PangaeaALFRED WEGENER AND PANGAEA

In 1915, the German geologist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) first proposed the theory of continental drift, which states that parts of the Earth's crust slowly drift atop a liquid core. The fossil record supports and gives credence to the theories of continental drift and plate tectonics.

Wegener hypothesized that there was an original, gigantic supercontinent 200 million years ago, which he named Pangaea, meaning "All-earth". Pangaea was a supercontinent consisting of all of Earth's land masses. It existed from the Permian through Jurassic periods. It began breaking up during the late Triassic period.

Pangaea started to break up into two smaller supercontinents, called Laurasia and Gondwanaland, during the late Triassic. It formed the continents Gondwanaland and Laurasia, separated by the Tethys Sea. By the end of the Cretaceous period, the continents were separating into land masses that look like our modern-day continents.

Wegener published this theory in his 1915 book, On the Origin of Continents and Oceans. In it he also proposed the existence of the supercontinent Pangaea, and named it (Pangaea means "all the land" in Greek).

The term Beringia comes from the name of Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer for the Russian czar in the 18th Century. Bering-Chirikov expedition explored the waters of the North Pacific between Asia and North America. The Bering Strait, which lies between Alaska and Northeast Russia, and Bering Island, in the Commander Islands, are named after him.

It is a region of worldwide significance for cultural and natural resources. This area also provides an unparalleled opportunity for a comprehensive study of the earth --its unusually intact landforms and biological remains may reveal the character of past climates and the ebb and flow of earth forces at the continents’ edge. Biological research leads to the understanding of the natural history of the region and distribution of flora and fauna. As one of the world’s great ancient crossroads, Beringia may hold solutions to puzzles about who the first people were to come to North America, how and when they traveled and how they survived under such harsh climatic conditions.

Beringia

Beringia

• It is currently believed that the ocean levels rose and fell several times in the past. During extended cold periods, tremendous volumes of water are deposited on land in the form of ice and snow, which can cause a corresponding drop in sea level. The last "ice age" occurred around 12-15,000 years ago. During this period the shallow seas now separating Asia from North America near the present day Bering Strait dropped about 300 feet and created a 1,000-mile wide grassland steppe, linking Asia and North America together with the "Bering Land Bridge". Across this vast steppe, plants and animals traveled in both directions, and humans entered the Americas.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/parcs/atlas/beringia/lbridge.htmlBering Land Bridge Movie

The Land/Ice Bridge

People, with their languages, customs, and cultures traveled across the land bridge after the herds as hunter-gatherers.Artifacts and fossils tell archaeologists and anthropologists that they migrated to all parts of North, Central, and South America adapting their lives to the available food, climate, and sheltering materials.

Culture: A shared way of livingHallmarks of Culture

1. spiritual-shaman2. foods3. economics4. governmental organization-tribe, sachem5. language6. clothing

7. healthcare8. housing9. division of labor— matriarchal=female;

patriarchal=male10. family ties11. recreation12. warfare

Saint Brendan

Who was Saint Brendan and did he lead Columbus to discover America?

This is a common myth about the discovery of America. St. Brendan was an Irish monk or priest that lived well before the time of Columbus. Some people think that he traveled to the Americas. We have no way of knowing one way or the other because there is no physical evidence, and most of the stories about him sound like legends and are very mythic in style.

However, Columbus apparently did have some prior information that there was land on the other side of the Atlantic ocean. Many scholars think he obtained it in part from the fishermen of Bristol in England and from those in Portugal, both of whom are likely to have explored the rich fishing grounds off the Grand Banks in Canada and in the Caribbean. He somehow knew the exact route with the best ocean currents for the times of year when he sailed and made an almost direct line to his first landing.

So, while we do not know if St. Brendan actually went to America (there are unconfirmed legends that the Welsh, the Egyptians and the Phoenicians also landed there), we do think that Columbus may have gotten information from fishermen in the British Isles.

The Irish Discover America

• In the fifth century, St. Patrick started the christening of the Irish. The Irish quickly accepted the new religion, and soon started to make voyages of their own. In 563, St. Columba established a monastery on the island of Iona, on the Scottish coast, and from Iona and other places, the Irish not only preached among the Picts, but also traveled onto the Atlantic Ocean. A famous story is the one of the voyages of St. Brendan, who traveled to the Atlantic to find the Promised Land of the Saints. According to the story, he found several islands and had a number of adventures before finding this promised land. Although St. Brendan was a historical person, the story was probably not that of his voyage, but a combination of stories from several Irish monks. There is discussion about the nature of the islands that are described. The Orkneys, Faeroe and Iceland are almost certainly included, but historians do not agree whether some of the descriptions are about the Azores, Newfoundland and other lands in America. What is certain, is that the Irish later established themselves in Faeroe, and, from the late eighth century onwards, Iceland. After the arrival of the Vikings they may have left Iceland for Greenland, but nothing has been heard of this colony since.

The VikingsThe Vikings were a people from Scandinavia. In the second half of the eighth century, they started raids on England, and during the next centuries, their raids and lands formed an important force in European politics. But apart from these raids, which went as far as Italy, the Vikings were also important traders. Especially the Vikings from Sweden played an important role, sending their ships up the Russian rivers, and through small portages reaching places as far as Constantinople and Persia. Nevertheless, here too they were conquerors as well as traders, and various of the main principalities of medieval Russia, such as Novgorod and Kiev, were established by them. One Viking trader that we know by name is Ottar told king Alfred of Wessex about his voyage northward along the Norwegian Coast to the White Sea region. His is the oldest known voyage around North Cape. In the west, the Vikings colonized a number of lands - the Hebrides, the Orkneys, Faeroe, Iceland. The latter country was first seen around 860. It was discovered by accident by Gardar Svarsson, who was blown off course going to the Hebrides. The same happened to Naddod around the same period. Next, Floki Vilgerdasson spent a Winter there, the colonization of the country was started in the 870s, and by 930 viking colonies were spread over all of Iceland.

Like Iceland before, around 930 Greenland was discovered by a Viking who was blown off course, his name was Gunnbjorn. The first Viking to colonize Greenland was Eric the Red. In 982, Eric was banned from Iceland because of manslaughter, and he decided to explore the country discovered by Gunnbjorn. After three years he returned, talking enthusiastically about the land, which he called Greenland, and in 986, he returned with several shiploads of colonists. Two colonies were started, the eastern and the western settlement, both on the west coast. Bjarni Herjulfsson came back home to his father in Iceland in 986, only to hear that his father had joined Eric to Greenland. He decided to go there himself, but missed it, and reached America. He explored a large part of the American coast, but he did not land there. Around the year 1000, Eric's son Leif tried to establish a colony somewhere in America, in a land he called Vinland. A few more attempts were made in the following years, but all were abandoned after only one or two years. We do not know where exactly Vinland was. On Newfoundland, a Viking settlement has been found in a place called L'Anse aux Meadows. Many historians believe that this was the settlement of Leif, but others think that Vinland was further south, perhaps in New England. Undoubtedly, America has been visited by Vikings after this, but there is no evidence that they made any more attempts at actually colonizing the country. The colonies in Greenland prospered for some time, but in the fourteenth century it began to deteriorate, and in the fifteenth century it was abandoned, for as yet unknown reasons. The sagas say it was the savage skraelings who drove them out.

Marco Polo’s discoveries in Cathay (China)• Gunpowder• Fireworks• Paper• Noodles• Printing• coins• Venice’s stranglehold on trade with the Far East—

from overland (The Silk Road) and the Mediterranean was their monopoly

Inventions leading to the Age of Exploration

• Lateen sails• Improved rudders• Improved compass• Caravels—lighter, more maneuverable ships• Improvements in the stern rudder• Mapmaking/cartography• Discovery of the Trade Winds

• Europe and hierarchy• Bubonic Plague• Medieval religious thought• Reconquista• Patriarchal society• Trade without paying Venetian prices• 1588 England’s defeat of the Spanish Armada—

Drake, caravels, and the weather vs. huge Spanish Men-of-war.

• off Irish coast—survivors with excellent horseflesh to breed and swarthy “Black Irish” coloring

Chapter 3 New Book

Why We Are Not Called Columbia

• A Florentine explorer named Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) claimed to have made four Atlantic voyages between 1497 and 1504, although only two have been confirmed. Following the 1501 voyage, Vespucci coined the phrase Mundus Novus—New World—to describe the region. The name stuck. Then, in 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemuller published an account of Vespucci’s voyages. It was Waldseemuller who used a Latinized form of Vespucci’s first name to label the region that Amerigo had explored.

• Another theory is that the Viking/Scandinavian combination of land + Eric and a feminine ending = Amt + Eric + a is how we got the name.

St. Augustine, Europe’s oldest permanent settlement in North America

• On August 28, the Feast Day of Saint Augustine, Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles first sighted the coast of Florida. Twelve days later, on September 8, he stepped ashore, planted the Spanish flag into the sandy soil and, with soldiers and settlers who had traveled with him and Timicuans who greeted his arrival watching, Menendez founded a new city and named it St. Augustine. The year was 1565.From that day until today, the City of St. Augustine has continued to survive and thrive, making it the longest continually inhabited European founded city in the United States, or more commonly called the "Nation’s Oldest City."

The Castillo de San Marcos, built 1672-1695, served primarily as an outpost of the Spanish Empire, guarding St. Augustine, the first permanent European settlement in the continental United States, and also protecting the sea route for treasure ships returning to Spain.

Treaty of TordesillasPapal Line

of Demarcation 1494

Upon returning to Spain in 1493 after his first voyage, Christopher Columbus contacted Pope Alexander VI (a Spaniard by birth) to report his discoveries. Acting as the great European arbiter of the day, the pope then issued a bull (decree) that divided the New World lands between Spain and Portugal by establishing a north-south line of demarcation 100 leagues* west of the Cape Verde Islands. Undiscovered non-Christian lands to the west of the line were to be Spanish possessions and those to the east belonged to Portugal. News of this decision was not warmly greeted by the Portuguese, who argued that previous agreements conflicted with the pope's decision. In the spring of 1494, representatives of Spain and Portugal met in the Spanish town of Tordesillas and negotiated a mutually satisfactory solution to their dispute. The line of demarcation was relocated to a position 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. (It was impossible during this age to determine precisely the impact of this agreement on account of the nagging difficulty of establishing longitude accurately.) However, Portugal emerged with an enhanced position by gaining a larger portion of South America (Brazil). Even with this modification, Spain had gained control of most of the New World. The pope granted his official recognition of this agreement in 1506. Spain and Portugal, with a few exceptions, remained loyal to the terms of the treaty; the Portuguese would expand deep into Brazil beyond the demarcation line, but Spain did not object. The natives of these regions, needless to say, were not consulted about the assignment of their homelands to others and competing powers in Europe totally ignored the line.

For years following 1494, the Spanish lamented their consent to the treaty, convinced that they had received the short end of the stick. Their initial discoveries in the New World yielded little mineral wealth, but much disease and discomfort. Their evaluation of this bargain with Portugal changed dramatically in the 1520s as the riches from Aztec Mexico began to be exploited.

Isabella of Castille

• Isabella I (1451 1504), queen of Castile, called la Catolica ("the Catholic"), and a sponsor of the voyages of Christopher Columbus. She was the daughter of John II of Castile and Leon by his second wife, Isabella of Portugal. In 1469 Princess Isabella married Ferdinand of Aragon, known also as Ferdinand V, the Catholic. On the death of her brother, Henry IV, Isabella and Ferdinand jointly succeeded (1474) to the throne of Castile and León. Isabella's succession was contested, however, by Alfonso V of Portugal, who supported the claim of Henry's daughter Juana la Beltraneja. Alfonso attacked Castile and León but was defeated by the Castilian army in 1476. Three years later Ferdinand succeeded to the throne of Aragón. This union of the two main Spanish kingdoms laid the foundation of Spain's future greatness. They had five children, including Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII of England, and Joanna the Mad, who was the mother of Charles V, king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor. Isabella and her husband (known together as "the Catholic kings") are remembered for initiating the Inquisition in 1478, for completing the Reconquista of Spain from the Moors and for their ruthless expulsion of the Spanish Jews, both in 1492. That same year they sponsored Christopher Columbus's voyage, which led to the creation of the overseas Spanish colonial empire, bringing great wealth and power to Spain.

Chris and Izzy

Isabella and Ferdinand proceeded with their plans to unify all of Spain by continuing a long-standing but stalled effort to expel the Moors (Muslims) who held parts of Spain. In 1492, the Muslim Kingdom of Granada fell to Isabella and Ferdinand, thus completing the Reconquista. That same year, all Jews in Spain who refused to convert to Christianity were expelled by royal edict. Also in 1492, Isabella was convinced by Christopher Columbus to sponsor his voyage of discovery. The lasting effects of this were many: by the traditions of the time, when Columbus discovered lands in the New World, they were given to Castile. Isabella took a special interest in the Native Americans of the new lands; when some were brought back to Spain as slaves she insisted they be returned and freed, and her will expressed her wish that the "Indians" be treated with justice and fairness.

Isabella on Deathbed

Isabella had used her own jewels to fund Columbus’ voyage. She kept the books and had always kept her dower/money separate from Ferdinand’s. Wanting a profit from the New World. Bartholomew De las Casas will point out that the enslaved belong to her as well, so by conversion, they become her Christian subjects, thus the encomienda system becomes more humane and less harsh.

• Isabella was a determined woman. Hard-headed and headstrong, she had taken a grip on the reins of her life and dragged Spain into her vision of its greatness in the future.

• She had defied her father and brother to achieve Ferdinand, the throne, and a united, all-Catholic Spain. In Columbus, she saw not only the chance to increase Spain’s wealth (gold from the Aztecs, Incas…), but also the chance to spread Catholicism throughout the New World.

• She was a rabid, intolerant catholic who believed it was her way or the highway—the Cross or the sword—but she was totally convinced that she was doing God’s Will.

Who Discovered Whom???

Did Columbus Really Discover America?

Christopher Columbus is given credit for discovering the New World, but was he really the first person to step foot in this new land. What about the Native Americas? What about Leif Eriksson? Or what about Americus Vespucius?Approximately 20,000 years ago the first Native Americans came over a land bridge between Asia and North America. This bridge was over 1,000 miles wide. In 1492 about one million American Indians lived in the United States and Canada and about 20 million million Indians lived in South America.In 1000 A. D. sailors from Norway called Vikings traveled from Iceland to Greenland. They were lead by Eric the Red. Eric the Red founded a colony on Greenland. Later his son, Leif Eriksson, lead a group to Newfoundland in Canada. Unfortunately no maps were made of these travels. However in 1965 a Viking map dated 1440 was found. The Viking map showed parts of northeastern Canada.About the same time Columbus was making his third voyage another explorer sailed for North America. His name was Americus Vespucius. Vespucius made maps of his travels. A German school teacher who was writing a new geography book found these maps. The school teacher called the New World America in honor of Vespucius.

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451. Living by the Mediterranean Sea he longed to be a sailor. He began sailing on Italian ships at the age of 14. When Columbus was 25 he was sailing on a ship headed for England. A group of French pirates attacked his ship. Columbus was hurt, but managed to grab onto some floating wood and make his way to shore.Columbus opened a shop that sold maps and books for sailors. There he became a mapmaker and began reading books. He read a book written by Marco Polo. Columbus was fascinated by Polo's book. After reading this book Columbus was sure he could reach the Indies by traveling west. He wanted to go to the Indies to get jewels and spices.Columbus asked King John II of Portugal for three ships to try out his idea of traveling west to reach the East. The king refused to give him the ships. Columbus tried going to other kings in France and England. They would not give him the ships. Finally Columbus went to the king and queen of Spain; King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He asked them for money to try out his idea of traveling west to reach the East. Queen Isabella refused Columbus at first. Later King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella gave Columbus three ships, a crew of about ninety men, and some money. The three ships were the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María.

• On August 2, 1492 the voyage began. The trip was not easy. Columbus's crew was afraid of the unknown seas. They believed monsters were in the waters. Some thought the world was flat, and that their ships were sailing too far from the shore and would fall off the end of the earth. On September 1, 1492 Columbus's ships passed an active volcano on the island of Teneriffe. They also reported seeing a bolt of fire fall from the heavens into the sea. The men took these as a bad signs.

Chris’s First Landfall

• There have been many different routes proposed for Columbus starting from Watlings, beginning with the theories of A.B. Becher in 1856 and J.B. Murdock in 1884. But the most widely held view has been that championed by Samuel Elliot Morison in 1940. Since then, a number of people (notably Mauricio Obregon and William Dunwoody) have tinkered with the route in order to try and resolve some of the problems listed below. The Murdock-Morison identifications: Island I = Watlings; Island II = Rum Cay; Island III = Long Island; Island IV = Crooked Island. Dunwoody substitutes Fortune Island as Island IV, a notable improvement.

• If the problem list below seems longer than some other theories, that may be just because I've studied this theory in greater detail than some others. Active support for the Watlings theory collapsed in the spring of 1996, after the Leagues-versus-Miles dispute was resolved in favor of leagues.

• Watlings Island has been the favored landfall theory for most of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1926, Fr. Chysostom Schreiner convinced the Bahamian parliament to officially renamed Watlings Island as "San Salvador, or Watlings Island," and you will see the island called San Salvador on most maps today.

Arawaks/Taino Natives

•

Without having to go into prehistoric time, we can safely say that the first inhabitants of the Antilles were The Arawaks. Just prior to 1,000 AD they were expelled from the Lesser Antilles by the Caribs, a people originating, like them, from the lower Orinoco region. Short, copper colored, having black and straight hair, the Arawaks, due to their early arrival in the region, were by the time of Columbus' arrival, peaceful and sedentary. Living from agriculture, hunting and fishing, they grew a soft variety of corn and sweet potatoes. They also knew how to make casava bread using an elaborate process to leach out the poisonous juice of this root. They hunted little mammals or lizards with sticks, and birds with stones. They had domesticated a breed of dog, which they used for hunting and occasionally as food. Since the sea providing them with a great bounty, they had therefore developed much more efficient ways of fishing and navigating. The proximity of the island favoring sight navigation they did not embark in long sea faring expeditions as Polynesians will in the Pacific Ocean. If they lived in round dwellings, there also existed rectangular houses, with porches, reserved for dignitaries.

• Their art of weaving was highly developed and the cotton hammock in which they slept was one of the few long lasting contributions they made to European culture. They made good baskets and agricultural tools; and sometimes sculpted wooden seats. Their pottery was extremely refined and of real artistic value; even though they ignored the potter's wheel, like all pre-Columbian American Indians. Their clothing was limited to a short skirt for women; it cut, color and way of wrapping indicating their social class and age. Men and women wore ornaments, usually composed of strips of cotton tied up above their knees and around their upper arms. At their feasts they danced to the sound of flutes and drums. They played a game, somewhat similar to soccer, except that the raw rubber ball had to be tossed with the head, shoulder, elbow or most professionally, by the knee.

• Their minstrels, called Sambas, sang comical or sad stories, of war and/or peace times. The Arawaks were "animists", which means that they believed in the inner connection of the two worlds (the visible and the invisible one) and in the existence and survival of the soul in the environment (tree, rivers, etc.). They adored the sun, the moon, the stars and the springs, and the Butuous, their respected priests and medicine men are, according to Metraux, the ancestors of present-day Haiti's "docteurs-papier' or ('Docteur-Feuilles')."

Arawaks

The Arawaks believed in eternal life for the virtuous. In Hispaniola they situated their "heaven" in a remote part of the island, where the elected would go to rest and eat the delicious Haitian "apricot." Very little is known abut their political organization. Substantial kingdoms existed and their Kings - the Caciques- exerted absolute power on their subjects.

The quiet and peaceful Arawaks have totally disappeared from the surface of the Earth. This was accomplished in a very short time after the arrival of the Europeans. Aside from the animals imported by the Europeans (in particular the pigs) which left free to roam devastated the tuberous crop of the Arawaks, many were killed in the defensive wars they undertook to preserve their freedom. Others, after being ruthlessly enslaved and submitted to a meager diet of cassava and sweet potatoes, died from malnutrition and overwork in the mines or plantations. Finally, the rest of them died after contracting European diseases from which they were not immune. Their disappearance was so swift and the need for cheap and able labor was so great that 30 years after Columbus' landing the massive deportation of Africans had started.

They became extinct. The American Indian societies of the West Indies were too ill prepared to massively support the shock of contact with Europeans. Due to various diseases and an obstinate repression they swiftly faded away.

The Natives Strike Back!

Picture of Indians massacring priests—great propaganda for future opportunities to subjugate, enslave, and slaughter.

Contemporary Mexican artist Diego Rivera depicts the Totonacs, Indians who were conquered by the Aztecs and later joined the Spanish.

Aztec feather shield made during the time of Moctezuma

A Spanish manuscript dating from the mid-1500s shows the Spanish arrival in Mexico (top). At bottom, Moctezuma listens to his messengers.

In 1519, the Aztec ruler Moctezuma heard an astounding report from his messengers. They described unusual people who had just arrived in the region—people with white skin and yellow hair, clad completely in iron, who rode “deer” as tall as a house and had dogs with burning yellow eyes. According to a Spanish translation of native accounts, “When Moctezuma heard this, he was filled with terror. It was as if his heart grew faint, as it shrank; he was overcome by despair.”

Montezuma

Montezuma or Moctezuma, 1480?–1520, Aztec emperor (c.1502–1520). He is sometimes called Montezuma II to distinguish him from Montezuma I (ruled 1440–69), who carried on conquests around Tenochtitlán. His reign was marked by incessant warfare, and his despotic rule caused grave unrest. When Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico he was thus able to gain native allies, notably in the province of the Tlaxcala. Montezuma, believing the Spanish to be descendants of the god Quetzalcoatl, tried to persuade them to leave by offering rich gifts. That failing, he received them in his splendid court at Tenochtitlán in Nov., 1519. Cortés later seized him as a hostage and attempted to govern through him. In June, 1520, the Aztec rose against the Spanish. Montezuma was killed, although whether by the Spanish or the Aztec is not certain. His successor died a few months later and was replaced by Cuauhtémoc. Montezuma's name is linked by a legend to fabulous treasures that the Spanish appropriated and presumably lost at sea. And his notorious REVENGE!

Chocolate

"The divine drink, which builds up resistance and fights fatigue.A cup of this precious drink [cocoa] permits a man to walk for a whole day without food."Montezuma II (1502-1520)

When the Spaniards, under Hernán Cortés, arrived in 1519, the Aztec civilization was at its height. However, many subject Indian groups, rebellious against Aztec rule, were only too willing to join the Spanish. Initially, the invaders were aided by the fact that the Aztec believed them to be descendants of the god Quetzalcoatl. Montezuma, the last of the independent Aztec rulers, received Cortés, who made him prisoner and attempted to rule through him. The Aztec revolted, Montezuma was killed, and Tenochtitlán was razed (1521). Cuauhtémoc, last of the emperors, was murdered (1525), and the Spanish proceeded to subjugate Mexico.

Although Spanish conquistadors only numbered in the hundreds as compared to millions of Native Americans, they had many advantages. Their guns and cannons were superior to the Native Americans’ arrows and spears, and European metal armor provided them with better protection. They also had horses, which not only were useful in battle and in carrying supplies, but also frightened the Native Americans, who had never seen a horse.

Guns, Horses, and Disease

Most importantly, an invisible invader—disease—helped the conquistadors take control of the Taínos and other Native Americans. Europeans unknowingly carried diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza to which Native Americans had no immunity, or resistance.

These diseases spread rapidly and wiped out village after village. As a result, the Native American population of the Caribbean islands declined by as much as 90 percent in the 1500s. Millions of Native Americans died from disease as Europeans made their way inland.

One of the greatest (and most misunderstood) women in all of history. A girl who fought actual battles alongside professional soldiers (just like Joan of Arc) but more importantly used her wits and great intelligence to help conquer an entire empire!In 1519 Hernan Cortes conquered Mexico which was ruled by the Aztecs and at that time had at least a million subjects, but Cortes had only 500 men, and a few horses and cannon.

What was his secret weapon? A 17 year old slave girl named Malinche.A young girl was born in 1502 named Malinalli (Grass for the day she was born) to an Aztec noble family. When her father died her mother remarried and had a son with her new husband. Her own mother then sold her into slavery because she wanted the boy to inherit the power & wealth of the family.

Malinche Shapes History

Malinche’s parents sold her as a slave when she was a child, believing that she was born under an unlucky star. Despite her unfortunate beginning, she left a major mark on the history of the Americas. Malinche was a natural at picking up languages. Her amazing fluency in Spanish and in the local tribes language gained Cortes allies among those Indian tribes who hated the Aztec. She was also known an Doña Marina and was Cortes’ consort who bore him a son.

In 1519 Hernan Cortes landed in what is now called Mexico, which was part of the Aztec Empire, and began the conquest of the territory for Spain. In an early battle he was given Malinalli and 19 other slave girls as tribute by the Indians at Tabasco. The Spanish baptized the girls and gave them Christian names. Malinalli was named Marina, which the Spanish soldiers added Doña so they called her Doña Marina, the natives called her La MalincheShe became Cortes’ key to the conquest of the Aztecs and all of Mexico by her intelligence, wit, and charm, translating the various dialects into Spanish and tricking Montezuma into believing Cortes was the returning god Quetzalcoatl or Feathered Serpent. It is very possible that without her, Cortes would have failed. He himself, in a letter preserved in the Spanish archives, said that "After God we owe this conquest of New Spain to Doña Marina. "

Doña Marina's progress from interpreter to secretary to mistress, as well as her quick mastery of Spanish, are remarkable--and all this amidst the turmoil of constant warfare, times when a woman less courageous and committed might well have fled.

La Malinche (c. 1496 or c. 1505 – c. 1529, some sources give 1550-1551), known also as Malintzin, Malinalli or Doña Marina, was a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast, who played a role in the Spanish conquest of Mexico, acting as interpreter, advisor, lover and intermediary for Hernán Cortés. She was one of twenty slaves given to Cortés by the natives of Tabasco in 1519. Later she became a mistress to Cortés and gave birth to his first son, Martín, who is considered one of the first Mestizos (people of mixed European and indigenous American ancestry).Her relationship to Cortés gave birth to Martin - arguably a mestizo and criollo, those who eventually resented Spain for not allowing them any ruling position just because they were born in America.

A Layered SocietySpanish colonial society was made up of distinct social classes. At the top were peninsulares ,people born in Spain. (The term peninsular referred to the Iberian Peninsula, on which Spain is located.) Peninsulares filled the highest positions in both colonial governments and the Catholic Church. Next came creoles, American-born descendants of Spanish settlers. Creoles owned most of the plantations, ranches, and mines.Lower social groups reflected the mixing of populations. They included mestizos, people of Native American and European descent, and mulattoes, people of African and European descent. Native Americans and people of African descent formed the lowest social classes.

Sunken Treasure Spanish ships sunk in the waters off Cuba’s coast hundreds of years ago still yield gold and silver treasure to divers today. A craftsman of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry made these ceremonial weapons in 1631.

Wreck of the 'Atocha' Spanish galleon on the Florida Keys. Discovered in the 1980's and yielding millions of dollars in treasure.

Pizarro Takes PeruCortés’s success inspired other adventurers, among them Spaniard Francisco Pizarro. Pizarro was interested in Peru’s Inca empire, which was reputed to have even more riches than the Aztecs. Pizarro arrived in Peru in 1532, just after the Incan ruler Atahualpa had won the throne from his brother in a bloody civil war. A civil war is fought between groups of people in the same nation.

Atahualpa refused to become a Spanish vassal or convert to Christianity. In response, Pizarro, aided by Indian allies, captured him and slaughtered thousands of Inca. The Spanish demanded a huge ransom for the ruler. The Inca paid it, but the Spanish killed Atahualpa anyway.

Pizarro conquers the Incas

• Atahualpa sensed that his Spanish captors were greedy and offered a room full of gold as ransom, or payment for his release. Pizarro agreed, and the Incas brought gold and silver statues, jewelry, and artwork from all over the empire. The Spanish ordered the Incas to melt everything down into gold bars. Pizarro received word about the capture and killing of Huáscar. He put Atahualpa on trial for treason for his brother's murder and for plotting against the Spanish. Treason is working against one's own country or government. Atahualpa was found guilty and was executed on August 29, 1533. With the death of its leader, the Inca Empire soon fell.

Explorers to the New World1539 – 1542 Hernando De Soto explores the southeastern United States.

1540 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explores the southwestern United States and discovers the Grand Canyon.

1577 Sir Francis Drake becomes the first Englishman to sail around the world.

1673 Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet explore the Mississippi River.

1682 Rene-Robert de La Salle explores the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

ExplorersDate Explorer Nationality Achievement

Around 1000

Leif Ericson Norse First European to reach North American Mainland

1271-1295

Marco Polo Italian  

Traveled to the Far East, to what was known then as Cathay or China-Made men want to travel there through his book

1394-1460

Prince Henry Portuguese Created navigation school in Sagres, Portugal Explored the western African coastline

1487-1488

Bartholomeu Dias

Portuguese First European to round the Cape of Good Hope

1492-1504

Christopher Columbus

Italian Made 4 voyages to West Indies and Caribbean Islands

1497-1503

Amerigo Vespucci

Italian Sailed to West Indies and South America

1497-1498

John Cabot Italian Explored the shores of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Labrador

1498 Vasco Da Gama

Portuguese First to travel to West Indies around Africa

1513 Vasco de Balboa

Spanish Led expedition across Panama and found the Pacific Ocean

1513 Juan Ponce de Leon

Spanish Explored Florida looking for the Fountain of Youth

1520-1521 Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese Commanded first globe circling voyage

1519-1521 Hernando Cortez Spanish Conquered Aztecs in Mexico

1523 Giovanni da Verranzano

Italian Searched for a Northwest Passage

1523-1535 Francisco Pizarro Spanish Conquered Peru

1534-1542 Jacques Cartier French Traveled St. Lawrence River

1539-1541 Hernando De Soto Spanish Explored American Southeast-Discovered the Mississippi River

1540-1542 Francisco Vazquez de Coronado

Spanish Explored American Southwest

1577-1580 Sir Frances Drake English First English to sail around the world-Defeated the Spanish Armada- Claimed California for England

1603-1616 Samuel de Champlain

French Explored eastern coast of North America and the coast of the St. Lawrence River to Lake Huron-Reached Lake Champlain

1609-1611 Henry Hudson English Explored Hudson Bay, Hudson River, and Hudson Strait

1672 Marquette and Louis Joliet

French Explored Northern  Mississippi River

1682 Robert LaSalle French Traveled to the mouth of the Mississippi River and claimed it for France

Spanish SettlementsTwo men called Viceroys ruled the Spanish empire in the New World for the king of Spain. Each controlled one area. One Viceroy controlled for the Kingdom of New Spain. This included Mexico, the islands of the West Indies, and North America. The other Viceroy controlled the Kingdom of Peru. This also included Panama and the Spanish land in South America. The Viceroys made sure the king's laws were followed and taxes were collected. They had little authority on their own; all important matters had to be referred to the King/Queen. The concept of local government did not exist. Conquistadors were usually second-born sons of nobility who had the ambition and education, but no titles, lands, or wealth. They were seasoned soldiers from the Reconquista and convinced that their way of life was superior to all others. They believed in “the Cross or the Sword” and were soldiers and leaders who helped take over the land from the Indians. They treated the Indians like slaves.Missionaries were Catholic priests. They built missions throughout Spanish territory. The missions were built like forts because the Indians often attacked them. Many Indians lived on large farms owned by the Spanish. They were enslaved and converted to Christianity in the encomienda system. The large farms were called haciendas.The first cattle, horses, and cowboys were started by the Spanish, not to mention excellent CA wines, planted from Spanish grapes.

Spanish Conquest of the New World

The Spanish brought the new crops of sugar cane, coffee, and cereal grains to the New World. The Indians introduced the Spanish to tobacco, potatoes, corn, chocolate from cacao beans, and squash.

Coronado’s March in search of the Mythical Seven Cities of Cibola

Pope’ or Po'pay

Photo courtesy Clear Light Publishing/Marcia Keegan -- Herman Agoyo and Joe S. Sando, editors of ''Po'pay: Leader of the First American Revolution'' (Clear Light Publishing, 2005), stand in front of the statue of Po'pay that will represent New Mexico in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C.

SANTA FE, N.M. - The year 2005 is quickly becoming the ''Year of Po'pay.'' The leader of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 is the subject of a new book, ''Po'pay: Leader of the First American Revolution,'' written by Pueblo members and leaders, while a marble tribute will soon honor Po'pay in the National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

The Real Scoop on the Pueblo Revolt of 1680

In the 17th century, Spain maintained New Mexico as a Franciscan enclave dedicated to converting its indigenous peoples to Christianity. In 1599 a rebellion in Ácoma was brutally suppressed by Juan de Oñate. The actions of the Spaniards shocked all of the pueblos and were not forgotten. Tensions increased among the Spanish soldiers seeking wealth, the priests needing wealth to build churches, and the Indians who had to produce the wealth.

Between 1644 and 1675 the Indians repeatedly rebelled against the better-armed and better-organized Spaniards, but these uprisings were quickly suppressed. In the1660s and 1670s drought and unusually high temperatures made life increasingly difficult for both the Indians and Spaniards. Spaniards seized Indian possessions and crops. A decade of isolated unrest culminated in the unification of most pueblos and other communities against the Spaniards.

• In 1680 the charismatic Tewa leader Popé coordinated a successful rebellion against the Spaniards, known as The Great Pueblo Revolt. Throughout the upper Rio Grande basin north of El Paso to Taos, Tewa, Tiwa, Hopi, Zuni and other Keresan-speaking pueblos, and even the non-pueblo Apaches simultaneously rose up against the Spanish.

• The Spaniards who were able to escape fled to Santa Fe where they were besieged by a combined army of various tribes armed with Spanish weapons. After several days, the Spaniards broke through the siege and fled south to El Paso.

• The Pueblo rebellion effectively ended Spanish rule in New Mexico for the next 12 years. However, Popé died and the de facto confederation of the pueblos fell apart. Since there were no Spanish troops to offer protection, the traditional enemies of the pueblos, the Apache and Navajo, launched their attacks. The succeeding Spanish governor of the territory, Diego de Vargas Zapata y Luján Ponce de León (ca. 1643-1704), began a successful military and political reconquest in 1692.The Spanish will win since disease decimated the pueblos. Pope will win the battle and lose the war.

A 1584 drawing of slaves laboring at the Potosí silver mine, Bolivia

The encomienda system was used in the mines as well as on plantations. By the 1540s, tons of silver from the Potosí region of Peru and Bolivia filled Spanish treasure ships.

Year after year, thousands of Native Americans were forced to extract the rich ore from dangerous shafts deep inside the Andes Mountains. As thousands of Indians died from the terrible conditions, they were replaced by thousands more.

A few bold priests, like Bartolomé de Las Casas condemned the evils of the encomienda system. In vivid reports to Spain, Las Casas detailed the horrors that Spanish rule had brought to Native Americans and pleaded with the king to end the abuse.

Encomienda—A System of Forced LaborAt first, Spanish monarchs granted the conquistadors encomiendas, the right to demand labor or tribute from Native Americans in a particular area. The conquistadors used this system to force Native Americans to work under the most brutal conditions. Those who resisted were hunted down and killed. Disease, starvation, and cruel treatment caused drastic declines in the Native American population.

Bringing Workers From AfricaTo fill the labor shortage, Las Casas urged colonists to import workers from Africa. He believed that Africans were immune to tropical diseases and had skills in farming, mining, and metalworking. Las Casas later regretted that advice because it furthered the brutal African slave trade.

Bartholomeo de las CasasBartholomew de Las Casas was born in Seville, Spain in 1474. He was a young man of wealth and social position when Columbus returned in 1492 from the New World, bringing a captive Indian as a trophy. The young de Las Casas took his law degree at the University of Salamanca, where the Dominicans were already wrestling with the problems of social injustice brought about by the conquest. In 1502 he accompanied his father to Hispaniola (now the Dominican Republic and Haiti). A typical young Spanish grandee, with a large amount of property on the island of Hispaniola, Bartholomew was atypically kind to the Native People who were slaves on his plantation. However the thought of slavery never really bothered him. It seemed at the time an eminently sensible method of colonizing a new land, and for many years while injustice flared on all sides, he paid little attention to the social injustice of the colonial system. Bartholomew de Las Casas was one of the colonists who heard Father Anthony Montesinos preach against slavery. While at that time he was not prepared to give up his slaves, he did realize with greater clarity the injustices he and the other Spaniards were committing against the Native People. Despite the promises made to him assuring a fair use of force; he witnessed a horrible massacre of the Native People. Totally disillusioned, he sailed for Spain the next year, and in 1515 he presented the case of the Native People to the Council of the Indies. For two years de Las Casas pleaded the cause of the conquered people and asked that the king stop the senseless violence. King Ferdinand, wishing to avoid the entire situation, sent de Las Casas back to Hispaniola with the title "Protector of the Indians" and with a great many laws to rectify the matter. It soon became clear to Bartholomew that laws without backing were futile words. So in less than a year, de Las Casas was sailing back to Spain to ask for support for the laws he had been given. After consulting with Charles the V, de Las Casas realized that King Ferdinand had no intention of forcing the colonialist to obey.

More disheartened, Bartholomew returned to Hispaniola and in 1522, freed his own slaves and requested entrance into the Dominican Order. He received the habit. He spent the next eight years of his life praying, reflecting and writing. Of the many works that he accomplished in his life, his writings have had the greatest impact on subsequent generations. Since traffic in slavery was then a common practice through out the world, de Las Casas at first endorsed the importing of Africans slaves to the colonies, but quickly repented of his decision. He again confessed this mistake as a sin on his deathbed. The intelligentsia of Europe maintained the legitimacy of the inhuman slave traffic and strove to negate the influence of de Las Casas. Undaunted by almost universal opposition, the intrepid liberator crossed the Atlantic fourteen times to persuade the Spanish Cortes to enact humanitarian laws for the peaceful civilization and conversion of the Native People. He was admired and supported in his efforts by the Emperor Charles V and by the Dominican professors at the University of Salamanca. Chiefly through his efforts the famous New Laws were enacted in 1542-43. In 1544 de Las Casas was appointed bishop of the Mexican province of Chiapas. But he was so frustrated by the powerful landholders that he retired in Spain in 1547. Bartholomew de Las Casas spent the remaining years of his life in retirement at the convent of Our Lady of Athocha in Madrid. Rarely speaking anymore, he spent his days writing. At the age of ninety he wrote his last defense of the Native People, explaining the rights of personal property of non-Christians. He died in 1566, not realizing his hopes of true equality and humanitarian treatment of the Native People.

Prayer to Bartholomew de Las Casas

Righteous God, You filled Bartholomew with a zeal for justice for the Native People of the New World.

Help us to be people of justice, ready to defend the rights of the poor, neglected and

displaced peoples of our world. Give us Your grace so that we may create a New World

Order of peace and justice for all. We ask this prayer

through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy

Spirit, God forever and ever.

Amen

CABRILLO, JUAN RODRIGUEZJuan Rodriguez Cabrillo (? -1543) was a Spanish or Portuguese explorer (his nationality is uncertain). Cabrillo was the first European explorer of the Californian coast. In 1542, he sailed from Acapulco to southern California, claiming California for King Charles I of Spain. Cabrillo named San Diego Bay and Santa Barbara. He died on San Miguel Island (in the Santa Barbara Channel) after a fight with Indians, from complications resulting from a broken leg.

On 23 November 1542, the little fleet limped back to "San Salvador" (Santa Catalina Island) to overwinter and make repairs. There, around Christmas Eve, Cabrillo stepped out of his boat and splintered his shin when he stumbled on a jagged rock. The injury developed gangrene and he died on 3 January 1543. João Rodrigues Cabrilho

He named Santa Barbara and San Diego, but he missed Monterrey Bay, San Francisco Bay, and Golden Gate Bay.

Father Junipero Serra (1713-1784)

• Father Junipero Serra (Miguel Jose Serra) was one of the most important Spanish missionaries in the New World. Born in Majorca on November 24, 1713, he joined the Franciscan Order at the age of 16. He soon gained prominence as an eloquent preacher and eventually became a professor of theology. His dream was to become a missionary to America. He arrived in Mexico City in 1750 to begin this new life.

• In 1769 he established a mission at the present site of San Diego, California, the first of a number that would include San Antonio, San Buenaventura, San Carlos, San Francisco de Assisi, San Gabriel, San Juan Capistrano, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Clara. This was a herculean task considering that Father Serra was already in his fifties and suffered from a chronic ulcerated condition in one leg. Serra was ascetic and uncompromising in his zeal to convert the Indians to Christianity and to make his missions self sufficient. Inhabitants built their own homes, spun wool for garments, and pursued careers as masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, and millers; thousands of barrels of grain were kept in reserve supply, and herds of cattle, sheep, horses, and swine were maintained.

• The ulcerated condition of Serra's leg eventually spread to his chest. At the age of 71, aware of his deterioration, he made a final visit to his missions. The well-known and beloved missionary died in Monterey, California, on August 28, 1784; his missions continued to flourish for another 50 years.

Serra founded the following missions:LOWER CALIFORNIA

Serra was president of the following missions.(all founded by the Jesuits)1. 1697 - Nuestra Señora de Loreto2. 1699 - San Francisco Xavier3. 1705 - Santa Rosalía de Mulegé4. 1708 - San José de Comondú5. 1720 - La Purísima Concepción de . . . . . . . .María Cadegomó6. 1720 - Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe7. 1721 - Santiago de las Coras8. 1721 - Nuestra Señora de los Dolores9. 1728 - San Ignacio10. 1730 - San José del Cabo11. 1733 - Todos Santos12. 1737 - San Luís Gonzaga13. 1752 - Santa Gertrudis14. 1762 - San Francisco de Borja15. 1767 - Santa María de Los Angeles

UPPER CALIFORNIA

Serra was responsible for the founding of the first nine missions.1) 1769 - San Diego de Alcalá2) 1770 - San Carlos Borromeo3) 1771 - San Antonio de Padua4) 1771 - San Gabriel Arcángel5) 1772 - San Luís Obispo 6) 1776 - San Francisco de Asís7) 1776 - San Juan Capistrano8) 1777 - Santa Clara de Asís9) 1782 - San Buenaventura

CAMIssIons

Cultural Blending Encounters with Native Americans, or stories about such encounters, influenced Spanish and Portuguese artists. This painting dating from the early 1500s places a Biblical story—the adoration of the Magi—in the Americas, with Native American figures.

A Spanish Cathedral A group of Tzotzil Maya women gather in front of the Cathedral of San Cristóbal in Chiapas, Mexico. The church was originally built in 1528.

How can you tell that the church is a vital part of life in the town?

Unlike Spain’s American colonies, Brazil offered no instant wealth from silver or gold. However, early settlers cut and exported brazilwood. The Portuguese named the colony after this wood, which was used to produce a valuable dye. Soon they turned to plantation agriculture and raising cattle. Like the Spanish, the Portuguese forced Indians and Africans to clear land for plantations. As many as four million Africans were sent to Brazil. As in Spanish America, a new culture emerged in Brazil that blended European, Native American, and African elements.

Smuggling Brazilwood A panel carved from brazilwood in the 1550s shows French privateers illegally cutting Portuguese brazilwood and storing it on their boats.

A coat of arms from the time the Dutch briefly controlled the colony of New Netherland (New York) shows the importance of the beaver to the colony’s trade.

The Mythical Northwest Passage

At that time the Europeans believed everything in the north was covered by ice and it was not until the 1490s, when John Cabot proposed that there must exist a direct way to the Orient via the Northwest Passage, that the Europeans' interest in the far north was peaked. It was during the 16th century that Europe began to investigate the possibility of a passage in the Northwest that would offer a safer sea route to the Orient than those which lay exposed to possible Spanish or Portuguese attack, such as the areas of Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. This search was to continue for over 300 years, during which time explorers would brave the harsh climate and treacherous ice conditions of the North. Some men would lose their lives due to starvation, scurvy, attack by Inuit or even their fellow crew in an attempt to find a way through the maze of ice and islands.

Cabot, Drake, and Hudson Explore

A statue of Samuel de Champlain holding up an astrolabe overlooks the Ottawa River in Canada. Champlain’s astrolabe appears above.

In the 1600s, France, the Netherlands, England, and Sweden joined Spain in settling North America. North America did not yield vast treasure or offer a water passage to Asia, as they had hoped. Before long, though, the English and French were turning large profits. By 1700, France and England controlled large parts of North America. Their colonies differed from each other and from those of Spanish America in terms of language, government, resources, and society.

French claims in Canada—which the French called New France—quietly grew while French rulers were distracted by wars at home in Europe. In 1534, Jacques Cartier began exploring the coastline of eastern Canada, eventually discovering the St. Lawrence River. Traveling inland on the river, he claimed much of present-day eastern Canada for France. Jesuits and other missionaries soon followed the explorers. They advanced into the wilderness, trying with little success to convert the Native Americans they met to Christianity.

Furs, Trapping, and FishingFrench explorers and fur traders gradually traveled inland with the help of Native American allies, who sought support against rival Native American groups. Eventually, France’s American empire reached from Quebec to the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi River to Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico.The population of New France, however, grew slowly. The first permanent French settlement was not established until 1608, when Samuel de Champlain established a colony in Quebec. Wealthy landlords bought huge tracts, or areas of land, along the St. Lawrence River. They sought settlers to farm the land, but the harsh Canadian climate, with its long winters, attracted few French peasants.

Many who went to New France soon abandoned farming in favor of the more profitable fur trapping and trading. They faced a hard life in the wilderness, but the soaring European demand for fur ensured good prices. Fishing was another industry that supported settlers, who exported cod and other fish to Europe.

In 1497, a Venetian navigator known by the English name John Cabot found rich fishing grounds off Newfoundland, which he claimed for England. Later English navigators continued to search for a northwest passage to Asia, with no success. In the 1600s, England concentrated on establishing colonies along the Atlantic seaboard—the coast of the present-day eastern United States.

The English built their first permanent colony at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.

An English play promised that “. . . gold is more plentiful there [Virginia] than copper is with us. . . . and as for rubies and diamonds, they go forth on holy days and gather them by the seashore.”

Does this photo of the re-creation of the Jamestown colony support the playwright’s views?

Bitter Rivalry Turns to War—The first global war!During the 1700s, Britain and France emerged as powerful rivals. They clashed in Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia. In North America, war between the two powers erupted in 1754. Called the French and Indian War, it raged until 1763. It also turned into a worldwide struggle known as the Seven Years’ War, which spread to Europe in 1756 and then to India and Africa.

During the war, British soldiers and colonial troops launched a series of campaigns against the French in Canada and on the Ohio frontier. At first, France won several victories. Then, in 1759, British troops launched an attack on Quebec, the capital of New France. The British scaled steep cliffs along the river and captured the city. Although the war dragged on until 1763, the British had prevailed in Canada.

Sir Francis DrakeSir Francis Drake, navigator and privateer, is one of the greatest English sea-captains of all time. Revered as a hero in the fight against the Armada in 1588 and despised as an upstart by the old nobility, Drake epitomizes the self-made Elizabethan privateer, rapacious in the hunt for treasure (especially Spanish treasure) but daring and visionary in exploration. Drake and his crew are remembered as the first Englishmen to circumnavigate the globe, claiming a portion of California for Elizabeth along the way. His attack on Cadiz and his devastating raids on the Spanish Main earned him the fear and the grudging respect of the Spaniards, who call him El Draque, "The Dragon". Drake's exploits are most recently shown in Elizabeth: The Golden Age

AArgh, Matey!Pirates!

• Why did so many pirates operate in the Caribbean Sea and off the coast of America? The explorer Christopher Columbus established contact between Europe and the lands that were later named America at the end of the 15th century, while searching for a quick route to the east. As he was working for the king and queen of Spain, these 'new lands' were claimed by the Spanish, who soon discovered them to be a rich source of silver, gold and gems. From the 16th century, large Spanish ships, called galleons, began to sail back to Europe, loaded with precious cargoes that pirates found impossible to resist. So many successful pirate attacks were made that galleons were forced to sail together in fleets with armed vessels for protection. As Spanish settlers set up new towns on Caribbean islands and the American mainland, these too came under pirate attack.

• Why were pirate attacks so often successful?Pirate ships usually carried far more crew than ordinary ships of a similar size. This meant they could easily outnumber their victims. Pirates altered their ships so that they could carry far more cannon than merchant ships of the same size. Stories about pirate brutality meant that many of the most famous pirates had a terrifying reputation, and they advertised this by flying various gruesome flags including the 'Jolly Roger' with its picture of skull and crossbones. All these things together meant that victims often surrendered very quickly. Sometimes there was no fighting at all.

Captain Jack Sparrow crosses paths with a woman from his past (Penélope Cruz), and he's not sure if it's love—or if she's a ruthless con artist who's using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. When she forces him aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the formidable pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected adventure in which he doesn't know who to fear more: Blackbeard or the woman from his past.

Orlando and Keira apparently aren’t in this one

The Spanish Main—the main route the Spanish treasure galleons back to Spain!

The Bermuda Triangle

Sir Francis Drake

• Sir Francis Drake, navigator and privateer, is one of the greatest English sea-captains of all time. Revered as a hero in the fight against the Armada and despised as an upstart by the old nobility, Drake epitomizes the self-made Elizabethan privateer, rapacious in the hunt for treasure (especially Spanish treasure) but daring and visionary in exploration. Drake and his crew are remembered as the first Englishmen to circumnavigate the globe, claiming a portion of California for Elizabeth along the way. His attack on Cadiz and his devastating raids on the Spanish Main earned him the fear and the grudging respect of the Spaniards, who call him El Draque, "The Dragon".

• Drake's exploits are the distant inspiration for the adventures of Captain Geoffrey Thorpe (Errol Flynn) in Michael Curtiz's film The Sea-Hawk, which has nothing but the title in common with the Rafael Sabatini novel of the same name.

This portrait of Olaudah Equiano dates from the 1780s.

The iron shackles shown at the right were used to bind slaves during the slave trade.

Olaudah Equiano's Travels

• About half of each ship died through the Middle Passage, that the sharks altered their migration patterns to follow the slave ships.

The Middle Passage

The voyages of exploration in the 1500s and 1600s marked the beginning of what would become European domination of the globe. By the 1700s, European exploration had brought major changes to the people of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

When Columbus returned to Spain in March 1493, he brought with him plants and animals that he had found in the Americas. Later that year, Columbus returned to the Americas with some 1,200 settlers and a collection of European animals and plants. In this way, Columbus began a vast global exchange that would profoundly affect the world. Because this exchange began with Columbus, we call it the Columbian Exchange.

Horses Transform a Continent The Spanish brought horses to the Americas by ship (below). A Spanish saying went “After God, we owe the victory to the horses.” Horses also dramatically affected Native American life. An artist painted this scene of Plains Indians in 1830. How does the artist show the importance of the horse to Native American life and culture?

The Global Population ExplodesThe transfer of food crops from continent to continent took time. By the 1700s, however, corn, potatoes, manioc, beans, and tomatoes were contributing to population growth around the world. While other factors help account for the population explosion that began at this time, the dispersal of new food crops from the Americas was certainly a key cause.

The Columbian Exchange also sparked the migration of millions of people. Each year shiploads of European settlers sailed to the Americas, lured by the promise of a new life in a land of opportunities. Europeans also settled on the fringes of Africa and Asia, places made known to them because of exploration. In addition, the Atlantic slave trade forcibly brought millions of Africans to the Americas.In some parts of the world, populations declined as a result of increased global contact. The transfer of European diseases, such as smallpox and measles, decimated many Native American populations. Other populations were wiped out as a result of conflicts.

The Atlantic World/ The Columbian Exchange

American corn or more properly maize is a grass that was domesticated 5,000-7,000 years ago by Native American people in the Tehuacan Valley in the state of Puebla, Mexico. The word corn comes from an English word that means any hard kernel or grain and in some texts does not refer to 'Indian corn' or maize.

MaizePotato Sweet PotatoBeans Peanut/GroundnutChenopods Tomato Manioc/Cassava PineappleSquash SunflowerPeanut Cocoa/Chocolate AvocadoChili peppers However, in terms of economic and cultural impact maize and potato are the most important and

therefore made the list in the Columbian Exchange. There are over forty plants that diffuse to various parts of the world that originated from America and were first cultivated or domesticated by Native American people.

The Columbian Biological Exchange

Old World to New World:• Diseases: Smallpox

MeaslesChicken PoxMalariaYellow FeverInfluenzaThe Common Cold

• Animals: Horses CattlePigsSheepGoatsChickens

• Plants: Rice WheatBarleyOatsCoffeeSugarcaneBananasMelonsOlivesDandelionsDaisiesCloverRagweedKentucky Bluegrass

New World to Old World:• Syphilis• Turkeys

LlamasAlpacasGuinea Pigs OlivesDandelionsDaisiesCloverRagweedKentucky Bluegrass

• Corn (Maize)Potatoes (White & Sweet Varieties)Beans (Snap, Kidney, & Lima Varieties)TobaccoPeanutsSquashPeppersTomatoesPumpkinsPineapplesCacao (Source of Chocolate)Chicle (Source of Chewing Gum)PapayasManioc (Tapioca)GuavasAvocados

•Forms of Biological Life Going From:

Native-American Innovations

In addition to popcorn, Native Americans have introduced a number of snacks to the world.

Native Americans have contributed many objects and ideas to our every day lives. Learn more about their innovations from snack food to outdoor gear, find out which English words have Indian origins.

16 Indian Innovations: From Popcorn to Parkas National Geographic NewsUpdated September 21, 2004Imagine our world without chocolate or chewing gum, syringes, rubber balls, or copper tubing. Native peoples invented precursors to all these and made huge strides in medicine and agriculture. They developed pain medicines, birth-control drugs, and treatment for scurvy. Their strains of domesticated corn, potatoes, and other foods helped reduce hunger and disease in Europe—though Indians also introduced the cultivation and use of tobacco. In celebration of the new National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., bone up on Indian innovations in food and candy, outdoor gear, and health and exercise.

FOOD AND CANDY

• Chewing Gum Quick! What was the first commercially available chewing gum in the U.S.? If you guessed Wrigley's Doublemint, guess again. The first over-the-counter gum was spruce sap, introduced to New England colonists by Native Americans. But even Wrigley's fortune traces its roots to Indian innovation, in the form of the key ingredient chicle. The Aztecs chewed this latex, found in the sapodilla tree.

• Freeze-Drying The Inca of South America froze potatoes atop high mountains, which evaporated the moisture inside the tubers. Freeze-drying preserved the potatoes for years and helped Spanish colonists to ship "fresh" potatoes all the way back to Europe by boat. First domesticated by American Indians, corn is now harvested on every continent but Antarctica.

• Chocolate Two thousand years ago the Maya cooked up Earth's first chocolate from cacao beans. The chocolate of the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec Indians generally took the form of a bitter drink. Sugar was added later to suit European palates.

• Vanilla Indians in what is now Mexico were the first to figure out how to turn the pods of the vanilla orchid into the flavor that launched a thousand soft-serve cones. In fact, Indians were so attached to the taste that they kept the recipe under wraps for hundreds of years after the Spanish arrived.

• Popcorn Having developed varieties of corn that exploded into a taste sensation, some Native Americans developed equally intriguing methods of cooking the snack. Some Indians shoved a stick through a dried cob and held it over the fire, weenie-roast style. And in South America the Moche made popcorn poppers out of pottery.

• Potatoes, Peanuts, and Corn Nearly half the world's leading food crops can be traced to plants first domesticated by Indians. Native farmers introduced Europeans to a cornucopia of nutritious plants, including potatoes, peanuts, manioc, beans, tomatoes, sunflowers, and yams. Maize, or corn, was by far the most significant contribution, now grown on every continent except Antarctica.

OUTDOOR GEAR • Parkas

Today's ski jackets owe their origins in part to hooded coats Inuit [Eskimo] women fashioned from layers of skins that trapped air for greater insulation. Many parkas were made from caribou, a fur favored for its heat-holding properties.

• Snow Goggles Some 2,000 years before goggles became an Alpine fashion must, the Inuit [Eskimos] created their own versions. Some examples are carved from walrus tusks, with narrow slits that helped thwart glare from snow and the sea.

• Duck Decoys Constructed of feathers and reeds, 2,000-year-old duck decoys were found in Nevada in 1924. Archaeologists believe that early native hunters used them to lure waterfowl much as hunters use plastic decoys today.

• Moccasins Moccasin styles were once so distinctive that they could reveal a person's tribe. (Fringe may have helped erase footprints.) Now native-inspired shoe designs can be found worldwide, from lightweight cowhide moccasins to toasty mukluks, named for the original sealskin or reindeer-skin boots worn by Eskimos—the Inuit people.

• Camouflage Throughout the Americas, Indians mastered the art of blending in as a tactic for both hunting and warfare. Many hunters would paint their faces and/or wear the skins of the animals they were stalking. And like many bird hunters today, some Native Americans concealed themselves behind blinds.

HEALTH AND EXERCISE • Syringes

We're not sure how they said, "This won't hurt a bit." But we do know that some ancient North American native healers injected medicine beneath the skin. Making the most of the materials at hand, they fashioned hypodermic needles out of hollow bird bones and small animal bladders.

• Dental Care North American Indians scrubbed their teeth with the ragged ends of sticks, while the Aztec Indians applied salt and charcoal to their choppers.

• Ball Games Were the Maya and Aztec sports fanatics? Having found ancient rubber balls, ceremonial courts, and depictions of ballplayers in Mesoamerica—the parts of the Americas inhabited by advanced peoples before the arrival of Columbus—archaeologists think both cultures revered certain ball games.

• Introduction and some additional text adapted from "North American IndianCultures" map, September 2004, National Geographic Maps. Other source: "Know How," Fall 2004, National Museum of the American Indian magazine.

American Indian Loan Wordsby Holly Hartman

•From their earliest contact with traders and explorers, American Indians borrowed foreign words, often to describe things not previously encountered. In this way, Russian was the source of the Alaskan Yupik word for "cat" and an Athabaskan word for "bullets." Native Canadian groups adopted French terms still in use, and southwestern groups in what is now the U.S. borrowed numerous Spanish terms.

The language exchange went both ways. Today, thousands of place names across North America have Indian origins—as do hundreds of everyday English words.

Many of these "loan words" are nouns from the Algonquian languages that were once widespread along the Atlantic coast. English colonists, encountering unfamiliar plants and animals—among them moose, opossum, and skunk —borrowed Indian terms to name them. Pronunciations generally changed, and sometimes the newcomers shortened words they found difficult; for instance, "pocohiquara" became "hickory."

Some U.S. English Words with Indian Origins

anorak from the Greenlandic Inuit "annoraq"bayou from the Choctaw "bayuk"chipmunk from the Ojibwa "ajidamoon," red squirrelhickory from the Virginia Algonquian "pocohiquara" hominy from the Virginia Algonquian "uskatahomen"igloo from the Canadian Inuit "iglu," house kayak from the Alaskan Yupik "qayaq"moccasin from the Virginia Algonquianmoose from the Eastern Abenaki "mos"papoose from the Narragansett "papoos," childpecan from the Illinois "pakani"powwow from the Narragansett "powwaw," shamanquahog from the Narragansett "poquauhock"squash from the Narragansett "askutasquash" succotash from the Narragansett "msickquatash," boiled corntepee from the Sioux "tipi," dwellingtoboggan from the Micmac "topaghan"tomahawk from the Virginia Algonquian "tamahaac"totem from the Ojibwa "nindoodem," my totemwampum from the Massachusett "wampumpeag" wigwam from the Eastern Abenaki "wik'wom"

Spanish Place Names Hispanic Heritage from Coast to Coast

Alamo: "poplar." This tall softwood tree gave its name to a number of U.S. places, including the memorable chapel-fort in Texas and the town of Los Alamos in New Mexico, where atomic bombs were produced.

Alcatraz Island (California): from álcatraces, pelican. A sizable pelican population once lived on this rocky island in the San Francisco Bay.

Boca Raton (Florida): from boca de ratónes, a Spanish term applied to nearby inlets. It translates as "mouth of the mouse" (not "rat," which is rata) and may refer to the jagged rocks at these inlets. It has also been suggested that ratónes was a term used for the pirates who might hide in such a place.

California: The state was named for a mythical land described in a popular Spanish novel from around 1500, Las sergas de Esplandián (The exploits of Esplandián) by Garcia Ordóñez de Montalvo.

Cape Canaveral (Florida): from cañaveral, canebrake. The promontory NASA made famous takes its name from the thickets of cane that grow in sandy areas.

Colorado: "reddish." The state is named for the reddish color of mud found in the Colorado River.

El Paso (Texas): "passage." The border city of El Paso lies at a small gap between the Rockies and the Juarez Mountains of Mexico. This narrow passage has made the city a hub for both north-south and east-west travel.

Florida: "flowery." Some say that Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon named the land for the Spanish term for Easter, Pascua de Florida (Flowery Feast), because he first saw the land during the Easter season. Others believe he named it for the area's lush flowers.

Fresno (California): "ash tree." The central Californian city and county are named for their abundant ash trees.

La Brea (California): "tar." The tar pits in this famous part of Los Angeles have yielded amazing fossils for more than 100 years.

Las Cruces (New Mexico): "crosses." The city is named for the burial ground of some 40 travelers who were killed by Apaches in 1830.

Las Vegas (Nevada): "meadows." Before casinos and neon lights defined Las Vegas, the area was noteworthy as a desert oasis with artesian springs.

Los Angeles (California): "angels." In 1781 Spanish settlers founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciúncula (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula). It became known as La Ciudad de los Angeles (City of Angels), and then just as Los Angeles.

Los Gatos (California): "cats." At the time this western California city was founded, many wildcats roamed the area.

Montana: from montaña, mountain. Representative James M. Ashley of Ohio suggested using the Spanish word in honor of the territory's mountainous western part.

Nevada: "snow-covered." The mountains in this western state are often capped with snow. San Antonio (Texas): "Saint Anthony" (of Padua). On the feast day of St. Anthony in 1691,

Spanish explorers found and named the eponymous river. Later the name was given to the city, which was founded in 1718.

San Francisco (California): "Saint Francis" (of Assisi). The city by the bay was once a Mexican village named Yerba Buena (Good Grass). In 1846, during the Mexican War, Commodore John Sloat captured and renamed the settlement for its San Francisco de Asís mission (better known as Mission Dolores), which was founded in 1776.

Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Colorado and New Mexico): "blood of Christ." This mountain range was named for the red glow cast on it by the setting sun.

Santa Fe (New Mexico): "holy faith." Spanish settlers founded this oldest U.S. capital nearly 400 years ago, as La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís (The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis).

Spanish Words in EnglishOthers,such as tuna, which comes from the Spanish atún,are variations of the original.

Other food words are of American Indian origin, but came into English via Spanish. Tomato,for instance, is derived from the Spanish tomate,a corruption of the Nahuatl word tomatl. Chocolate comes from the Nahuatl word xocolatl. Potato comes from papa, meaning white potato in the Inca language, Quechua; and batata, sweet potato in the Taino Indian language of the Caribbean. Banana, on the other hand, entered Spanish from the West African languages of Wolof, Mandingo, and Fulani. Animal Names A number of animal words went directly from Indian languages into Spanish and then English.Puma originated in Quechua, while jaguar comes from yaguar, a word of the Guarani who live in what is now Paraguay, and iguana is a modification of iwana, used by the Arawak and Carib of the West Indies. Riding Through the Desert When Americans began exploring the Southwest in the early 19th century they encountered an established Mexican culture, which has provided English with many everyday words. Some involve horseback riding, including rodeo, lasso, and lariat, since the horse was a key part of frontier life for both Mexicans and Americans.

Ranch , a common English word today, hails from the Mexican Spanish ranch, meaning ranch, settlement, or meat ration.

In fact, our whole idea of a cowboy derives from the Spanish—cattle and horses were introduced to the New World via the conquistadors—mustangs, saddles, stirrups, boots, lariats, guitars, chaps, and even the ten gallon hat.

Sailing the Spanish Main Hurricane,tobacco,and hammock came to English from the Caribbean. In the 17th and 18th centuries American and English traders plied the ports of the West Indies and South America. Weather often required extended stays in these ports, acquainting the English speakers with Spanish culture.

In addition, buccaneers in search of treasure sailed "the Spanish Main," the South American mainland from the Orinoco River in present-day Venezuela to Panama. It is likely they also acquired many Spanish words now used in English. Common Words with Spanish Origins Alligator - el lagarto , the lizardBooby - bobo, silly or selfish, from the Latin for stammering, balbusBronco - meaning wild or roughCafeteria - cafetería , a coffee shopCargo - cargar , to loadCigar, Cigarette - cigarro Comrade - camarada, old Spanish for barracks company or roommateGuerrilla - a small raiding party or fighting forceHoosegow - from juzgado, a tribunal or courtroom, past participle of juzgar, to judgeMustang - mestengo or mesteño , a stray animalPatio - courtyard in SpanishPeccadillo - a form of pecado, to sinRenegade - renegado, deserter or outlawSavvy - saber, to knowTornado - tornar, to turn, tronada, thunderstormVamoose - vamos, let's go .

Words with the same meaning in both languages include aficionado , armada, barracuda, mosquito, tobacco, and vanilla .

European monarchs enjoyed the benefits of the commercial revolution. In the fierce competition for trade and empire, they adopted a new economic policy, known as mercantilism, aimed at strengthening their national economies. Mercantilists believed that a nation’s real wealth was measured in its gold and silver treasure. To build its supply of gold and silver, they said, a nation must export more goods than it imported.

The Role of ColoniesTo mercantilists, overseas colonies existed for the benefit of the parent country. They provided resources and raw materials not available in Europe. In turn, they enriched a parent country by serving as a market for its manufactured goods. To achieve these goals, European powers passed strict laws regulating trade with their colonies. Colonists could not set up their own industries to manufacture goods. They were also forbidden to buy goods from a foreign country. In addition, only ships from the parent country or the colonies themselves could be used to send goods in or out of the colonies.

Increasing National Wealth

Mercantilists urged rulers to adopt policies that they believed would increase national wealth and government revenues. To boost production, governments exploited mineral and timber resources, built roads, and backed new industries. They imposed national currencies and established standard weights and measures.Governments also sold monopolies to large producers in certain industries as well as to big overseas trading companies. Finally, they imposed tariffs, or taxes on imported goods. Tariffs were designed to protect local industries from foreign competition by increasing the price of imported goods. All of these measures led to the rise of national economies, in which national governments had a lot of control over their economies. However, modern economists debate whether mercantilist measures actually made nations wealthier.

A Dutch Merchant Family Dutch artist Adriaen van Ostade painted this scene of a Dutch family in the mid-1600s. With the Netherlands’ trading wealth, even middle-class families could afford fine clothes, luxury goods, and paintings.

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