A New World

1492 In 1492 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue!

1492 Which is great and all, but doesn’t tell us what we really need to know: 1.) Why did he do it? 2.) What was the impact of his trip?

1492 Why did he do it?

1492 Why did he do it? For the most obvious reason of all…

1492 Why did he do it? For the most obvious reason of all…

1492 He was looking for this…

1492 What was the impact on his trip?

1492 What was the impact on his trip? That depends on who you ask…

‘Murica What was the impact on his trip? That depends on who you ask…

The Genocide of what may have been 90 million Native Americans. What was the impact on his trip? That depends on who you ask…

Stinking Weed Portugal had shown Europe the financial benefits of trading new goods from other lands for big money. Spain wanted in!

The problem was right here!

The southern tip of Africa is called the Cape of Good Hope.

This is the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope The route to Asia was not an easy one… m/watch?v=dcwtf0oV r2g Cape of Good Hope

Columbus So Christopher Columbus was sent by Ferdinand & Isabella of Spain to find a way to Asia that didn’t involve going around Africa.

Niña, Pinta & Santa Maria

The Niña

15 th Century World Map

1492 He bravely waded ashore and “discovered” this “New World” for the King & Queen of Spain.

1492 But the problem was; he didn’t really “discover: anything.

1492 But the problem was; he didn’t really “discover: anything.

But from the moment the first Arawak tribesman saw sails in the distance, nothing would ever be the same in the Americas again.

Although Columbus wanted gold & spices, the land he found was more than valuable enough!

Within 150 years, the Spanish had taken 200 tons of Gold out of the New World and 16,000 tons of Silver!

Other European Nations quickly saw the opportunity to get rich from the vast natural resources to the west.

The English, Spanish and French established colonies in what would become America.

A long time ago… For over 20,000 years, people had lived across America developing many socially and culturally different societies based in large part on the environment they lived in.

Even longer ago…

So eventually…

1492 Some estimates indicate that on the day Christopher Columbus “discovered” America as many as 100 million people may have already been living in the Americas.

Three main cultures developed: –The Aztecs in present day central Mexico –The Mayas in southern Mexico and Central America –The Inca in present day Peru and the western edge of South America.

North of the present day Mexico however, the population lagged behind.

Because they were missing this…

In what would become the United States of America, most tribes were small (at most 300 members) semi-permanent groups of hunter-gatherers. Social & political issues were usually settled along gender lines with men making tools and hunting game while women grew and harvested crops.

These differences would be critical to the development of the tribes living in each region. After all, each tribe would have to adapt to the situations their environment presented them with.

Northeast Woodlands

Florida Swamps

Great Plains

Great Basin

American Southwest

Pacific Northwest

Tribes in areas rich in natural resources developed a mix of agricultural and hunter- gatherer societies with semi-permanent villages.

The lack of natural resources in the Great Plains, Great Basin & American Southwest led to mobile tribes searching for game.

The problem that these tribes now faced were complex. Some they could see and appreciate, and others they couldn’t see.

In the previous 150 years or so, the Renaissance had taken hold of Europe. Great advances in Art, Science & Culture swept across Europe.

The Renaissance There were also advances in:

The Renaissance There were also advances in:

The Renaissance There were also advances in:

The Renaissance There were also advances in:

All of which put the Native Americans at a serious disadvantage. But they couldn’t even see their biggest problem…

Until Justin Bieber showed up, this was the worst thing that came into America and refused to leave.

The Columbian Exchange Millions of years ago, continental drift carried the Old World and New Worlds apart, splitting North and South America from Eurasia and Africa. That separation lasted so long that it fostered divergent evolution; for instance, the development of rattlesnakes on one side of the Atlantic and vipers on the other. After 1492, human voyagers in part reversed this tendency. Their artificial re-establishment of connections through the commingling of Old and New World plants, animals, and bacteria, commonly known as the Columbian Exchange, is one of the more spectacular and significant ecological events of the past millennium. by Alfred Crosby

The Columbian Exchange When Europeans first touched the shores of the Americas, Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and turnips had not traveled west across the Atlantic, and New World crops such as maize, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and manioc had not traveled east to Europe. In the Americas, there were no horses, cattle, sheep, or goats, all animals of Old World origin. Except for the llama, alpaca, dog, a few fowl, and guinea pig, the New World had no equivalents to the domesticated animals associated with the Old World, nor did it have the pathogens associated with the Old World’s dense populations of humans and such associated creatures as chickens, cattle, black rats, and Aedes egypti mosquitoes. Among these germs were those that carried smallpox, measles, chickenpox, influenza, malaria, and yellow fever.

The Columbian Exchange

Continued European colonization, fertile farmland and a seemingly endless supply of natural resources along with the impact of diseases like Smallpox & Measles led to more and more settlement of the New World.

The Spanish settled into the southwestern region and developed what would become Mexico and Latin America.

The Portuguese settled into the southwestern region and developed what would become Brazil.

The French settled into Louisiana and eastern Canada.

The English settled into Hudson’s Bay and the Atlantic Seaboard.

At first, using the early foothold established by Columbus, the Spanish were the dominant European power in the New World.

England quickly became the dominant power in 1588 when the Spanish fleet was destroyed off the English coast.

That’s why the American Revolution would be fought against the English.