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Unit 1 Objectives Student Questions

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Unit 1 Objectives Student Questions

Uploaded by

crainwater101
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© © All Rights Reserved
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AP U.S.

History
Unit 1 part 1: A New World of Many Cultures, 1491-1607

Questions: Short Answers

1. What is the dominant theory about how the first people arrived in what we now call North
America? What was the estimated population of the Americas in 1491? First people may have
come by the land bridge that once connected Siberia and Alaska. The Population was 50-100
million.

I. Cultures of Central and South America


2. To what key agricultural developments do the Incas, Mayas, and Aztecs owe the development of
their sophisticated early civilizations? Which civilization created a powerful empire in the Andes?
All 3 civilizations carried on trade, created crops - maize, for Mayas and Aztecs, potatoes for
Incas. The Incas created a powerful empire in the Andes.

II. Cultures of North America


3. What estimate do the AMSCO authors give for the native population of North America north of the
Rio Grande in 1492? 1- 10 million, closer to 10 million.
4. What factors characterized the native cultures of the Southwest, the Northwest, and the Great
Plains? What factors characterized the native cultures of the Midwest, the Northeast, and the
Atlantic Seaboard? Despite similarities, cultures of the American Indians were very diverse. Nearly
all European languages are part of the Indo-European family. North American Indians were
grouped in more than 400 languages in 20 language families. People lived in longhouse or plank
houses. Had a rich diet based on hunting, fishing, gathering nuts, berries, and roots. Carved totem
poles to save stories, length, and myths. High mountain ranges isolated tribes, hindered
development. Most people were nomadic hunters or sedentary farmer/traders. Hunters lived
principally on buffalo. It supplied food, clothing, shelter, etc. East of the Mississippi, Woodland
Indians had a rich supply of food.

Questions: Essay- (paragraph or more) provide a complete answer:

III. Europe Moves Toward Exploration


5. What key developments in the fifteenth century set the stage for the dramatic and unexpected
discovery of the New World? The Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries produced scientific
advances; such as Gunpowder, Sailing compass, Better ships, Better maps, and the printing press
helped spread knowledge more rapidly.
6. What events led to Spain’s emergence as a united Catholic monarchy? How did the protestant
revolt in northern Europe challenge the existing structure? Late Renaissance was a time of
religious conflict. The Catholic Church was faced with two threats: Ottoman Turks, Islam, and
revolt in Europe against Papal authority. 8th century, Muslims from North Africa - Moors - invaded
the Iberian Peninsula. Rapidly conquered most of the various Christian kingdoms of what is now
Spain. Spanish Christian’s spend the next 770 years in the Reconquisto. 1500s, certain Christains
in Germany, England, Holland, and other northern countries rebelled against the authority of the
Catholic Pope.

IV. Expanding Trade


7. What were the economic motivations for trade that produced fierce competition among European
kingdoms? Why was it necessary to new routes to Asia after 1453? Economic motives for
exploration produced fierce competition among European kingdoms for increased trade
8. What were the two main possibilities for sea routes to Asia? Which routes did Portugal and Spain
(Castile and Aragon) pioneer?
9. Where and when was the plantation system first developed? What was the labor force for these
early plantations? How did enslaved Africans resist their oppression?
10. How were the rise of united and powerful nation states a key factor in exploration and colonization
of the New World?

V. Early Explorations
11. What was Columbus’ legacy, according to the AMSCO authors? What was the Columbian
exchange?
12. What were the major foods brought from America to Europe? What deadly diseases did
Europeans bring to the Americas, to which the natives had no natural immunity?
13. How did the Treaty of Tordesillas affect the European exploration and settlement of the New
World? Who were the major Spanish explorers of the late-15th century and 16th century?
14. Spaniards in the New World relied on what systems for meeting their labor needs.
15. Why did it take more than a century after John Cabot’s discoveries before the English established
a permanent colony in the New World? Which monarch stabilized religious turmoil in England?
16. What were the first French claims in the Americas? Why was France slow to develop American
colonies?
17. Under what circumstance did the Dutch explore New York? What settlement became the capital
of the Dutch colony of New Netherland?

VI. Spanish Settlements in North America


18. Why did Spanish settlement north of Mexico develop slowly? What is the legacy of Spanish
colonization of Florida?
19. What factors characterized Spanish colonization of New Mexico? Of Texas?
20. What factors caused the Spanish to move northward to fortify and settle California? What was the
role of the Franciscan missions there?

VII. European Treatment of Native Americans


21. What was the general European viewpoint concerning the natives of the New World? What were
some of the European ways of interacting with the natives?
22. What relationships did the Spanish establish with the natives of their conquered areas?
23. Why did few Spanish families come to the New World? How did Spanish men in the Americas
establish families?
24. What was the class system that developed in the Spanish colonies?
25. Who was Bartolome de las Casas? What was the “Valladolid Debate”?
26. How did English and French policies in dealing with the natives differ from Spanish policy? How
did the natives react to the European presence?

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