I have come to believe that this is a might
continent which was hitherto unknown… Your
Highnesses have an Other World here.
- Christopher Columbus
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Read the quote and answer the following
question on notebook paper. Who was
Columbus’s intended audience and what was
the purpose of the message he was giving?
Turn in your signed parent letters.
New World
Beginnings
33,000 b.c.e.–1769
c.e.
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Planet earth took on its present form slowly.
Over time the great continents of Eurasia,
Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and the Americas
were formed.
The majestic ranges of western North
America—the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, the
Cascades, and the Coast Ranges―formed.
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The Canadian Shield—a zone undergirded by
rocks―became part of the North American
landmass.
Other mountain ranges were formed, along
with rivers and valleys.
After the glaciers retreated, the North
American landscape was transformed.
Figure 1.1 p5
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Why did people migrated to, from, and within
North America?
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The North American continent's human
history was beginning to be formed, perhaps
by people crossing over land.
Low sea levels exposed a land bridge
connecting Eurasia with North America where
the Bering Sea now lies between Siberia and
Alaska.
This brought the “immigrant” ancestors of
Native America. See Map 1.1.
Map 1.1 p6
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The Incas in Peru, the Mayans in Central
America, and the Aztecs in Mexico shaped
complex civilizations:
◦ These people built elaborate cities and carried on
far-flung commerce.
◦ They were talented mathematicians.
◦ They offered human sacrifices to their gods.
What further clues to the
European mentality of
the time does this map
offer?
In what ways might
misconceptions about the
geography of the Americas have
influenced further exploration and
settlement patterns?
p7
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How did interactions with the natural
environment shape the institutions and
values of various groups living on the North
American continent?
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Agriculture, especially corn growing, became
part of Native American civilizations in
Mexico and South America.
Large irrigation systems were created.
Villages of multistoried, terraced buildings
began to appear (Pueblo means “village” in
Spanish).
Map 1.2 –Native American Indian peoples.
p8
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Social life was less elaborately developed.
Nation-states did not exist, except the Aztec
empire.
The Mound Builders were in the Ohio River
valley.
The Mississippian settlement was at Cahokia.
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Three-sister farming—maize, beans, and
squash—supported dense populations.
The Iroquois Confederacy developed political
and organizational skills.
The natives had neither the desire nor the
means to manipulate nature aggressively.
Map 1.2 p9
p10
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
Create a T-chart you could use to answer the
following prompt.
American Indian cultures were more similar
than different in the period prior to 1491.
Support, modify, or refute this statement
using specific evidence.

What were some of the reasons for Europeans’
continued forays into the Western Hemisphere?
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Norse seafarers from Scandinavia came to the
northeastern shore of North America, near
present-day Newfoundland, to a spot they
called Vinland.
Ambitious Europeans started a chain of
events that led to a drive toward Asia, the
penetration of Africa, and the completely
accidental discovery of the New World.
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The Christian crusaders rank high among
America’s indirect discoverers.
The crusaders aroused desire for the luxuries
of the East from the Spice Islands (Indonesia),
China, and India; Muslim middlemen exacted
a heavy toll en route.
See Map 1.3—Major Trade Routes with Asia,
1492.
Map 1.3 p11
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What role did Africa play in the development
of slavery in the New World?
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Marco Polo’s tales also stimulated European
desire for a cheaper route to the treasures of
the East.
Spurred by the development of the caravel,
Portuguese mariners began to explore subSaharan Africa.
They founded the modern plantation system.
They pushed further southward.
p12
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Spain was united by the marriage of
Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile,
and by the expulsion of the “infidel” Muslim
Moors.
The Spanish were ready to explore the wealth
of India.
Portugal controlled the southern and eastern
African coast, thus forcing Spain to look
westward.
p13
p13
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Work with someone near you to create a chart
that could be used to answer the following
prompt.
What were the fundamental factors that
caused Europeans to explore, conquer, and
settle in the New World? Consider social,
economic, political, and religious reasons.

Read pages 14-15 Stop @ The Conquest of
Mexico and Peru
◦ Be able to describe the importance of the
Columbian Exchange.
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Prepare for the “Columbian Exchange Game”
◦ Come to class tomorrow with a list of everything
you can think of that your “side” of the Atlantic
“gave” or “sent” to the other “side.”
 There may be prizes for the winner. ;-)
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Why was the Columbian Exchange so
important to the development of societies on
both sides of the Atlantic?
Answer COMPLETELY on notebook paper.
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Listen for instructions.
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Christopher Columbus persuaded the Spanish
to support his expedition on their behalf.
On October 12, 1492, he and his crew landed
on an island in the Bahamas.
A new world was within the vision of
Europeans.
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Columbus called the native peoples “Indians.”
Columbus’s discovery convulsed four
continents—Europe, Africa, and the two
Americas.
An independent global economic system
emerged.
The world after 1492 would never be the
same.
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The clash reverberated in the historic
Columbian exchange (see Figure 1.2).
While the European explorers marveled at
what they saw, they introduced Old World
crops and animals to the Americas.
Columbus returned in 1493 to the Caribbean
island of Hispaniola.
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The Introduction of horses changed many
Native American societies.
A “sugar revolution” took place in the
European diet, fueled by the forced migration
of millions of Africans to work the canefields
and sugar mills of the New World.
An exchange of diseases between the
explorers and the natives took place.
p15
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Practice prewriting skills by creating a T-chart
that you could use to answer the following
prompt. (You can use the Columbian
Exchange chart for reference.)
The Columbian Exchange was more beneficial
for the Old World than detrimental. Support,
refute, or modify this statement using
specific factual evidence to support your
argument.
Figure 1.2 p15
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Read pages 15-22 (Finish)
Be prepared to discuss:
◦ How did the economies of the Spanish colonies depend on Indian
labor?
◦ What effect did the spread of disease have on Spanish conquest of
the New World?
◦ In what ways conceptions of group identity and autonomy
emerged out of cultural interactions between colonizing groups,
Africans, and American Indians in the colonial era.
◦ In what ways are the early (pre-1600) histories of Mexico and the
present-day American Southwest understood differently now that
the U.S. is being so substantially affected by Mexican and Latin
American immigration and culture? To what extent should this
now be regarded as part of our American history?
◦ ****Hint**** Read and be able to answer the question in the
Contending Voices box on page 16
◦ How did the economies of the Spanish
colonies depend on Indian labor?
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Spain secured its claim to Columbus’s
discovery in the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494),
which divided the New World with Portugal.
See Map 1.4.
The West Indies served as offshore bases for
staging the Spanish invasion of the
mainland.
Map 1.4 p17
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The encomienda allowed the government to
“commend” Indians to certain colonists in
return for promise to try to Christianize
them.
Spanish missionary Bartolomé de Las Casas
called it “a moral pestilence invented by
Satan.”
In service of God, in search of gold and glory,
Spanish conquistadores (conquerors) came to
the New World.
p18
p19
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In 1519 Hernan Cortés set sail with eleven
ships for Mexico and her destiny.
Along the way he rescued several people who
would be important for his success.
Near present-day Veracruz, Cortés made his
final landfall.
He determined to capture the coffers of the
Aztec capital at Tenochtitlán.
◦ What effect did the spread of disease have on
Spanish conquest of the New World?
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Aztec chieftain Moctezuma sent ambassadors
to greet Cortés and invite Cortés and his men
to the capital city.
On June 30, 1520, noche triste (sad night),
the Aztecs attacked Cortés.
On August 13, 1521, Cortés laid siege to the
city and the Aztecs capitulated. The
combination of conquest and disease took its
toll.
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What is the long-term significance for Latin
America of the conquistadores’ intermarriage
with Indian women?
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Invaders brought more than conquest.
They intermarried with surviving Indians,
creating culture of mestizos, people of mixed
Indian and European heritage.
Mexico blends Old and New Worlds.
1532: Francisco Pizarro crushed Incas (Peru).
Booty and silver may have led to capitalism;
certainly transformed the world economy.
p20
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In what ways are the early (pre-1600) histories of
Mexico and the present-day American Southwest
understood differently now that the U.S. is being so
substantially affected by Mexican and Latin American
immigration and culture? To what extent should this
now be regarded as part of our American history?
Other
explorers came to the New World:
– 1513: Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean.
– 1519: Magellan rounded tip of South America.
– 1513 and 1521: Ponce de León explored Florida.
– 1540–1542: Coronado explored Arizona and New
Mexico.
– 1539–1542: Hernando de Soto discovered the
Mississippi River.
Map 1.5 p21
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Spain’s colonial empire grew swiftly and
impressively. Other explorers began to come.
1497–1498―Giovanni Caboto (known as John
Cabot) explored the northeastern coast of
North America.
1524―Giovanni da Verrazano probed the
eastern seaboard.
1534―Jacques Cartier journeyed up the St.
Lawrence River.
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The Spanish began to build forts to protect
their territories.
The Spanish cruelly abused the Pueblo
peoples in the Battle of Acoma (1599).
They founded the province of New Mexico in
1609 and its capital in 1610 (see Map 1.6).
The Roman Catholic mission became the
central institution in colonial New Mexico.
Map 1.6 p22
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The native Indians rose up against the
missionaries in Popé’s Rebellion (1680).
In the 1680s the French sent Robert de La
Salle down the Mississippi River.
In 1716 the Spanish settled in Texas.
In 1769 Spanish missionaries led by Father
Junipero Serra founded San Diego and 21
mission stations.
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The Black Legend is a false record of the
misdeeds of the Spanish in the New World.
While there were Spanish misdeeds, the
Spanish invaders laid the foundations for a
score of Spanish-speaking nations.
Spaniards were genuine empire builders and
cultural innovators in the New World.
p22
p23
◦ Should the Spanish conquistadores be especially
blamed for the cruelties and deaths (including
those by disease) inflicted on the original Indian
populations of the Americas? Is it possible to make
such criticisms without falling into the traditional
English fallacies of the Black Legend?