New World Beginnings

1. New World Beginnings American Pageant: Chapter One

2. The Shaping and Peopling of North America • Single supercontinent to North America over millions of years ago • Ice age until about 10,000 years ago • Most original inhabitants came by an exposed land bridge connecting Eurasia with North America between present day Siberia and Alaska • Aztecs and Mayans are descendants of these people

3. The Earliest Americans • Aztecs and Incas emerged once their ancestors developed corn • Transformed hunter-gatherers into farmers • Pueblos had “discovered” corn by 1200 B.C. and created irrigation systems • Other Native American people thrived for a time before declining by about A.D. 1300

4. Hopewell Mound, Ohio Valley

5. Motivation • Christian crusaders from Europe wanted to evict the Muslims from the Holy Land of Jerusalem • Developed a taste of Asia, craving silk, medicines, perfumes, draperies, and spices (especially sugar) • Muslims in the middle charged heavy tolls for traveling routes • Eager to find a less expensive route to Asia

6. European Exploration • The Three Gs • God • Glory • Gold • The Portuguese were the first to sail along the coast of West Africa • Danger scared off others • Portuguese set up trading posts for gold and slaves • Slave trade was nothing new to Africa • Plantation system began with large Portuguese sugar plantations

7. Columbus and the New World • Renaissance mindset • Italian Columbus convinces Spanish monarchs to supply him for journey west • October 12, 1492: Sight of Bahamas • Called native people Indians because that was what he thought he had found

9. First Sighting of Tenochtitlan by Diaz del Castillo We came to a broad causeway and continued our march towards Iztapalapa. And when we saw all those cities and villages built in the water, and other great towns on dry land, and that straight and level causeway leading to Mexico, we were astounded. These great towns and cues [pyramids] and buildings rising from the water, all made of stone, seemed like an enchanted vision from the tale of Amadis. Indeed, some of our soldiers asked whether it was not all a dream. It is not surprising therefore that I should write in this vein. It was all so wonderful that I do not know how to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed before. When we arrived near Iztapalapa we beheld the splendor of the other Caciques [chiefs or nobles] who came out to meet us, the lord of that city whose name was Cuitlahuac, and the lord of Culuacan, both of them close relations of Montezuma. And when we entered the city of Iztapalapa, the sight of the places in which they lodged us! They were very spacious and well built of magnificent stone, cedar wood, and the wood of other sweet-smelling trees, with great rooms and courts which were wonderful sights and all covered with awnings of woven cotton. When we had taken a good look at all of this, we went to the orchard and garden, which was a marvelous place both to see and walk in. I was never tired of noticing the diversity of trees and the various scents given off by each, and the paths choked with roses and other flowers, and the many local fruit trees and rose bushes, and the pond of fresh water. Another remarkable thing was that large canoes could come into the garden from the lake, through a channel they had cut, and their crews did not have to disembark. Everything was shining with lime and decorated with different kinds of stonework and paintings which were a marvel to gaze on. Then there were birds of many breeds and varieties which came to the pond. I say again that I stood looking at it, and thought that no land like it would ever be discovered in the whole world, because at this time Peru was neither known nor thought of. But today all that I then saw is overthrown and destroyed; nothing is left standing.

10. The Spanish in Mexico • Aztec population initially revered Cortes and the conquistadores because they thought Cortes was Quetzalcoatl (Serpent God) • Spanish destroyed Tenochtitlan to build a Christian city over it

11. Spanish Conquistadores The Spanish and Portuguese divided the New World with the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) Juan Ponce de Leon explored Florida, Vasco Nunez Balboa explored the Pacific, and Magellan sailed around South America to the Phillippines Encomienda system created to convert natives to Christianity (in reality it was slavery)

12. Treaty of Tordesillas

13. When Worlds Collide • Europeans brought technology, animals, and foods to the Americas • Horses revolutionized the lifestyles of North American Indian tribes in the Southwest • Disease wiped out entire populations of native people across the New World

14. Pre-Columbian figure with lesions A male effigy dating from 200-800 C.E., found in a burial site in Nayarit, Mexico.