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Clint Gray
Prof. Ron Bezona
HIST 2111 (Section J)
11 January 2011
Chapter One Notes
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Land Bridge Theory – Indians, from Asia, crossed to Mexico by Alaska, a natural land
bridge, eventually settling on the southern tip of Mexico called the Yucatan Peninsula.
Water Bridge Theory – Indians came to the New World by ships with a big hole in the
top for air to be capable of breathing.
Why were the first Indians not savages?
o They were able to build pyramids by geometry.
o Made a 12 month calendar
o Had a numerical system
The groups of Indians:
o Mayans – Yucatan Peninsula
o Aztecs – central Mexico, Mexico City area (war-like destroyers)
o Incas – Peru (preserved most of their artifacts)
1400’s: Age of Exploration
o Dias – Southern tip of Africa
o Dagama – India
o Columbus – West Indies (thought he was in Indonesia, therefore natives were
called “Indians”)
 Columbus was the first to call the Native Americans, Indians.
 Spain sponsored Columbus’s voyages.
 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were the royals that sponsored
Columbus.
 West Indies is another name for the Caribbean islands.
o Desoto – explored the area that we live in; he came inland through the Miss.
River.
o Magellan – led the first around the world expedition
Mercantilism – the competition for gold and colonies. This competition was between the
world’s most powerful countries and these countries would buy natural resources from
their colony, manufacture a product, and then resell the product to their colony at a much
higher cost. This gains the mother country much profit.
Spain and Portugal – were the two main powers that led in exploring the new world.
Line of Demarcation – in 1493 the Pope drew a line on the globe cutting the new world in
half. This line was known as the line of demarcation. Any territory discovered on the East
side of the line was to be controlled by Portugal, while any lands found on the West side
of the line were to be ruled over by Spain. This line ran through the country of Brazil.
Prince Henry’s navigation school – Henry the navigator devoted most of his life to the
promotion of exploration. He founded a school strictly for exploration which enabled
many explorers to find a variety of today’s countries.
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Conquistadors:
o Pizarro – Incas
o Cortes – Aztecs. Cortes tricked the natives by leading them to believe that he was
a god. After their king showed Cortes were their gold was stored, he had no use
for the natives and killed or enslaved them, after first killing their king.
New Spain (St. Augustine, 1500s) – Mexico and South America. (dominate the New
World in the early 15th century because England is too poor for exploration until the
altercation in 1588.)
New England (Jamestown, 1607) – Atlantic coast with 13 English colonies found by
Robert Cabot.
o The English were capable of exploring the New World because of an altercation
between Spain and England. In 1588, King Phillip wanted to marry Queen
Elizabeth. She denies him, so he attacks with a Spanish armada. The English
navy wins because a huge storm crashes the Spanish armada into the French coast
and England attacks the Spanish ship’s weakest point. Now England dominates
the seas and sends Cabot to settle New England (NE U.S.).
New France (Quebec, 1608) – Canada today, Jaques Cartier. New France was first
discovered by Cartier, but Quebec was founded by Samuel Champlain and he is
considered the father of New France.
Henry Hudson settles New York (was New Netherlands).
Swedish start the first log cabins in Delaware. Colonists first used the English way of
house construction.
-----------------------------END OF INTRODUCTION TO U.S. HISTORY----------------------------
Jamestown (on the coast of today’s Virginia)
o **NOTE: settlements become cities, colonies become states.**
o Bad Location for England’s first settlement:
 Too close to Indians
 Too close to trees
 Malaria infested area
o The saviors of Jamestown
 John Smith first saved Jamestown from starving when he appointed
himself leader and began to make the colonist work for their food. He cut
trees down to plant food and built a three-sided fort along the water. Later
Smith returns to England.
 John Rolof economically saves Jamestown when he discovers how to sell
tobacco that begins to allow the settlement to turn a profit. He marries
Pocahontas.
o Why America?
 Economics
 Religious
 Make a name for oneself
 Pioneering Spirit
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Forced off of land in England – many English people were poor and were
forced off of their land and had nowhere to go until an opportunity arose.
This opportunity was to become an indentured servant for someone that
pays their way to the New World. An indentured servant is not a slave but
someone that signs a contract to work for someone for a certain amount of
time.