Unit 1 Part 1 Notes

Ch. 1: New World Beginnings (33,000 B.C. – 1769 A.D.)Ch. 2: The Planting of English America (1500 A.D. – 1733 A.D.)Ch. 3: Settling the Northern Colonies (1619 A.D. – 1700 A.D.)

New World Beginnings

1. Early Americans migrated from Asia during the Ice Ages.

2. Over time, they spread out and developed societies based on the environment they lived in.

3. Major civilizations, such as the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas developed in the Mesoamerica region due to its suitable climate for agriculture.

The Crusades

1. The Crusades of the 11th -14th centuries created a desire for Asian goods in Europe.

2. Goods coming over land were very expensive so European countries began looking for a water route to Asia.

3. The stories of Marco Polo also fueled the desire for a cheaper route to Asia.

The Portuguese

1. Aided by the support of Prince Henry of Portugal (Henry the Navigator), Portuguese sailors began exploring the northwestern coast of Asia.

2. Bartholomeu Dias was the first to round Cape Good Hope (southern tip of Africa) and Vasco da Gama became the first to sail to India.

3. The Portuguese will also begin establishing the slave trade during this time.

The Spanish

1. Spain, unable to go eastward, decides to finance Christopher Columbus in his attempt to sail west.

2. Columbus lands in the islands of the Caribbean, which he mistakes for the East Indies islands.

3. The eventual realization that Columbus has stumbled upon a “New World” will lead to the exploration and colonization of the Americas.

The Conquistadors1. Men willing to “serve God and get rich in the process

included”:1. Vasco Nunez Balboa – Crossed the isthmus of Panama

and claimed the Pacific Ocean for Spain.2. Ferdinand Magellan – First circumnavigation of the Earth.3. Juan Ponce de Leon – Explored Florida.4. Francisco Coronado – Explored southwestern U.S.5. Hernando de Soto – Explored southeastern U.S.6. Francisco Pizarro – Explored Peru and defeated the Incas.7. Hernan Cortes - Explored Mexico and defeated the

Aztecs.

The Age of Exploration

The Columbian Exchange

1. A new, global economic system emerged from the Age of Exploration.

2. Europe provided the markets, capital and technology, Africa supplied the labor and the New World supplied the raw materials.

3. The flora and fauna of the Old and New World would change both international trade and the diets and customs of both worlds.

4. The diseases of the Old World would have a tremendous effect on the New World and its in habitants.

The Columbian Exchange

Foreign Intervention

1. In 1497 and 1498 John Cabot explored the coast of North America for the English.

2. In 1534, Jacques Cartier sailed down the St. Lawrence River into Canada for France.

3. In response to these threats, the Spanish began fortifying their settlements in the Americas.

The Black Legend

1. The Spanish treated the Native Americans very harshly and killed large numbers of them, both with their superior weapons and the diseases they gave them.

2. But they also brought new foods and animals, spread their laws and culture and religions and laid the foundation for many Spanish speaking countries.

The Planting of English America

1. Elizabeth I took the throne of England in 1558.

2. She encouraged her “sea dogs”, including Sir Francis Drake, to raid Spanish shipping lanes.

3. In 1588, with the defeat of the Spanish Armada, England will take the lead in the colonization of the Americas.

Jamestown

1. The Virginia Company was a joint stock company formed to fund the founding of Jamestown.

2. Stockholders believed they would make money from gold found in the colony.

3. The Virginia Company’s charter guaranteed the settlers their rights as English citizens.

4. Jamestown was founded in a terrible location and the colonist suffered, especially since they spent their time looking for gold instead of gathering food.

Tobacco

1. Jamestown and Virginia ultimately succeeded due to tobacco.

2. The problem with this was:1. Tobacco wore out the soil, so they needed more

and, which led to more clashes with the Natives.2. Relying on one crop was economically

dangerous.3. They needed lots of labor, which led to the

eventual introduction of slaves into Jamestown.

House of Burgesses

1. To encourage colonists to come to Virginia, the Virginia Company created the House of Burgesses.

2. The House of Burgesses was the first elected assembly in the New World.

The Thirteen Colonies

1. The thirteen British colonies can be divided into three regions:

1. New England colonies2. Middle Colonies3. Southern Colonies

The New England Colonies

1. Massachusetts2. New Hampshire3. Rhode Island4. Connecticut

The Pilgrims and Puritans

1. The New England colonies were started because of the Protestant Reformation in Europe.

2. The Pilgrims (separatists) and Puritans were unhappy with the English Reformation and wanted to find a place where they could practice their religion as they saw fit.

3. The Pilgrims came over as part of the Virginia Company but settled further north (Mayflower Compact).

4. The Puritans formed the Massachusetts Bay Company and settled around Boston.

The New England Colonies

1. The farms were smaller, family farms. The growing season and the rocky soil didn’t lend itself to plantations like they had in the south – thus no real need for slave labor.

2. The New England Confederation was formed among these colonies to protect against potential foes – the first signs of colonial unity.

Massachusetts

1. The Puritans established a colony designed to enforce God’s law – which applied to Puritans and non-Puritans.

2. Economically, they relied on fur trade, fishing and ship building and soon became the biggest and most influential of the New England colonies.

3. Dissenters, such as Anne Hutchinson, Roger Williams and Thomas Hooker were banished from the colony.

The Middle Colonies

1. New York,2. New Jersey3. Pennsylvania4. Delaware

The Middle Colonies

1. These colonies had fertile soil and broad areas of land to farm or raise livestock.

2. They had many navigable rivers which aided in trade.

3. Industry developed with the production of naval stores.

4. Landholdings were intermediate in size.5. The population was more ethnically mixed that

the other regions.

Pennsylvania

1. Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn as a refuge for Quakers, a religious sect known for “quaking” during deep religious emotion.

2. They offended numerous people because they refused to support the Church of England, didn’t have a paid clergy, allowed anyone to speak in worship services, refused to take oaths and refused military service.

3. Numerous settlers flocked to Pennsylvania because of the Quaker’s tolerance.

The Southern Colonies

1. Virginia2. North Carolina3. South Carolina4. Georgia

The Southern Colonies1. The Southern Colonies are also known as the

plantation colonies – they relied on large scale, labor intensive agriculture.

2. Slavery was introduced in the southern colonies and continued to grow there during the period of colonial development.

3. South Carolina and Virginia was run by an elite, planters class while North Carolina were poor settlers from Virginia.

4. Georgia was a penal colony established to act as a buffer between the other British colonies and Spanish Florida.

Slavery

1. While England was colonizing the Atlantic seaboard, they were also colonizing in the Caribbean islands.

2. The English brought in large number of African slaves to work the sugar plantations of the Caribbean – by 1700 they far outnumbered the white settlers living there.

3. To control those slaves, the Barbados slave code was created – it gave slave owners complete control over their slaves.

4. That code was later copied in the Southern colonies as slavery grew there.