Exploring the Americas

1. Exploring the Americas 1400-1625

2. Exploring the Americas • Essential Question • What events and technological advances paved the way for European Exploration?

3. The Renaissance and the Growth of Ideas • The Renaissance “re-birth” changed the way Europeans thought about themselves and the world. • Period of intellectual and artistic creativity • Merchants, bankers and monarchs sought greater profits through foreign trade • Wanted to make their countries stronger and wealthier • Paved the way for an age of exploration and discovery

4. Technologies Impact • Advances in technology paved the way for European voyages and exploration. • Better maps and instruments: Cartographers improved their map making skills as they acquired techniques and information from Arab map makers. • Astrolabe • Magnetic Compass

5. Better Ships • Based on Arab designs, European ships improved greatly. • Bigger • Stronger • Could sail into the wind • With increased competition for foreign trade, countries like Portugal and Spain worked hard to better their ships and launched an era of exploration!

6. Making Connections • Answer the Essential Question: What events and technological advances paved the way for European Exploration? • European interest in Asia due to growth of trade • Increased wealth • Improved maps and navigation instruments • Advances in ship design • Desire for gold and slaves from Africa

7. Early Exploration • Essential Question: • Why did Spain and Portugal want to find a sea route to Asia?

8. Early Portuguese Voyages • Prince Henry the Navigator helped lay the groundwork for the era of exploration in the early 1400s. • Portuguese ships travelled along the coast of West Africa trading for gold and ivory. • Area became known as the “Gold Coast” • Vasco da Gama • Sailed around Cape of Good Hope (tip of Africa) • Explored east coast of Africa • Discovered eastern sea route to Asia

9. Portuguese Trading Empire • Six months after da Gama’s return, 13 ships left Portugal for the east. • Course swung so wide around Africa, they reached Brazil. • Gave Portugal a stake in the Americas. • Eventually reached India and returned with spices, porcelain and other goods that helped them set up a trading empire.

10. The Viking Voyages • Centuries before Columbus, northern Europeans called Vikings sailed to North America. • 800s and 900s – Established settlements in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland. • Viking voyages to other lands were not well known.

11. Spain Backs Columbus • Spanish were envious of Portugal’s trading success with India and Asia. • Columbus sought sponsorship from Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain who agreed for 2 reasons. • Promised to bring Christianity to any lands he found • Spain would become wealthy through any trade Columbus opened up

12. Columbus’s First Voyage • August 3, 1492 – sets out with ships the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. • October 12, 1492 – “Tierra! Tierra!” Finds small group of Islands (Bahamas) • Convinced he has found the East Indies (Islands off coast of Asia)

13. Columbus’s Later Voyages • Explored Caribbean islands of Hispaniola, Cuba and Jamaica. • Claimed lands for Spain and mapped Central American coastline. • Eventually realized he had found new lands (America) and began to set up settlements.

14. Dividing the World • Both Spain and Portugal want to protect their claims in America. • Line of demarcation (1493) • Imaginary line running down the middle of the Atlantic from North Pole to South Pole • Spain got everything to the west • Portugal got everything to the east

15. Other Explorers • Amerigo Vespucci • Sailed along South America’s coast – came to the conclusion that it was not part of Asia • Ferdinand Magellan • Reached tip of South America and sailed through a strait to the Pacific Ocean • His crew was first to circumnavigate, or sail around the world

16. Making Connections • How did Henry the Navigator further exploration? • Answer the Essential Question: Why did Portugal and Spain want to find a sea route to Asia? • If the Portuguese and Spanish could find a sea route directly to Asia, they could trade directly with India and China.

17. Spain in America • Essential Question: • How did Spain’s conquests affect the economic and social development of the Americas?

18. Spain in America • Main Idea! • Spanish explorers conquered Native American empires and found new lands.

19. Cortes Conquers the Aztecs • Hernan Cortes formed alliances with many of the people the Aztecs had conquered. • Cortes enters Tenochtitlan with over 500 soldiers, horses, cannons and Native American allies. • Emperor Montezuma welcomed them to the city but is taken prisoner. • Aztec capital is destroyed in 1521 and Spanish take over the region.

20. Pizarro Conquers the Inca • Francisco Pizarro (conquistador) sailed down coast of South America. • 1532 – Captures and executes the Incan ruler Atahualpa. • Without their ruler, Incans could not fight effectively. • Pizarro gained most of the Incan empire for Spain.

21. Why Spain Succeeded • The conquistadors victories over the Aztec and Inca were quick and lasting. How could Cortes and Pizarro, with only their small armies conquer such mighty empires? • Weapons (Guns, Cannons) • Horses • Spanish seemed godlike • Dislike of Aztec overlords • Disease! No immunity to European diseases!

22. Spanish Rule • Throughout the early 1500s, more and more settlements were set up by the Spanish. Spanish law called for 3 kinds of settlements in the Americas… • Pueblos – towns established as centers of trade • Missions – religious communities including a small town, farmland and a church • Presidios – Forts usually built near missions

23. Social Classes • *In the 1500s, the Spanish government granted conquistadors the right to demand taxes or labor from Native Americans - Encomienda

24. Bartolome de lasCasas • Spanish priest who condemned cruel treatment of Native Americans. • Claimed that millions had died because the Spanish “made gold their ultimate aim, seeking to load themselves with riches in the shortest amount of time.” • Reports influenced Spanish government to forbid making slaves of the Native Americans. • Not always enforced, but helped correct some of the worst abuses.

25. The Plantation System • Main exports from the Americas became tobacco and sugarcane. • Spanish developed plantations and used Native Americans for labor. • Las Casas suggested replacing the Native Americans with Africans. • By the end of the 1500s, plantation slave labor was an essential part of the economy of the colonies.

26. Making Connections • How did Spain’s conquests affect the economic and social development of the Americas? • Spanish destroyed the Aztec and Inca Empires • Settled in pueblos, missions and presidios • Introduced Catholicism, horses and cattle • Relegated Native Americans to lower classes • Introduced slaves to support plantations • How did slavery begin in the Americas? • Las Casas suggested replacing natives with Africans • Slave labor became important to the colonial economy

27. Exploring North America • Essential Question: • Why did European nations establish colonies in North America?

28. Columbian Exchange • Era of exploration brought America together with Europe, Asia and Africa. • Contacts led to an exchange in plants, animals and diseases.

29. Hudson’s Discoveries • Netherlands (Dutch) want to find a passage through the Americas • 1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Hudson River • 1610 – Sent by England • Discovered the Hudson Bay

30. Dutch Settlements • Eager to explore North America • Set up New Netherland colony • New Amsterdam as center on tip of Manhattan Island

31. French Trading Posts • Showed little interest in building an empire • Focused on • Fishing • Fur trading • 1608 – Sent Samuel de Champlain to found a settlement in Quebec

32. Making Connections • How did France’s goals in North America differ from those of other European nations? • Answering the Essential Question: Why did European nations establish colonies in North America? • To become wealthy and powerful • Obtain resources • To trade and sell European products