Ch.1: New World Beginnings

33,000 BC to 1769 AD

By: Kurt Hofius

Edited: Andres Marcuse

Shaping of North America

• According to continental drift, North America was formed when it broke off from the super continent.

The Land Bridge Theory

• During the Ice Age, the seas congealed and a land bridge was formed across the Bering Straight.

• Theories state that the Americas were peopled when people crossed the Bering Straight from Asia

The Land Bridge Theory

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1n47P2d1Fg

Early Native Americans

• Aztecs- modern day Mexico

• Incas- Modern day Peru

• Pueblos- southwest United States

• Mound Builders- Ohio River Valley

• Iroquois Confederacy- northeast United States

• Mayas – Yucatan Peninsula

North American Indian Tribes

Southwestern Pueblos

• Lived in adobe houses

• Elaborate irrigation systems

• Named Pueblo people by the Spanish

Mound Builders

• Located, for the most part, in the Ohio Valley

• Built ceremonial mounds

Mound Builders

Iroquois Confederacy

• This federation gave the most resistance to colonization.

• Led by Hiawatha• Made up of

independent tribes that worked together when the need arose

Iroquois Longhouses

“three-sister” farming

• By planting high yielding corn, squash, and beans, relatively large populations could be sustained.

Three-Sister Farming

• Allowed for higher population densities

• Used by groups such as the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, and Iriquois

• More diverse diet

Causes for European Colonization

• Motive was economic, not religious.

• Came looking for gold and spices resources

• For the most part, colonization helped countries economically

Around Africa• The Portuguese

explored the coast of Africa first Cape Horn

• Bartholomeu Dias was able to round South Africa, but he was forced to turn back.

• This was the first sea route to the Asian markets

• Vasco de Gama was the first to reach India.

• This opened a sea route to the products of Asia.

• Portugal controlled these routes

Around Africa

What made Columbus’s discoveries possible?

• The unification of Spain and mariner’s compass made ocean exploration more feasible.

• Improved ships also helped

Columbian Exchange• The Columbian Exchange

allowed the exchange of goods from Old World to the New World and Vice Versa.

• Diseases also were unwittingly passed causing devastation to the Indian populations.

Conquistadors

• Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztecs in Mexico.

• Malinche, a native women (non Aztec) translated for Cortes. The word Malinchista gets its meaning from her. It means “traitor.”

The Aztecs• Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, was as

large as any European city.• Eventually conquered by Cortez• Spain had the advantages of guns, steel,

horses, and disease

The Aztecs

• The architecture and aqueduct reflected an advanced civilization.

Francisco Pizarro

• Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas in South America.

The Incas

• This once powerful civilization became a source of gold for the Spanish.

Encomienda

• The Spanish who conquered the land used the Indians as forced workers on their farms.

• This practice of enslaving the Indians was considered permissible since they were also being forced to become Christians.

Encomienda

• Some historians sum up Spanish exploration in the New World as the quest for “God, glory, and gold.”

• Gold economy• Glory conquering

civilizations• God “converting” the

natives

Other explorers

• Juan Ponce de Leon more than likely for gold than the fountain of youth.

Other explorers

• Vasco Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean, althuogh he was actually not the first in his party to reach the sea.

Other explorers cont.

• Francisco Coronado sought fabled “golden” cities. They ended up being Adobe Pueblos.

Other explorers cont.

• Hernando de Soto sought gold and explored through Florida to the Mississippi River. He treated the Indians poorly and died of fever and wounds during the expedition.

The Treaty of Tordesillas

• In 1494, the Pope drew this line to divide the New World findings between Spain and Portugal

• Spain would dominate the New World while Portugal would keep its trading posts and trade routes to India.

Other European Powers

• France– Giovanni da

Verrazano explored the eastern coast of North America.

– Jacques Cartier explored hundreds of miles of the St. Lawrence River.

Spanish Fortify their holdings• St. Augustine Florida is the site of a large Spanish fort. • The purpose was to protect the waterways into the Caribbean.

The Mission System

• This system allowed for the conversion of local Indians, fortifications, and religious centers for the Spanish Americas.

• Every mission was a day’s ride from another mission

Fr. Junipero Serra

• This Catholic priest founded the mission system in California.

• This system would “convert” nearly 300,000 Indians to Christianity.

Catholicism and New Spain

• Catholicism was strong in New Spain, but particularly present in New Mexico.

• The harsh treatment of the Indians sparked one major rebellion called the Pope’s Rebellion.

Pope’s Rebellion

• The natives destroyed every Catholic Church and rebuilt their worship grounds.

• It took nearly half a century for the Spanish to regain control of the rebellious region.

Effects of Spanish Missionaries.

•The missionaries changed the lives of Indian tribes forever.

•They adopted Christianity and a stationary agricultural life style.

The “Black Legend”

• The Spanish did more than just kill, infect, pillage, and enslave natives.

• They also brought things with them from the new world: horses, etc.

The “Black Legend”

They instilled their language and customs into the Indian society eventually creating a score of Spanish speaking nations.