Exploration & Colonization in the Americas, Africa, and Europe: Beginnings to the 1400s

CHAPTER 1:BEGINNINGS TO 1763 EXPLORATION & THE COLONIAL ERA

THE AMERICAS, WEST AFRICA, AND EUROPE – SECTION 1 • Ancient Cultures arrived about 22,000 years ago via a land bridge • Earliest settlers were hunters • Agriculture thrived starting about 5,000 years ago • Some Natives remained Nomadic • Maya, Aztec, and Inca societies flourished

Controversial evidence suggests the earliest inhabitants came in crude boats, most came by land.The Ice Age caused sea levels to drop as most of the water was frozen. A land bridge was formed between Siberia and Alaska in the Bering Sea.

followed migratory birds they hunted into N. America. • ice melted and the bridge was covered with water • People continued to move southward until they hit the tip of S. America. • Prominent civilizations • The Mayans in Central America • Incas in Peru • Aztecs in Mexico.

NATIVE AMERICAS IN 1400S • Native American societies in North America were as varied as the geography • The Pueblo (SW) and Iroquois (NE) were two famous tribes • Most of the tribes in America had common religious views, trade patterns & values

Agriculture showed how sophisticated the Native Americans were. Most of the crops were corn. • 5000 B.C. corn became staple crop in Mexico • foundation to the Aztec and Incan Empires • hunters-gatherers to settled people. • 1200 B.C. - • Corn planting reached the present-day American Southwest resulting in a powerful Pueblo culture. • irrigation system using the Rio Grande Valley. • They lived in multi-storied buildings when the Spanish explorers arrived.

The Iroquois civilization equivalent to the Incas and Aztecs • Iroquois were inspired by Hiawatha. • political and organizational skill that would establish military alliances with neighbors, even Europeans. • They weren’t massive and they were not always organized, most of them scattered about. • Authority to female figures

A String of Green Bean History • The common bean was cultivated in ancient Mesoamerica as early as 8,000 years ago? • Beans were even found in a “mummy covering” of a woman in a Peruvian cemetery dating back to pre-Inca civilization.

The Three Sisters • Native Americans figured out that if they planted beans, corn and squash together, the plants did better than growing alone.

Corn is the oldest sister. She stands tall in the center. • Squash is the next sister. She grows over the mound. With her leaves, she protects her sisters from weeds and shades the soil from the sun keeping it cool and moist. • Beans are the third sister. She climbs through squash and then up corn to bind all together as she reaches for the sun.

WEST AFRICAN SOCIETIES OF THE 1400S • Long established, sophisticated societies existed in Western Africa • The Kingdom of Songhai controlled trans-Sahara trade • Kingdom of Benin and Kongo were two famous dynasties • Village and family bonds formed the basis of life

EUROPEAN SOCIETIES OF THE 1400S • European villages had a long tradition of social hierarchy – complete with nobles, merchants & peasants • Christianity played a critical role – religious leaders had power Martin Luther

Christianity Shapes Europe • Christianity and Islam came into conflict. • Christian armies tried to push Muslims out of the Holy Land. • This became known as the Crusades. • Even after two centuries of fighting the Crusades were not successful.

The Reformation

Two Important Consequences of the Crusades: • Opened up Asian trade routes . . . • Weakened the power of European nobles . . .

The Reformation • The Reformation in the early 1500s led to a split in the church • Those who supported the Reformation were called Protestants.

During the 1400’s four major nations were taking shape in Europe • Portugal • Spain • France • England

The Renaissance • A cultural awakening in Europe • The 14th century revival of classical art, architecture, literature and learning that originated in Italy and spread throughout Europe

The Printing Press helped spread the ideas of the Renaissance

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION • The countries of Portugal, Spain, France and England explored in the late 1400s for God, Gold, and Glory • Improved mapmaking, better sailboats, compasses, astrolabes, Prince Henry– all led to better exploration

Not a Space Race?

SPANISH NORTH AMERICA – SECTION 2 • Columbus crosses the Atlantic in October of 1492 and lands in San Salvador (“Holy Savior”) • He spent about 3 months exploring Islands in the Bahamas • Europeans used advanced weapons to force locals into labor: Plantation System • Disease devastated Native population

IMPACT OF COLUMBUS • On Africans- Before slave trade ended in the 1800s, 10 million Africans taken • On Europeans- Biggest voluntary migration in world history • On Trade-Columbian Exchange meant new goods & products flowed between continents

The Columbian Biological Exchange | This page was last updated on 12/3/98. | Return to History 111 Supplements

The Columbian Biological Exchange

SPAIN CLAIMS A NEW EMPIRE • Spanish explorers (Conquistadors) seized much of the Americas • Cortes conquered the Aztecs in Mexico • Pizzaro conquered the Incas in Peru • Exploitation of local populations was significant – Encomienda System

The encomienda is a labor system that was employed mainly by the Spanish crown during the colonization of the Americas and the Philippines.

In the encomienda, the crown granted a person a specified number of natives for whom they were to take responsibility. The receiver of the grant was to protect the natives from warring tribes and to instruct them in the Spanish language and in the Catholic faith. In return, they could exact tribute from the natives in the form of labor, gold or other products, such as in corn, wheat or chickens.

SPAIN EXPLORES SOUTHWEST AND WESTERN AMERICA • Mid-1500s, Spain explored much of what is today the SW & West of the USA • New Mexico settled by Spanish priest who converted Natives (Pueblos) • Texas area had 30 expeditions in 16th century • California was site of numerous missions California Missions

The Spanish missions in California comprise a series of religious and military outposts established by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order between 1769 and 1823 to spread the Christianfaith among the local Native Americans.

The missions represented the first major effort by Europeans to colonize the Pacific Coast region, and gave Spain a valuable toehold in the frontier land. The settlers introduced European livestock, fruits, vegetables, cattle, horses and ranching into the California region; however, the Spanish occupation of California also brought with it serious negative consequences to the Native American populations with whom the missionaries came in contact.

The government of Mexico shut down the missions in the 1830s. In the end, the mission had mixed results in its objective to convert, educate, and "civilize" the indigenous population and transforming the natives into Spanish colonial citizens.

What are the negative outcomes of the mission system? • Page 20

Why was Pope punished. • Page 20

Where is Spain’s influence most notable in the U.S. today? • Page 20

EARLY BRITISH COLONIES – SECTION 3 • Beginning in the early 1600s, the English established colonies along the eastern coast of North America • 1607: Jamestown was first to be settled • John Smith led this group of settlers • Colony struggled at first, then was saved by Tobacco crop

What is an indentured servant? • refers to the historical practice of contracting to work for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of indenture.

First enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619.

What was the conflict about in Virginia?

Nathaniel Bacon • Bacon’s Rebellion

PURITANS CREATE A “NEW ENGLAND” • The 16th century Reformation caused a split in the Christian Church; Catholics and Protestants • One extreme group of Protestant reformers – the Puritans sought to cleanse or “purify” their religion of all traces of Catholicism PURITAN, OR “PILGRIM”

What was the goal of the Puritans?

Exploration & Colonization in the Americas, Africa, and Europe: Beginnings to the 1400s