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Chapter 1 Outline New World Beginnings 33,000 B.C.E.-1783 C.E. Peopling the Americas: ~35,000 years ago—land bridge connecting Eurasia & No Amer Early peoples may have reached Americas in crude boats Most came by land Probably following migratory herds of game Small bands of nomadic Asian hunters Europeans arrive in 1492—approx. 54 million people inhabited the Americas Split into countless tribes; evolved more than 2000 languages; developed diverse religions, cultures, and customs Sophisticated civilizations emerged Incas—Peru Mayans—Central America Aztecs—Mexico Advanced agric practices Cultivation of maize Elaborate cities with far-flung commerce The Earliest Americans: Agric (esp corn) accounted for size and sophistication of Native Amer civilization in Mex and So Amer Corn—staple crop; staff of life; foundation of complex, large-scale, centralized Aztec and Incan civilizations Corn planting reached present-day Amer SW ~2000 BCE; powerfully molded Pueblo culture Intricate irrigation system Villages of multi-storied, terraced bldgs. Reached other parts of No Amer considerably later Explains much of relative rates of development of diff Native Amer peoples No dense concentrations of pop or complex nation-states comparable to Aztec empire existed in No Amer outside Mex at time of Eur arrival Allowed for relative ease w/ which Eur colonizers subdued native No Amers Mound Builders of Ohio R valley Mississippian culture of lower Midwest Cahokia (present-day East St. Louis) Desert-dwelling Anasazi peoples of SW Chaco Canyon (present-day New Mexico) Each sustained some lrg settlements after incorporation of corn planting into ways of life during 1 st millennium CE Each fell into decline by ~1300 CE Cultivation of maize reached SE area of No Amer by 1000 CE Three-sister farming—beans growing on trellis of cornstalks and squash covering the planting mounds to retain moisture in soil Produced some of highest pop densities on continent i.e. Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee peoples Closest No Amer approximation to empires of Mex and Peru—Iroquois in 16th c Inspired by legendary leader Hiawatha Iroquois Confederacy devel pol and organiz skills to sustain robust military alliance that menaced neighbors and Europeans for over a century For most part—Native Amer peoples in No Amer lived in small, scattered, impermanent settlements on eve of Eur arrival Pattern of life conferred substantial authority on women Developed matrilineal cultures Power & possessions passed down the female side of family line Native Americans had neither desire nor means to manipulate nature aggressively Unlike Europeans—presumed humans had dominion over earth; had tech to alter face of land Indirect Discoverers of the New World: Norse sea-farers from Scandinavia chanced upon NE shores of No Amer ~1000 CE Flimsy settlements soon abandoned; their discovery forgotten except in Scandinavian song and saga Christian crusaders rank high among America’s indirect discoverers Acquired taste for exotic delights of Asia Luxuries prohibitively expensive in Eur Had to be transported enormous distances Muslim middlemen exacted heavy toll en route Eur eager to find less expensive route to riches of Asia or devel alternate sources of supply Europeans Enter Africa: Marco Polo—regarded as indirect discoverer of New World; his book stimulated Eur desires for cheaper route to treasures of East ~1450 CE—Portuguese mariners devel the caravel Ship that could said more closely into the wind New world of sub-Saharan Africa came w/in grasp of questing Eur Portuguese set up trading posts along African shore for purchase of gold and slaves Slaves to work sugar plantations on African coastal islands Slave trading became big biz 15th c—Portuguese adventurers in Africa found the origins of modern plantation syst Based on lrg-scale commercial agric and wholesale exploitation of slave labor Spain—newly united under Ferdinand and Isabella—eager to outstrip their rival in race to tap wealth of the Indies Columbus Comes upon a New World: Eur clamored for more and cheaper products from the East Africa est as source of cheap slave labor for plantation agric Portuguese voyages demonstrated feasibility of long-range ocean navigation Spain—gaining unity, wealth, and power to undergo tasks of discovery, conquest, and colonization Dawn of Renaissance (14th c) nurtured ambitious spirit of optimism and adventure ~1450 CE—intro of printing press Facilitated spread of scientific knowledge Christopher Columbus—Italian seafarer who conviced F & I to sponsor his search for new route to East Oct 12, 1492—sighted island in Bahamas One of most successful failures in history Seeking new water route to the East, he in fact bumped into an enormous land barrier At 1st certain he had skirted rim of the “Indies”; called native peoples Indians Due to his “discovery”—an interdependent global economic syst emerged on scale undreamed of before Eur provided the markets, capital, and tech; Africa furnished labor; New World offered its raw materials When Worlds Collide: Columbian exchange—flora and fauna from Old and New Worlds exchanged Tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes, potatoes—revolutionized international economy as well as Eur diet Fed rapidly growing pop of Old World 3/5 of crops cultivated around world today originated in the Americas Cattle, swine, horses from Old World to New No Amer Indian tribes (i.e. Apaches, Sioux, Blackfeet) swiftly adopted the horse Transformed the cultures into highly mobile, wide-ranging hunter societies that roamed Great Plains Sugar cane brought from Old World—thrived in warm Caribbean climate “sugar revolution” took place in Eur diet From New World to Old Gold, silver Corn, potatoes, pineapples, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, vanilla, chocolate Syphilis From Old World to New Wheat, sugar, rice, coffee Horses, cows, pigs, Smallpox, measles, bubonic plague, influenza, typhus, diphtheria, scarlet fever From Africa to New World Slave labor Microbes from Old World killed many more natives than enslavement or armed aggression As many as 90% of Native Amers perished—demog catastrophe w/o parallel in human history The Spanish Conquistadores: Spain secured its claim to Columbus’s discovery in Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) Divided New World with Portugal Spain became dominant exploring and colonizing power in 1500s Spanish conquistadores fanned out across Caribbean and mainland America Gold, glory, and God Vasco Nunez Balboa—“discover” of Pacific Ferdinand Magellan—first circumnavigation of the globe Juan Ponce de Leon—explored Florida in search of gold Francisco Coronado—penetrated as far east as Kansas; in quest of fabled golden cities Hernando de Soto—gold-seeking expedition in 1539-1542; “discovered” the Mississippi R Francisco Pizarro—crushed the Incas of Peru in 1532 By 1600—Spain was swimming in New World silver Touched off price revolution in Eur that increased consumer costs by as much as 500% Ballooning money supply fueled the growth of new economic syst that would emerge—capitalism Laid foundation of modern commercial banking syst Stimulated spread of commerce and manufacturing Paid for much of international trade with Asia West Indies—served as off-shore bases for staging of the Spanish invasion of the mainland Americas Encomienda—Spanish govt’s policy to “command” (or give) Indians to certain colonists in return for the promise to Christianize them Part of broader Spanish effort to subdue Indian tribes in West Indies and on No Amer mainland Was slavery in all but name Bartolome de Las Casas—Spanish missionary opposed to practice; called it “a moral pestilence invented by Satan” The Conquest of Mexico: 1519—Hernan Cortes began his conquest of Aztecs Aztec metropolis rose from island in center of a lake, surrounded by gardens Malinche—Indian slave and interpreter for Cortes Eventually baptized with Spanish name of Dona Maria Used knowledge of unrest in Aztec empire to gain control Peoples required to pay tribute to Tenochtitlan joined Cortes Aztec chieftan Moctezma—superstitious belief that Costes was sent from the god Quetzalcoatl, whose return from the eastern sea was predicted in Aztec legends Treated Spaniard hospitably at first June 30, 1520—Noche triste (sad night)—Aztecs attacked , driving Spanish out Cortes then laid siege to the city, which capitulated Aug 13, 1521 Small pox epidemic also broke out Aztec empire gave way to 3 centuries of Spanish rule Native pop shrank from ~20 million to 2 million in less than a century Positives—invaders brought His crops and animals His language and laws His customs and religions All proved adaptable to peoples of Mexico Intermarried with surviving Indians Created distinctive culture of mestizos People of mixed Indian and Eur heritage The Spread of Spanish America: W/in about ½ century of Columbus’s landfall—100s of Spanish cities/towns flourished in Americas Other Eur powers sniffing around the edges English sent Govanni Caboto (John Cabot) to explore NE coast of No Amer 1497 and 1498 French sent Giovanni da Verrazano to probe eastern seaboard in 1524 Also sent Jacque Cartier in 1534, who explored St Lawrence R Spanish began fortifying and settling their No Amer borderlands Ex—St Augustine, FL in 1565 Ex—1716—established settlements in TX In response to Robert de La Salle exploring the Mississippi R in 1680s (France) Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo explored CA coast in 1542; Father Junipero Serra founded chain of 21 missions up the coast in 1769 Zealous devotion to Christianize3 the 300,000 native Californians “Mission Indians”—adopted Christianity; lost contact w/ native cultures; often lost their lives as well due to “white mans’” diseases Misdeeds of Spanish in New World obscured their substantial achievements; helped give birth to the Black Legend False concept that held that the conquerors merely tortured and butchered the Indians (“killing for Christ”), stole their gold, infected them with smallpox, and left little but misery behind They grafted their culture, laws, religion, and language onto a wide array of native societies Laid foundation for score of Spanish-speaking nations Spaniards had more than a century’s head start over the English Were genuine empire builders; cultural innovators Paid the Native Amer the highest compliment of fusing with them through marriage Incorporated indigenous culture into their own Unlike English adversaries who shunned and isolated the Indians