Michael Chiu

AP US History
Period 2
9/6/09

Outline of Chapter 1: The Meeting of Cultures

America Before Columbus

-at first, early settlers of America formed small nomadic groups, hunting and fishing to
obtain food
-gradually, stable civilizations were formed, many of substantial sizes and variety
The Civilizations of the South
-the greatest of these civilizations were in South America and in Mexico
-these civilizations developed complex political systems and large networks of paved
roads that unified the civilizationthe Incas in Peru
-The Mayas created a written language, a numerical system, an accurate calendar, and an
advanced agricultural system-they were eventually succeeded by the Aztecs, a nomadic
warrior tribe from the North
-The Aztecs formed elaborate administrative, educational, and medical systems-their
religion required human sacrifice
-the Aztec capital was Tenochtitlan, with one of the largest populations of any city during
the time, with impressive buildings
The Civilizations of the North
-civilizations in the North were not as elaborate as those in the South
-societies were mainly based on fishing, gathering, fishing or a combination of the 3
-some communities were only agricultural
-the most elaborate were in the Southwest, where irrigation systems were built-built
pueblos
-most tribes were agricultural
-Historians disagree with each other mainly because they interpret the events that
occurred in the past differently
-events in the present can influence how a historian analyzes history
-there is no truth; history is based on different interpretations of events
-in the Northeastern tribes, land was exploited quickly and then left
-man tribes were linked by linguistic roots-different language groups were: the
Algonquin tribes, the Iroquois Confederation, and the Muskogean
-when Europeans arrived and threatened the way of life for the Natives, they thought of
themselves as individual tribes rather than an “Indian nation.”
Tribal Cultures
-before the Europeans arrived in America, the Native Americans were having agricultural
revolution-tribes developing new ways to get food, clothing and shelter
-jobs were assigned based on gender; different tribes and cultures gave each gender
different job Ex. The Iroquois gave women the job of tending fields, while men would be
involved in hunting, warfare, and clearing land
-Because women were often left alone while men went to battle, they controlled the
social and economic organization of the settlements and played powerful roles within
families
Europe Looks Westward
-most Europeans were unaware of the existence of the Americas before the 15th century
-during the middle ages, Europe was not an adventurous nation
Commerce and Nationalism
-One reason Europeans began to look toward new lands was the huge population increase
-rich people began to want to trade with more people, so advances in navigation and
shipbuilding made long-distance sea travel more possible
-Also, new governments arose and these monarchs became more eager to enhance the
commercial growth of their nations
-the first nation to attempt to travel to the east were the Portuguese-their success as a
maritime power in the fifteenth century was due a lot to the work of Prince Henry the
Navigator, who was interested in exploring the western coast of Africa to find gold
Christopher Columbus
-Christopher Columbus was born and raised in Italy and most of his sea experience was
for the Portuguese
-He believed that Asia could be reached by traveling east instead of going west
-Portugal refused to fund his voyage, so he turned to Spain, the strongest monarchy of
Europe, ruled by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella-agreed to the voyage in 1942
-Columbus commanded ninety men and three ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa
Maria
-left Spain in August 1492 and thought he was sailing straight to Japan-ten weeks later,
he saw land and assumed he arrived there but in fact arrived somewhere in the Bahamas
-When he got to Cuba, he assumed it was China and went back to Spain to tell of his
success-a year later, he went back with a larger expedition, discovering more islands and
formed a small but short-lived colony on the island Hispaniola
-in 1498, he discovered the mainland and went down the coast of South America
-he believed he had explored at least part of the Far East
-despite his accomplishments, he was relatively unknown at his death
-Columbus was a very religious man and believed his voyages were part of his destiny in
fulfilling a divine mission – many subsequent explorations were based on religious values
-Spain began to devote greater resources and energy to exploration of Columbus
-Vasco de Balboa went across the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and saw across the Pacific
-Ferdinand Magellan, working for Spain, found the strait that is named after him and the
Southern end of South America- named the Pacific Ocean-died in the Philippines after a
conflict with the natives-expedition first to go around the entire globe
The Conquistadores
-At this time, Spain thought as America as not only a barrier but a source of wealth
-Claimed for themselves the New World, except for Brazil
-In 1518, Hernando Cortes led a small military expedition into Mexico in search of
treasure – met strong resistance from the Aztecs and their emperor Montezuma
-Cortes and his army had unknowingly spread smallpox to the Aztecs – this decimated
the Aztecs and made it possible for Cortes to succeed in their second attempt at conquest
-Spanish believed the epidemic was vindication of their efforts and believed it was sent
by God – “God saw fit to send the Indians smallpox.”
-Cortes established a reputation as the most brutal conquistador because of his ruthless
suppression of the surviving natives
-the news that there were riches to be found in Mexico caused a wave of conquistadores
to descend on the mainland in search of a fortune
-Francisco Pizarro conquered Peru in 1538 where the Incas lived- his deputy Hernando
de Soto was the first white man who went past the Mississippi River
-Francisco Coronado traveled to what is now New Mexico in search of gold in 1540
-the Spanish warriors dealt with the natives with brutality and greed and almost
exterminated entire native populations – this made possible the creation of the vast
Spanish empire in the New World
Spanish America
-The history of the Spanish empire in the New World had three different periods of
discovery: the age of discovery and exploration starting from Columbus, the age of the
conquistadores, and in the 1750’s, when the Ordinances of Discovery banned the most
brutal military conquests
-the Spanish became the richest nation on Earth because of the vast riches discovered in
the New World
-Unlike the conquistadores, most Spanish settlers who went to the New World wanted to
created a profitable agricultural economy
-Ferdinand and Isabella established the requirement that the religion of the new territories
must be Catholicism
-One type of settlement was a mission, which would try to covert natives to Catholicism
-Presidios, military bases, would often be built next to missions to protect them from
hostile natives
-After the era of the conquistadores ended in 1540, the missionary impulse would be a
key reason for emigration to the New World- Catholicism eventually spread to South and
Central America, as well as Mexico and the South and Southwest of the present U.S.
Northern Outposts
-the first permanent European settlement in the present day U.S. was the Spanish fort St.
Augustine established in 1565 in Florida- served as a military outpost
-A more substantial colonizing venture occurred in 1598 when Don Juan de Onate
claimed for Spain some of the lands of the Pueblo Indians
-Onate distributed encomiendas, which allowed settlers to exact labor and tribute from
the natives in specific areas-Spanish began demanding tribute from Indians
-Spanish founded Santa Fe in 1609
-Onate harsh treatment led to his removal as governor in 1606
-Relations improved between Spanish and Pueblos improved but settlers were still
threatened by other tribes- colony continued to grow
-In 1680, the Pueblos revolted, nearly destroying the colony- lead by a Indian leader
named Pope- hundreds of European settlers were killed- captured Santa Fe
-Spanish returned 12 years later and crushed a last revolt in 1696
-Spanish tried to stop conflicts with the native population in two ways: One, they
intensified their efforts to assimilate the Indians-baptizing Indian children at birth and
enforcing observance of Catholic rituals; Second, they allowed Pueblos to own land
The Empire at High Tide
-By the end of the 16th century, the Spanish empire had become one of the largest in the
history of the world
-The monarchy controlled the colonies in the New World very strictly- established rigid
and strict regulations
-Many people in the Spanish colonies were not from Spain itself or from any other
European country
-the vast majority of the Spanish empire consisted of natives
Biological and Cultural Exchanges
-Exchanges between the European and Indian cultures increased
Ex. Introduction of European diseases to the New World, caused millions to die;
Europeans introducing important new crops to the New World, such as sugar and
bananas, domestic livestock and the horse
-The decimation of native populations was part of the conquistadores’ deliberate policy
of subjugation and extermination- thought as natives a “savages”
-By the 1540s, the Spanish had all but destroyed the empires of Mexico and South
America and had largely limited native resistance to the Spanish
-the Europeans also learned new agricultural techniques from the natives which suited the
new land- also discovered new crops such as maize (corn)
-Intermarriage between European settlers and Natives were frequent
-Before long, the population of the colonies came to be dominated by mestizos, or people
of mixed race
-A race hierarchy developed, with the Spanish on the top, the Natives on the bottom, and
the mixed peoples in the middle
-Native women might have intermarried because the Native men where so depleted by
warfare or enslavement- another reason was because in many tribes, intermarriage was a
symbol of alliance
-Although the major labor source for the Europeans were the Indians, different labor
systems emerged Ex. Slavery, wage system
-Because the native population could not meet all the colonists’ labor needs, in 1502, they
began to import slaves from Africa
Africa and America
-most of the slaves were taken from Guinea, a region in West Africa below the Sahara
Desert
-After the collapse of the ancient kingdom Ghana in 1100 A.D., Mali emerged, with
Timbuktu, its capital, fabled as a trading center and a center of education
-Benin, Congo, and Songhay were small villages united in small kingdoms in Southern
Western Africa- no large empires emerged like Mali in North
-African civilizations developed economies based on the climates and resources of their
lands
-African societies tended to be matrilineal-people traced heredity through mothers
-Jobs were also divided by gender; women would play a major role in trade and farming
while men hunted, fished, and raised livestock
-Basically, African societies had a greater degree of sexual equality those others
-the African slave trade began as early as the eighth century; in the 16th century, demand
for slaves increased dramatically because of the increased demand for sugar cane
-By 1700, slavery had begun to spread well beyond its original locations in the Caribbean
and South America and into the English colonies to the north

The Arrival of the English

-In 1497, John Cabot sailed to the Northeast coast of North America on an expedition
sponsored by King Henry VII in search of a northwest passage through the New World to
the Orient
The Commercial Incentive
-the English viewed the New World as an opportunity to start anew- where a perfect
society could be created- found expression in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia
-many farmers were evicted- Enclosure Movement
-England was facing the serious problem of surplus population
-Chartered companies were companies where merchants joined forces and operated
based on a charter acquired from the monarch, giving the company a monopoly for
trading in a specific region Ex. The Muscovy Company (1555), the Levant Company
(1581), the Barbary Company (1585), and the East India Company (1600)
-Mercantilism- the nation as a whole is the principle actor in the economy, not the
individuals within it; the goal of economic activity should be to increase the nation’s total
wealth; world’s wealth was finite; one person or nation could grow rich only at the
expense of another; import more than you export
-These principles guided the economic policies of almost all of the European nations in
the 16th and 17th centuries
-This made acquiring colonies appealing, because it could become the source of goods
that a country might otherwise have to buy from other nations
-Richard Hakluyt argued that colonies would not only create new markets for English
goods, but also help alleviate poverty and unemployment by siphoning off the surplus
population
The Religious Incentive
-Protestant Reformation began in Germany in 1517, when Martin Luther challenged
some of the basic practices of the Roman Catholic Church- had many followers but was
eventually excommunicated him in 1520
-John Calvin introduced the idea of predestination; that God “elected” some people to be
saved and condemned others to damnation; each person’s destiny was determined
-In 1529, King Henry VIII became angry at the pope’s refusal to grant him a divorce
from his Spanish wife who failed to bear him the son he wanted as an heir – as a result he
broke all the ties England had with the Catholic Church and elected himself the head of
the Christian faith in England
-However, when his daughter Mary ascended the throne, she reinstated England’s
allegiance to Rome and persecuted those who refused to return to Catholicism – died in
1558
-Mary’s half-sister Elizabeth took the throne after her and again severed England’s
connection with the Catholic Church
-Many people who fled from the country returned with radical ideas and wanted reforms
that would “purify” the church – became known a “Puritans”
-A few Puritans took genuinely radical positions - known as Separatists
-Puritans were discontent because they wanted to reform the local clergy but were
refused – discontent grew rapidly
-In 1603, James I took the throne and felt no obligation to satisfy the Puritans’ needs

The English in Ireland

-England’s first experience with colonization was with a nation separated from them by a
narrow sea: Ireland
-England had long claimed the island as their own but it wasn’t until the second half of
the 16th century did serious efforts at large-scale colonization begin
-Through the 1560s and 1570s, colonists moved through Ireland, capturing territory and
attempting to subdue the native population
-One of the assumptions that colonists made was that the native population of Ireland
were all savages – they considered them barbaric when they fought back
-Another assumption that the English made was that English settlements in distant lands
must retain a rigid separation from the native populations
The French and the Dutch in America
-English settlers in North America encountered other European settlers who also wanted
to establish economic outposts abroad
-the Spanish made a little effort to colonize North America
-England’s most formidable rival in the 16th century were the French, who founded their
first permanent colony in America at Quebec in 1608
-the French forged close ties with native Indian tribes deep inside the continent
-French missionaries were among the first to convert Indian societies
-Coureurs de bois- adventurous fur traders and trappers who went far into the wilderness
and developed an extensive trade
-Successful partnerships between the Coureurs de bois and the Natives resulted in their
ability to become a part of native society, living among the Indians – created alliances
with the Algonquins and others – enabled French to compete with the British
-The Dutch were also establishing a presence in North America – Holland won its
independence from Spain in the early 17th century
-In 1609, Henry Hudson, an English explorer in service to the Dutch, sailed up the river
that is now named after him in present-day New York
-he assumed that he had found the water route through North America to the Pacific
-he was wrong, but his explorations gave the Dutch a claim on territories in America
-In 1624, the Dutch West India Company established permanent settlements on the
Hudson, Delaware, and Connecticut Rivers – New Netherland and its capital New
Amsterdam, on Manhattan Island
The First English Settlements
-the first permanent English settlement established in the New World was at Jamestown,
Virginia, in 1607
-In the 1570s and 1580s, many English “sea dogs” such as Sir Francis Drake staged
successful raids on Spanish fleets and built confidence on England’s naval power
-In 1588, the Spanish Armada attempted to invade England but the smaller English fleet
dispersed the Armada and ended Spain’s domination of the Atlantic – Philip II was the
king of Spain at the time, was determined to end England’s challenges to Spanish
commercial supremacy
-In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a pioneer of English colonization, founded
Newfoundland and took possession of it in the queen’s name – he kept going southward
along the coast, but was lost at sea

Roanoke
-In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh hired his cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, to lead an expedition
to Roanoke to establish a colony
-Grenville deposited the settlers on the island and remained long enough to raze an Indian
village and returned to England
-Sir Francis Drake arrived at Roanoke the following Spring and the colonists boarded his
ship and left
-Raleigh tried again to colonize in 1587, sending another expedition to Roanoke; shortly
after arriving, Virginia Dare was born to John White, the commander of the expedition;
she was the first American-born child of English parents
-White returned to England in search of supplies and more settlers; he did not return for
three years – when he returned in 1590, he found the entire island deserted – Roanoke
became known as the “lost colony”
-This marked the end of Sir Walter Raleigh’s attempts at colonization in America – was
later imprisoned for a decade, accused of plotting against the king in 1603 – executed in
1618
-In 1606, James I issued a new charter, dividing America between a group of London
merchants who Raleigh assigned his charter rights to and a rival group of merchants from
Plymouth – the former got rights to colonize the South and the latter in the North
Conclusion
-Before the arrival of Europeans in America, it was the home to many people – among
the most notable were the Incas in Peru, and the Mayas and Aztecs in Mexico
-The North American natives weren’t as technologically advanced as their Southern
counterparts but still created civilizations that thrived
-Upon the arrival of Europeans, many catastrophes occurred to the natives
-the North America Indians were relatively undisturbed until the arrival of the English,
French, and Dutch immigrants in the early 17th century