Chapter One: New World Beginnings Objective: Before the arrival of Europeans, native populations in North America developed a wide variety of social, political and economic structures based in part on interactions with the environment and each other

America Takes Shape Pangaea theory: continents were once together forming a mega-continent Glaciers covered much of North America As the Ice Age diminished a land bridge emerged linking Asia & North America (The Bering Sea) People walked across the bridge before sea levels rose and populated the Americas 35,000 years ago

Early Civilizations Mayas: Yucatan Peninsula Aztecs: Mexico, Human sacrifice Incas: Peru, elaborate network of roads and bridges linking their empire

Early Civilizations Advanced agricultural practices based on the cultivation of maize (corn) Corn transformed nomadic hunters into settled agricultural villagers, leads to the growth of permanent settlements

Early Americans Pueblo Indians were the first American corn growers Lived in adobe houses and pueblos (“villages”) in the Rio Grande Valley Elaborate irrigation systems to draw water away from rivers to grow corn

Early Americans Mound Builders: built huge ceremonial mounds located near the Ohio Valley Cahokia: Settlement was home to over 25,000 people (located near present day East St. Louis) Anasazi: Built elaborate pueblo with over 600 interconnected rooms (Present day New Mexico)

Early Americans Three Sister Farming of maize, beans, and squash produced high population density in the Southeast (Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee) The Iroquois in Northeast America resembled the great empires of Mexico Organized a military alliance of five tribes called the Iroquois Confederacy

Indirect discovery First Europeans to come to America were the Vikings The Christian Crusades of the Middle Ages introduce Europeans to new riches like spices and silk Europeans wanted to find a cheap route to Asia and its treasures Marco Polo travels to China in 1295 speaking of riches and stirs interest in exploration

Europeans Enter Africa Portuguese develop the caravel ship making it easier to sail into the wind Trading posts set up along the shores of Africa for the purchase of gold and slaves Bartholomeu Dias rounded the tip of Africa in 1488 Vasco da Gama reached India in 1499 Spain was eager to get its share of the wealth and began to look to the West

Christopher Columbus Convinced Spanish Monarchs to fund his expedition Wanted to reach the East (Indies) by sailing west 1492 crew member sights land in the Bahamas Thinking he had reached the Indies, he referred to the native people as Indians One of the most successful failures in history

Europe Provided the Market, Capital, and Technology Africa provided the Labor The New World provided the raw materials (gold, soil, lumber)

Columbian Exchange: Transfer of goods, crops, and diseases between New and Old World societies after 1492

The Exchange New to Old Corn, potatoes, beans, peppers, pumpkin, squash, tomato, wild rice, syphilis Old to New Cows, pigs, horses, wheat, sugar cane, apples, cabbage, carrots, smallpox, yellow fever, malaria New foods lead to population increase in Europe European diseases lead to a significant loss in Native populations

The Spanish Conquistadors Treaty of Tordesillas (1494): Signed by Spain and Portugal dividing the territories of the New World Spain dominates exploration in the 1500s motivated by God, Gold, and Glory Encomienda System established Indians were given to Spanish colonists in return for the promise to Christianize them.

Conquest of Mexico Hernando Cortez conquered the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan Aztec King Montezuma thought Cortez was a god Spanish attacks and disease lead to the fall of the empire Spanish destroy Tenochtitlan and build Mexico City Mestizos: mix of Spanish and Indian Blood

Spanish America Spanish society quickly spread through Peru and Mexico Don Juan de Onate explores present day New Mexico, conquering native populations ruthlessly Pope’s Rebellion (1680): Pueblo Indian rebellion that drove Spanish settlers from New Mexico Black Legend: False notion that Spanish conquerors did little but butcher the Indians and steal their gold in the name of Christ