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“New World Beginnings: 33,000 B.C.-A.D. 1769”
Chapter 1 The American Pageant 13th edition
Class discussion notes revised 2008 Mrs. Civitella
I. Paleo-Indians
a. 35,000 years ago glaciers covered huge portions of the Americas, Europe, and Asia
b. Ice held so much of the world’s water that sea levels fell and created a 600 mile land bridge across
the Bering Strait between Siberian and Alaska
c. Geographers refer to this land bridge as Beringia
d. for 25,000 years humans traveled from Eurasia to the Americas
e. 10,000 years ago the Ice Age ended, sea levels rose, and the land bridge was closed
f. The people continued to migrate throughout North, Central, and South America
g. By 1492 it is estimated that 54 million people lived in the Americas with more than 2,000
languages with distinctly different cultures
II. Three-Sister Farming
a. The planting of corn (maize) began in Mexico and South America and became the most significant
form of agriculture for early American peoples
b. Planting of corn settled nomadic tribes into villages
c. By 1,000 A.D. the growing of corn, beans, and squash reached the eastern seaboard of North
America
d. The teaming of these three agricultural products is known as three-sister farming resulted in:
1. a high protein diet
2. fertile soil
3. high population densities in North America (Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee)
III. The Age of Discovery
A. Background
1. The trade with Asia that began during the Crusades made Italian and Muslim merchants extremely
wealthy
2. Muslims delivered the eastern goods to the Italians via the Mediterranean
3. Italian traders carried the goods through Europe
4. Improved social, political, and economic conditions led Europeans to find their own routes to
trade with Asia
5. A desire to share in the rich spice trade of the East spurred Europeans to explore the ocean
6. Reasons for European Exploration:
a) Wealth through trade
b) Religious conversions
c) desire for travel and exploration
7.
Improvements that led to European exploration
a) Better cartography
b) Use of the compass
c) Improved ship technology
d) Larger ships with better sails and rudders allowed for more storage of:
1) food
2) supplies
3) weapons
4) cargo
B. Portuguese Explorations
1. Geographic disadvantage of not being on the Mediterranean led to an increase in prices for Asia
goods
2. Ambitious Portuguese monarchs during the 1400s invested money in exploration to:
a) search for gold
b) bypass Italian and Muslim traders
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c)
3.
expand Christianity- decrease the spread of Islam
Prince Henry “Henry the Navigator”
a) gathered experts in cartography and navigation from around the world
b) 1418- Started a school for navigation which taught astronomy, cartography, mathematics
c) with Henry’s patronage, the Portuguese began to explore the western coast of Africa
d) the Portuguese established trading stations along the African coast
e) they bought gold and ivory
f) the area in West Africa became known as the “gold coast”
g) 1441- the Portuguese began buying African slaves
III. Spanish Explorations
1. reason for Spanish patronage of exploration:
a) Like Portugal, Ferdinand & Isabella wanted to profit from the spice trade with Asia
b) Queen Isabella also wanted to form an alliance with rulers in India and China against the
Muslims
c) Competition with Portugal
2.
Christopher Columbus, an Italian, tried for years to convince first Portugal, and then Spain, that
sailing westward would allow a ship to reach Asia in just 2 months
a)
August 3, 1492- Columbus left Palos, Spain heading west with three ships (Nina, Pinta,
and Santa Maria)
b) October 12, 1492- Columbus reached the island of San Salvador (currently Watlings
Island (24°N. 74°W)) in the Bahamas
c) He believed that he was in the East Indies, so he called the people Indians
d) On three more voyages, Columbus explored the Caribbean islands of Cuba, Haiti, and the
Dominican Republic
3.
Spain vs. Portugal
a) Columbus’ voyages fueled a rivalry between Spain and Portugal
1) Each country disputed the rights to explore new lands
2) Pope Alexander VI stepped in to keep the peace
b) 1494- Treaty of Tordesillas- drew a line of demarcation
1) believed to be near the 48° line of longitude
2) divided the non-Christian world into two zones
3) Spain was granted trading and exploration rights to the west of the line
4) Spain could lay claim to most of North and South America
5) Portugal had the rights east of the line
6) The treaty allowed Portugal to continue its claims to territories in Africa and India
7) Eventually the line of demarcation extended all of the way around the globe
IV. The Columbian Exchange
1. European explorations resulted in a global exchange of people, animals, food, plants, technology,
and disease.
2. This new economy was called the Columbian Exchange because it is said to begin with
Columbus’ return in 1493 (17 ships 1,200 men, cattle, swine, horses)
a) Effects in Americas
1) North American tribes began to use horses spreading their hunting grounds
2) “sugar revolution” establishment of sugar plantations for sugar to be sold in Europe fed
European colonization and the slave trade
3) European diseases (small pox, malaria, yellow fever) killed off millions of Native
Americans
b) Effects in Europe
1) Better nutrition led to an increase in population
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2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Increase in population led to an increase in demand for goods and services
Increase in demand led to an increase in prices
Gold and silver from the Americas was used as money in Europe
Increase in the amount of money leads to an increase of prices called inflation
An increase in trade with colonies led to Europeans investing money in trading
companies in order to make a profit
7) Entrepreneurs- new business class that assumed the risk of doing business
a) Bought raw materials
b) Paid workers
c) Earned profits
8) Joint-stock company- a private trading company that sold shares to investors
a) If a small partnership could not raise enough capital, a group of merchants would
pool their resources to form a trading company
b) They then sold shares of stock in the company to other investors for a profit
V. Mercantilism
Mercantilism- economic theory stating that there is a fixed amount of wealth in the world and that in order
to receive a larger share, one country has to take some wealth away from another country
1. Countries tried to build their treasury with gold and silver
2. They needed to export more than they imported
3. Colonies were developed to increase the treasury of the parent country
4. Strict restrictions on the economies of the colonies tariffs on foreign goods
VI. Spanish explorers after Columbus
1513- Balboa across Panama to the Pacific
1513-1521- Ponce de Leon discovered Florida
1522- Magellan’s crew circumnavigated the world for Spain
1539-1542- De Soto went from FL to Mississippi River, Arkansas River
1540-1542- Coronado- AZ, NM, KS
1565- Spanish founded St. Augustine, FL to act as a fortress to protect Spanish possessions in Americas
1609The West Indies became a resting station for the Spanish
Encomienda- allowed Spanish to take Indians as slaves if they promised to Christianize them
VII. Native Americans and the Spanish
A. Religion
1. Europeans had a hard time incorporating N.A.s into their belief system
a) Who were they, where in the Bible does it say that they exist?
b) Europeans believed that Native Americans worshiped Satan with their human sacrifice
and cannibalism
2.
Indians were horrified by European practices of hanging, the Spanish Inquisition
a) Columbus’s brother (governor) burned Indians alive who did not convert
b) This appeared to be the same as human sacrifice to the N.A.s
c) Mass and the Eucharist looked like the Europeans were eating their own god
d) Heaven promised eternity with Europeans, not N.A.s cherished ancestors
e) Many converts outwardly practiced Christianity, but practiced their own rituals in secret
B. War as cultural misunderstanding
1. Europeans
a) Europeans expected to kill enemies on the battlefield
b) They would kill women and children in battle if necessary
2. Native Americans
a) Indians waged battles mostly to obtain captives
1) For use as human sacrifices (Aztecs)
2) To replace tribal losses through adoption (Iroquois)
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b) Massive killing in battle was wrong to N.A.s
C. Social Order
1. Europeans had a patriarchal society
a) Men owned most of the land
b) Rules of inheritance were based on men
c) Men farmed the land
d) Performed almost all public/political roles
e) Men expected obedience of inferiors
2. Native Americans
a) Descent was matrilineal
b) Women farmed the land (except for corn)
c) Women owned nearly all property
d) Chiefs governed by example not command
D. The Pueblo Peoples
1. Who, what, where?
a) Settled current day American Southwest (CO, NM, AZ, & UT)
b) Actually the Anasazi called Pueblos by the Spanish because of their mud-plastered
buildings
c) seven language groups over hundreds of towns with different rituals
d) By mid 16th century, when Spanish came, there were 250,000
e) Three-sister farming
1) Men: trade and defense, tending to corn
2) Women “inside” the community tasks: food preparation, pottery, moccasins,
blankets
3) Food preparation was considered something spiritual and gave women power
2. Equality of the sexes
a) Intercourse
1) Source of life
2) Maintained the cosmic balance
3) Tamed bad spirits
4) Integrated outsiders into the tribe
5) Spiritual (like food production) gave women power and created an egalitarian
relationship between the sexes
b) Matrilineal
1) Matrilineal lineage system- traced lineage and access to land through the female line
2) Matrifocal- men left their mother’s homes to marry and moved in with their wives’
family
3) Marriages could be left because identity was to the mother’s identity, not the
marriage bond
4) Older women had great influence
3. Arrival of the Spanish
a) In 1540 Coronado came north from Mexico into the Pueblo region
1) Their intent was to find gold
2) They left without gold but looted, raped and massacred Pueblo peoples
b) In 1598 the Spanish returned
1) With priests, soldiers, and some settlers
2) Used force to take over the Pueblos
3) Set up a Spanish colony- New Mexico
4. Missionaries
a)
Pressed Pueblos to participate in Catholic rites and suppressed their religions
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b) The Church changed matriarchal system to a patriarchal one by urging men to take over
farming tasks
c) Insisting on monogamous life-long marriages
d) Calling for female modesty and reserve
5. Abuse of the Pueblos
a) Encomienda as tribute (labor, food, crafts) which undermined women’s roles of
providing for their own people
b) Spanish raped and sexually exploited Pueblo women
6. Pope’s Rebellion
a) The Pueblo’s worsening situation led to abandonment of Christianity for traditional forms of
worship
1) Prolonged drought
2) Apache and Navajo attacks
3) Abuse by the Spanish
b) 1675- In retaliation the Spanish whipped 47 medicine men and hung three for sorcery
1) Pope, a medicine man, was one of the men who was whipped
2) He organized a revolt and in 1680 led the Pueblos to kill 200 of the Spaniards in
New Mexico and destroyed or plundered every Spanish building in the province
3) Pope lost his influence when traditional Pueblo religions failed to end the
drought
4) The Pueblos became divided
c)
The Spanish returned in the 1690s and executed men and gave 400 women and children
to the returning settlers as their slaves
1) Willingly and unwillingly Pueblo women formed sexual alliances with Spanish
men
2) Alliances with Spanish men would help a family’s economic position
3) Eventually the matrilineal system was abandoned and patriarchy gave men more
control over women
4) Spain ruled the American Southwest until 1821 when Mexico achieved its
independence and the region became part of Mexico
Pope’s Rebellion is still considered the most effective Indian resistance movements in American history.
E. The Spanish Conquistadores – pgs. 18-19
A. Causes of Spanish Exploration:
1. 1492 within the same year Columbus and reconquista completed
2. Centuries of military and religious conflict led to:
a) Obsession with status
b) Religious zealotry and intolerance
c) Men who regarded labor and commerce with contempt
B. Objectives of Spanish Exploration
1. Trade route to Asia
2. Search for gold and silver
3. Claiming the New World for the Spanish crown and the Catholic Church
C. Financing of Conquistadores
1. Private expeditions led by individual men (i.e., Cortes, Pizarro)
2. Contracts granted by monarchs
3. Money from private investors
4. Recruitment of armies
D. Demographics of Conquistadores
1. Some nobles
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2.
3.
Professional soldiers and sailors
Peasants, artisans, middle class
E. Individual objectives of Conquistadores
A. Desire for royal titles
B. wealth of conquered lands
C. Salvation via spread of Christianity
D. fleeing personal problems in Spain
E. adventure seekers
F. lust for gold
G. Outcomes
1. Most individual Conquistadores gained neither wealth nor fame
2. Unequal pay for booty
3. Conquistadores were eventually replaced by administrators appointed by the crown
H. legacy of the Conquistadores
1. Intermarried with Indian women
2. Some practiced polygamy
3. New race of mestizos created cultural and biological bridge between European and Indian races
F. Perception of Spanish colonization
“Black Legend” – the false concept that the Spanish conquerors tortured and killed Indians, stole their
gold, infected them with smallpox and only created misery
1. The Spanish empire left a legacy of culture, laws, religion, and language to native societies
2. Spanish intermarried and melded native American culture with their own in the Americas
G. Iroquois Five Nation Confederacy
1. Great League of Peace and Power founded in 1451
a) Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, and Mohawk peoples
b) By 1600 they were 20,000-30,000 strong
2. Matrilineal
a) Powerful political positions for women as clan elders and matrons of
lineage
b) Matrilineal system for identity and land use
c) Several families would live in one longhouse
3. Gender roles
a) Men
1) Prepared fields for planting
2) Hunted in forests
3) Warred with hostile tribes
b) Women
1) Farmed (three-sister)
2) Prepared foods
3) Made baskets, pottery, and other necessary finished products
4) One women elected annual to organize labor of women (worked
together on one major project at a time)
4. Political Structure
a) Men served on the Council of Elders and could become the chief
b) Women selected which males became village chiefs and eligibility for
these positions passed through the female line.
5. Other roles for Iroquois women
a) Controlled food supplies by preserving food, provisioning soldiers
b) Determined adoptions into the tribes
c) Arranged marriages
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d) Raised children
6. Iroquois and the Europeans
a) Interactions with the English, French, and Dutch
b) Desire to participate in fur trade with Europeans led to century-long
warfare with other Indians (Mohicans and the Herons)
c) Desire for trade with Europeans undercut Iroquois culture and selfsufficiency and the role of women
d) Women were attracted to Catholicism because of its honoring of the
Virgin Mary and female saints
The Iroquois learned to accommodate both economically and religiously to the Europeans, but life became
more difficult for them in the eighteenth century.
They remained a strong political and military influence until the American Revolution.
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