A PEOPLE & A
NATION
EIGHTH EDITION
Norton  Katzman  Blight 
Chudacoff  Paterson  Tuttle 
Escott  Bailey  Logevall
Chapter 1:
Three Old Worlds Create
a New, 14921600
Ch. 1: Three Old Worlds Create a
New, 14921600
• Compare & contrast separate civilizations
in Americas, Africa, and Europe
• Social organization, gender roles, and
political structures
• How and why 3 worlds begin to interact
and affect each other
• Origins of USA part of larger changes in
world history—isolation to interaction
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I. American Societies
• Paleo-Indians (earliest Americans) adapt
to environmental changes
• Nomadic hunters shift to agriculture—key
for development of civilization
• Shift first occur in Mesoamerica
• After Olmecs, Mayas & Teotihuacan
develop complex economy, society,
religion, and political units
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I. American Societies (cont.)
• Mesoamericans may have influenced
early native societies in N. America
• Pueblos (AZ & NM); Mississippian culture
(midwest & southeast N. America)
• 1300s: Aztecs establish last large-scale
indigenous civilization in Mesoamerica
• Decline in early civilizations usually
caused by food supply failure (drought,
overpopulation)
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II. North America in 1492
• Diverse cultures form in adaptation to
different environments
• Shoshones remain nomadic hunters in
Great Basin while Chinooks combine
agriculture, fishing, & hunting on upper
Pacific coast
• Men dominate hunting; women control
child rearing, food & clothing preparation
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II. N. America, 1492 (cont.)
• Among farming groups, the further
gendered division of labor varied
• Pueblo men dominate farming
• East coast women active in agriculture
• Village = standard social organization in
agrarian groups
• In each dwelling, an extended family,
matrilineally defined
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II. N. America, 1492 (cont.)
• Except for Iroquois Confederation,
villages politically autonomous and war w/
each other
• Unlike Europe, government less
autocratic as civil/military power
separated and some have female political
activity (Algonquians)
• Religion generally polytheistic and tied to
means of subsistence
• Not see themselves as one people (10
million w/ 1000 languages); disunity limits
response to Europeans
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III. African Societies
• Like Native Americans, formed diverse
civilizations, but Africans less isolated—
trade with Mediterranean and with Asia
• Trade by sea (East Africa) or by camel
caravan (West Africa / Guinea)
• Politically, villages of Guinea grouped
into small kingdoms
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III. African Societies (cont.)
• Like Native Americans, a gendered
division of labor, but Africans more
egalitarian
• Share agrarian duties; women act as
traders
• Dual-sex principle in politics and religion
• Slavery existed in W. Africa before direct
European contact, but usually less harsh
• African slaves usually prisoners of war or
debtors
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IV. European Societies
• Like Native Americans & Africans, an
agrarian people who live in villages, but
European society more hierarchical
• In economy, politics, & religion, European
women have less power than other 2
areas
• Christianity (dominate religion) affect
relations w/non-Christians; also tension
w/secular rulers
• Unlike Americas, Europe less isolated;
e.g., germs for Black Death (1300s) start
in Asia and arrive via trade
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IV. European Societies (cont.)
• 1400s: kings consolidate power and
create stronger political units—political
base for overseas exploration
• Technological base—navigational &
nautical advances as well as increased
information w/ printing presses (Polo’s
Travels, 1477)
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V. Motives for Exploration
• Economic: direct access to Asian/African
luxury goods (esp. spices) would enrich
individuals & their nations
• Religious: spread Christianity and
weaken Middle Eastern Muslims
• Two motives reinforce each other
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VI. Early European Explorations
• Mediterranean Atlantic = key training
ground—Iberians learn to adapt to
different winds
• Islands there = first areas shaped by
European expansion—e.g., Madeira
• Population & economic change (create
sugar plantations worked by many slaves)
• Native people on Canary Islands
enslaved
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VI. Early European Explorations
(cont.)
•
•
Besides direct exploitation, islands
advance Portuguese trade w/ W. Africa
Voyages funded by Prince Henry the
Navigator (1400s) result in
1. Trading posts that increase Portuguese
wealth & introduce black slavery to Europe
2. First direct sea trade with Asia (da Gama,
1498)
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VII. Lessons of Early Colonization,
1490s
• Europeans learn to
1. Ship crops & livestock to new areas for
profit
2. Control native peoples through conquest
(Canary Islands) or manipulation (West
Africans)
3. Establish plantation agriculture; e.g., Sao
Tome = first sugar economy worked by
enslaved Africans
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VIII. Columbus
• Schooled in Mediterranean Atlantic,
advocates sailing west to reach Asia
• Financed by Spain’s king who wants to
copy Portuguese overseas success
• 1492 = first sustained contact b/t “Old”
World & Americas (contrast w/Norse
voyages, 1000s)
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VIII. Columbus (cont.)
•
Represent early European expansion:
1. driven by desire for immediate profit,
especially gold & spices
2. assume other American products could
be source of profit
3. assume native peoples (“Indians”) could
be controlled & exploited
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IX. Cabot & Northern Voyages
• Arrive in N. America (1497)—build on
earlier ventures to Ireland, then Iceland
• Funded by English king who (like
Portuguese & Spanish) wants Asian trade
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X. Spanish Exploration and
Conquest
• Spanish = first to pursue colonization
• Start in Caribbean, then spread to
southern N. America as well as Central &
South America
• Conquest of Aztecs by Cortes crucial
(1521)
• Earn massive profit by exploit New World
resources
• When gold/silver mines falter in mid1600s, Spain decline as world power
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XI. Spanish Model of Colonization
• Hierarchical government—colonies
treated as crown possessions w/ no
autonomy
• Mostly males sent—lead to mestizos
• Brutally exploit Indians and later Africans
for profit in mines, ranches, & sugar
plantations (especially in Caribbean)
• Many “Indians” convert to Christianity b/c
native societies so disrupted by Spanish
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XII. Colombian Exchange
• Broad transfer of plants, animals, &
diseases
• Introduce cattle and horses to
Americas—change diet and lifestyle
(e.g., Native Americans in Great Plains)
• Introduce corn, beans potatoes, etc. to
Old World
• Global population increase w/ new food
sources
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XII. Colombian Exchange (cont.)
• Diseases, especially smallpox, devastate
American population, estimate 90%
decline
• Explain why Europeans able to dominate
and why turn to Africans for labor
• From America, Europeans receive syphilis
• Europeans introduce sugar to Americas
and American tobacco to Europe
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XIII. Europeans in N. America
• Initially, no colonies; instead profit from
fish and fur trade w/ Native Americans
• Establish a few outposts
• Ecological and lifestyle changes w/ fur
trade
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XIII. Europeans in N. America (cont.)
• Envy of massive Spanish profit result in
first English attempt at a colony
• Roanoke Island (1580s) = base for
attacks on Spanish shipping and follow
Spanish model (exploit natives for profit)
• Roanoke collapse—lack stable food
supply and antagonize Native Americans
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XIII. Europeans in N. America (cont.)
• Harriot’s Briefe and True Report (1588)
reflect early English views of N. America
• Focus on quick profit and assume easy
conquest of Native Americans—reflect
English attempts to imitate Spanish model
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Summary: Discuss Links to the
World & Legacy
• How does maize reflect Columbian
Exchange?
• How does corn reflect the continuing
importance of Native Americans to the
world?
• Controversy over what to do w/
“Kennewick Man/Ancient One?”
• Why was European impact devastating
for Native American peoples?
• Besides disease & conquest, Spanish
destroy indigenous temples, records, etc.
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