Indian Civilizations Three important native civilizations that began in Latin America were: Maya Aztec Inca

Maya The Maya lived in southern Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. Their civilization was at its highest around 250 - 900 AD.

Aztec The Aztec lived in central Mexico. The Aztec also practiced sacrifice and built large pyramids like the Maya. The Aztec empire was at it’s highest from 1400 to about 1520, when it was overthrown by the Spanish.

Inca The Inca lived in South America in Peru and Chile. The Inca built a system of roads through the Andes Mountains to connect their empire.

European Colonization Colony: A region politically controlled by a distant country. Europeans came to Latin America from Europe and took over areas. Spain colonized Mexico and most of Central America and South America. Portugal colonized Brazil. The British colonized Jamaica and Belize. The French colonized Haiti.

European Colonization The Europeans converted the natives to Roman Catholics and made them learn their languages. The most wide spoken languages are Spanish and Portuguese. The Europeans brought Africans to work on sugar plantations as slaves.

Before 1492 Two very different ecosystems Two sets of culturally diverse peoples Before Columbus crossed the Atlantic, the Eastern Hemisphere (that is Europe, Africa and Asia) and the Western Hemisphere (that is the Americas) were two very different ecosystems. These ecosystems had been developing in biological isolation for thousand and thousand of years. This meant that there were two different disease pools and two sets of flora and fauna, as well as two sets of culturally diverse peoples. Two sets of flora and fauna Two different disease pools

Two biological ecosystems interchanged to create a new world ecology. Two Biological Ecosystems Merge To Create A New World Ecology When Christopher Columbus brought these two hemispheres (these two very different worlds) in contact with one another by crossing the Atlantic in 1492, he effectively brought together two biological ecosystems which then interchanged over the years to create a new world ecology. The development of this intermixed world ecology had profound consequences for humans.

The Columbian Exchange In sum, the Columbian Exchange dramatically transformed the world by connecting various ecosystems. One result of this was that the world’s ecosystems became more intermixed, causing some species of plants and animals to die out while enabling other to expand into new areas and increase in number. The most important consequences of the Exchange were demographic: the depopulation of Native Americans in the New World because of disease and the growth of the Old World population via the introduction of new foods. The effects of the Columbian Exchange are still with us today. Our diets are more diverse, products from all over the world can be found in most general stores, and we are even more exposed to different cultures. Just as sailing ships brought smallpox out of isolation during the 16th century, jet planes today quickly spread diseases from continent to continent. People all over the world today have more diseases in common, more foods in common, and even more fashions in common than every before. Aids has spread world-wide; so too had Mac Donalds and Levi jeans. What's happening today is just what we've been doing for hundreds of years. Bit by bit by bit, we are becoming more homogenized.   So what do you think of this? Is this a good thing? What can the history of the Columbian Exchange teach us about facing the challenges of an increasingly uniformed world? Please think about such questions and be prepared to discuss them in our next class session.

A Demographic Collapse There have been both negative and positive effects from the Columbian Exchange, but initially for Native Americans the consequences were devastating. By the time Columbus set sail, the people of the Old World held the distinction of being thoroughly diseased. By domesticating pigs, horses, sheep and cattle, they had infected themselves with a wide array of pathogens. And through centuries of war, exploration and city building, they had kept those agents in constant circulation. Virtually any European who crossed the Atlantic during the 16th century had battled such illnesses as smallpox and measles during childhood and emerged fully immune. Some European diseases introduced to the New World: smallpox, mumps measles, whooping cough, cholera, gonorrhea, yellow fever, influenza. Aztecs afflicted with Smallpox In Mexico alone, the native population fell from roughly 30 million in 1519 to only 3 million in 1568. Modern-day victims of smallpox

The greatest impact of the Columbian Exchange was the exchange of different food crops. Sweet Potatos Potatos Cassava Wheat The greatest impact of the Columbian Exchange, however, was the exchange of different food crops. From the New World the Old World received maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, tomatoes, peanuts, manioc, cacao, peppers, and most types of beans among other things. All of these were unknown in the Old World before 1492.   The New World in return received many new foods from the Old World. In addition to the previously mentioned domesticated animals, the New World received rice, bananas, wheat, rye, barely, sugar and coffee, among other things.

An Increase in Food Supply Helped Populations to Rise The eventual result of all the exchanging of different food crops was a dramatic increase in food supply, which in turn caused a rise in population. How and why did this happen? An entirely new food plant or set of food plants permits the utilization of soils and seasons that have previously gone unused, thus causing a real jump in food production and, therefore, population.

Mestizos Most of Latin America has a mixed population called mestizo. Mestizos are people of mixed Spanish and Native ancestry. People in the Caribbean have mixed European, Native, and African ancestry.

African Influences Latin America is heavily influenced by African culture. Music. Religion - Voodoo in Haiti and Candomble in Brazil. NOTE FROM MS. CLARK- Cross off number 9,10,11 and 12 

Population: MIgration Many people from Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico are entering the United States in search of jobs and opportunities and to escape violence from the drug trade.