CHAPTER 1: THE
WORLD BEFORE 1600
Big Picture: During the Ice Age, nomads
crossed a land bridge connecting Asia and
North America. Since then, people of various
cultures have made America their home.
Meanwhile in Europe and Africa, cultures that
would one day explore the world and build
colonies in the Americas were coming into
contact.
CHAPTER 1 SECTION 1:
THE EARLY AMERICAS
Main Idea: People arrived on the
American continents thousands of
years ago and developed
flourishing societies.
Migration to the Americas
Hunters and Gatherers
• 10,000 years ago Asia and North
America were connected by a land
bridge across the Bering Strait
• Small groups of nomads (people
who move from place to place)
crossed the bridge into North
America following a huntergatherer way of life
• As the climate warmed, the land
bridge disappeared and in the
agricultural revolution Native
Americans began planting and
harvesting crops, which allowed
them to settle into villages
• Three crops dominated: corn, beans,
and squash
• This caused the population to grow
and allowed for the growth of crafts
Cultures of Central America and South America
Olmec, Maya & Toltec
Aztec and Inca
• Olmec: centered around the Gulf
of Mexico and influenced
surrounding cultures
• Aztec: came to power in the 1400s
• had the first system of writing
• used slash-and-burn agriculture
• Maya: rose as the Olmec declined
• Cities served as religious cities
• Created the concept of zero
• Declined but still exist today
• Toltec: rose as the Maya declined
• Dominated central Mexico
• were warriors, artisans, and
builders
• Used canals and floating gardens to
support large cities
• Conquered most of their neighbors and
demanded tribute payments
• Most famous for their large-scale human
sacrifice to their gods
• Inca: rose to power in the Andes
Mountains in South America
• Conquered tribes along the coast and
created an empire connected by roads and
bridges
The Earliest Cultures of North America
• Southwest:
• Grew crops and traded with each other
• Hohokam and Anasazi built irrigation ditches and adobe buildings the Spanish
later called pueblos
• Declined due to drought and war
• Mound Builders:
• Centered in eastern North American from Mississippi River to Atlantic Ocean
• Lived in clans and built massive mounds (included Adena and Hopewell) and
had extensive trade networks
• Mississippian Culture:
• Also mound builders but were the most advanced culture
• Introduced the hoe in agriculture and built massive pyramids for rulers
CHAPTER 1 SECTION 2:
NORTH AMERICAN
CULTURES IN THE 1400S
Main Idea: A variety of complex
societies existed in different regions
of North America before European
explorers arrived in the early 1500s.
Regional Differences Among Native Americans
Southwest
Great Basin and Plateau
•
Pueblo people: governed by council
of religious elders
•
•
•
Grew corn, beans, squash & cotton
•
Made pottery and baskets
Northwest Coast and CA
•
Climate cool and rainy
•
Hunted game and fished in dugout
canoes
•
Built large wooden houses
Far North
•
Inuits: survived through hunting (not
much agriculture)
Little rain, few trees
Populations remained small as they
foraged and hunted small game
Great Plains
• Best known groups (Sioux, Cheyenne)
• Followed the large herds (deer, elk and
buffalo)
Eastern Woodlands
•
•
Rather isolated from each other due to
dense forests and mountains
Iroquois included several nations in the
Northeast and built longhouses
Southeast
• Grew crops and built thatch-roof log
cabins plastered with mud
Native American Customs
Family Relations
•
Family was the center of society and
family groups were arranged into clans
•
Kinship determined status, marriage and
inheritance; usually matrilineal
Social and Political Structures
•
Some had strict social classes, others
were more equal
•
Nearly all tribes were headed by a chief
and run by a council of elders
Land Use
•
Did not believe in ownership of land
•
Believed it was a gift from the Great Spirit
to be used by all
•
Would go to war over control of hunting
grounds
Division of Labor
•
Women usually cultivated and harvested
crops and men hunted
•
Childcare usually went to women
•
Women made clothes and pottery, men
usually did wood and metal work
Religious Beliefs
•
All had spiritual connection to the natural
world
•
All societies had creation myths
•
Animals were thought to be powerful
spirits
•
Most tribes had shamans thought to have
spiritual and healing powers
Trading Networks Link Native American Societies
• Trade was usually conducted through a barter system
• Tribes traded surplus goods for more scarce materials, leading to
specialization by tribe
• Trading networks developed to connect various tribes and varied in
size
• Tribes traded ideas as well as goods, especially architectural
techniques and religious beliefs
CHAPTER 1 SECTION 3:
AFRICAN CULTURES
BEFORE 1500
Main Idea: Trade was a major
factor in the development of
African societies south of the
Sahara.
West African Trading Kingdoms/Kingdoms in
East Africa
Trans-Sahara Trade
Songhai
•
•
Mid-1400s, surpass the Mali
•
Eventually control most of the Niger River
Valley
Trade through the desert was dangerous
but was worth the risk
•
Tribes in the interior traded gold and ivory
for salt
•
Traders also helped spread Islam into
West Africa
Ghana: most powerful, wealthy tribe
•
Culture spread through the oral tradition
•
They did not convert to Islam
Mali
•
•
Conquered Ghana in 1240 and were
Muslims
Built a university in Timbuktu that became
a center of Islamic learning
Costal Kingdoms
•
1300- Benin becomes a powerful costal
state
•
in 1400s, trade centers shift to the coast
East Africa
•
Traded with the Middle East, Egypt &
India
•
Influenced religion and culture
•
Swahili emerged combining Arabic and
the language of the Bantu people
African Society and the Slave Trade
• Family was the center of society; biggest division was between free
and slave
• People were enslaved due to war, crime, and debt but could usually
work their way out
• When the Portuguese arrived in the late 1400s, they made slavery
permanent and used slaves to work plantations, especially in the
Caribbean
• Atlantic slave trade met a need for cheap labor but also reflected a
European belief that black Africans were inferior
• Misunderstandings over slavery and desire to weaken other tribes
or obtain European goods led to cooperation by tribes with
European slave traders
• Slave trade lasted 400 years and 20 million slaves were shipped to
the Americas
CHAPTER 1 SECTION 4:
EUROPE AND
EXPLORATION
Main Idea: Renaissance ideas
changed Europeans’ medieval
outlook and inspired them to
explore the world.
The Middle Ages
• Middle Ages: 500-1500- time immediately following the
fall of the Roman Empire
• Feudalism rose to protect peasants by binding them to
lords
• Roman Catholic Church dominated peoples’ lives and
led to the Crusades: series of wars to take the Holy
Land from Muslims
• Led to trade with Middle East and the development of
towns as centers of trade and commerce
• Late Middle Ages- rise of nation-states: kings with
centralized power and armies taking power from lords
• Some nobles fought back: English nobles forced King
John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 (trial by jury,
representation in government)
The Renaissance and Protestant Reformation
• Renaissance: begins in Italy and spreads throughout Europe
• led to a revival of learning, science, and trade
• People began questioning the church Protestant
Reformation: attempt to correct abuses within the Church
that led to the development of various denominations
• In Spain, Catholicism was firmly established with the rule of
Ferdinand and Isabella
• They expelled the Muslims in Granada and purged Protestants
in the Spanish Inquisition
The Age of Exploration
Marco Polo & Prince Henry the
Navigator
• Renaissance and Crusades led to
exploration and expansion of trade
• Italian Marco Polo made a successful
voyage to China and wrote a book
that inspired other explorers
• Prince Henry of Portugal established
a school and naval observatory to
encourage exploration
• Sponsored expeditions along the
western coast of Africa
• Established trade with many costal
tribes
Sailing Technology & Sea Route to Asia
• Portuguese developed a new sailing
vessel called the caravel: central
rudder, triangular sails, cargo holds
• Inventions like the astrolabe allowed
sea travel beyond the coast
• Travel to Asia by land was time
consuming, expensive, and dangerous
• Explorers began looking for a sea route
• Dias and da Gama both rounded the
southern tip of Africa; da Gama made it
to India and back
CHAPTER 1 SECTION 5:
CULTURES MAKE
CONTACT
Main Idea: Columbus’ voyages to the
Americas established contact with
Native Americans and led to
European colonies and an exchange
of goods and ideas.
Vikings and Columbus
Vikings Visit North America
•
•
Vikings from Norway are first to reach
North America
They attempt to colonize in Vineland, a
settlement in what is now eastern
Canada but it is unsuccessful
Columbus Voyages to the Caribbean
•
•
•
•
Christopher Columbus was an Italian
explorer who convinced Queen Isabella of
Spain that a westward voyage to Asia was
possible
August 1492: Columbus sails westward
with three ships
They find land three weeks later in the
Caribbean
Because he thought he was in the east
Indies, Columbus called the people
Indians
•
The locals showed him gold, but after one
of his ships ran aground, Columbus
returned to Spain
•
Columbus made three more voyages to
the Americas and died assuming he was in
the east Indies
Impact on Native Americans
• Columbus’ voyages set off a wave of colonization, starting in
Hispaniola
• Relations between the Spanish and the natives quickly soured and
Europeans began enslaving the natives
• Priest Bartolome de Las Casas attempted to win better treatment
of the natives and laws were passed to protect them, but these
laws were rarely enforced
The Columbian Exchange
• Exchange of plants, animals, language, technology, and disease
between Europe and the Americas
From North America:
From Europe:
*Beans
*bananas
*Corn
*cattle
*Coca
*citrus fruit
*pumpkins/squash
*peaches
*peanuts
*honeybees
*turkey
*pigs
*tobacco
*horses
*potatoes/sweet potatoes
*wheat
*tomatoes
*grapes
*syphilis
*smallpox/measles