1. Chapter 1: Meeting of Cultures

2. America Before Columbus
South America = Empires
Incas: Cuzco, Machu Picchu
Modern day Peru
Mayans: Mayapan
Central America,
Yucatan Peninsula
Aztecs: Tenochtitlan
Modern day Mexico
North America
Complex and Varied Civilizations 
 Mobile Societies
No large empires or political systems like Incas, Mayas, or Aztecs

3. Europe After Dark Ages Commerce Re-Awakens
population grows after bubonic plague, land values soar.
Wealthy landholders and church have power and money
Rise of Nation-states
Consolidate money and land, more powerful than feudal lords
Create armies, tax systems, and courts
Mercantilism = one accumulates wealth at expense of enemies
Set amount of wealth in the world
“more I have, less there is for you”

4. Mercantilism = Search for advantages
“Prince Henry the Navigator” – Portuguese explorer, goal to exploit African resources for “Christian” kingdom
Crew finished trip after his death – first to chart route around Cape of Good Hope
Portuguese dominate trade, become an empire
Christopher Columbus: Italian born, Portuguese trained, sought faster route to India by going West.
Convinced Ferdinand and Isabelle of Spain to fund trip

5. Early Explorations Amerigo Vespucci
First explorer recognize North America as a new place
Ferdinand Magellan
first to discover the Pacific Ocean = Straits of Magellan
Conquistadors
Cortés conquered Aztecs, unknowingly exposed them to smallpox
Viewed epidemic as an act of god, justified brutality
Francisco Pizarro, conquered the Incas
revealed Gold could be found in the new world.
Hernando de Soto, explored what is today Florida.
The first European east of the Mississippi River.

6. Spanish Dominance Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
Agreement between Spain and Portugal over control of “New World
Initiated the Ordinances of Discovery
300 year period of Spanish dominance
Discovered 10x more gold than the rest of the world combined.

7. Culture Forever Altered
Spanish turn to permanent agriculture after gold refinery dwindles
Cultural structures forever altered
Ferdinand and Isabella – good Catholics, every settlement accompanied by Catholic mission
St. Augustine, Florida (1565) – militant outpost for Franciscan Monks
Oñate, New Mexico – peaceful Pueblo/Spanish settlement, established lucrative cattle trade on ranchos.
Catholic monks forced natives to adopt religion, led to revolt in 1680

8. Spanish Colonies Heavily controlled by the crown back in Spain
Social hierarchy reflected Spanish dominance
Demographic catastrophe – Indian population devastated, intentionally subjugated
Actually disproves European feeling they were uncivilized
Agricultural revolution as result, and new cultures created
Intermarriage practically a necessity in Spanish colonies.

9. Africa to America
African society highly sophisticated prior to 1500 – Ghana and Mali centers of trade
Matrilineal society
elaborate social hierarchy
more gender equality
African slavery – never permanent, never inherent, always had rights
Sugar plantations in America burned up labor – African slave trade lucrative by 1700