Age of Imperialism

Do Now

• What do you think Imperialism means? List as many things as you can

Background

• Renaissance gives way to conflict between Catholics and Protestants.

• Europe is once again overcrowded• Technological advances make it possible to

“spread out” and gain wealth

Where do Europeans spread out to?

Imperialism

• Video

Do Now

Define Imperialism

Agenda

• Do Now• Prayer• What motivated imperialism

EQ: What motivated Imperialism

Natural Resources

• As you know European countries went to Africa in search of resources this included the natural resources of the land but also people…

Middle Passage

• Is a phrase referring to the transportation of slaves from Africa to the Americas

• The travel across the Atlantic was brutal, Africans were brutalized on the way, many were raped, others committed suicide to avoid the brutality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFocXoWsqSs

Why did all of this happen?

• Such atrocities as the slave trade and the Middle Passage were justified by claiming that Africans and the Indigenous of the Americas were less than human and therefore not entitled to be treated as such…

Columbus’ Journal

They are all of a good size and stature, and handsomely formed. I saw some with scars of wounds upon their bodies, and demanded by signs the of them; they answered me in the same way, that there came people from the other islands in the neighborhood who endeavored to make prisoners of them, and they defended themselves. I thought then, and still believe, that these were from the continent. It appears to me, that the people are ingenious, and would be good servants and I am of opinion that they would very readily become Christians, as they appear to have no religion.

Mercantilism

The reason for the slave trade and imperialism altogether is economic. Just like why we fight wars today: the need for resources ( oil, minerals, people)

Mercantilism is an economic system that came before capitalism and just like capitalism it demands raw materials and a market for goods.

Africa and the Americas provided the raw materials and wealthy Europeans provided the markets (think founding fathers).

Life in these places

• AfricaSalt, gold, and slaves were all considered sources of power and wealth. Women played a key role in farming but gender roles were clearly defined with women doing most of the cooking and rearing of children (raising of the kids). story telling was hugely important- oral tradition- griot

Aztecs

Is the word used for a group of peoples in Central Mexico, but really there wasn't any one people group that was "Aztec".

The Mexica people were at the heart of the empire, but there were many other cultures that formed the civilization that the Spanish were to discover.

Aztec Religion

Ancient Aztec religion was focused on how the gods, humans and nature were interconnected. There was a strong emphasis on the worship of Huitzilopochtli. The military conquest and ritual sacrifices were all related, and in a great part focused on helping Huitzilopochtli keep the sun strong so that disaster could be averted every 52 years.

Mayans

• The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Originating in the Yucatán around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras. Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing

Mayan Religion

• Mayan religion was characterized by the worship of nature gods (especially the gods of sun, rain and corn), a priestly class, the importance of astronomy and astrology, rituals of human sacrifice, and the building of elaborate pyramidical temples.

• Some aspects of Mayan religion survive today among the Mayan Indians of Mexico and Central America, who practice a combination of traditional religion and Roman Catholicism.

Chichen Itza

Mayans and Aztecs

Mayans and Aztecs

• Both shared complex mathematical and calendar systems.

Ticket Out

Develop 2 critical thinking questions regarding imperialism.