Three Worlds Meet U.S. History C. Corning 2011 What was the first settlement in the territory of the United States? Native Americans – crossing Bering Straits over 30,000 years ago Caparra, Puerto Rico – 1508 (Spanish) Charlesfort, Parris Island, South Carolina – 1562 (French) Pensacola– 1559 / St. Augustine* (FL) –1565 (Spanish) Roanoke – 1586 (English) Jamestown *- 1607 (British) Plymouth Colony –1620 (British) * Permanent settlements American Indigenous Societies Textbook pages 8 – 13 (map) This period of history called “Pre-colonization” – how does that title reflect a European bias? Movement of people over the Bering Straits about 20,000 years ago About 5,000 to 10,000 years ago, agriculture revolution in Central Mexico Mixture of nomadic and agrarian cultures. Empires of Middle and South America Mayan Empire – Guatemala and Yucatan Penisula (250 – 900 CE) Aztec Empire – Valley of Mexico (1200s – early 1500s) Inca Empire – 2,500 miles down western coast of South America (1200s – early 1500s) North American Cultures (pg 11) Southwest Native Groups – agriculture in the arid deserts (Anasazi, later Pueblo and Hopi) California/Northwest groups/Subarctic Plains Natives – later pushed from the edges into the middle East of Mississippi River (from Great Lakes to Gulf of Mexico) – Eastern Woodlands Iroquois, Mixture of agriculture and hunting/gathering societies Not large empires like those of Central and South America West African Societies Why West Africa? Portuguese start exploration for trading ports in mid 1400s – possibly based on reports by earlier Egyptian/Phoenician sailors/traders Three West African kingdoms: Songhai (Mail and Ghana), Benin and Kongo (Angola) Map of Africa Use of slave labor: not born into slavery, nor necessary a lifetime sentence, usually due to wars or debts Slavery could be released due to end of term, adoption or marriage into the tribe. Europe Why tell Europe’s part of the story last? What does Eurocentric mean? How does it influence our understanding of other cultures? Our history? Choice of terms: contact, exploration, encounter, exploitation, discovery, conquest Why Europeans exploring the Americas? Why not the other way around? Review thesis of “Guns, Germs and Steel” Guns Germs and Steel - summary Why Europe 1. Advances in military technology – around 1400 European leaders started an arms race. Bigger guns, mounted on ships, siege warfare 2. Expanded use of social technology – bureaucracy, doubleentry bookkeeping, mechanical printing. 3. Ideological development: amassing wealth and dominating other people came to be seen as a positive value. 4. The nature of European Christianity – believed in a transportable, proselytizing religion that offered a rationale for conquest. 5. Europe’s recent success in taking over island societies: Malta, Sardinia, Canary Islands – route to wealth. Early European Contact Vikings (from Greenland and maybe Iceland) – 1000 – 1350, Labrador, Newfoundland (Canada) European fishing ships – chasing cod across the Atlantic ocean, used northern east coast to dry fish, gather food, wood and water. Map of North America Review: Motives, Process and Legacy Motives: Military strength/strategic position Land for settlement Missionaries – conversion to Christianity Spreading of European Civilization Belief in European cultural/racial superiority Control over raw materials/precious metals/potential markets Profit for private business owners/forced labor National rivalry/patriotism Process Warfare/weapons of industrialization Transportation/communication inventions Divide and conquer (and rule) Alliance with local powers Economic reorganization to meet the needs of the “mother” country Direct rule / indirect rule Creation of an educated elite to help govern colony Forced labor Westernization/assimilation influences Legacy Indigenous people lost their land to the colonizers Colonies often became dependent on a single cash crop Infrastructure build to support retrieval of raw materials/transportation Indigenous manufacturing activities within colony end Improvements in schools, hospitals, sanitation Cultural changes – language, customs, religion, food, music Increase in racism - locals begin to believe in European superiority Migration Rebellions and resistance Increased conflict = instable societies Rise of nationalism in colonies National borders redrawn without consideration of geographic or ethnic issues The Christopher Columbus Story Not really sure where he was born Also most people, especially sailors and educated people, knew that the world was round! He was looking for a new route to Asia – Portugal had “blocked” the one around Africa. April 3, 1492 – Columbus sailed the ocean blue Many myths about the journey, sighting land What we do know is that he landed on October 12, 1492 on an island he called San Salvador - Native people called Arawaks Map of the Caribbean God, Gold and Glory Columbus Day (October) – why do we “celebrate” this day? What is the significance? Columbus Experiences Four trips in total – kept logs for each – looking for gold and taking possession all the land he saw (for Spain) Logs Referred to natives as los indios Map of Columbus' Four Voyages 1492 – Hispaniola, also made landfall at Bahamas and “sighted” Cuba Contact between Columbus and Taino (video on blog) First settlement at Navidad on Hispaniola 1493 – he returned to begin building a Spanish colony – soldiers, priests, and hidalgos 1498 – failure – many complaints 1502 – shipwrecked and a ruined man Building a Spanish Empire Spanish Conquistadors Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) – why only Spain and Portugal? Aztecs – Hernan Cortes (1519 – 1521) and La Malinche (see video) – pg 37 Incas – Francisco Pizzaro – Conquest of 1532 (3rd attempt) – “Guns, Germs and Steel” video Southwest Exploration – Map / Interactive Map 1492 - 1700 1528 – Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, landed on Tampa Bay FL and traveled to Mexico City (1537) 1540 – Francisco de Coronado – Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas 1598 – capital of New Mexico established 25 miles north of Santa Fe (1610) Building a Spanish Empire Florida – fountain of youth?, gold, slaves and land 1513 – Juan Ponce de Leon – Coast of FL 1539 – Hernando De Soto 1565 – Menendez de Aviles, founding of St. Augustine (to ward off the French at Ft. Caroline, Jacksonville, FL 1564 – haven for French Hugenots) 1763 – British, 1783 - Spanish, 1819 - U.S. (Adams-Onis Treaty – give up claims on Texas) Initially two Vice-royalties: New Spain (capital in Mexico City) and Peru Later divided into additional viceroyalties Map Spanish American Colonial Empire Process/Legacy of Spanish Colonization of Caribbean Use the textbook pgs 27 – 29, 36 – 41 and the “Conquest and Colonization” packet to look for examples of “process” and “legacy”. Resources on blog: suggested (plus others) “1491 and 1493 – How Columbus Shaped a World to Be” Columbus’ Log “Columbus and the Taino” video Reaction to the Spanish “process” de las Casas, Native resistance Why "America"? Why not “Columbia”? Columbian Exchange The transfer of plants, animals and diseases between the Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere. Textbook map – pg 29 / Columbian Exchange Map Food quiz How many came from the “New World”?