Download Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492-1600

CHAPTER 1
Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492–1600
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Chapter 1 gives us an understanding of the three main cultures that interacted with each other as a result
of the European voyages of exploration and discovery of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The
examination of the political, social, economic, and religious beliefs of Native Americans, West
Africans, and Europeans helps us understand the interaction among the peoples of these cultures and
the impact each had on the other. Although this interaction and its impact are major themes in Chapter
1, the chapter also focuses on the impact of geography and environment on peoples and the societies
they build.
The first two sections of the chapter (“American Societies” and “North America in 1492”) deal
primarily with the emergence and development of a variety of Native American cultures. In “American
Societies” we first learn about American–Indian origins, but we are quickly introduced to the theme
that geography and environment have an impact on people and the societies they build. The geography
and natural environment of Mesoamerica, for example, made settled agriculture possible in that area. In
turn, the practice of settled agriculture created a human-made environment conducive to the emergence
of more complex civilizations. The wealth of and the political, social, and economic complexities of the
Aztec civilization encountered by the Spanish when they invaded Mexico in 1519 were, in large
measure, due to the development of agriculture in Mesoamerica thousands of years earlier.
The theme that the political, social, economic, and religious ideas of a culture directly relate to how the
people of that culture obtain food necessary for survival continues in section two, “North America in
1492.” The diversity of Indian cultures in North America developed when the Native Americans north
of Mexico “adapted their once-similar ways of life to very different climates and terrains.…” This,
therefore, explains the emergence of small hunter-gatherer bands in areas not well suited to agriculture
and the emergence of larger semi-nomadic bands that combined agriculture with hunting-and-gathering
in areas with a more favorable environment. A culture’s means of subsistence also serves to explain the
similarities in social organization between the agricultural Pueblo society of the southwest and the
agricultural societies of the East. Furthermore, the way in which each tribe obtained food affected the
political structure, the gender roles, and the religious beliefs of various tribes.
Section three, “African Societies,” begins with the sentence:
“Fifteenth-century Africa, like fifteenth-century America, housed a variety of cultures adapted to
different terrains and climates.”
This statement carries the theme used in the discussion of pre-Columbian Native-American societies
into the section on fifteenth-century African societies. After a brief mention of the Berbers of North
Africa, the Muslim city states of the East coast, and the interior kingdoms of West Africa, our attention
focuses on the societies along the Guinea coast, the area from which most slaves destined for sale in the
Americas came. Here we learn of the religious beliefs and practices, the sexual division of labor, and
the social systems of West African societies in the coastal area between the Senegal and Niger Rivers.
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Chapter 1: Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492–1600
In section four our attention turns to the European societies of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. An
explanation of the similarities and differences between European society on the one hand and American
and African societies on the other hand is followed by a discussion of the devastating social, political,
and economic impact of the Black Death and the Hundred Years’ War on European society. That
discussion returns us to the recurring theme concerning the impact of environment on peoples and their
societies.
The chapter’s focus then shifts to the political and technological changes in fifteenth-century Europe
that paved the way for the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century voyages of exploration. But to achieve their
primary goal of easy access to Asian and African goods and their secondary goal of spreading
Christianity throughout the world, the early explorers had to overcome certain obstacles posed by
nature. As they learned to master their environment, problems posed by the prevailing winds in the
“Mediterranean Atlantic” (the Northeast Trades) led to the tactic of sailing “around the wind” and,
subsequently, to discovery of the Westerlies. This knowledge eventually allowed the Spanish and
Portuguese to exploit for profit the islands off the coast of Africa (the Azores, the Madeiras, the
Canaries, and São Tomé). In the discussion about the use of these islands and the lessons European
explorers learned there, a new theme is introduced: the desire of Europeans to extract profits from the
Americas led them to exploit the plants, animals, and peoples in the societies they encountered. This
new theme is further developed in the discussion of Christopher Columbus’s voyages and the first
encounter between Europeans and Americans.
The exploitation theme continues into sections seven (“Spanish Exploration and Conquest”), eight
(“The Columbian Exchange”), and nine (“Europeans in North America”). After a discussion of the
elements that were part of the Spanish model of colonization and an explanation of the consequences of
the interaction between the Spanish and the Mesoamerican peoples, we turn to a discussion of the
transfer of diseases, plants, and animals among the three worlds that met in the Americas and the
impact of these transfers on the societies in question. Our attention then shifts to attempts by the
Portuguese, French, and English to exploit the natural resources of the Americas. Because they were
primarily interested in profits from the natural wealth of the sea and land rather than in territorial
conquest, European traders and fishermen descended upon the east coast of North America and the
waters off that coast. After a discussion of the impact of the fur trade on the Europeans and Indians, the
chapter turns to the reasons for England’s first attempt to plant a permanent settlement on the North
American coast. The chapter concludes with an explanation of why this colonization attempt by
England, under the supervision of Sir Walter Raleigh, failed.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1.
Describe the political, economic, social, and religious characteristics of the societies of the
Americas and West Africa before their contact with the Europeans.
2.
Describe the political, economic, social, and religious characteristics of European society prior to
the European voyages of exploration and discovery.
3.
Indicate the social, political, economic, and technological factors that made possible the European
explorations of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and explain the goals and motives behind
those explorations.
4.
Discuss the lessons learned by European seafarers in the Mediterranean Atlantic and the North
Atlantic, and explain the relationship between those lessons and European exploration, discovery,
and colonization in the Americas.
5.
Examine the characteristics associated with Spanish colonization in the Americas, and discuss the
consequences of the Spanish venture.
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Chapter 1: Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492–1600
6.
Examine the impact of the exchange of plants, animals, diseases, peoples, and cultures resulting
from European exploration, discovery, and colonization.
7.
Assess fifteenth- and sixteenth-century attempts by European traders and fishermen to exploit the
natural wealth of North America.
8.
Indicate the motives for and explain the failure of England’s first attempts to plant a permanent
settlement in North America.
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CHAPTER OUTLINE
I.
Introduction
The desire for treasure and trade led the European kingdoms of the fifteenth century to an interest
in establishing colonies and trading posts that might strengthen the emerging nation states. This
expansionist sentiment introduced Europeans to African and American societies that had evolved
over centuries, and the cultural interaction that followed initial contacts between these
civilizations profoundly influenced western history.
II.
American Societies
A. Ancient America
The ancestors of Paleo-Indians possibly arrived in the Americans in three successive waves
beginning some 30,000 years ago. Because of climate change accompanied by rising sea
levels, the descendents of these earliest migrants were separated some 12,500 years ago from
Asia, Africa, and Europe. Paleo-Indians survived by hunting large game and gathering wild
plants and gradually spread throughout North and South America. As the prehistoric animals
disappeared, however, people grew more dependent on agriculture, a change that allowed for
the emergence of more sophisticated civilizations.
By 9,000 years ago, the inhabitants of Central and South America began cultivating various
crops, and wherever agriculture dominated the economy, complex civilizations flourished.
B.
Mesoamerican Civilizations
Early civilizations emerged in what is now Mexico as early as 4,000 years ago. A number of
powerful and complex societies developed, including the Olmecs, the Mayas, and
Teotihuacán.
C.
Pueblos and Mississippians
Besides the empires of Mesoamerica, great civilizations arose further north, including the
Hohokam, Mogollon, and Pueblo peoples of the modern states of Arizona and New Mexico,
and the Mississippian culture of the midwestern and southeastern United States.
D.
Aztecs
The Aztecs moved into the Valley of Mexico in the twelfth century where they ultimately
established an empire built on a warrior tradition that included human sacrifice and
conquered people's tribute.
III. North America in 1492
A. Gendered Division of Labor in North America
Native Americans living north of Mexico adapted their cultures to the climate and terrain in
which they lived. Hunting societies assigned the task of hunting to men, while women
prepared the food, made clothing, and raised children. In the agricultural tribes of the West,
the men farmed, but in the East, women performed that task.
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Chapter 1: Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492–1600
B.
Social Organization
The social organizations of the agricultural peoples of the southwest and east were similar,
with extended families being defined matrilineally. The nomadic Indians of the Prairies and
Great Plains, by contrast, were usually related patrilineally.
C.
War and Politics
The Indians of North America engaged in wars with each other long before the coming of
Europeans. Native American political structures, including the role of women, varied widely
from tribe to tribe. Civil and war leaders divided political power in all North American
Indian cultures.
D.
Religion
Although all Native Americans in North American were polytheistic, their most important
beliefs and deities were tied to a group’s means of subsistence.
IV. African Societies
A. West Africa (Upper and Lower Guinea)
Upper Guinea had a culture that reflected contact with the Islamic Mediterranean region,
while the peoples of Lower Guinea practiced traditional African religions.
V.
B.
Complementary Gender Roles
In West Africa men and women shared agricultural duties, with the men also hunting or
herding while the women performed household tasks and managed local commerce. In
Lower Guinea, society developed based on the “dual-sex principle.” Throughout Guinea
religious beliefs stressed complementary male and female roles.
C.
Slavery in Guinea
Slavery existed in West Africa primarily as a means of accumulating wealth. The degree to
which slaves were exploited varied considerably.
European Societies
A. Work, Politics, and Religion
Males did most of the farming or herding; women concentrated on the household and
children. Men dominated European society, relegating females to positions of inferiority.
Christianity was the dominant religion in Europe.
B.
Effects of Plague and Warfare
Bubonic plague first struck Europe in 1346, then struck again in the 1360s and 1370s, killing
a third of the continent's population. The Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453), which disrupted
overland trade routes, led merchants in the eastern Mediterranean to establish maritime links
with Antwerp. This led to the use of the triangular sail and the perfection of the astrolabe
and the quadrant.
C.
Political and Technological Change
European leaders took advantage of the chaos resulting from the Black Plague and the
Hundred Years’ War to engender nationalism as a means of consolidating power. Along
with this political innovation, technological change ushered in movable type and the printing
press, which made information more accessible. The publication of Marco Polo’s Travels in
1477, led many European to believe they could trade directly with China by sea rather than
relying on overland routes.
D.
Motives for Exploration
Developments in Europe made possible an era of exploration designed both to gain access to
markets and to spread Christianity.
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Chapter 1: Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492–1600
11
VI. Early European Explorations
A. Sailing in the Mediterranean Atlantic
European sailors learned much of navigation, winds, and currents by sailing in the
Mediterranean Atlantic, a region bounded by the Canaries, the Azores, and the Madeiras.
The most important concept was sailing “around the wind” or picking up westerly breezes
that allowed ships to return safely to port.
B.
Islands of the Mediterranean Atlantic
In the fifteenth century, Europeans, particularly Portuguese and Spanish, settled the Azores,
Madeiras, and Canary islands and began plantation economies.
C.
Portuguese Trading Posts in Africa
The Portuguese established trading posts in West Africa, which were mutually beneficial to
the Portuguese and to the African kingdoms.
D.
Lessons of Early Colonization
On São Tomé in the 1480s, the Portuguese established sugar plantations dependent on slave
labor from the African interior.
Europeans learned that they could transplant crops and livestock successfully to new lands,
that the inhabitants of these new regions could be conquered, and that slave-based
plantations could be profitable.
VII. The Voyages of Columbus, Cabot, and Their Successors
A. Columbus’s Voyage
Christopher Columbus sailed west in an effort to reach Asia. Instead of reaching Asia, he
encountered the Bahamas a month after starting.
B.
Columbus’s Observations
Columbus made obvious his intentions by asking the natives about gold, pearls, and spices.
He also marveled at the new plants and animals he encountered and described how they
could be exploited. Columbus also reported that the human inhabitants he encountered
would be useful as converts and as laborers.
Even though Columbus died believing he had found Asia, map makers named the new
region America in honor of Florentine explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, who was the first to
publish the idea that a new continent had been discovered.
C.
Norse and Other Northern Voyages
Leif Ericsson had established a short-lived settlement in modern Newfoundland in the year
1001.
Because of the winds they confronted, northern mariners who sailed to the region that was to
become the United States and Canada followed a route different from those who sailed to the
south.
D.
John Cabot’s Explorations
John Cabot deserves credit for the first formal exploration of North America’s northern
coast. Other mariners added to Europe’s knowledge of the Western Hemisphere.
VIII. Spanish Exploration and Conquest
A. Cortés and Other Explorers
Having first arrived in the West Indies in 1506, Cortés embarked for the mainland in 1519.
Malinche, one of twenty slaves given to Cortés by the Mayas, became his mistress and
translator.
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Chapter 1: Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492–1600
B.
Capture of Tenochtitlán
The Aztecs were weakened by a smallpox epidemic. Largely as a result, the Aztec capital of
Tenochtitlán fell to the Spaniards in 1521.
C.
Spanish Colonization
Spanish conquerors established a colonial system that stressed strict royal control, the
predominance of male settlers, and exploitation of Americans and Africans.
D.
Gold, Silver, and Spain’s Decline
The Spaniards extracted great wealth from their colonies, to the detriment of both the
American and the Spanish cultures. The influx of such wealth into Spain led to rapid
inflation, to the overpricing of Spanish goods in international markets, and to lavish
spending by Spanish monarchs. Ultimately, the Spanish economy crumbled and Spain lost
international importance.
IX. The Columbian Exchange
A. Smallpox and Other Diseases
Hundreds of thousands of Native Americans died from European diseases, particularly
smallpox, to which they had no immunity.
Syphilis apparently traveled from America to Europe, with the first recorded case occurring
in 1493.
B.
Sugar, Horses, and Tobacco
By the 1520s, sugar was being transported from the Greater Antilles to Spain. By the 1570s,
the Portuguese cultivated sugar in Brazil for sale in the European market, and after 1640,
sugar was produced in the English and French colonies in the Caribbean.
The introduction of horses into the Americas by the Spanish in 1493 ultimately led to
changes in the subsistence cultures of North American natives.
Europeans believed that tobacco had beneficial medicinal effects.
X.
Europeans in North America
A. Trade Among Indians and Europeans
Rich fishing banks off the coast of North America attracted many Europeans to the New
World. The English also developed a lucrative fur trade with the Indians. The Indians, in
turn, desired European goods. This mutually beneficial trade arrangement not only affected
Indian cultures but had serious ecological consequences as well.
B.
Contest of Spain and England
Geopolitical conflict with Spain led England to desire colonies in North America.
C.
Roanoke
Early efforts by the English to settle the region they called Virginia had disastrous results.
D.
Harriot’s Briefe and True Report
Harriot, a noted scientist, publicized the benefits of Virginia, including its natural resources
like copper, iron, furs, grapes, and people.
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Chapter 1: Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492–1600
13
LECTURE SUPPLEMENTS
Aztec Religion
Students may be unfamiliar with Native American culture. The following information provides some
insight into the religion of the Indians who occupied Mexico and will help bring their society to life.
The material also helps explain how the Spanish conquered the Aztec Indians with relative ease.
Aztecs believed that every fifty-two years the sun died. As the sun set behind the western mountains on
the fateful last day of the epoch, the Aztecs destroyed their old calendars and extinguished all fires in
the Valley of Mexico. Then they waited in terror—either the sun would be reborn at dawn or the world
would freeze in an eternal night. In the morning, as the sun began to rise in the east, the Indians held the
New Fire Ceremony on a mountain-top shrine. Using a razor-sharp obsidian dagger, a priest cut open
the chest of a sacrificial victim and pulled out the still-beating heart. The priest then inserted wood
kindling into the gaping chest cavity and attempted to light it with a fire stick. If the flame ignited, the
sun would be reborn and the world would continue to live for another fifty-two years.
The Aztecs, like other Mesoamerican civilizations, kept careful track of time. They maintained two
separate calendars, each with twenty-day months, in keeping with their base-twenty number system.
One calendar described the 365-day solar year with eighteen months of twenty days, plus five
“unlucky” days at the end of the year. The solar calendar served to preserve order in the universe,
marking the times for planting and harvesting corn and for holding religious ceremonies. The second
calendar had thirteen months of twenty days and matched the 260-day human gestation period. This
calendar helped maintain order in human lives and provided the basis for pre-Columbian astrology.
Every fifty-two years, the calendars reached the new year simultaneously, an event marking the
potential end of the world.
The New Fire Ceremony illustrates the reciprocal obligations between men and gods in the preColumbian world. The Aztecs offered human sacrifices to feed the gods, who responded by making
corn grow to feed the people. Fear always remained, however, that the new fire would not ignite, that
the capricious gods would withhold the rains and destroy all life. This morbid cosmology ultimately
contributed to the defeat of the Aztec Empire. Montezuma, uncertain of his own moral legitimacy,
imagined the Spanish conquistadors might themselves be gods. His hesitant behavior gave the
Europeans a strategic opening, which they used to enlist Indian allies and to conquer the Indian
civilization.
The Seven Cities of Cíbola
Following Columbus’s voyages, the Spanish moved rapidly into the Caribbean and Mexico, but the
occupation of what became the American Southwest occurred more slowly. Events in the sixteenth
century revealed both the imperative, and the impediment, to Spanish expansion in the New World.
Students may be intrigued by the role that myths played in encouraging Spanish exploration. On the
other hand, once the legends of golden cities proved false, the reality of inhospitable terrain and hostile
Indians delayed settlement.
The medieval imagination conceived that across the oceans lay lands inhabited by strange monsters,
giant men, and warrior women. Europeans also dreamed of the Seven Cities of Cíbola, fabled for their
enormous wealth. After Columbus discovered America, explorers ransacked the hemisphere in search
of riches. The Caribbean colonies proved disappointing, but Aztec treasures in Mexico renewed
Spanish expectations.
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Chapter 1: Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492–1600
In 1536, the adventures of Alvar Núnez Cabeza de Vaca and an African slave named Esteban caused
the Spaniards to turn their attention to the north. In 1528, the men had landed in Florida as members of
an ill-fated treasure hunt. Indians massacred most of their party, and the survivors made an incredible
journey through the Gulf Coast region and into northern Mexico before coming across a Spanish
expedition. In Mexico City, they related Indian stories of golden cities, and Esteban returned north with
Fray Marcos de Niza to search for Cíbola. Scouting ahead, Esteban sent word to the friar that he had
discovered the fabled treasure. The African then disappeared.
When Fray Marcos arrived back in Mexico City with his story, the viceroy commissioned Francisco
Vázquez de Coronado to conquer the cities of gold. Departing in 1540, his expedition explored as far
northeast as Kansas, but they found no treasure. Esteban's city of gold turned out to be the dusty Zuni
pueblos near what became Santa Fe, New Mexico. Some historians believe that Fray Marcos had made
the report solely on the word of Esteban. Others conclude that Marcos saw the pueblos from a distance,
and that seen at sunset the adobe buildings took on a golden glow. In his excitement, and reflecting the
European faith that such cities existed, he believed he had surely found the mythical kingdom. Still
other scholars suggest that the friar knew the treasure did not exist, but he hoped to encourage Spanish
settlement in order to Christianize the natives. In any case, the disillusioned Coronado and his
expedition returned home without the riches they had sought.
Instead, they carried accounts of dry lands that were too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer
and that contained nothing of value. Their harsh descriptions discouraged settlement in the north for
decades to come. The Spanish eventually established Santa Fe in 1609, and more than a century later a
few ranches appeared in Texas and California. The region, however, remained lightly settled during the
Spanish colonial period.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
1.
This project can be applied to both Africa and the Americas. Divide the class into groups and
assign each group, or have them choose, a different Native American or West African group.
Allow them several days to research the culture of the group, and then have them make oral
presentations to the class. Students will find Chart A in the “Organizing, Reviewing, and Using
Information” section in the Study Guide useful in completing this project.
2.
Hold the Court of Henry the Navigator. Have one student portray Columbus and present his
proposal for a westward voyage. Have a group of students advise concerning the proposition.
Next have a student present the idea to Ferdinand, Isabella, and their advisors. In Henry's court,
assign some students to support Columbus; in the Spanish court, have a few students oppose his
ideas.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1.
Present the following list to the students and have them say where the item originated. Discuss the
implications of the exchange of each item: beans (New World); chocolate (New World); corn
(New World); cotton (both); horses (Old World); potato (New World); pumpkin (New World);
turkeys (New World); wheat (Old World); wool (Old World).
2.
Native Americans had a variety of complex cultures. What factors led to such a wide range of
civilizations? Describe some of the important differences between Indian culture groups. Describe
any significant similarities. Do Americans today understand the sophistication of the preColumbian world? Why or why not?
3.
What factors led to the relatively rapid conquest of the Caribbean and Mexico? Why did the
Spaniards prove less interested in, or less successful at, colonizing other areas of North America?
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Chapter 1: Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492–1600
4.
15
An overarching theme in Mexican history is the degree to which the culture reveals an Indian
heritage and the degree to which it reflects a European legacy. Why might some Mexicans want to
deny or criticize the European influence on their society? What positive contributions did the
Spaniards make that Mexicans might embrace?
PAPER TOPICS
1.
Have students complete Chart B in the “Organizing, Using, and Reviewing Information” exercise
in Chapter 1 of the Study Guide and write a paper on this topic:
Compare or contrast the impact on the health of the peoples of the Old World and peoples of the
New World caused by the early contacts between Europeans and peoples of the Americas. Be
concrete and specific.
2.
Have students select a Mesoamerican or West African culture group and write a paper on that
group.
NOTE: Students will find Chart A in the “Organizing, Using, and Reviewing Information”
section in Chapter 1 of the Study Guide useful if this topic is chosen.
3.
Have students select one or more items that traveled from one hemisphere to the other and write a
paper on the results of that “exchange.”
4.
Have students pick one or more of the factors shaping European development in the fifteenth
century and write a paper on the way that factor influenced the age of exploration.
5.
Have students write papers on the ways in which the Spanish claim to the New World influenced
European politics and international relations.
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