Chapter 1: New World Beginnings Notes

I. The first Americans How did the Native Americans get here? Supercontinent Land bridge By 1492 millions of Native Americans

II. Native Civilizations What was Native American society like before European contact? Few large community groups Most were spread out Aztecs & Incas Revolution in Farming Farming communities larger than hunting Maize Pueblo Indians Three Sister Farming

Three Sister Farming

Corn Culture This statue of a corn goddess made between 200 and 600 B.C.E. vividly illustrates the centrality of corn to native American peoples, a thousand years before the rise of the great Incan and Aztec empires that the Europeans later encountered.

III. Growth of Exploration European crusaders Asia Spices, silk and other exotic goods Africa Gold & slaves Difficult trade routes

III. Growth of Exploration What spurred the Age of Exploration? Spunky Turtles Really Prefer Rockets Spices Technology Renaissance (Age of Curiosity) Power and Fame Religion

New Maritime Technologies Better Maps Hartman Astrolabe (1532) – Uses the stars to tell time Mariner’s Compass Sextant – helps determine location

New Weapons Technology

IV. Spanish Conquests Christopher Columbus Water route to the Indies Hero or villain? Water route to the Indies Ferdinand of Aragon & Isabella of Castile Landed in the Bahamas (1492) Spanish vast empire Conquistadors Win souls and find gold Encomienda Ferdinand Magellan 1st circumnavigation of the globe AND

Encomienda

Christofo Colon [1451-1506]

Columbus’ Four Voyages

Ferdinand Magellan & the First Circumnavigation of the World: Early 16c

V. Columbian Exchange Global society Exchange of plants, animals & diseases Years of isolation = weak immunity for Natives Columbian Exchange explains… Why Indians died out Why Europe prospered Why African slaves were brought to America Crops from the Americans contributed to European population growth The potato in Ireland! Should we blame the Europeans for the rapid spread of disease?

Columbian Exchange Trivia Potatoes in all of Ireland in 1491: zero Tomatoes in all of Italy in 1491: zero Peppers in all of Spain in 1491: zero Strawberries in all of England in 1491: zero Cocoa beans in all of Switzerland in 1491: zero Ears of corn in all of Europe in 1491: zero Horses on the Great Plains of North America in 1491: zero Coffee plants in South America in 1491: zero Cane sugar plants in the Caribbean in 1491: zero Fields of bluegrass in Kentucky: zero Wheat stalks in all of the Americas in 1491: zero Major diseases transmitted from the Old World to the New World after 1492: smallpox, influenza, typhoid fever, cholera, scarlet fever, yellow fever, malaria, measles, tuberculosis, bubonic plague Major diseases transmitted from the New World to the Old World after 1492: syphilis European cities more populous than the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1515: none Rank of the Inca among largest empires in the world in 1492: 1

The “Columbian Exchange” Squash Avocado Peppers Sweet Potatoes Turkey Pumpkin Tobacco Quinine Cocoa Pineapple Cassava POTATO Peanut TOMATO Vanilla MAIZE Syphilis Trinkets Liquor GUNS Olive COFFEE BEAN Banana Rice Onion Turnip Honeybee Barley Grape Peach SUGAR CANE Oats Citrus Fruits Pear Wheat HORSE Cattle Sheep Pigs Smallpox Flu Typhus Measles Malaria Diptheria Whooping Cough

The Scourge of Smallpox This Peruvian infant, depicted about 1700, was ravaged by the dread European disease and placed in a crude quarantine.

VI. Conquest of Mexico Hernán Cortes Aztec capital: Tenochtitlan Montezuma Spanish “lusted for gold like pigs” Cortes takes control Smallpox Beyond Mexico Settlement at St. Augustine

The First Spanish Conquests: The Aztecs vs. Fernando Cortez Montezuma II

Artists’ Rendering of Tenochtitlán Amid tribal strife in the fourteenth century, the Aztecs built a capital on a small island in a lake in the central Valley of Mexico. From here they oversaw the most powerful empire yet to arise in Mesoamerica. Two main temples stood at the city’s sacred center, one dedicated to Tlaloc, the ancient rain god, and the other to Huitzilopochtli, the tribal god, who was believed to require human hearts for sustenance.

Tenochtitlán

Mexico Surrenders to Cortez

The Colonial Class System Peninsulares (Spanish born Spaniard) Creoles (Colonial born Spainard) Mestizos (Spanish and Indian) Mulattos (Spanish and black) Native Indians Black Slaves

VII. Black Legend Black Legend: Spanish accomplishments Conquer, tortured, stole and infected with diseases A way to undermine Spanish achievement and religion Spanish accomplishments

Treasures from the Americas!

New Colonial Rivals