1. Collision of Cultures – Chapter 1 England and Its Colonies – Chapter 2

2. Americas Before 1500s Prehistory – before written records
Nomadic people traveled 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 water, 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

3. Pre-Columbian Indian Civilizations
Mayas
Incas
Aztecs

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

5. Why were the Native tribes vulnerable to conquest?
Large and fatal gaps in knowledge and technology
Disunity

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

7. 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

9. 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

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

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

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

13. 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

15. 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)

16. Conquistadors Cortes Pizarro
Conquered the Aztecs Empire – smallpox and uniting Aztec enemies
“We Spaniards have a disease of the heart that only gold can cure.”
Pizarro
Subdued Incan Empire

17. Spanish America First to dominate
Stumbled into regions that proved most immediately profitable
Encomienda – landowners controlled native population
Native population drop -> slaves imported from Africa
Christian Empire

18. Treaty of Tordesillas – divided areas between Portugal and Spain for exploration and settlement orchestrated by Catholic Pope.