When did humans begin to settle Central and South America?

What types of societies did they create in Mesoamerica up to 1000 CE?

Who were the Maya? What type of civilization did they create? How were Mayan families organized? How was this organization reflected in the larger social

and political structure of Mayan society? Describe the Mayan economy. How important was warfare to the Maya? What were some of the Maya’s notable achievements? Who were the Mexica? What did they accomplish in the late 1400s and early

1500s?

Colonial Latin America

How was Aztec society structured? What was life like for Aztec women? What was the Aztec economy based on? Why did the Aztecs practice human sacrifice? How did the Aztec treat conquered peoples? Why was the Incan military so successful? How did the handle Inca practical matters such

as communication and food production? How was the empire organized? Describe the Incan religion? How did it differ

from the Aztec’s? What technological limitations did all Native

populations in the Americas face?

Describe the climate and topography of the Iberian Peninsula.

What was the “Reconquista”? What were the main motivations for the

reconquest of Spain by Christian forces? How did the warrior mentality influence

those who traveled to the Americas? What were the relative sizes of the main

kingdoms on the Iberian peninsula by the late 1400s?

What happened in January of 1492? How did Isabel become queen of Castile?

Who were the “Catholic Kings”? Did Ferdinand and Isabel unite their

kingdoms? What were corregidores and the Hermandad? How was Iberian society structured? What were caballeros and hidalgos? What roles did commoners play in society? Describe the Iberian slave trade of the late

15th century. How did Jews and Muslims fare after the fall of

Granada? What impact did the loss of many Jews and

Muslims have on Spain?

What was the Inquisition? Was 15th century Iberia a mainly rural or

urban land? What was the main economic activity for

most Iberians? What was one of the main challenges to

Spain’s economy? What bad fiscal habits did the Spanish

crown fall into? What was the story of Columbus’ journey to

the “New World”?

What type of establishments did the Portuguese create along the Atlantic coast of Africa?

Why did they not try build large, permanent colonies?

What did Bartholomeu Dias do in 1488 that changed the course of history?

Describe the civilizations that existed in West Africa in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Did the Portuguese have much success in their attempts to convert the peoples of West and West Central Africa to Christianity?

Describe slavery in West Africa as it existed before the arrival of the Portuguese.

What impact did the slave trade have on the kingdoms of West Africa?

How was slavery in Africa different from the slavery developed by Europeans for the Americas?

Why were the experiences regarding Europeans different for African nations than those in the Americas?

Who was Christopher Columbus? How did he end up making a deal to sail for

Isabel and Ferdinand? What type of society did Columbus discover

on the island of Espanola? What was the papal Line of Demarcation?

What was the Treaty of Tordesillas? How did the skills of exploration change as

a result of Columbus’ discoveries? How did Spain’s policies in the new world

differ from those of Portugal in Africa and India?

What types of people made the voyage to establish a permanent settlement with Columbus?

What problems did the Spanish face in their effort to subdue the native population?

How did Columbus quell the challenge to his family’s power on Espanola in 1498?

What were the repartimientos and who were encomenderos?

What happened to the native population of Espanola?

Did anyone protest the Spanish treatment of the natives?

What was the requerimento? Why did the city serve such an important

role in Spanish life in the Americas? What was an audiencia and a cabildo?

Why was Columbus relieved of his duties on Espanola?

How did his successors’ policies impact the lives of Spanish settlers and natives?

Who was Fernando Cortes? What advantages did the Spanish have over their

native adversaries? How did Cortes legitimise his independence from

Governor Velazquez? What strategies did Cortes use to gain support

from the natives? How did the traditional power structure of native

societies help the Spanish control such large populations?

How did Cortes use religion to promote his cause?

What was La Noche Triste? How did Cortes finally manage to conquer

the Aztec capital? Who was Francisco Pizarro? How did disease help Pizarro? How did the Inca’s civil war play out? How did Pizarro capture Atahualpa, the

Incan leader? How did Atahualpa inadvertently help to

bring about the demise of the Incan Empire?

How successful was the Incan uprising against the Spanish?

What eventually happened to Pizarro? Why did many of the original conquistadors

revolt against the Spanish crown after the issuance of the “New Laws” in 1542?

Why was the execution of Tupac Amaru in1572 important?

What percentage of the revenue from slave sales did the Spanish crown receive?

Why did less sophisticated native societies do better at resisting Spanish invasions?

Why did the Spanish crown organize a large expedition to what would become Argentina and Paraguay?

On whom did the refounded settlement of Buenos Aires depend for its survival?

Why were the Muisca of present day Colombia unable to effectively resist the Spanish?

What real significance did the story of El Dorado have on the exploration of South America?

What was the deal with Lope de Auirre? What product first attracted the attention of

Portuguese traders in Brazil? How did the introduction of sugar change native

societies and Portuguese involvement in Brazil?

What role did free blacks and black slaves play in the Spanish and Portuguese conquests?

How did participation in expeditions of conquest offer the opportunity for freedom and social advancement for many blacks?

How did the growth of the African slave trade impact the status of blacks in the “New World”?

How did the “cosmography” of the world change as a result of Columbus’ voyages?

What sort of questions and ideas framed the debate over how to treat the natives of the Americas?

What philosophical arguments did some Spaniards make to justify the brutal treatment of the native populations?

What position did the Catholic Church officially take in 1537, regarding the nature and treatment of native peoples?

How important to Europeans were the food stuffs exported from the “new world” to the “old world”?

Which plants, and how well did they do, did Europeans introduce to the Americas?

What were gauchos, llaneros and vaqueiros? What was the impact of domesticated animals on

the native populations of Latin America? What is liberalism? What is nationalism? How has the American historiography of Latin

America changed over the decades?

How long did it take to travel from Spain to the Americas? And the return journey?

What advantage did Portugal have over Spain in regards to travel times?

What impact did this have on the colonial officials and their administrative powers?

What was a viceroy? What Spanish institution did the crown refuse

to introduce to the Americas? Why? What were the two original viceroyalties? How were they subdivided? Explain how the territorial and administrative

units were more like a spoked wheel than a pyramid.

What was the Council of the Indies and what was its purpose?

How did it oversee both government and Church officials?

How did Philip III, in 1604, diminish the quality of those men who served on the Council?

Why did the Council struggle to fulfill its designated role?

What were the responsibilities of the viceroys?

What sorts of men were usually named viceroys?

How long did most serve and what were their personal goals?

Who headed the audiencias? Why did the crown shift from appointing

highly educated men as president-governor of the audiencias to experienced military men?

Why did the Spanish crown put many offices up for sale?

How did the sale of offices at all levels affect those who purchased them, and as a result, the quality of the work they performed?

Why did the high cost of many government offices mean that officials often followed acted in the best interest of wealthy merchants and the colonial elite?

Why did the colonisation of Brazil proceed more slowly than Spanish America?

Eventually who came to be in charge of the Portugal’s Brazilian possessions?

Did the post of governor-general/viceroy remain the most powerful position in the colony? Why not?

Did Portugal establish a high court of appeals in Brazil?

Where were most of the magistrates from? Were government offices for sale in Brazil? What was the impact of this practice?

Who was Pedro Alvares Cabral? Why was Portugal not overly interested in

Brazil in the early 1500s? What prompted the Portuguese to finally

become active in Brazil? How did the native populations along the coast

of Brazil, such as the Tupi, fare in their dealings with the Portuguese?

Why was the king’s power limited in Brazil? Who were the Jesuits? What were some of the differences between

Native American, African, and European concepts of slavery?

How did the Portuguese justify their purchasing of human beings?

How many, roughly, were transported across the Atlantic to work as slaves?

Approximately how many did not survive the crossing?

Why did the mestizo population of New Spain increase dramatically after the initial conquest?

Why were many mestizo children considered to be “people-in-between”?

What was the purpose of marriage for many Spaniards?

How did the Spanish press Catholicism onto the native populations of the Americas?

What was Spain’s main economic interest in the Americas?

What was the “royal fifth”? Where were the viceroyalties established? What other offices were included in a

viceroyalty? What were “mill lords” in colonial Brazil? How does Chasteen use the story of Sor

Juana Ines de la Cruz as a metaphor for Iberian control of Latin America?

What does Chasteen mean when he uses the term hegemony?

How did religious and gender based hegemony reveal itself in Spanish America?

What is transculturation? How did it manifest itself in Latin America? Describe the “fringe” areas of Paraguay,

Buenos Aires and Chile. Describe the “fringe” areas of Brazil. What was a quilombo? How did the discovery of gold in Brazil’s

backcountry change the colony?

Explain the caste system that was created in Latin America.

Why did it serve to enforce social norms? How did some people manage to escape

their caste?