Period 1: 1491-1607Mr. Webster’s Class

Key Concept 1.1

• Before the arrival of Europeans, native populations in North America developed a wide variety of social, political, and economic structures based in part on interactions with the environment and each other.

Paleo-Indians

• Most archaeologists agree that the first humans arrived in the Americas sometime before 13,000 B.C., when Asia and North America were still connected.• The earliest Americans,

Paleo-Indians, traveled in bands within well-defined hunting territories.• They learned from one

another through inter-band exchanges.

Archaic Peoples

• After 8000 B.C., a warming atmosphere led to deciduous forests in the East, grassland prairies in the Plains, and deserts in the West.• Archaic peoples flourished in

these new environments.• With more food sources,

communities required less land and supported larger populations. Many Indians began clustering in seasonal or permanent villages.

Maize

• After about 2500 B.C., many Native Americans moved beyond the ways of their Archaic forebears.• The greatest change

occurred among peoples whose environments enabled them to produce food surpluses by cultivating crops.• Of these crops, the most

significant was maize (corn).

Mesoamerica and South America

• The most sophisticated early plant cultivators lived in Mesoamerica, in what is now central and southern Mexico and Central America.

• There, maize agriculture was highly developed by 2500 B.C.

• Mayan culture flourished between the 7th and 15th centuries, and the Maya are still celebrated for their calendar and numerical system.

• The Aztecs Empire originated in 1428, and was based out of Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City).

• The Incan Empire was based in South America. The Incans developed irrigation systems and their capital city was Cuzco.

The Southwest

• The spread of maize cultivation from present-day Mexico northward into the American Southwest and beyond supported economic development, settlement, advanced irrigation, and social diversification among societies (i.e. Pueblo). • Maize cultivation transformed

societies as there was less emphasis on hunting and gathering, and it also led to an increase in population. Villages began forming around maize fields.

The Northwest and California

• Societies in the Northwest and present-day California supported themselves by hunting and gathering, and in some areas developed settled communities supported by the vast resources of the ocean (i.e. Chinook).• The Chinooks advocated

warrior traditions, used advanced fighting techniques, and lived in longhouses that could house many families.

The Great Plains and Great Basin

• Societies responded to the lack of natural resources in the Great Basin and the western Great Plains by developing largely mobile lifestyles (i.e. Sioux).• Most natives lived off of hunting

and gathering. This stemming from a lack of natural resources and the large, flat surroundings.• The introduction of the horse

changed life dramatically. Bison hunting became much easier, and Natives with horses became stronger militarily.

Northeast and Atlantic Seaboard

• In the Northeast and along the Atlantic Seaboard, some societies developed a mix agricultural and hunter-gatherer economy that favored the development of permanent villages (i.e. Iroquois).• The Iroquois adapted to their

environment and burned forests to hunt and grow crops. Villages were built around maize.• The Iroquois were a matriarchal

society. Power was based on female authority, and women were instrumental in councils and decision-making.

Native American Commonalities

• Although they were very diverse, North American Indians had much in common.

• First, they usually identified themselves as members of an extended families rather as individuals or political subjects.

• Second, most emphasized reciprocity for relations within and between communities.

• Third, they perceived the entire universe as sacred.

• However, Native Americans never thoughts of themselves as a single people.

Key Concept 1.2

• Contact among Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans resulted in the Columbian Exchange and significant social, cultural, and political changes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.• The Columbian Exchange

revolutionized life in the Americas, Europe, and Africa.

European Exploration of America

• European expansion into the Western Hemisphere generated intense social, religious, political, and economic competition and changes within European societies.• European nations’ efforts to

explore and conquer the New World stemmed from a search for new sources of wealth, economic and military competition, and a desire to spread Christianity.• A way to remember this is to think

of the three G’s – gold, glory, and gospel.

Spanish Mission System

• The Spanish often tried to convert the Natives to Christianity through the mission system.• Outposts were set up

throughout the Americas to help convert the natives.• These outposts were often

military bases as well.

The Columbian Exchange

• The Columbian Exchange brought new crops to Europe from the Americas, stimulating European population growth, and new sources of mineral wealth, which facilitated the European shift from feudalism to capitalism.• From the Americas to Europe and

Africa, you have crops like potatoes, maize (corn), and tomatoes.• From Europe to the Americas, you

have wheat, rice, horses, chicken, cattle, and oxen

Effects of the Columbian Exchange

• In Europe and Asia, there was a massive population growth due to new food. There was also an increase in wealth, decrease in feudalism, and a rise in capitalism.• In Africa, the Spanish and

Portuguese began acquiring West Africans to use as slaves in the Americas.• In the Americas, diseases like

smallpox and measles were introduced with devastating effects. Social classes and the encomienda system emerged, and the horse transformed Native life.

Technology and Trade

• Improvements in maritime technology and more organized methods for conducting international trade, such as joint-stock companies, helped drive changes to economies in Europe and the Americas.• Caravels helped increase sailing

efficiency, and the compass and quadrant led to more precise geographical measurements.• Joint-stock companies were used

to raise money for explorations, (i.e. Jamestown & Plymouth).

Effects of Spanish Colonization

• The Columbian Exchange and development of the Spanish Empire in the Western Hemisphere resulted in extensive demographic, economic, and social changes. • Spanish exploration and conquest

of the Americas were accompanied and furthered by widespread deadly epidemics that devastated native populations (i.e. smallpox and measles), and by the introduction of crops and animals not found in the Americas (the horse, wheat, rice, sugar).

The Encomienda System

• In the encomienda system, Spanish colonial economies marshaled (arranged and assembled) Native American labor to support plantation-based agriculture and extract precious metals and other resources.• The encomienda system

ultimately proved unsuccessful as many Natives either died or ran away.• Eventually, the encomienda

system was outlawed and replaced by African slave labor.

Atlantic Slave Trade

• European traders partnered with some West African groups who practiced slavery to forcibly extract slave labor for the Americas. • The Spanish imported

enslaved Africans to labor in plantation agriculture and mining.

The Spanish Caste System

• The Spanish developed a caste system that incorporated, and carefully defined the status of, the diverse population of Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans in their empire.

• Europeans (peninsulares born in Spain, and creoles who were of Spanish descent yet born in America) were at the top of this system.

• Mestizos (mixed European and Native) were in the middle.

• Africans, Natives, and mulattoes (mixed European and African) were at the bottom.

Divergent Worldviews

• In their interactions, Europeans and Native Americans asserted divergent worldviews regarding issues such as religion, gender roles, family, land use, and power.

• Mutual misunderstandings between Europeans and Native Americans often defined the early years of interaction and trade as each group sought to make sense of the other.

• Over time, Europeans and Native Americans adopted some useful aspects of each other’s culture. Natives adapted technology, and European adapted agricultural techniques.

Native Resistance

• As European encroachments on Native Americans’ lands and demands on their labor increased, native peoples sought to defend and maintain their political sovereignty, economic prosperity, religious beliefs, and concepts of gender relations through diplomatic negotiations and military resistance.

Treatment of Natives and Africans

• Extended contact with Native Americans and Africans fostered a debate among European religious and political leaders about how non-Europeans should be treated, as well as evolving religious, cultural, and racial justifications for the subjugation of Africans and Native Americans.• Many Europeans viewed Natives

and Africans as “savages.”

Differing Viewpoints

• Juan de Sepulveda advocated harsh treatment of the natives and claimed slavery was justified under Christianity.• Bartolome de las Casas, on

the other hand, argued that Natives deserved the same treatment as other men, played an instrumental role in ending the encomienda system, and contributed to the “Black Legend.”