CHAPTER 1:
The Nation’s Beginnings
EXPLORATION & THE FIRST
COLONIES
Hey Columbus, Go
Home!
Europeans Come to America
What do you remember?
► What
were the Americas like pre-Columbus?
► What
was Europe like during the 15-16th
century?
► What
were some push factors for
exploration?
Renaissance,
► “Rebirth”
learning
th
14-17
of classical
 Humanism, secularism
► Era
of technology
 Gunpowder (Chinese)
 Compass/Astrolabe by
Arab merchants
 Improvements in
shipbuilding (caravel)
and mapmaking
Century
EUROPEAN SOCIETIES 1400s
► European
villages had
a long tradition of
social hierarchy –
Feudalism
► Christianity played a
critical role – religious
leaders had power
► The Reformation in the
early 1500s led to a
split in the church
Martin Luther
EUROPEAN EXPLORATION
► The
countries of
Portugal, Spain, France
and England explored
in the late 1400s for
God, Gold, and Glory
► Can
you name an
explorer from each of
these countries?
“Intellectual, not Geographical Reality”
Archbishop
Isidore of
Serville,
1472
Christopher Columbus
► Italian-Genoa,
1451
► Merchant, business
man; father-weaver
► Sailing experience
► Lisbon, Portugal:




Astronomy
Cartography
Mathematics
Navigation
Stay in School
► Sail
West!...Not the first
time this was suggested
► Great idea but faulty math
 Different units of measure;
fudged numbers
► Denied
by Portugal and
England; picked up by
Spain
 Reconquista, paper
promises of fame/fortune
SPANISH NORTH AMERICA –
SECTION 2
Columbus crosses the
Atlantic in October of
1492 (“the greatest
accident in history”)
► Europeans used advanced
weapons to force locals
into labor: Plantation
System
► Disease devastated
Native population, 90%
dead-what was the
“exchange” called?
►
IMPACT OF COLUMBUS


On Discovery:
*Identification crisis; wider
view of the world
On Africans- Before slave
trade ended in the 1800s,
10 million Africans taken
 Why Africans?


On Europeans- Biggest
voluntary migration in
world history
On Trade- Columbian
Exchange meant new
goods & products flowed
between continents
Yays & Nays: Columbian Exchange
►
Disease




►
Domestication and Quarantine
“Virgin Soil Epidemic”
Homogenous DNA
Colonists met the “walking dead”-post apocalyptic
New Opportunities for Trade
 Densely populated areas; vast network
 Complex cities; Explorers piggy back off foundation
►
Ecological and Economic incompatibility
 Europeans-diverse; clump natives as 1
 Farming and land owning techniques
 Population growth vs. decimation
SPAIN CLAIMS A NEW EMPIRE
Spanish explorers
(Conquistadors) seized
much of the Americas
► Cortes conquered the
Aztecs in Mexico
► Pizzaro conquered the
Incas in Peru
► Exploitation of local
populations was significant
– Encomienda System
►
 Natives work land in
exchange for Spanish
teaching them Catholicism
So…
► Should
Columbus Day be celebrated?!
► Read
the 4 arguments (2 for, 2 against) with
a partner comparing the effects of
Columbus’s voyage.
► Write
an argumentative essay defending
your opinion with at least 3 supporting
details. Turn in at the end of class.
A Whole New World!
THE FIRST COLONIES
Geography Lesson
► Using
the 4 maps of topography/geography,
decide where you, as an explorer, would aim
to explore. Explain WHY you chose that area
or region.
► What
►EQ:
is topography? Geography?
How does geography and
topography impact settlement patterns?
Impact of Geography
► Topography:
the arrangement of the natural
and artificial physical features of an area
► Geography: study of the lands, features,
inhabitants, and phenomena of the earth
How might geography and
topography impact economic
development and opportunity?
►THINK:
 Answer with a partner
Roanoke: The Lost Colony
► http://www.youtube
.com/watch?v=o99
Y4BrqGY&feature=related
► Investigation:
What
caused the colonists
to disappear?
► First
arrived 1585
► Second group in 1587
► Leader: John White
► 1587 first European
born in N. AmericaVirginia Dare
► J.W. left for supplies,
returned in 1590 to
nothing but
“CROATOAN” carved
on a post
Roanoke Inquiry
► Due
ON TUESDAY: 1 to 2 page MLA format
paper argument about your tentative
conclusions.
► RUBRIC STATED BELOW
 Thesis is clearly stated.
 3 pieces of evidence are present; evidence
must clearly supports your thesis.
 1 counter argument used and refuted.
 Sentence structure, grammar, and spelling
are free from error.
Pocahontas: “Virginia Company”
In sixteen hundred seven
We sail the open sea
For glory, God and gold
And the Virginia Company
For the New World is like heaven
And we'll all be rich and free
Or so we have been told
By the Virginia Company
For glory, God and gold
And the Virginia Company
On the beaches of Virginny
There's diamonds like debris
There's silver rivers flow
And gold you pick right off a tree
With a nugget for my Winnie
And another one for me
And all the rest'll go
To the Virginia Company
It's glory, God and gold
And the Virginia Company
We'll kill ourselves an Injun
Or maybe two or three
We're stalwart men and bold
Of the Virginia Company
It's glory, God and
gold and the Virginia
Company
EARLY BRITISH COLONIES
► Early
1600s: English finally in a
place to start colonizing
►1588 defeated Spanish Armada
► Population
up, Economy down
►Joint-Stock Companies
► May
14, 1607: Jamestown was
first lasting settlement (barely)
► John Smith led settlers; forceful
leadership
►Disease, famine, Indians
►“Work or starve” motto
►Trade with Natives
Nightmare in
Jamestown:
https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=8u_IAH9bsp
U
James River,
35 miles up from
Chesapeake Bay
Jamestown Fort, June 1607
Jamestown Timeline
► 16091610:
“Starving Time”
 Colonists on the verge of leaving fort; Smith leaves for more
supplies
 New settlers arrive and save colony
► 1610-1614:
Sir Thomas Gates
 Against Algonquians-used techniques learned earlier; don’t
need natives anymore
 1612: J. Rolfe introduces tobacco from West Indies
► 1614-1640:




Growth, Peace, and Disorder
Marriage between Matoaka (P) and J. Rolfe
Introduction of Slavery 1619 (tobacco)
VA Company Charter revoked 1624-massive debt
Deaths of O&P results in bad relations; forced treaty 1646
Fix Jamestown!
► You
have arrived in Jamestown as the new
leader. You are the colonists’ last hope and
must address the problems that have ravaged
the colony.
► Using
your knowledge of the colony, discuss
how you would change/fix the its issues:
offer possible solutions to problems like
disease, salt poisoning, Indian attacks,
starvation, farming complications, etc. Write
as a public edict for the colonists.
Refresh: Why leave England?
► Religious
reasons
 King Henry VIII split
with papacy
 Dissenting religions
want freedom
► Political
reasons
 Parliament v. Lords
 Tyranny, political unrest,
civil strife
► Economic
reasons
 Illegal enclosure
 Debt
England’s Motivations
► World
Power
 Pirates-Sir Francis Drake
and John Hawkins
 1588 defeat Armada;
naval power
► Economic
Benefits
 MERCANTILISM
 All about the mother
country
Pilgrims and Plymouth, 1620
► Believed
that the
English Protestant
church was corruptwanted to “separate”
► Separatists leave
homeland on a
pilgrimage to the new
world-hence the name
Pilgrims
Pilgrims Cont’d
► 44
passengers board the
Mayflower (rest of the
group aimed to make
profit) to Plymouth
► William Bradford
 Half die that winter
► Wampanoag
them survive
tribe helps
 Plant corn, squash, beans;
1621 “Thanksgiving”
► Absorbed
into Puritans
Puritans: Mass. Bay Colony, 1630
► Like
Pilgrims, they
wished to reform the
English Church
► Sought to purify-hence
the name Puritans
 Imagined themselves as
the next Exodus
► John
Winthrop
 Strict boundaries
► Salvation
was for the
Elect; constant state of
spiritual anxiety
Puritans Cont’d
► Faith,
not work was key to
salvation
► “City on a Hill”
► Community demanded
conformity
► Roger Williams
 Hypocrites
► Anne
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=PdX1vK03hRw
Hutchinson
 Interpreted scripture
► Salem
Witch Trials, 1690