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Essential Questions:
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What key changes in Europe took place in the 15th &
16th centuries that allowed for overseas colonization?
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How did European exploration in America impact
native peoples?

What are the similarities & differences among the
Spanish, French, & British patterns of colonization in
America?
America Prior to the
Arrival of Europeans
Locations of Major Indian Groups
and Culture Areas in the 1600s
The Old World
Explores
The New World
Europe in the Middle Ages
 Why was it often called the Dark Ages?
 Limited Exchange of Ideas
 Curiosity and New Learning De-emphasized
 Superstition Predominated
 Travel Limited
 When did this change?
 The Crusades
Europe in the Middle Ages
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What effect did the
Crusades have on
Europe?
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Interest in the products of the
Middle East
and the Far East
Cheaper ways of getting these
products
TRANSPORTATION: Water vs.
Land
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What products?
Gold/Silver/Jewels
Silk
Spices

Voyages of European Exploration
The Treaty of Tordesillas
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Spain versus Portugal
Why did the “Age of Exploration” Occur?
What was the motivation of the individual
explorer, conquistador, monarch?
 Materialism, personal wealth
 Glory, personal fame
 Religion, conversion of the “heathens”
 Nationalism, promoting the wealth and
power of the nation
 Scientific Curiosity
The Columbian Exchange
How did the European Colonization
affect Native Culture?
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New Products
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Especially Cutting tools, metal
Loss of Land
Loss of Liberty
Diminishing of Culture
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Language
Customs
Religion
How did the European Colonization
affect Native Culture?

Diminishing of Numbers
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Extinction
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Example - Taino
90% death rate
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War
Disease
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Small Pox
Whooping Cough
Measles
Chicken Pox, etc.
How did Native American Culture affect
Old World civilizations?
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Money
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Three times the gold and silver in Europe
Inflation
More money in more hands …
… More People wanting more goods …
… More People making more goods …
… Industrial Revolution
How did Native American Culture affect
Old World civilizations?
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Food
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Corn
Tomatoes
Peppers
Chocolate
Pineapples
Sweet Potatoes
Potatoes ***
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Health, Nutrition
Economic
How did Native American Culture affect
Old World civilizations?
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Medicine
 Vitamins
 Anesthetics for Surgery and Dentistry
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Muscle relaxants for Lockjaw and Muscle spasms
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Ipecac
Malaria
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Guafenisen
Poison treatment
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Curare
Expectorants for cold remedies
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Cocaine and derivatives
“Fever Bark” - Quinine
Analgesics
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Aspirin
How did Native American Culture affect
Old World civilizations?
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Recreation
Lacrosse
Tobacco
Chocolate
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Government
Iroquois Confederacy
 “Federalism” in the US Constitution
The Spanish Colonies
in America
A World Transformed
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Native Americans were eager for European
trade; they were not initially victims of
Spanish exploration
They became dependent on and indebted to
Europeans
Disease decimated perhaps 95% of Native
American population
The Spanish
Spanish used
the
encomienda
system
to
Conquests
&
Colonies
create large cash crop plantations using
Native
American
& African
slave labor
Spanish
missionaries
focused
heavily on converting Native
Americans & establishing missions
From Plunder to Settlement

By 1650, 1/2 million Spaniards
immigrated to the New World
Whites
from
Spain
 Mostly unmarried males came to New World;
intermarriage led to mixed-blood mestizos &
Whites
born
in
America
mulattos
 Distinguished between social classes:
peninsulares & creoles
 The Spanish government operated strict
control over the colonies
Spanish Empire
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Its conquering of the Americas would allow Spain to become
the most powerful empire in the world during the 16th Century
“We came here to serve God and King… and to get rich”
Not only disease, but civil wars and religious superstitions
also allowed the Europeans, namely the Spanish, to conquer
the Native Americans (who GREATLY outnumbered the
explorers)
The advanced technology of the Europeans offered an
incredible advantage in combat
 Gunpowder, cannon, and bullets vs. bows and arrows
 Horses (transport and cavalry) and also pigs, cattle, and
goats (foodstuffs) played a very important role in conquest
Spanish-American Culture

The Spanish conquerors would establish the
encomienda system

Encomienda – a system of villages granted to a
privileged Spanish officer or aristocrat

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Was responsible for providing for Spanish missionaries
and contributing wealth to the empire
Extreme class discrepancy: at one end were the wealthy
conquistadores and at the other the impoverished
natives
The Spread of Catholicism
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Catholic missionaries quickly spread to the Americas in the wake
of the conquistadors’ victories
The Natives were viewed as pagans and the Catholic religion
was in turn imposed upon the people
 The spreading epidemics were seen as the wrath of God
upon the pagans and justified the actions of the god-fearing
Spanish
A few missionaries would become the only advocates that the
Natives had among the Europeans
 Bartolome de la Casas and A Brief Relation of the
Destruction of the Indies

Poet Staceyann Chin reads Bartolomé de Las Casas
Spanish Exploration of the US

Spain would never develop successful settlements (in terms of trade
and power) in US territory  mainly due to its primary lust for gold
and silver instead of developing centers of trade
 Juan Ponce de Leon – explored Florida
 Hernando de Soto – explored the Southeast US
 Francisco Coronado – explored the Southwest US
 St. Augustine – the oldest surviving settlement in the US,
established in 1565 in Florida
 Spanish missions would dot the Southwest US with some surviving
today
 Santa Fe was the 1st permanent seat of government in the US
 By 1630 there were over 50 missions and 3,000 Spanish in the
New Mexico territory
The Horse
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The introduction of the horse would forever
transform the Native American cultures of the US
 Tribes such as those of the Great Plains
converted from agriculturally domestic to nomadic
within a very short period of time after acquiring
and breeding a significant horse population
 Following the buffalo herds became the focus of
Native society
The French Colonies
in America
The French Claim Canada
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In 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded
Quebec; French Empire eventually included
St. Lawrence River, Great Lakes, Mississippi
The French government strictly controlled the
colonies but made little effort to encourage
settlement
Because the fur trade was the basis of the
colonial economy, Indians became valued
trading partners (not exploitive like Spain)
Like Spain, the French gov’t
encouraged converting Native
Americans & establishing missions