APUSH Unit 1: 1491-1607 PDF

1 APUSH Unit 1: 1491-1607 Native American societies before contact Before the Europeans arrived on the North American content, Native American people organized themselves into diverse cultures depending on where they lived ○ Lifestyles were varied, f...

1 APUSH Unit 1: 1491-1607 Native American societies before contact Before the Europeans arrived on the North American content, Native American people organized themselves into diverse cultures depending on where they lived ○ Lifestyles were varied, from fishing villages to nomadic hunter gatherers to agriculture-based communities to cities Central and South American ○ Three major civilizations that were large urban centers, complex political systems, and well-formed religions ○ The Aztecs were in Central America. Capital city Tenochtitlan with 300,000 people, written language, irrigation, cult of fertility upheld by human sacrifice ○ The Maya were on the Yucatan peninsula and had large cities, complex irrigation, water storage, giant stone temples ○ The Inca people were in the Andes mountain in Peru and had mountain fortress Machu Picchu. Massive empire, key to success fertile mountain valleys watered by potatoes and other crops. ○ Cultivation of maize that spread north into American Southwest and supported the inhabitation of this region. Southwest America ○ Pueblo people, stayed in one place, farmers of maize, built homes in open and into sides of cliffs, organized society with government Great plains and great basin regions ○ Hunter gather people who needed a lot of land to do hunting and gathering, Ute people Pacific northwest ○ Lived in fishing villages by the sea, relied on elk, Chinook people who relied on cedar trees to construct giant houses ○ Chumash lived on the Pacific coast too in California and were hunters and gathers in permanent settlements Mississippi River valley ○ Larger and more complex societies because the fertile soil of the region allowed people to stay put and farm and develop ○ Hopewell lived in towns of 4,000-6,000, traded extensively ○ Cahokia people, 10,000-30,000 people, led by powerful chiefs, engaged in trade Northeast  2 ○ Iroquois lived in villages of several hundreds, grew crops of maize and beans, lived in longhouses with family members European exploration in the Americans Reasons for European expansion ○ Population increase, political unification with powerful monarchs presiding over centralized government, desire for luxury goods imported from Asia Land-based trade routes were controlled by Muslims and Europeans unable to establish land-based trade with Europe on their own terms → needed water passage ○ Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal tried to find water passage to Asia Sailed around Africa, establishing trading post empire Found dominance in lucrative Indian ocean trade Succeed because they updated their technology: caravels (nimble trade ships), updated marital and astronomical tools, added astrolabes and rudder ○ Spain wanted economic benefits from trade too, Isabella + Ferdinand wanted to get in the game to spread Christianty and make money Christopher Columbus asked Ferdinand and Isabella to find a trading route to Asia by sailing west and wanted to prove the world was round 1492 encountered North America; thought it was the East Indies but actually was the Carribens (San Salvador) Columbus sailed back to Spain, displaying gold jewelry and enslaved natives, so more Spaniards set sale to obtain wealth Columbian Exchange, Spanish exploration, and conquest The columbian exchange was the transfer of food, animals, minerals, people, and diseases between Africa, Europe and the Americas ○ Disease: Tenochtitlan had 300,000 inhabitants, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés conquered the city with 1,000 men because of the spread of smallpox. Smallpox also devastated Arawak & Taino peoples, Incas, Aztecs, Maya Americans had no immunity ○ Food: Americas → Europe/Africa, nutritional food like maize, tomatoes, potatoes, cacao, tobacco. Europe/Africa shared rice, wheat, soybeans, (grain crops became staple) and circus fruits as well as animals like horses, pigs, cattle, and chickens  3 ○ Minerals: gold and silver, Spanish plundered South American colonies for gold and silver, made Spain wealthy beyond belief Western Europe experienced unprecedented economic growth Feudalism, peasants lived and worked on noble’s land in exchange for protections → influx of wealth → capitalism, private ownership and free and open exchange of goods ○ People: Native Americans were enslaved and taken to Spain, but more enslaved Africas were taken to the Americas Taken off African coast, crammed in ships, endured middle passage, sold into bondange into the highest bidder ○ Spanish colonization efforts were driven by the state and mercantilism economic policies (heavy governmental direction and intervention) that later transitions to joint-stock companies (privatize exploration) Labor, slavery, and caste in the Spanish colonial system African Slave Trade changed when Europeans got involved; before, slaves were POWs, had some legal rights, and their situiatons were never permanent. But, Europeans started developing forts along the African coasts and traded guns to the leaders of powerful tribes in exchange for enslaved peoples. European purchasers of enslaved people proved inferiority of black people and justified their actions. ○ Noah cursed Ham’s son Canan, and Canan would be a servant rest of the days, Europeans argued that “servants” were African Americans Spanish brought African Americans to the New World to solve labor shortage, because Native Americans made bad slaves ○ Encomienda system of labor was introduced by Colmbus, encomenderos were given a portion of land and all the natives on that land became slaves ○ The Spanish empire released requerimiento which gave Spanish monarchs the authority to claim land in the Americans and convert the people on it and send priests; if natives converted, protected by the crown, if resisted, penalized ○ This system failed because natives died from European diseases and knew the land, so they could escape ○ Thus, they imported blacks to replace natives Spanish imposed caste system in the Americas because the government needed a way to impose taxes, and the lower you are the more you’re taxed ○ Peninsulares - whites born in Spain ○ Criollos - Spaniards born in America  4 ○ Mestizos - mixed Spanish and Native American ○ Mulattoes - mixed Spanish and African ○ African Americans ○ Native Americans Cultural interactions between Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans Spanish hegemony, Spanish dominated the natives and African Americans Spanish method of conquering land changed: rather than sending soldiers to conquer natives with guns, sent missionaries to convert natives with Christianity (mission system) Varying beliefs between Natives and Spanish ○ Natives were pantheists and animists, Spanish were Catholic ○ Natives believed land was not a commodity, Spanish believed land existed for private ownership ○ Natives held together by kinship networks of 70 people, Spanish focused on nuclear family ○ Both adopted helpful components of other culture; natives wanted metal tools (farming and hunting) and horses (war), Europeans wanted fur trade (marriages for trading rights) Pueblo people brought Christianity into their religion but did not stop worshiping their other gods; Spainards were upset and tried to get natives to solely worship their god Pueblo Revolt - 1610, Spanish forced conversion by many of Pueblo, Pueblo underwent many hardships and correlated them with Spanish, Pueblo rose up, killed up 400 Spanish colonizers, and burned all churches to the ground ○ Spanish returned 12 years later, reconquered land and people News reached Spain of events in America, group of people discussing the moral and legal fallout of Spanish conquest and the Americas ○ Some felt that conquest was good for natives, brought them Western ways, some felt that conquest violated dignity of Americans (Bartolome de las cases, felt that with trajectory of brutality, natives would either die or hate Christianity, opposed the encomienda system for natives but supported it for Africans for biblical reasons)