I. Introduction
- Recorded human history is only one small portion of earth history
- European explorers “stumbled” on the Americas, altering the course of history in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa
II. The Shaping of North America
- Geologic forces and climate change created the distinctive No. American continent
III. Peopling the Americas
- Ancient Americans probably crossed the Bering “land bridge” from Asia between 35,000 and 10,000 years ago (25,000 year window). Receding ice and rising oceans eliminated the bridge.
- These peoples slowly migrated and inhabited both continents, perhaps numbering up to 54 mill. by 1492 AD (4 mill. In No Amer)
IV. The Earliest Americans
- Corn/maize was the central agricultural crop that sustained many of the Indian cultures, moving them from nomadic hunters toward settled agricultural societies
- Complex maize culture spread slowly from Mexico north and east into No. Amer, reaching the southeast as late as 1000 AD – Creeks, Choctaws, Cherokees – three-sister farming: corn, beans, squash
- Iroquois developed their confederacy as late as the 1500s
- Most American societies were small & migratory – women farmed, men hunted – women often held political and cultural authority
- Though Americans did not dominate the land, they still manipulated it to meet their agricultural needs
V. Indirect Discoverers of the New World==
- Despite early settlements in NE NoAmer @ 1000AD, norse explorers lacked the social organization to maintain them
- European expansion and connections with Africa and Asia were the catalysts for “discovering America
- Crusades familiarized Europe with exotic and desirable goods that they were now willing to take risks to trade for
- Expense of trade through middlemen in Asia led Euros to search for alternative routes they could control
VI. Europeans Enter Africa
- Development of the caravel in 1400s and a new route home by Portuguese allowed Europeans to sail south to sub-Saharan Africa
- Portuguese merchants set up posts in Africa to trade in gold and slaves, both of which were already established markets in Africa
- Portuguese also set up plantation agriculture systems for sugar in Atlantic/African islands – commercial crops, dependent upon enslaved labor
- Dias (1488) rounded So Africa & Da Gama (1498) sailed to India, establishing a direct water route to Asia
- Newly unified Spain (Isabella & Ferdinand) sought to compete with Portugal by finding an alternate route, looking west
VII. Columbus Comes Upon a New World
- Many factors set the stage enabling Columbus’ achievement to become a momentous historical shift:
- European desire for more Asian and African products – at a cheaper price
- African systems of enslaved labor were adopted by the Portuguese & Spanish for plantation agric.
- Long range ocean navigation by Europeans was now possible with better technology, inluding the compass
- New Spanish nation-state provided the money, political will and power to undertake exploration & colonization
- Renaissance nurtured a spirit of optimism and human achievement
- Printing press enabled spread of knowledge & ideas
- Columbus sought a new route to Asia – his discovery of America was not his goal
- 1492 changed the Atlantic world forever – Europe (markets, $, technology) Africa (labor) Americas (raw materials)
VIII. When Worlds Collide
- An ecological exchange complemented the social exchange between Euro, Africa and Amer.
| New World Provided: | Old World (Europe) provided: | Africa provided: |
| gold, silver | ||
|
corn, potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, chocolate |
wheat, sugar, rice, coffee | |
| syphilis | smallpox, measles, influenza, typhus, etc | |
| Horses, cows, pigs | ||
| Enslaved labor |
- New World foods became dominant foods for modern world & fed pop growth in Euro and Africa
- Old World diseases devastated Indians who had lowered or no resistance to them: killed up to 90% of population
IX. The Spanish Conquistadores
- Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) gives Spain bulk of American claims (Portugal can claim Brazil) – becomes dominant in exploration and colonization
- God, Gold and Glory fuel the conquistadores
- New World gold and silver created wealth in Europe and set off inflation (500% ca. 1550-1650) & laid foundation for modern banking, money and capitalism
- Carib. islands were jump-off pints for conquests of Americas
- Encomienda – a system of enslaving Indians – gov’t would give Indian populations to landholders in exchange for promise to Christianize them
X. The Conquest of Mexico
- Hernan Cortes was able to use his own men, weapons, Indian allies and devastating diseases to gradually overcome the Aztec Empire (in Mexico), beginning in 1619 and culminating in August 1621
- Spanish rule was marked by the introduction of Spanish culture and customs and intermarriage with Indians
XI. The Spread of Spanish America
- By the 1550’s, hundreds of Spanish towns and cities flourished in Amer. – est. Cathedrals, converting Indians, est. colleges
- Spain sought to protect its empire from encroachments by other Euro. countries (Eng., France) further north by establishing provinces
- New Mexico est. in 1609; est, settlements in lower Miss. and Texas (1716); California missions (1769+)
- Subjugated natives and suppressed their culture
- Popé’s Rebellion (1680) – native reaction to Spanish rule and religious suppression in New Mex – Spain did not regain full control until 1720s
- “Black Legend” – exaggeration of Spanish rule perpetuated by other Europeans - that the Spanish only tortured the Americans, stole their gold; but Spanish rule was marked by a more full cultural fusion between Spain, and Indians
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