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Student Study Guide for the American Pageant
CHAPTER 1 New World Beginnings, 33,000 B.C.–A.D. 1769
Chapter Summary
Millions of years ago, the two American continents
became geologically separated from the Eastern
Hemisphere land masses where humanity originated.
The first people to enter these continents came across a
temporary land bridge from Siberia about 35,000 years
ago. Spreading across the two continents, they
developed a great variety of societies based largely on
corn agriculture and hunting. In North America, some
ancient Indian peoples like the Pueblos, the Anasazi, and
the Mississippian culture developed elaborate
settlements. But on the whole, North American Indian
societies were less numerous and urbanized than those in
Central and South America, though equally diverse in
culture and social organization.
The impetus for European exploration came from the
desire for new trade routes to the East, the spirit and
technological discoveries of the Renaissance, and the
power of the new European national monarchies. The
European encounters with America and Africa,
beginning with the Portuguese and Spanish explorers,
convulsed the entire world. Biological change, disease,
population loss, conquest, African slavery, cultural
change, and economic expansion were just some of the
consequences of the commingling of the Old World and
the New World.
After they conquered and then intermarried with Indians
of the great civilizations of South America and Mexico,
the Spanish conquistadores expanded northward into the
northern border territories of Florida, New Mexico, and
California. There they established small but permanent
settlements in competition with the French and English
explorers who also were venturing into North America.
Chapter 1 Glossary - To build your social science vocabulary, familiarize yourself with the following terms:
nation-state - The form of political society that combines centralized government with a high degree of ethnic and
cultural unity.
Confederacy - An alliance or league of nations or peoples looser than a federation.
Primeval - Concerning the earliest origin of things.
Saga - A lengthy story or poem recounting the great deeds and adventures of a people and their heroes.
Middlemen - In trading systems, those dealers who operate between the original buyers and the retail merchants who sell
to consumers.
Caravel - A small vessel with a high deck and three triangular sails.
Plantation - A large-scale agricultural enterprise growing commercial crops and usually employing coerced or slave
labor.
Congealed - cause a liquid to thicken and solidify
Inundate - to flood a place with water
Draft animals – animals used to pull heavy loads
Matrilinear cultures – power and possessions pass down through the female side of the family
Flora – plant life, especially all the plants found in a particular country, region, or time regarded as a group
Fauna – the animal life of a particular region or period, considered as a whole.
Smallpox – a highly contagious disease caused by a poxvirus and marked by high fever and the formation of scarproducing pustules. A worldwide inoculation program has almost eradicated the smallpox virus from the human
population.
Measles – a contagious acute viral disease with symptoms that include a bright red rash of small spots that spread to cover
the whole body.
Bubonic plague – an infectious fatal epidemic disease, caused by bacterium transmitted by fleas that have previously
bitten an infected animal or person, and characterized by fever, chills, and the formation of swellings. In the 14th century,
an extensive epidemic of it occurred, known as the Black Death. In modern times, infection is limited and sporadic and
can be treated successfully with antibiotics.
Typhus – an infectious disease that causes fever, severe headaches, a rash, and often delirium. It is spread by ticks and
fleas carried by rodents.
Diphtheria – a serious infectious disease, caused by a bacterium that attacks the membranes of the throat and releases a
toxin that damages the heart and the nervous system. The main symptoms are fever, weakness, and severe inflammation
of the affected membranes.
Scarlet fever – a contagious bacterial infection marked by fever, a sore throat, and a red rash, mainly affecting children.
Ecosystem - A naturally evolved network of relations among organisms in a stable environment.
Demographic - Concerning the general characteristics of a given population, including such factors as numbers, age,
gender, birth and death rates, and so on.
Conquistador - A Spanish conqueror or adventurer in the Americas.
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Capitalism - An economic system characterized by private property, generally free trade, and open and accessible
markets.
Encomienda - The Spanish labor system in which persons were held to unpaid service under the permanent control of
their masters, though not legally owned by them.
Mestizo - A person of mixed Native American and European ancestry.
Province - A medium-sized subunit of territory and governmental administration within a larger nation or empire.
Locate the following places by reference number on the map:
____ North America
____ Asia
____ India
____ West Indies
____ Africa
____ England
____ Spain
____ South America
____ China
____ Portugal
As you read Chapter 1, answer the following questions:
The existence of a single original continent has been proved in part by the presence of (pg. 5) ______________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________.
What are the names of the major mountain ranges in Western North America? __________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________.
In what way did the Great Ice Age account for the origins of North America's human history? (pg. 5-6) ______________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________.
What was the approximate population of the two continents in the Americas when the Europeans arrived in 1492? (pg. 6)
__________________________________
The size and sophistication of Native American civilizations in Mexico and South America can be attributed to (pg. 8)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________.
What region of the Americas was least developed by Native American (Indian) civilization? (pg. 8) _______________
_____________________________.
What were the main factors that enabled Europeans to conquer native North Americans with relative ease? (pg. 8)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________.
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What was “three sister” farming and what impact did it have? (pg. 10) ________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Describe how most native peoples in North America lived on the eve of Europeans’ arrival: (pg. 10) ________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Study the map on page 9 to gain a general understanding of the different regions of North America:
What were the basic tasks performed by Native American men in the more settled agricultural groups in North America?
(pg. 10) ________________________________________
Around 1492, approximately how many natives people were living in North America? __________________________
Explain how Christian crusaders were indirectly responsible for the discovery of America: (pg. 10) ________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________.
Explain the reasons why Europeans wanted to discover a new, shorter route to eastern Asia? (pg. 10) ______________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Before the middle of the fifteenth century, why was sub-Saharan Africa remote and mysterious to Europeans? (pg. 11)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________.
Which group(s) was responsible for slave trading in Africa long before the Europeans arrived (pg. 11) _______________
_______________________________________.
For what purpose did Portugal and Spain enslave thousands of Africans in the last half of the fifteenth century? (pg. 12)
________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________.
Test Practice:
The origins of the modern plantation system can be found in the (pg. 12)
A) American South. B) Arab slave trade. C) Portuguese slave trade. D) European feudal system. E) African slave
system.
Spain was united into a single nation-state when? (pg. 13) ________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________.
Test Practice:
The stage was set for a cataclysmic shift in the course of history when (pg. 13)
A) Europeans clamored for more and cheaper products from Asia. B) Africa was established as a source of slave labor.
C) the Portuguese demonstrated the feasibility of long range ocean navigation. D) the Renaissance nurtured a spirit of
optimism and adventure. E) all of the above.
In an effort to reach the Indies, Spain looked westward because (pg. 13)
A) Portugal controlled the African coast. B) the Pope granted Spain the right to sail this route. C) Muslims blocked the
sea route. D) the Moors had convinced them to do so. E) all of the above.
After his first voyage, Christopher Columbus believed that he had (pg. 14)
A) discovered a New World. B) failed at what he had set out to do. C) sailed to the outskirts of the East Indies.
D) sailed around the world. E) reached the shores of Japan.
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Why did Columbus call the native people in the “New World” Indians? (pg. 14) _______________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________.
What was the direct impact of the introduction of American plants around the world? (pg. 14) _____________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________.
Describe the results of European contact with Native Americans: (pg. 15) _____________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________.
Test Practice
Within a century after Columbus's landfall in the New World, the Native American population was reduced by nearly
(pg. 15) A) 50 percent. B) 20 percent. C) 70 percent. D) 90 percent. E) 40 percent.
European explorers introduced ____________________ into the New World. (pg. 15)
A) syphilis B) maize C) tobacco D) smallpox E) pumpkin
The institution of encomienda allowed the (pg. 17)
A) native people to enslave members of other tribes. B) Europeans to marry Native Americans. C) European
governments to give Indians to colonists if they promised to Christianize them. D) governments of Europe to abolish the
practice of Indian slavery and to establish African slavery. E) Europeans to establish an economy based on capitalism.
Men became conquistadores because they wanted to (pg. 19)
A) gain God's favor by spreading Christianity. B) escape dubious pasts. C) seek adventure, as the heroes of classical
antiquity had done. D) satisfy their desire for gold. E) all of the above.
The Aztec chief Moctezuma allowed Cortés to enter the capital of Tenochtitlán because (pg. 20)
A) Cortés's army was so powerful. B) Montezuma believed that Cortés was the god Quetzalcoatl. C) there was little in
the city of interest to the Spanish. D) he was told to by the gods. E) all of the above.
In which of the following is the explorer mismatched with the area he explored? (pg. 21) A) Coronado—New Mexico
and Arizona B) Ponce de León—Mississippi River Valley C) Cortés—Mexico D) Pizarro—Peru E) Columbus—
Caribbean islands
Spain began to fortify and settle its North American border lands in order to (pg. 21)
A) protect its Central and South American domains from encroachments by England and France. B) gain control of
Canada. C) gain more slaves. D) find a passage to the Pacific Ocean. E) look for gold in Florida.
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