1. Who am I?

3. Christopher Columbus
August 3, 1492 – Columbus and three ships sail from Spain
Born in Italy and sailed for Spain
Purpose: Sail to Asia (India) by going west across the Atlantic instead of around Africa (Portuguese)

4. Chris’s View of the World
What’s the problem with his view?

5. Was Columbus the First? NO!!!! The Chinese? The Vikings?
The Phoenicians?
Now back to Columbus...

6. Why Explore? Motives (Reasons) for Exploration = GOLD, GLORY, GOD
Gold = more land; new markets (people to buy goods); money $$$$
Glory = power for exploring nation
God = spread Christianity to new lands

7. More Columbus Set off to find a quicker route to the West Indies.
Crew was near mutiny when land was sighted.
Landed in Hispaniola (DR and Haiti)
(thought it was the West Indies)
Indigenous people called themselves the Taino (“noble ones”). He called them something else…
Los Indios…..translation Indians….WHY????
Thus began the move from the Old World (Europe) to the New World (Americas)

8. Where did they Settle? Spanish –
English –
French –
Africans –
built settlements in the Caribbean, South America and Central America
settled in North America (present day United States)
settled in present-day Canada
were brought to work on large plantations in the Caribbean and Southern English colonies

9. Comparing Three Worlds
American Indians
Europeans
West Africans
What were their religious beliefs?
Nature-based
Spiritual relationship between man and Earth
Christianity
Everyone should be Christian
Islam (in some areas)
Nature-based (in other places)
What was their government?
tribes (simple) confederations empires (complex)
nations and kings
beginning to have ideas about individual rights
Kingdoms w/ rulers
Council of elders
What were their economic systems?
Communal ownership of land
Live in harmony with land -- use it to sustain life and not to create wealth
Private ownership of property
Labor + land = wealth
Communal ownership of land
Extensive trade in a variety of goods
What kind of technology did they have?
Bows, arrows, spears and tomahawks
Simple farming and hunting tools
Advanced weaponry, including guns, cannons and armor
Navigational abilities
Depending on area – simple farming tools or complex trading equipment

10. Impact of Discovery
Colonization – The establishment of distant settlements controlled by parent country.
Often times natives were forced into work on plantations
Europeans brought many new diseases with them to the New World…..

11. Disease is BAD! What will the Europeans do???
Population decrease estimates between 1/3 and 1/2 of native population.
Decrease in population means decrease in workforce.
What will the Europeans do???

12. Slave Trade Begins
With so many Natives dying of disease, Europeans turned to the slave trade to replenish labor force.
Africans were more resistant to Old World disease and less familiar with New World (less likely to escape).
Europeans began using these slaves in the New World.

14. The Columbian Exchange
An exchange of living things between the Old World (Europe) and the New World (North America)

15. Columbian Exchange

16. French
English
Spanish