CHAPTER 1
The Atlantic World
…to 1600 A.D.
Section 1
The Native American World
• People known as Native Americans
traveled to this continent 30,000-15,000
years ago. The last Ice Age
• At that time our deserts were green with
vegetation, and saber-toothed cats
roamed freely.
Settlement of the Americas
• During the last Ice Age, and ice bridge, the
Berring Strait connected Asia & N.
America.
– Migration is the movement of people wishing
to settle in a new place.
– Most historians believe that Asian populations
were following herd of buffalo.
North America Inhabitants
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North – Inuits
Northwest – Makahs
California – Chumash
The Plateau – Chinook
Great Basin – Shosones
Southwest – Apaches
Plains – Mandans
Northeast – Lenape
Southeast - Natchez
• Some groups were
nomadic, traveling
from area to area
hunting & fishing.
• Other groups learned
agriculture and were
tied to a specific
region.
Shared Customs & Beliefs
• Kinship – Family
Relationships
• Clans – groups of
families living
together.
• Oral history –
traditions passed
down through
generations.
Native American Trade
• All groups traded.
• It was seen as a sign
of respect.
• To barter, means to
negotiate a trade.
Native Americans & Land
• Natives never traded land; they did not believe
in land ownership.
• They believed that the land was spiritually
superior to them, therefore unable to be owned.
Section 2
The European World
• 500AD – 1300AD – The Middle Ages, was
time of great instability due to Germanic
Tribes, Barbarians, & Vikings plundering
societies.
– Feudalsim was an economic system
developed to protect against such groups.
– The Lord divide his land among lesser lords,
who ruled manors. These manors were
farmed by serfs & peasants.
The Crusades of the Middle Ages
• In 1077 Muslims from Turkey seized
control of Jerusalem, the holy city.
• The Catholic Church organized military
campaigns to win back the Holy Land from
1096-1291AD.
• The Crusaders brought back Asian goods
from far off lands, spurring trade with Asia.
The Black Death
• In the 1300’s a plague hit Europe – The
Black Plague.
– Carried by fleas from rats, the bubonic
plague, or black Death, ravaged China, India,
and the Middle East before landing in Italy.
– The excessive deaths caused many to
question the Catholic Religion and faith faded
away.
The Renaissance
• The Renaissance, or
rebirth, began in Italy
towards the end of
the Middle Ages.
– A quest for learning
art, literature, science,
philosophy, etc…
– A Renaissance man
was a man who could
master, science,
history, philosophy, art,
etc..
Renaissance Wonders
• Micheangelo’s “Pieta”
• Leonardo Da Vinci’s
“Mona Lisa”
• Shakespeare’s Plays
• Johann Gutemberg’s
Printing Press
Reformation
• Due to the printing press, the availability of
books, specifically the bible spread across
the globe.
– Many clergy saw discrepancies b/w the bible,
and how the church was actually behaving.
– Called for sweeping changes.
• The bible is more knowledgeable and powerful
than man.
Competition on the Seas
• 1478 Spain launched an AntiJewish/Muslim campaign called the
Spanish Inquisition.
• 1492 Jews who refused to convert and be
baptized were expelled from Spain.
Section 3
The World of the West Africans
• Europeans & Africans resumed trade after
the Middle Ages:
– Europe traded its cloth, iron goods, & copper.
– Africa traded their gold.
Africa
• Not all of Africa is desert; the northern
area along the equator – very grassy
called Savanna.
• Religion was based on Oral Tradition,
which stated humans had a spirit before
and after their life on earth.
Slavery in Africa
• Africans valued labor
more than land.
• POW’s from warring
tribes/nations became
slaves.
• African slaves were
treated somewhat
fairly, and even
encouraged to marry
into their new culture.
• In the 1500’s the
Portugese, Dutch, &
Englished showed up
to trade guns for
slaves.
Section 4
The Atlantic World
• (Italian) Christopher Columbus, a former
map-maker & trader wanted to be more
famous than his blue collar background.
– CC began working on sailing ships and
learned all that he could about geography and
navigation.
A Daring Expedition
• CC wanted to sail west to China & India,
but he needed a sponsor to pay for the
ships, crew, & provisions.
– Spain’s Ferdinand & Isabella paid him to
make contact with India and gave him the title
what lengthy title?
Destination: ASIA
• 8-3-1492, Nina, Pinta, & Santa Maria
sailed south then west in order to avoid
storms of the gulf stream.
• Columbus believed that China was located
where the Californian city of San Diego is.
• 10-12-1492 the Pinta spotted land. It was
not China, but San Salvador.
A Historic Meeting
• The Tainos greeted CC an offered him
many exotic gifts.
• CC felt that the new savages did not
understand the concept of worth and
would accept objects of little or no value.
• CC called these savages indians, why?
The Columbus Effect
• The Columbian Exchange
• Native Americans haunted by disease, lost
entire towns.
• Europeans believed that God favored
them over the indians.
• Africans enslaved.