Chapter 1: New World Beginnings 33,000 B.C. – A.D. 1769

1. Chapter 1:New World Beginnings33,000 B.C. – A.D. 1769

2. The Shaping of North America • Recorded history began 6,000 years ago. • The theory of “Pangaea” exists suggesting that the continents were once nestled together into one mega-continent. The continents then spread out as drifting islands. • Geologic forces of continental plates created the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains. • The Great Ice Age thrust down over North America and scoured the present day American Midwest

3. Pangaea

4. Peopling the Americas • How did migrants get to North America? • Bering Strait (between Siberia and Alaska) • “Follow that food” • Finally reached the far tip of South America (15,000 miles from Siberia) • 1492, Europeans finally reached North America, perhaps 54 million people inhabited the two American continents (various cultures and agricultural practices)

5. The Earliest Americans • Many peoples emerged… • Those groups that traversed the land bridge spread across North, Central, and South America. • Countless tribes emerged with an estimated 2,000 languages. Notably… • Incas – Peru, with elaborate network of roads and bridges linking their empire. • Mayas – Yucatan Peninsula, with their step pyramids. • Aztecs – Mexico, with step pyramids and huge sacrifices of conquered peoples

6. The Earliest Americans • Development of corn or “maize” around 5,000 B.C. in Mexico was revolutionary in that… • Then, people didn’t have to be hunter-gatherers, they could settle down and be farmers. • This fact gave rise to towns and then cities. • Corn arrived in the present day U.S. around 1,200 B.C. • Pueblo Indians • The Pueblos were the 1st American corn growers. • They lived in adobe houses (dried mud) and pueblos (“villages” in Spanish). Pueblos are villages of cubicle shaped adobe houses, stacked one on top the other and often beneath cliffs. • They had elaborate irrigation systems to draw water away from rivers to grown corn.

8. Iroquois Confederation • Hiawatha was the legendary leader of the group. • The Iroquois Confederation was a group of 5 tribes in New York state. • They were matrilineal as authority and possessions passed down through the female line. • Each tribe kept their independence, but met occasionally to discuss matters of common interest, like war/defense. • Usually, Indians were scattered and separated (and thus weak).

9. Main differences between Europeans and Native Americans • Native Americans felt no man owned the land, the tribe died. (Europeans liked private property) • Indians felt nature was mixed with many spirits. (Europeans were Christian and monotheistic) • Indians felt nature was sacred. (Europeans believed nature and land was given to man by God in Genesis to be subdued and put to use). • Indians had little or no concept or interest in money. (Europeans loved money or gold)

10. Indirect Discoverers of the New World • The 1st Europeans to come to America were the Norse (Vikings from Norway). • Around 1,000 A.D., the Vikings landed, led by Erik the Red and Leif Erikson. • They landed in “Newfoundland” or “Vinland” (due to all of the vines).

11. Europeans Enter Africa • Marco Polo traveled to China and stirred up a storm of European interest. (Spices) • Europe initiated travels down to Africa to try to find a new route to China • Portugal – first to reach Africa (set up sailing schools to try to find better routes to the “Spice Islands”

13. Slave Trade Begins • African Slaves were captured and brought back to Portugal to work on sugar cane plantations. • Spain saw the success and began using slaves

14. Columbus stumbles Upon the New World • Christopher Columbus – Italian seafarer persuaded Spanish monarchs to outfit him with three ships – October 12, 1492 – the crew sited the Bahamas = New World. • Thought he hit the West Indies, thus calling its inhabitants “INDIANS”

15. This spawned the following system… 1. Europe would provide the market, capital, technology. 2. Africa would provide the labor. • The New World would provide the raw materials of gold, soil, and lumber Old World vs. New World Plants, food, animals and disease were exchanged Old provides • Horses, cows, pigs • Wheat, Sugar, Rice, Coffee • Smallpox, measles, bubonic plague (up to 90% of pre-Columbus Indians died from diseases from the Old World) New Provides • Corn, Chocolate, Tomatoes • Gold and Silver • Syphilis

16. Spanish Conquistadores1519-1540 • Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) • Spain and Portugal fought over the New World The Pope drew a line that split the land (*)Portugal got everything EAST of the line (*)Spain got everything WEST of the line Spanish Conquistador In the service to God, and gold, the Spanish Conquistadors (conquerors) fanned out across the Caribbean and eventually into the mainland / gathered by only 10,000 men ( Motives behind becoming a conquistador? • Getting a royal titles by bringing people under the Spanish flag • Favorable to God (spreading Christianity) • To escape debt and find riches (lust for gold) “We came here to serve God and the king, and also to get rich”

17. Famous Conquistadors • Vasco Balboa – “discovered” the Pacific Ocean across the isthmus of Panama. • Ferdinand Magellan – circumnavigated the globe (he was the first to do so). Killed by an Indian – crew sailed his ship home • Ponce de Leon – touches and names Florida looking for legendary “Fountain of Youth”. • Hernando Cortes – enters Florida, travels up into present day Southeastern U.S., dies and is “buried” in Mississippi River, • Francisco Pizarro – conquers Incan Empire of Peru and begins shipping tons of gold/silver back to Spain. This huge influx of precious metals made European prices skyrocket (inflation). • Francisco Coronado – ventured into current Southwest U.S. looking for legendary Cibola, city of gold. He found the Pueblo Indians

18. Encomienda • A system that allows the Spanish government to “commend” or give the power to conquistadors the right to enslave Indians. • Defense: Eventually will Christianize the N.A. • “A moral pestilence invented by Satan” • Bartolome de la Casas

19. Spanish Misconception “Black Legend” The Black Legend was the notion that Spaniards only brought bad things (murder, disease, slavery); though true, they also brought good things such as law systems, architecture, Christianity, language, and civilization

20. Essay • Spanish Conquistadors: Heroes or Murders You must analyze the vision of the Spanish Conquistador. Defend the Spanish Conquistadors as heroes or murderers. Appraise their levels of success and downfalls. Make an effort to portray the goals and myths of the Spanish Conquistador and how they pirated the lifestyle of the Indians AND their overall experiences p. 16-23 (P.A.M.) Length – ?