Collision of Cultures – Chapter 1 Unit – New World Collision of Cultures – Chapter 1

Americas Before 1500s Prehistory – before written records Nomadic people travelled across Bering Land Bridge about 30,000 years ago – one possible theory Americas became diverse and well-populated Farming = more settled life and time to cultivate other interests Huge glaciers locked up massive volumes of wajjter, sea levels were much lower. Asia and N. America were joined by ice-free, treeless grassland named Beringia. Climate was too dry for glaciers Mammoth, mastodon, bison, camel, etc. Hunter gatherers followed South was glaciers Warming around 13,000 B.C. Created Pan American Highway

Pre-Columbian Indian Civilizations Mayas Incas Aztecs

North American Native Civilizations Hopewell – Ohio Valley (800 B.C. - 600 A.D.)‏ Anasazis – Southwest Lacked class structure Warfare only self- defense

Why were the Native tribes vulnerable to conquest? Large and fatal gaps in knowledge and technology Disunity – cultural and linquistically Geographically dispersed No immunities

Early European Contact Vikings Leif Erickson and Erik the Red Greenland Newfoundland

Europe Before 1500s Middle Ages – Medieval Period – Dark Ages 5th-14th Centuries Fall of the Roman Empire Unstable Feudalism Crusades -military expeditions to recover Palestine from Muslims exposed Europe to silks and spices, ancient Greek and Roman texts, technical innovations (movable type)‏ Black Death – 1/3 of Europeans died

Europe Before 1500s Late Middle Ages Growing commerce stimulated growth of new towns and markets Renaissance – “rebirth” 14th-17th Centuries Time of inquiry Reformation – Martin Luther posted Ninety-Five Theses 1517

Portuguese Exploration Established themselves as the leaders in seafaring technology Prince Henry the Navigator – established an academy for exploration

Portuguese Exploration Bartolomeu Dias rounded the tip of Africa Vasco de Gama – reached India

Portuguese Exploration Bartolomeu Dias rounded the tip of Africa Vasco de Gama – reached India

Columbus Italian Returned home with natives as gifts to monarchs Won support from King and Queen of Spain 87 men – 3 ships (Santa Maria, Pinta, Nina)‏ Oct. 12, 1492 – reached San Salvador (Bahamas)‏ Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic Returned home with natives as gifts to monarchs Irony – New World named after Amerigo Vespucci

Impact of Columbus The Columbian Exchange – transatlantic trade brought on by Columbus’s journeys. Native Americans – devastated by disease (smallpox, typhus, measles, chicken pox, whooping cough) Europeans – wealth (gold, silver, cash crops) Africans – enslaved (9 to 11 million West Africans taken to North and South America)

Protestant Reformation Causes Effects

Why is religion important to understanding colonial America? By the time the English will colonize North America, Protestantism had further divided into many different sects and churches. Europe was religious chaos. Amongst early colonists were: Puritans escaping what they saw as Anglican persecution Anglicans settling for the glory of God and country German pietists Dutch reformers Quakers Catholics

Treaty of Tordesillas Signed in 1914 Divided land in New World between Portugal and Spain

Native Americans Europeans Native Americans – matrilineal – bloodline decided by mother Nomadic – hunters Hunter/gatherers Farmers Fisherman