C. Pre-Columbian EUROPE
1.Medieval Europe (Dark Ages) – small isolated kingdoms with strict
rules separating nobles from peasants (rigid class system)
2.Conditions changed in Europe that led to exploration of far-away
places
a. Crusades – 1096-1270 – Christian effort to force Muslims out of
the “Holy Land” (FAILED)
1. Sparked increase in trade between Europe and Asia
2. Weakened social hierarchy in Europe as many nobles died at war
– surviving monarchs expanded their power and empire
b. Trade and Commerce –
1. Marco Polo to China in 1200s
2. Europeans developed taste for Asia stuff – silk, porcelain,
tea, rugs…opium
3. Italy (Venice) became the crossroads between Asia and
Europe – center of trade (the “Middle Man”)
4. The rise of a new “Merchant Class” (middle class)
c. Population growth –
1. the end of the Bubonic Plague (“Black Death”) by 1500
2. People lived longer, and began moving to towns and
cities
3. cities were place to get Asian goods – centers of trade
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d. Rise of powerful Nation-States –
1. Monarchs expanded power (fewer left after Crusades)
2. raised taxes, raised armies, created strong central govts.
3. Portugal, Spain, France, and England (Great Britain)
4. saw new merchants as source of
5. funded exploration to expand trade and wealth
e. The Renaissance – “Rebirth”
1. rebirth in interest in physical world (science and nature)
2. rebirth in curiosity – “noble spirit” – age of scientific discovery and
innovation
3. celebrated individual achievement (vs. fate) = “GLORY”
f. Technological improvements – Prince Henry of Portugal
1. Caravel (ship) – Spain and Portugal – lighter, faster,
more mobile =
Spanish Armada
2. Compass and Astrolabe improved navigation
3. Mercator Map – charted shipping routes to Asia and the “New World”
C. European Arrivals
1. 1000 CE - Norse Vikings (Erik the Red, Leif Erikson) in Newfoundland
(Canada)
2. 1492 CE – Christopher Columbus (Spain) “discovered” island of Hispaniola –
mistakenly called people “Indians”
Jimmy Kimmel on Columbus
3. 1497 CE – John Cabot (England) explored northern America (Newfoundland)
4. 1499 CE – Amerigo Vespucci (Spain) mapped east coast of South America
5. 1500 CE – Pedro Cabral claimed Brazil for Portugal
6. 1507 CE – Juan Ponce de Leon (Spain) Puerto Rico; 1513 – Florida searching
for “Fountain of Youth”
7. 1513 CE – Vasco de Balboa (Spain) – first European to see Pacific Ocean
8. 1519 CE – Ferdinand Magellan (Spain) – first to sail around S. America
9. Spain was first to seek empire – “God, Gold, and Glory”
Voyages of European Exploration
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D. Treaty of Tordesillas – 1494
1. decision by Pope to settle
disputed claims of Portugal and
Spain
2. divided Spanish and Portuguese
territory in “New World” NorthSouth by 46th meridian
3. Portugal got land east of line –
Brazil and African islands
4. Spain got land west of line –
everything else
E. New Spain – (“Crash Course”)
1. Spanish explorers – Conquistadors and Missionaries conquered Caribbean, C.
& S. America
a. 1519 – Hernan Cortes conquered Aztecs (Chief Montezuma) in
Tenochtitlan; est. Mexico City
b. 1535 – Francisco Pizarro conquered Incas in Peru, est. city of Lima
c. 1539-1542—de Soto explored Southeast (U.S.)
d. 1540-1542—Coronado explored Southwest (U.S.)
2. Spain est. Encomienda System of govt. in New Spain
a. Large tracts of land given to Spanish conquerors
b. Indigenous inhabitants became property of conquerors;
forced labor on sugar plantations; to be converted to
Catholicism
c. Considered inhumane/slavery by church; replaced by
Repartimiento system
d. Conquistadores inter-married w/Indian women – “new
race” called mestizos – cultural and biological bridge
between Spain and indigenous Americans
3. Columbian Exchange transforms life on 3 continents
a. From the New World (America) to the Old – corn, potatoes, tobacco, beans, peppers,
manioc, pumpkin, squash, tomato, wild rice, etc.
b. From the Old World to the New
1. cows, pigs, horses, wheat, sugar cane, apples, cabbage, citrus, carrots, Kentucky
bluegrass, etc.
2. devastating diseases (smallpox, yellow fever, malaria), as Indians had no
immunities – An estimated 90% of all pre-Columbus Indians died, mostly due to
disease.
c. From Africa to New World – slave labor to work sugar plantations with loss of Indian
population
“The Black Legend, Native Americans and Spaniards”
1. According to this painting, DESCRIBE the relationship between Spanish colonists in America
and the American Indians.
2. IDENTIFY specific examples from the painting that illustrate the nature of this relationship.
4. Other Europeans threaten Spanish dominance
a. England (1497): John Cabot (an Italian who sailed for England) touched
the coast of the current day U.S.
b. France (1524): Giovanni de Verrazano also touched on the North
American seaboard.
c. France (1535): Jacques Cartier went into mouth of St. Lawrence River
(Canada).
d. France (1608) —Samuel de Champlain founded Québec
e. France (1679): Robert de LaSalle sailed down the Mississippi River
claiming the whole region for their King Louis and naming the area
"Louisiana" after his king.
f. French empire included St. Lawrence River, Great Lakes, Mississippi
1. Very few permanent settlements – only fur trading posts
2. Fur trade with Indian trading partners very profitable
SPANISH
FRENCH
DUTCH
5. To oppose threats, Spain set up forts (presidios) up California coast, and St.
Augustine, Florida (1565) – the oldest continually inhabited European
settlement in the U.S.
This fanciful artist's rendition of St. Augustine, pioneer Spanish
settlement, is of interest despite its historical inaccuracies. The
Castillo de San Marcos at no time resembled the fort as portrayed.
The artist probably included the high hills because he mistook the
Spanish word for thick forests to mean hills. From the 1671
engraving "Pagus Hispanorum," by an unknown artist, probably
prepared in Amsterdam. (Courtesy, Chicago Historical Society.)
6. Black Legend: the false notion that Spaniards only brought
bad things (murder, disease, slavery); though true, they
also brought good things: legal systems, architecture,
Christianity, language, civilization
Crash Course - The Black Legend, Native Americans, and
Spaniards