AP/DC U.S. History Lecture #1

New World Beginnings

Early North Americans

• 35,000 years ago, an ice age created a land bridge between what is now Eurasia and North America

• This allowed immigration between the two continents to take place thus causing the peopling of America

• Those early cultures that settled North America developed as adaptations to their local natural environments.

Europeans Enter Africa

• Marco Polo’s stories of the treasures of the East helped to spur a desire to sail to the East Indies.

• Christian Crusaders also brought back stories of silks, drugs and riches.

• Traveling to Asia is expensive and dangerous, so a new route is needed.

• Europeans want more profit, cheaper goods and the chance to take business away from the Muslim merchants.

• Advancements in sailing such as the caravel and astrolabe made sailing easier, but still expensive.

• Slavery existed in Africa prior to European arrival, however, the Portuguese began the slave trade in Europe.

• Spain then united and expelled the Muslim Moors creating an opening for exploration.

Columbus (1492)

• At the time of his arrival, the population of Native Americans in North America was approximately 4 million.

• Before Columbus ever sailed, the Norse (Vikings) had landed in North America around 1000 A.D.

• He landed on an island in the Bahamas, Oct. 12, 1492 and mistakenly believes he has discovered the East Indies and mistakenly calls its inhabitants, the Taino people, Indians. He believes that they will be good and intelligent servants and he also brutalized the Taino in his quest for riches.

• His discoveries lead to eventual colonization of the New World by Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal.

The Columbian Exchange

Effects of European Colonization“The Columbian Exchange”

• Tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes and the lowly potatoes, revolutionize the international economy.

• The staple crop of the New World was corn.• Today, three-fifths of crops cultivated around the world came from

the Americas.• Slavery spread across both continents of the New World• Domesticated animals such as horses, cattle and swine were

introduced to the New World and affected the Native Americans of the U.S.

• Disease and mistreatment by the Spaniards would kill 90% of the Indians within 100 years after European contact.

• Syphilis was introduced to the Old World for the 1st time when Indians transferred the disease to the Europeans.

• One of the most important New World activities became silver mining.

• One could even say that the most important treasure plundered from the New World became Indian labor itself.

• The New World possessed many valuable things that the Europeans could take advantage of with their superior weapons.

Conquistadores

• The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divided Columbus’s discoveries between Spain and Portugal when the Pope issued the “Line of Demarcation”.

• The result is that Spain received the majority of New Spain and Portugal received what is now Brazil.

• Early advanced civilizations like the Mayans were expert mathematicians, astronomers and they had a writing system based on hieroglyphics.

• No one is sure what led to the downfall of the Mayan culture

• Native Americans had a disadvantage from the beginning of European contact due to their lack of unity, modern military technology and their resistance to European disease.

Aztecs

• The warrior Aztecs were superior architects, had an accurate calendar and written language and believed in human sacrifice to honor their gods. They also controlled a huge empire and redistributed the wealth of those they conquered as well as offering them up as human sacrifices

• In a description of the Mexica (Aztec) empire, conquistador, Bernal Diaz del Castillo wrote about tall buildings and temples, a massive and diverse market place and a tremendous skill in creating crafts of precious stones, gold, silver and feathers.

• Hernan Cortes conquers the Aztecs of central Mexico (1519) due in large part to the fact that the Aztec leader, Montezuma believed that Cortes was a god.

• Cortes was also able to use thousands of Indian allies who favored the destruction of the Aztec.

Incas

• The Incas of Peru had an intricate system of paved roads and were successful in trade.

• The More advanced civilizations had established large cities, studied math and understood astronomy by the time the Europeans had arrived.

• Francisco Pizzaro conquers the Incas (1532) by killing their leader Athualpa.

Incan Empire

The Encomienda System• The Spanish begin to enslave the Indians

through the Encomienda System. • The system distributed conquered towns

to Spaniards, gave them the right to rule the Indians and the land around them, and gave them the right to exact a tribute and labor from the Indians.

• This system grew directly from the assumption on the part of the Spaniards that they were superior to the Native Americans.

• New ethnicities such as the Mestizo were introduced as a direct result of relations and intermarriage between the Spaniards and the Indian population

Vasco Balboa

• Discovers the Pacific Ocean (the world is larger than believed)

Ferdinand Magellan

• 1st expedition to complete a full circumnavigation of the world(1522).

• Juan Ponce DeLeon – explored Florida looking for the “fountain of youth”.

• Hernando De Soto – discovers the Mississippi River

Other Explorers

Ponce de Leon

Hernando De Soto

Settlement of North America• Juan De Onate – founds New Mexico

(1609)• John Cabot (English) – explores the

Northeast U.S.• Spain also begins a push to settle

North America because they are afraid of French and English intrusions in what they believe to be their land. Missions begin to appear in Texas, New Mexico, and California by the 1500s.

• Verrazano (French) – explores the eastern seaboard.

• Jacques Cartier (French) – explores the St. Lawrence River

• St. Augustine erected by the Spanish (1565) – oldest continually inhabited settlement in the U.S.