1. First Encounters
Why It Matters With financial backing from Spain’s monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand, Christopher Columbus “found” the Americas. He then returned to conquer the land, exploit its wealth, and convert its people to Christianity. That process changed the Americas, Europe, and Africa.

2. First Encounters
As the representative of a Christian nation, Columbus believed that he had the right and duty to dominate the people he found.
“They should be good servants and intelligent, for I observed that they quickly took in what was said to them, and I believe that they would easily be made Christians, as it appeared to me that they had no religion. I, our Lord being pleased, will take hence, at the time of my departure six natives ”
—Journal of Christopher Columbus, October 1492

3. The Conquistadors Hernán Cortés Aztecs Francisco Pizarro Incas
First Encounters
The Conquistadors
Hernán Cortés
Aztecs
Tenochtitlan
Moctezuma
Francisco Pizarro
Incas

4. Native Population Declines
First Encounters
Native Population Declines
Weaponry
Steel-edged swords, pikes, and crossbows.
Guns – (psychological advantage).
Horses.

5. Smallpox, typhus, diphtheria, bubonic plague, and cholera.
First Encounters
Devastation of Disease
Smallpox, typhus, diphtheria, bubonic plague, and cholera.
From about 300,000 in 1492, the island’s population declined to a mere 500 by 1548.
Leads to slavery

6. Effects of Exploration
First Encounters
Effects of Exploration
Columbian Exchange
Exchange of Plants and Animals
colonists introduced their domesticated livestock: pigs, horses, mules, sheep, and cattle.
Domesticated plants: including wheat, barley, rye, oats, grasses, and grapes.

7. Move westward into Americas.
First Encounters
Population Shifts
European population doubled from 80 million in 1492 to 180 million in 1800.
Move westward into Americas.

8. Global Interdependence
First Encounters
Global Interdependence
Use the excerpts to identify potential negative and positive consequences of global exchange and interdependence:
Draw and complete the following table
Potential Positive Consequences
Potential Negative Consequences

9. Class work Answer the following questions from your group activity:
First Encounters
Class work
Answer the following questions from your group activity:
What does Columbus claim to have found for Spain?
Contrast: In what ways do Lou Dobbs and the writer in the Economist differ in their opinion of outsourcing jobs? (pg. 27)
Link past and present: How do you think workers and political leaders in the United States should respond to increasing global interdependence?