Native Americans; land bridge
40,000 years ago waves of migrants from Asia crossed a land bridge that connected Siberia & Alaska (said bridge is now under the Bering Sea). People migrated southward from the Arctic Circle to the southern tip of South America. The first Native Americans divided into hundreds of tribes, spoke different languages, and practiced different cultures. Estimates of the Native population in the Americas in the 1490s vary from 50 to 75 million persons.
These Indians lived in semi-permanent settlements with 300 or less people. The men made tools & hunted game, while the women grew corn, beans, and tobacco. Some tribes were more nomadic than others, such as these Indians whom, on the Great Plains, followed the buffalo herds.
Sioux & Pawnee Indians
These Indians lived in the Southwest in multistoried buildings & developed intricate irrigation systems for farming.
Pueblo Indians
These mound-building cultures evolved in the MI and OH River valleys & elsewhere.
Adena, Hopewell, MI Indians
Iroquois Indians
Formed a political confederacy, the League of the Iroquois, which withstood attacks from opposing Native Americans & Europeans during much of the 17th & 18th centuries.
Mayas
A.D. 300-800
Built remarkable cities in the rain forests of the Yucatan Peninsula (present-day Guatemala, Belize, and southern Mexico).
- Developed calendars that were based on accurate scientific observations.
- Highly organized societies
- Extensive trade
Incas
Peru. Ruled over vast empires.
- Highly organized societies
- Extensive trade
Aztecs
Central Mexico. Ruled over vast empires.
- Capital of Tenochtitlan was equivalent in size & population to the largest European cities
- Highly organized societies
- Extensive trade
Renaissance Era
A rebirth of classical learning & an outburst of artistic & scientific activity during the late 1400’s and early 1500’s.
Technology in the Renaissance Era
Europeans bettered many inventions.
- Gunpowder (originally by the Chinese)
- Sailing Compass (adopted from the -Chinese by Arab merchants)
- Better map making & shipbuilding skills
- Development of the printing press in 1450 allowed information to be decimated more quickly and widely
-Means for colonization
Spain; Moors
In the Middle Ages, Spain had been partly conquered by Muslim invaders, and only 1 Moorish stronghold remained in Spain when Isabella & Ferdinand united their separate Christian kingdoms. They defeated the Moors of Granada in 1492.
Ferdinand & Isabella
Ferdinand was the king of Aragon, and Isabella was the queen of Castile. When they defeated the Moors of Granada in 1492 under their united Christian kingdoms, they brought with them a sign of new leadership, hope, and power to European believers in the Roman Catholic faith.
Protestant Reformation
The revolt in the early 1500s by some Christians in Germany, England, France, Holland, & other northern Euro. countries against the authority of the pope in Rome.
- Caused Catholics of Spain & Portugal + Protestants of England & Holland to want their own versions of Christianity adopted by Africans, Asians, and Americans.
- -Religious motive for exploration & colonization.
Trade
There was an increased trade between European kingdoms and Africa, India, and China resulting from fierce competition along the European kingdoms
-Route from Venice & Constantinople to an overland route that reached to the capital of the Chinese empire was blocked when, in 1453, Ottoman Turks seized Constantinople. People wanted to find new way to Asian trade by sailing across Atlantic or south along West African coast.
Portugal
Very involved in trade and sponsored many explorers
Henry the Navigator
Portugal’s prince who sponsored many voyages of exploration; succeeded in opening up a long sea route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope
Nation-States
Country in which the majority of people share both a common culture & common political loyalties toward a central government
- Monarchs depended on trade to bring in revenues & the Church to justify their rights to rule
- -Isabella & Ferdinand of Spain, Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal ; used their powers to search for riches abroad and to spread the influence of the Catholic Church to new overseas dominions
Christopher Columbus
1492
Italian-born explorer who claimed land and riches for Spain; backed by Isabella and Ferdinand; was looking for a route to Asia, sailed from the Canary Islands, and landed in the Bahamas; voyages were disappointing, but he was the first person to bring permanent interaction between Europeans and Native Americans
New World
The term given to the land that Christopher Columbus found instead of China and the Indies; America
Amerigo Vespucci
An Italian sailor whom America was named after
Papal Line of Demarcation
1493
Pope drew a vertical, north-south line on a world map, giving Spain all lands to the west of the line & Portugal all lands to the east
Treaty of Tordesillas
1494
Moved papal line of demarcation a few degrees to the west, which passed through Brazil, establishing Portugal’s claim to Brazil
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
Journeyed across the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean
Ferdinand Magellan
Circumnavigated the world
Hernan Cortes
Conquest of Aztecs in Mexico secured Spain’s initial supremacy in the New World
Francisco Pizarro
Conquest of Incas in Peru secured Spain’s initial supremacy in New World
Conquistadores
Spanish conquerors
-Sent ships loaded w/ Au & Ag back to Spain from New World, increasing Au supply by >500%, making Spain the richest & most powerful nation in Europe
Encomienda System
King of Spain gave grants of land and Native Americans to individual Spaniards. Indians had to form/work in the mines, and the fruits of their labors went to their Spanish masters, who in turn had to “care” for them.
Asiento System
Required Spanish to pay a tax to their king on each slave they imported to the Americas
-Brought about when Europeans’ brutality & diseases reduced Native American population, causing Spanish to bring in slaves from West Africa
John Cabot
1497
Explored Newfoundland
- Italian sea captain who was under contract to King Henry VII- king of England
- Discoveries weren’t followed up by England due to religious preoccupations (Protestant v. Catholic)
Giovanni de Verrazano
1524
French monarchy sponsored a voyage by Giovanni de Verrazano.
Hoping to find a NW passage leading thru the Americas to Asia, he explored part of North America’s eastern coast, including NY harbor.
Jacques Cartier
Explored the St. Lawrence River extensively
French claims to American territory based on his voyages
Samuel de Champlain
1608
Established 1st permanent French settlement in America at Quebec, a fortified village on the St. Lawrence River
“Father of New France” - strong leadership in establishing the colony
Father Jacques Marquette
1673
Explored the upper MI river
Robert de la Salle
1682
Explored the MI basin and later named it Louisiana after French King Louis XIV
Henry Hudson
1609
English seaman who sailed up the Hudson River, which established Dutch claims to the surrounding area that would become New Amsterdam
-Dutch West India Company was given privilege of taking control of the region for economic gain
Joint-stock Company
Pooled the savings of people of moderate means & supported trading ventures that seemed potentially profitable
-Allowed colonization to North Atlantic Coast
Father Junipero Serra
Founded 9 settlements that had been established along the CA coast by members of the Franciscan order in response to Russian exploration from Alaska.
Virginia Company
Joint-stock company that established the 1st permanent English colony in America at Jamestown in 1607.
Captain John Smith
Forceful leadership in Jamestown colony helped save settlement
John Rolfe; Pocahontas
- Established tobacco industry in 1612 that saved the colony’s finances
- Indian wife of John Rolfe
- Tobacco needed large labor force for cultivation; first went to indentured servants, and then to African slaves
Royal Colony
Colony under the control of a king or queen
-The 1st was VA after the VA Company went bankrupt in 1624 & King James I revoked their charter
Puritans
People who wanted to “purify” the Church of England (Anglican Church) of Catholic influences during the 1600’s
-Change in ceremonies & hierarchy (governing structure) of C.o.E.
Plymouth Colony
Half of them perished after the first winter
- Celebrated 1st Thanksgiving in 1621 because friendly Native Americans helped them out
- Led by Captain Miles Standish & Governor William Bradford
- Fish, furs, lumber
Separatists
Puritans who wanted to create a new church, rather than just reform the Church of England, Wanted church to be independent of royal control.
Pilgrims
- Separatists
- 1st migrated to Holland, but left due to cultural differences & economic hardship
- Decided upon new colony in America then operated by the VA Company of London
Mayflower Voyage
1620
- Small group of Pilgrims set sail for VA aboard the Mayflower.
- Less than half of the 100 were Separatists; the rest had economic motives
- Didn’t land in Jamestown, so decided to establish Plymouth instead
Massachusetts Bay Colony
A result of the religious persecution of Puritans due to the policies of the new king, Charles I.
Puritans (not Separatists) gained a royal charter for a new colonizing venture, the MA Bay Company (1629).
John Winthrop
Led 1k Puritans in 1630 to the MA shore. Founded Boston and several other towns.
Great Migration
Europe’s civil war in the 1630’s drove 15,000 people from Europe and into the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Virginia House of Burgesses
1619
1st representative assembly in America
-Right to be represented in the lawmaking process similar to that of England
Mayflower Compact
1620 aboard Mayflower vessal
Document that pledged Pilgrims to make decisions by the will of the majority.
-Represented early form of colonial autonomy & early form of written constitution, establishing powers & duties of the government
Predestination
The belief that God guides those who are to be saved
- John Calvin
- Believed by English Protestants
Jamestown
1607
Established with King James I’s charter to VA Company.
- Indian attacks, famine, disease
- Swampy area brought about dysentery & malaria
- Many settlers weren’t accustomed to physical work
- Some were gold-seekers who refused to hunt or farm
- Food supplies minimal, colonists nearly starved