1.
Why do historians divide history into time periods? (PERIODIZATION)
How do they choose which dates to use?
What is the significance of using the year 1491?
What happened in 1607 to end this time period?

2. Pre-Columbian Native Americans
Key Questions
What were the characteristics of pre-Columbian native Americans?
How did their population and culture compare to the Europeans at that time?
Did the eventual diminishing of native culture and transplanting of European culture advance the cause of mankind?

3. Pre-Columbian Native Americans
North America map

4. Christopher Columbus
What did Columbus look like? (Website Page 2)
What is the story of Columbus’ voyages as you understand them today?

5. The Columbian Exchange
What do you remember from World History about the Columbian Exchange?
Crash Course Video – Website Page 2
Improvements in navigation technology made trade easier and promoted the growth of the Columbian Exchange

6. The Columbian Exchange

7. Impact of the Columbian Exchange
Disease decimated native Americans (50-90% within a century)
Extensive demographic and social changes in the Americas (mixed race Mestizos, 50-90% decimation)
Diets were improved everywhere, increasing population growth

8. Impact of the Columbian Exchange
Mineral wealth from the Americas made Spain Europe’s most powerful country in the 16th Century
Syphilis, tobacco and other New World plants altered life in Europe/Asia (corn, tomatoes, potatoes)
Pigs, Cows, and Horses revolutionized life in the Americas (diet, work, culture)

9. Spanish Influence in the New World
Columbus’ discovery triggered a wave of Spanish exploration, conquest, and colonization in the 16th Century
Cortes and the Aztecs (Central Mexico)
Pizarro and the Incas (Peru)
Balboa (the Pacific), Magellan (Circumnavigation)

10. Spanish Influence in the New World
New Spain established a hierarchical society
Pure Spanish blood meant privilege and power
Pure Native blood meant subjugation
A new race of people emerged of mixed Spanish and Native blood (Mestizos)

11. Spanish Influence in the New World
The Encomienda System (Early 16th Century)
Created to control and regulate Indian labor in the New World and to Christianize the natives
Encomenderos (Spanish of power and influence, including the Conquistadors) were granted land by the crown and given control of the natives that were, in effect, their slaves

12. The Encomienda System The natives worked on agricultural plantations
They built roads
They were also forced to work in mines extracting precious metals and resources

13. The Encomienda System Natives continued to die in large numbers
The harsh treatment of the natives lead to some Spanish critics of the system (Bartolome de las Casas)
Gradually, African slavery replaced Indian labor and the Encomienda system

14. Defeat of the Spanish Armada - 1588
Spanish colonization and wealth inspired other European powers to explore
By the late 16th century, the English attempted their first settlement in the New World at Roanoke (present day North Carolina)
The British defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 set the stage for England to emerge as the dominant force in North America in the 17th and 18th Centuries