chapter 1 – the world before 1600

Chapter 1 – The World before 1600Section NotesThe Early AmericasNorth American Cultures in the 1400sAfrican Cultures before 1500Europe and ExplorationCultures Make Contact

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ImagesArtifactsDifferences in Geography, Differences in DwellingsBartolomé De Las CasasMosque

Quick FactsVisual Summary: The World Before 1600

MapsThe Bering Land BridgeNative American Culture AreasWest and Central Africa,

1100–1500European Routes Columbian Exchange

History Close-upCaravel

The World Before 1600

The Early Americas

The Main IdeaPeople arrived on the American continents thousands of

years ago and developed flourishing societies.

Reading Focus• According to scientists and historians, how and when did the first

migration to the Americas occur? • What kind of cultures developed in Central and South America?• What characterized the earliest cultures of North America?

Migration to the Americas

• Today the Bering Strait lies between Alaska and Siberia, but during the Ice Age a land bridge connected them.

• Historians call the ancient land area Beringia.

Ice Age

• 10,000 years ago ice covered many parts of the world (land and water), causing lower sea levels.

• Land was exposed along coasts.

Beringia

• Hunters from Siberia crossed the land bridge.• They arrived in North America between 12,000

and 40,000 years ago.• These hunters crossed in small groups at different

times.

HuntersCrossed

Migration to the AmericasHunters and Gatherers

• They were nomads who moved from place to place.

• Followed hunter-gatherer way of life

• Women and girls collected nuts, berries, wild plants, and birds’ eggs.

• Men and boys went on extended hunts, followed the animal herds.

• When the animals moved, so did the hunter-gatherers.

• Hunter-gatherers never stayed in one place for long.

• Hunting was good along edges of ice sheets.• Giant sloths • Saber-toothed cats• Woolly mammoths• Wolves• Camels

• Animals were not accustomed to humans, making them easy prey.

• Hunters drove animals off cliffs or killed them with stone-tipped spears.


• Climate change and skillful hunters killed off Ice Age animals.

• Bands of hunters moved south in search of new food supplies.

• By at least 11,000 years ago, people were living in North and South America.

EffectsEnd of the Ice Age

• The climate grew warmer; glaciers melted.• Large lakes and layers of rich soil were left.• Thick forests grew in eastern North America.

FoodSupply

Farming• Native Americans

began farming.• Farming led them to

live in villages instead of moving from place to place.

• This dramatic change was called the Agricultural Revolution.

• This change began at least 7,000 years ago in parts of the Americas.

Basic Crops• By about 2,000 years

ago, ancient American farming was based on

– Corn (maize)– Beans – Squash

Meat • Men hunted seasonally

for meat, but began raising animals.


More Changes • The food supply was

dependable.• Populations grew.• People began

crafting (pottery & weaving).

• They developed ways to govern villages and to distribute wealth.

The Agricultural Revolution

Cultures of Central America and South America

• Three major cultures flourished in Mesoamerica.• Mesoamerica is the area from present-day central

Mexico into Central America.

Central and South America have archaeological sites from many different cultures.

CentralAmerica

• A fourth important culture arose in South America.SouthAmerica


The Olmec• The Olmec were the first major

Mesoamerican society.• They lived along the Gulf of

Mexico around 1200 BC.• The Olmec culture is known as the

mother culture of Mesoamerica because their religion, art, agriculture, and social organization influenced later peoples.

FarmersThe Olmec used a “slash-and-burn” farming technique.

Slash-and-Burn• Trees were cut down and burned

on a plot of land.• Ashes made the land fertile for a

few years.• The farmers then moved to a new

plot, allowing the old plots to become fertile again.

• Over time, the farmers cleared large areas of land.

Engineers and Artists • First Mesoamericans to develop a

writing system• Created sculptures made of basalt

that weigh as much as 40 tons and stand 10 feet high

The Maya • Mayan society

began to rise around 400 BC.

• Their cities were religious centers with stone pyramids, palaces, temples, sacred ball courts.

• Religious centers grew into city-states populated by thousands of people.

Mayan Accomplishments

• Priests studied stars and created calendars.

• The Mayan developed a writing system and a number system.


The Toltec• The Toltec dominated

central Mexico as the Maya began to decline.

• They were skilled warriors, artisans, and builders.

• Toltec influence is seen in the architecture of late Mayan cities such as Chichén Itzá.

Mayan Decline• The civilization

declined by about 1500, but the culture lives today. Mayan-speaking people still live in Mexico and Guatemala.


The Aztec• Came to power in 1400s• These were the warlike

Mexica, better known as the Aztec.

• Aztec capital was Tenochtitlán.

• Built on an island in a shallow lake

• Featured canals, plazas, and marketplaces

• Food supplied by floating gardens called chinampas, in the lake.

• A conquering people, their slaves and captives were used for human sacrifice to their many gods.

The Inca• While the Aztec conquered

Mesoamerica, the Inca rose to power in the Andes Mountains of South America.

• Inca conquered along the coast.

• Their vast empire was connected by roads and bridges.

• Inca empire was largest in America with perhaps 12 million people.

Southwest Peoples• Grew corn, beans,

squash and women made pottery

• The Hohokam dug irrigation ditches for farming. Had simple temple mounds and ball courts

• The Anasazi lived in multistory adobe buildings (pueblos) built on flat mesas and on steep cliffs.

• The Anasazi had a road system.

Mound Builders• Lived in eastern North

America in small farming villages run by clan leaders

• Complex villages developed.

• Called mound builders because they buried their leaders in large earth mounds

• Adena people had a trade network to bring them goods from far away.

• Hopewell people were skilled artists.

The Earliest Cultures of North AmericaMississippian

Culture • Last major mound-

builders• Most advanced

farming society north of Mexico

• Grew maize and beans, invented the hoe

• Towns had large temple-mounds.

• Their greatest cities were Cahokia, near St. Louis, and Moundville, in Alabama.

North American Cultures in the 1400s

The Main IdeaA variety of complex societies existed in different regions of

North America before European explorers arrived in the early 1500s.

Reading Focus• How did regional differences among Native Americans shape

their diverse cultures? • What Native American customs were shared among several

groups?• How did trading networks link Native American societies?

The Southwest• Pueblo peoples inherited many Anasazi customs.• The Zuni, Hopi, and Acoma lived in pueblos.• They grew corn, beans, squash, and cotton in river and

creek bottoms.• They made distinctive pottery and baskets.• Later the Apache and the Navajo arrived.

– Originally nomadic hunters, gradually took up farming like the other Pueblo peoples

– Became skilled weavers

• Diverse environments of North America influenced the Native American cultures across the continent.

Regional Differences among Native Americans

The Northwest Coast• Climate was cool and rainy. Tall trees, wild plants, game, and

fish were abundant.• Hunters went to sea to hunt whales.• The Kwakiutl and the Haida were skilled woodworkers.• The rich resources made them wealthy.

California• This region was located south of the Northwest Coast.• Home to the Pomo, Hupa, and Yuro, among others• These peoples lived in small communities of 50 to 300. There

were over 100 languages spoken in the region.• The people fished and hunted because food was available year-

round. They did not have to farm.


The Far North• Region also known as Arctic and Subarctic• The peoples are the most recent migrants from Asia.• These ancestors of modern Inuit came by boat about

1,500 years ago.• Aleuts came earlier and settle on Aleutian Islands.

Land and Vegetation• Much of the land is tundra.• Animals were abundant despite the lack of vegetation.• The Inuit and Aleuts mainly hunted.

• On the coast, people hunted seals, seabirds, and whales• Inland, they hunted caribou, beaver, and bear.

• Archaeological evidence of their sites is rare. Perhaps rising sea levels after the Ice Age covered the coastal settlements.


The Great Basin and the Plateau• These are two dryland regions located east of the mountain

ranges of the Pacific coast.The Great Basin• Native Americans such as the Ute and Shoshone were challenged by

the weather and environment.• There was little rain, few trees, no large rivers, and few wild game.• They were hunter-gatherers: dug roots, gathered acorns and piñon

nuts, and hunted rabbits.• Their populations were small.

The Plateau• Located north of Great Basin

– More rainfall than Great Basin– More forests than Great Basin– Crossed by rivers brimming with salmon and other fish

• Groups such as the Nez Percé lived in villages along the rivers.


The Great Plains• Home to the Sioux,

Pawnee, and Cheyenne

• Flat land with prairie grasses and tree-lined rivers

• Herds such as elk and bison grazed there.

• Had to hunt buffalo—farming was difficult with tough grass roots

• The Caddo and Wichita lived in fertile farm valleys.

The Eastern Woodlands• Thick forests • Because travel was

difficult, groups developed their own traditions, tools, and (often) languages.

• The Iroquois included several groups who shared a culture and language. They lived in longhouses.

• The Chippewa, Fox, and Sauk also lived in the region. They spoke Algonquian languages.

• Plenty of meat, furs, and fish

The Southeast • Most lived in settled

farming villages.• They had a warm

climate with plenty of rain; this allowed them to grow several crops a year.

• Many groups lived here, including the Choctaw.

• They lived in thatched-roof log cabins plastered with mud.


Native American Customs

Family relations• Most villages and nations organized into clans by kinship• Kinship determined inheritance, status, and marriage eligibility• Housing arrangements and social engagements depended on the

position of women.• Iroquois society was matrilineal.• In Hopi culture, a man went to live with his wife’s family when he

married, bringing seeds from his mother’s crops.

Social and political structures• Social organization varied greatly from group to group.• Most clans or nations were headed by a chief. Villages were run by

a council of elders.


Land use• They did not believe that land should be bought and sold.• Some societies viewed land as a gift from the Great Spirit to be

shared by the village or group for farming or hunting.• Still, some groups warred over territory.

Division of labor• Ancient hunter-gatherers: men and boys hunted and women and

girls gathered plants, nuts, and berries• Agricultural Revolution saw women take over planting and

cultivating crops• Southwest division of labor: women and men farmed; women

cared for children, cooked, wove cloth, and made pottery and baskets; men were woodcarvers and probably metalworkers


Religious beliefs• Native Americans shared spiritual and religious ideas.

– Belief that there was a spiritual connection to the natural world

– In many belief systems, a tree stood at the center of the earth.

– Animals were thought to be powerful spirits.• Native Americans told many stories.

– Some explained the creation of the world or the origin of their peoples.

– Other stories were about spirits and crops, rivers or other aspects of nature.

Trading Networks• Hopewell trade

network covered two-thirds of the United States.

• It could take years to bring items back to Ohio (long distances and travel difficulty).

• The Hopewell people obtained bear’s teeth, obsidian, cooper, mica, and shells through trade.

• Travel made by canoe and on foot

Trading Networks Link Native American Societies

Exchange of Ideas • The trade networks

carried ideas from place to place.

• Mississippians may have borrowed temple mounds and pyramids from Mesoamericans.

• Pueblo peoples’ religious ideas and ritual costumes came from Mexico.

Reasons for trade• Specialization

began.• Farmers could grow

extra crops.• Others could access

needed minerals.• People living near

water traded shells or pearls.

• Artisans traded their creations.

Native Americans usually traded by a barter system.

African Cultures before 1500

The Main IdeaTrade was a major factor in the development of African

societies south of the Sahara.

Reading Focus• What powerful West African trading kingdoms arose

between 300 and 1500? • How did trade shape kingdoms in East Africa?• How did African society change as a result of the slave

trade?

West African Trading Kingdoms

Trans-Sahara trade• Despite the danger, trading caravans have crossed Sahara since

ancient times.• African interior had gold and ivory; Arabs from North Africa

traded salt from mines.• Great trading empires thrived in the grasslands near the Niger

River. • Desert traders also brought Islam to West Africa.

Ghana• Earliest West

African trading state (arose around AD 300)

• Located on a gold and salt route

• Grew wealthy and powerful

• History passed down through oral tradition

• Did not convert to Islam

Mali• Mansa Musa

most famous ruler

• People of Mali were Muslims.

• When Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca, the outside world knew of Mali’s wealth.


Songhai • This kingdom

became larger than Ghana or Mali.

• Askia Muhammad, most famous Songhai ruler, encouraged Muslim learning.


Coastal kingdoms

• By 1300, the settlement of Benin became a powerful state.– Grew rich from foreign trade– Famous for its brilliant artists

• Farther south, the kingdom of Kongo was growing.– Thrived by trading salt and palm oil

Trade Important to Growth

Arabian Influence

• East Africans traded with Egypt, India, and the Middle East.• East African trading ships sailed the Red Sea and Indian

Ocean.• East Africa had gold, cinnamon, rhinoceros horn and tortoise

shell. They also shipped enslaved Africans.• They bought porcelain, silk, and jewels from India and China.

• Arabia was a strong influence along East African coast.• Arab merchants settled in coastal cities and brought their

customs and Islam. • New culture and new language (Swahili) developed in East

Africa.

Kingdoms of East Africa

The Portuguese in West Africa

• African rulers were wealthy and had lavish lifestyles.• Strong families were central to African society.• People were loyal to those with the same lineage.• Men and women could be enslaved if they were captured in war,

found guilty of a crime, or were in debt.• Slaves could work their way to freedom in most African societies.

• Nature of slavery changed when Europeans arrived in Africa.• Portuguese established large-scale farms, or plantations, first in

Africa, then in Caribbean islands and in the Americas; later the Spanish, British, French, and Dutch did the same.

• Plantations were labor-intensive. First Native Americans were used for labor, but diseases and working conditions took a heavy toll.

African Society and the Slave Trade


• Atlantic slave trade began in the sixteenth century as a response for the demand for cheap labor. Europeans viewed the black Africans as inferior.

• Planters demanded more laborers for their plantations.

• African merchants helped supply slaves to traders in exchange for the traders’ business. African rulers supplied slaves in exchange for European firearms.

• Others who supplied slaves wanted to help weaken rival African leaders.

The Atlantic Slave Trade Begins

• Europeans captured people during conflicts with North African Muslims.

• European traders conducted slave raids and kidnappings.• The Portuguese began the slave trade, but by the 1600s the English,

French, and Dutch were heavily involved, too.


• Atlantic slave trade continued for 400 years.• Historians estimate that 20 million Africans were sent to the Americas.• Many others were sent to other parts of the world. Many died

en route.

• The strongest young people were taken, the future leaders.• Slave raids discouraged people from planning for the future.• The slave trade interrupted normal political and economic

development because of the loss of population.

The Impact on African Society

• The slave trade divided Africans from one another.• Young African men were hired by slave traders as kidnappers.• Rulers warred against their own people and neighbors in order to gain

captives for the trade.

Europe and Exploration

The Main IdeaRenaissance ideas changed Europeans’ medieval outlook and

inspired them to explore the world.Reading Focus

• What changes took place in Europe during the Middle Ages? • What happened during the Renaissance and the Protestant

Reformation?• What did Europeans hope to find during the Age of Exploration?

The Middle Ages

• The Middle Ages (AD 500 to 1500) began when the Roman Empire collapsed and created widespread lawlessness.

Feudalism and the manorial system• Invaders occupied Spain and attacked other nations in

central Europe. Vikings raided the northern coasts of Europe.

• Feudal system developed when local nobles gave parcels of land from their large estates to vassals, or nobles of lower rank. The vassals pledged their loyalty and military service to the lords.

The Middle Ages

The Crusades• Roman Catholic Pope Urban called on Christian kings and

knights to recapture the Holy Land from Muslim Turks. Thousands answered his call to the holy wars, known as the Crusades.

• The Muslims kept their lands, but the wars allowed Europeans to experience new lands and people and boosted trade between Europe and the Middle East.

• Wealthy European merchants and artisans made up a growing middle class.

The Middle Ages

New nation-states• Many nobles lost their fortunes in the Crusades; the new

middle-class townspeople did not owe loyalty to a feudal lord.• Kings gave towns charters and collected taxes. England,

France, and Spain began creating nation-states with strong central governments and homogeneous populations.

• King John of England was forced to sign the Magna Carta, a document that established several principles of government:

– No taxation without representation– The right to trial by a jury of one’s peers– These rights were gradually extended to ordinary people.

The Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation

• In the medieval period, many people accepted misery in their lives and hoped for rewards in heaven.

• During the Renaissance people showed an interest in a meaningful life on earth.

• Scientists began to question teachings of Catholic Church.

The Renaissance (rebirth)• In the 1300s, a new era of learning began in the wealthy

city-states of Italy. • Classics of Greece and Rome were studied, inspiring an

intense creativity in the arts.

The Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation

Christianity in Spain• Islam was widespread in Iberian Peninsula. By 1100s, Christian

rulers wanted to take it back. Movement known as Reconquista.• Spanish Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand wanted Spain to be a

Catholic kingdom. Ordered all Jews and Muslims to convert or leave Spain. Even Christians could be punished if they were suspected of defying the church.

The Protestant Reformation• Many thought the Catholic clergy had become lazy and corrupt.

They felt the church failed to provide proper spiritual guidance. • In 1517 a German monk, Martin Luther, nailed a list of arguments

to a church door. This critique of the Catholic Church led to the Reformation movement.

• Protestants: those who joined protests against the church

The Age of Exploration

Marco Polo• Polo went to China and

stayed for 17 years and worked for Kublai Khan.

• On the return trip, he went through Southeast Asia and India.

• Marco took note of the people, places, and customs.

• His book about his travels was very popular; it influenced later explorers.

Prince Henry the Navigator

• Set up a school and naval observatory to encourage exploration

• He sponsored many expeditions.

• Hoped to find a sea route to India to allow Portugal and other countries to trade directly with the East instead of going through Italian merchants

The Age of Exploration

Better sailing technology• Prince Henry’s school developed the caravel, a sturdy and fast ship.• Improved navigational instruments: astrolabe and magnetic compass

Looking for a sea route to Asia• Overland trip to Asia was long, difficult, and dangerous• Portuguese explorers led the way: Dias, da Gama, Cabral• Bartolomeu Dias was first to round the southern tip of Africa.• Vasco da Gama found the sea route to India. The new trade route

helped Portugal become a world power.• The sea route discovery led to the decline of trans-Sahara trade and the

African trading empires.• Pedro Álvars Cabral spotted the South American coast.

Cultures Make Contact

The Main IdeaColumbus’s voyages to the Americas established contact

with Native Americans and led to European colonies and an exchange of goods and ideas.

Reading Focus• When did Vikings visit North America, and why was their stay

brief? • Why were Columbus’s voyages to the Caribbean significant?• What impact did European exploration have on Native

Americans?• What was the Columbian Exchange, and how did it affect both

Europe and America?

Vikings Visit North America

• Vikings were sea raiders who terrorized the coasts of western Europe.

• In late 900s, Vikings from Norway reached Greenland in North America. Erik the Red began settlements there in 986.

• Erik’s son, Leif Eriksson, was heading to Greenland, but landed on eastern Canadian coast. He named it Vinland.

• Leif tried to establish a colony in Vinland, but was not welcomed by the Native Americans. The Vikings left Canada three years later after warfare with the natives.

• The Vikings never settled in Vinland again, but they continued to return for timber.

Columbus’s Voyages to the Caribbean

Christopher Columbus• Believed that he could reach India by sailing west (did not know about

American continents)• Convinced Queen Isabella to back his voyage (after several years) • Studied sailing and navigation techniques and read books about travel

and geography

The first voyage• Set sail on August 3, 1492• Crew of 90 men, two caravels (the Niña and the Pinta) and his flagship,

the Santa Maria• Reached land after 3 weeks (San Salvador in the Caribbean)• Called the local people “los Indios.” They were Tainos.• Always thought he had explored part of Asia

Impact on Native Americans

Colonies in Hispaniola• Christmas Town: The men Columbus had left to establish a

town in Hispaniola behaved so wildly in his absence that they angered the Tainos. The Tainos killed all of them.

• Isabela: The site had no fresh water and malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

• While Columbus explored other islands, his brothers ran Isabela. Some Spanish officers rebelled against them.

• Columbus and his brothers captured Indians to sell as slaves. Colonization turned into conquest.

• He eventually lost his post as governor of Hispaniola in 1500.

Impact on Native Americans

Trade in Indian Slaves• Queen Isabella didn’t want to enslave Indians.• Many Indians were then sent to Portuguese plantations instead.• Later the Portuguese, French, and Dutch ran Caribbean plantations

and kept enslaved Indians as local labor.• Father Bartolomé de Las Casas dedicated his life to protecting the

Indians from mistreatment.

Native American Labor• Spaniards wanted to find gold and needed the labor to mine it. • In 1494 Columbus sent 26 Indians back to Spain, wanting them to

be trained as interpreters.• He suggested starting a trade in Indian slaves. Also wanted to

convert them to Christianity

The Columbian Exchange

Interaction between Europeans and Native Americans—and eventually Africans—led to exchanges:

– plants– animals– languages– technology– deadly germs,

brought epidemics to the Americas

Native American crops

• Corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, chocolate, peanuts

European contributions• Certain foods• Domestic animals,

including horses• New technology, including

guns• Smallpox and measles

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chapter 1 – the world before 1600

Documents

world land

eastern north america

ice age animals

central africa

ice age10

ancient american farming

skillful hunters

hunters crossedmigration