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Objective: Summary of Origins and Lifestyles of Early Americans

HW: Read Ch 1 sections 4 and 5

http://crh.choate.edu/english/salot/Young%20Omahaw.jpg

“Young Omahaw, War Eagle..." by Charles Bird King  1821

Essential Questions

• What factors pushed forward the Age of Exploration in Europe?

• What conclusions can be made about the Native American societies that existed before Columbus’ journey?

Europe Looks Westward

• Why did Europeans begin to travel Westward?

• European Population Growth• By the 15th century, they had finally recovered from the bubonic plague

• Strong Monarchs

• Sea route to Asia

• Portuguese Exploration• Prince Henry the Navigator• Bartholomeu Dias• Vasco de Gama

Christopher Columbus• Believed he could reach Asia by sailing West

• 1492 – the Spanish government invested in him

• Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria

• Columbus took 3 total trips across the Atlantic, initially landing in the Bahamas

• Hispaniola was a temporary colony

• Lands were eventually names after a Florentine merchant, Amerigo Vespucci

• 1513 – Vasco de Balboa

• 1519-1522 – Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition was the first circumnavigation of the world.

• Columbus was driven, not by the love of discovery, but by the lust for profit: "Gold is the best thing in the world, it can even send souls to paradise", he declared, while Cortes went further: "We Spaniards suffer from a sickness of the heart whose only cure is gold". (Engels, op cit).

• "Following Columbus' report, the Council of Castille de cided to take possession of a country whose inhabitants were quite unable to defend themselves. The pious project of mak ing converts to Christianity sanctified its injustice. But the hope of finding treasure was the real motive behind the en terprise ... All the Spaniards' other enterprises in the New World, after Columbus, seem to have had the same motive. This was the sacrilegious thirst for gold ..." (Adam Smith).

Treaty of Tordesillas

The Routehttp://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~cac02m/ChristopherColumusTask2.htm

The Spanish Empire

• Began to think of the New World as a unique opportunity

• 1518 – Hernando Cortes led an expedition of 600 men on the Aztecs and their leader Montezuma

• Unsuccessful attack, but unknowingly spread smallpox to the Natives

• Cortes and Pizzaro established themselves as some of the most ruthless conquistadores

The Great Temple at TenochtitlánAt the height of Aztec-Toltec civilization in central Mexico, which coincided with the arrival of Cortés and his Spanish soldiers in 1519, this capital city had a dense population of over 300,000, more than any European city. Built on marshy lowlands and linked to the mainland by broad causeways, it had great public works and pyramids to the sun and moon that were connected by an elaborate irrigation system. From this metropolis, priests, warriors, and rulers held absolute authority over hundreds of thousands of people in the countryside. (American Museum of Natural History #32659)

The Great Temple at Tenochtitlán

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

• America was initially exploited for gold and silver

• Eventually colonization and missionaries began to travel to America to spread their religious influence, especially the Catholic church.

• By the late 1500s, Spain controlled the Caribbean islands, Mexico and southern North America.

The Spanish Empire

Northern Outposts

• 1565 – St. Augustine – first permanent settlement in the United States

• 1609 – Spanish founded Santa Fe

• There was constant conflict between the European settlers/missionaries and Natives in Southwest united States

• 1750 – Europeans had adapted to the differences in in religion and culture and began to live and work together.

Biological and Cultural Exchanges

• Millions of natives died from exposure to European diseases• Worse than the Black Death in some areas• Seen as a sign from God by some Europeans

• Deliberate Subjugation and Extermination

• Europeans introduced the New World to new crops, domestic livestock and the horse

•COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE!!

The Columbian Biological ExchangeForms of Biological Life Going From: Old World to New World: New World to Old World:

Diseases: Smallpox MeaslesChicken PoxMalariaYellow FeverInfluenzaThe Common Cold

Syphilis

Animals: Horses CattlePigsSheepGoatsChickens

TurkeysLlamasAlpacasGuinea Pigs

Plants: Rice WheatBarleyOatsCoffeeSugarcaneBananasMelonsOlivesDandelionsDaisiesCloverRagweedKentucky Bluegrass

Corn (Maize)Potatoes (White & Sweet Varieties)Beans (Snap, Kidney, & Lima Varieties)TobaccoPeanutsSquashPeppersTomatoesPumpkinsPineapplesCacao (Source of Chocolate)Chicle (Source of Chewing Gum)PapayasManioc (Tapioca)GuavasAvocados

| This page was last updated on 12/3/98. | Return to History 111 Supplements | Site Map |

Dr. Harold D. Tallant, Department of History, Georgetown College400 East College Street, Georgetown, KY 40324, (502) 863-8075

E-mail: htallant@georgetowncollege.edu.

• Europeans learned farming techniques from the Natives and especially invested in corn.

• Languages and people became interspersed. This gave rise to the number of mestizos or mixed race inhabitants

• Europeans forced Natives into labor and paid them very little. 1502 – first slaves were introduced to the New World.

CIVILIZATION DATES LOCATION ACHIEVEMENT

OLMEC  C. 1200 BC  Gulf Coast of Mexico

 Stone Sculptures, stone buildings

MAYA  250-900 AD  Yucatan Peninsula(Guatemala)

 Astronomy, stone Temples (365 steps)

AZTEC  1200-1520 AD  Mexico  engineering (Tenochtitlan)farming

ANASAZI/HOHOKAM  300 BC-

1400 AD

 American Southwest

 Pueblos (cliff dwellings)

MISSISSIPPIAN  800 BC-

1500 AD

 East of Mississippi River

 Mound Builders (Cahokia) Copper ornaments