ferdinand Magellan (1519-1522)
  146. Set out to sail around the world
  147. Started with five vessels
  148. Was killed in the Philippines
  149. One ship made it home in 1522 (first circumnavigation of the globe)
  150. Juan Ponce de Leon (1513 & 1521)
  151. Explored Florida for gold and the fountain of youth
  152. Francisco Pizarro (1532)
  153. In South America, Pizarro crushed the Incas of Peru and added a huge booty to Spanish coffers (a strongbox for holding money)
  154. Hernando de Soto (1539-1542)
  155. He discovered and crossed the Mississippi River
  156. Francisco Coronado (1540-1542)
  157. Wandered through Arizona and New Mexico in search of golden cities that turned out to be adobe pueblos
  158. Discovered the Grand Canyon and enormous herds of bison
  159. Results of Spanish Discoveries
  160. By 1600, Spain had a huge amount of silver. This resulted in:
  161. The foundation of the modern commercial banking system
  162. Increased consumer costs by as much as 500%
  163. Could have led to the growth of capitalism
  164. Spread commerce and manufacturing
  165. Paid for trade with Asia
  166. Islands of the Caribbean Sea (West Indies) served as bases for the Spanish exploration of mainland America (supplies could be stored and men/horses could be rested)
  167. 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
  168. The Conquest of Mexico
  169. Hernan Cortes (1519)
  170. Set sail from Cuba to Mexico with:
  171. 16 horses
  172. Many guns
  173. Several hundred men
  174. 11 ships
  175. Along the way, he managed to pick up two interpreters
  176. He heard from the interpreters about gold and other wealth stored up in the legendary Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan
  177. He also learned of problems the Aztec empire was having with peoples who were failing to pay tribute to them
  178. The Aztec chieftain Moctezuma sent ambassadors bearing fabulous gifts to welcome the Spaniards. They only wetted the conquistadors’ appetites
  179. 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
  180. The size (10 square miles) and number of inhabitants (300,000) surprised the Spaniards. It rivaled the size of any city in Europe and rose from an island in the center of a lake, surrounded by floating gardens of extraordinary beauty
  181. At first welcomed, eventually, the Spanish thirsted too much for gold and attacked in June 1520
  182. Cortes then laid siege to the city and it fell in August 1521, the same year a smallpox epidemic swept through the area
  183. The population of Mexico shrank from 20 million to 2 million in less than a century
  184. Other Results of Spanish in the Mexico
  185. Spanish brought:
  186. Crops
  187. Animals
  188. Language
  189. Laws
  190. Customs
  191. Religion
  192. Intermarried with the surviving Indians, creating a distinctive culture of mestizos, people of mixed Indian and European heritage
  193. The Spread of Spanish America
  194. Spain’s Colonial Empire
  195. Half a century after Columbus’s landfall, hundreds of Spanish cities and towns flourished in the Americas
  196. They established cathedrals, printing presses, and universities, including two founded in Mexico in 1551, 85 years before Harvard
  197. Other Powers Send Explorers
  198. Other powers were already exploring the area
  199. John Cabot (in 1497-98 from England)
  200. Explored the northeastern coast of North America
  201. Giovanni da Verrazano (in 1524 from France)
  202. Probed the eastern seaboard
  203. Jacques Cartier (in 1534 from France)
  204. Journeyed hundreds of miles up the St.