Pre-Columbian America and Europe
Myths &
Realities
1. Jose de Acosta
2. Pleistocene Epoch migration
60,000-15,000 BCE
1.
2.
3.
Folsom technology
Desert nomadism
Forest efficiency
1. Complexity
- population growth
- gender roles: production & reproduction
2. Urbanization 3000 BCE – 1200 CE
- Anasazi
Hopi, Zuni, Pueblos
- Mississippian
Ecological instability
Bottle Creek
“mound builders”
1.
N. America
- decentralization
Southwest - Pueblos, Pimas
Southeast - Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee
Northeast - Oneida, Mohawk, Cayuga, Seneca
2.
C. & S. America
- Aztecs, Incas
In 1492…
- 2000 distinct cultures
- North America
60M ?
7-10M ?
…Western Hemisphere had been “prepared” for
invasion.
Colonization of the New and Old
Worlds, 1500 - 1763
1.
Reason and nature
2.
Imperial Ecology
- Renaissance
Prince Henry
3. Small world
1. Reformation and war
Peace of Westphalia 1648
1535-1648
2. Absolute monarchy
1500s - 1700s
James I (England)
Louis XIV (France)
Elizabeth I (England)
Philip II (Spain)
Peter the Great (Russia)
Catherine the Great (Russia)
Frederick the Great (Prussia)
Gustavus Adolphus (Sweden)
3. Mercantilism
“zero-sum” game
joint stock companies
The Consequences of Colonization
1. Portuguese Empire
2. “New World” slavery
1.
Ecological Imperialism
- success of Old World flora/fauna
2.
The microbial exchange
1492
1900
7-10M
250K
3. Era of Western dominance (Modernity)
- safety valve
- commodities
- economics of addiction
tobacco, coffee, tea, sugar
1. Pro
Richard Hakluyt
Jean Baptiste Colbert
- spurred domestic growth
- strengthened national position
- empowered “absolute” monarchs
2. Con
Bartolomè de Las Casas
- Jesuit critique
1590s
Comte de Buffon
1770s
- frontier debased humanity, civilization
Conclusion…
1) Native societies prepared New World for
invasion
2) Modern Europe driven to expand
3) Advantages of colonization outweighed
moral or
intellectual objections