Mr. Searcy
ORIGINS AND EXPLORATION
Bering Strait
 35,000 years ago
 Ice Age
 Nomads following wild
Game.
 10,000 years ago, land
Bridge is back in the sea.
 1492- 100 million
People in Americas.
Tribes
 Countless tribes were created from Alaska to
southern tip of South America
 Over 2,000 separate languages were created.
 New cultures, religions, and customs
Mayans
 Mexico through northern Central America
 Establish around 2000 B.C.
 Peaked between 250-900 AD
 Created agriculture, hieroglyphic written
language, vast architecture, and city-states.
 Developed elaborate pyramids and religious
centers.
 Collapsed between 8th and 9th Century.
Mayans
 Collapse may have been due to climate
change(drought). May also have been due to
overpopulation.
 Eventually overtaken by the Spanish.
 Culture still exists in parts of Central America.
Aztecs
 Central Mexico
 Mexicas settled at Tenochtitlan after seeing
the eagle on a prickly cactus eating a snake in
1325.
 Lake Texcoco
 Created by a triple alliance of tribes.
 Tlacaelel and Montezuma I established a new
culture and religion.
Aztecs
 Late 1400s they reached their peak of power,
controlling Mexico from the Pacific to the
gulf.
Inca
 Largest pre-Columbian empire.
 Cusco in modern day Peru
 Covered all of Andes mountains.
 Worshiped the sun god
 Began expansion in 1400s under Capac
 Tupac Inca Yupanqui led expansion into the
north in the late 1400s.
Impact on the USA
 Maize: Corn
 1200 BC in Southwest US by Pueblos.
 Led to stationary living.
 Spread slowly through North America
 US never had the empire of Central and South
America due to nomadic lifestyle of most
tribes.
 Reason for easy conquest of N.A. tribes
Early US tribes
 Mississippians: Lower Midwest of US
 Cahokia: close to St. Louis
 40,000 people in city by 1100
 Decline by 1300s. Unknown reasons
Mound Builders:
Ohio River valley
3 Sister Farming
 1000 AD in Southeast US
 Corn
 Squash
 Beans
 Creek, Cherokee, and Choctaw
Iroquois Nation
 16th Century
 Hiawatha created the Confederacy.
 Military alliance of
 Mohawk, Algonquin, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga,
Oneida tribes
 Matriarch system where power and possession
passed down on female side of family
Native Population before
conquest
 Around 10 million people in North America
before European arrival.
 Tribes were isolated and heavily dependent
on land.
 Land was relatively untouched
Why search for a New World
1. Scandinavia:

1000 AD: Eric the Red had reached Iceland and
Greenland
 Lief Ericson then reached Vinland which is
present day Newfoundland
2. Christian Crusades:
 11th -14th Century
 Became fans of Eastern Goods while fighting in
the holy lands. (spices, silk, and drugs)
Why search for a new world
 Muslim middle easterners worked as middle
men.
3. Marco Polo

1295 returned to Venice after spending 20
years in China.
 Led to an increased interest in Eastern goods.
4. Portuguese
 Found a way to sail south to Africa.
Why Search for a New World
 Sailed NW in order to reach Europe.
 Allowed them to establish trading posts along
West African Coast. Sub-Saharan Africa was
virtually unknown before
 Allowed the movement of gold and slaves
 Slavery already existed in Africa with Muslims
controlling black Africans.
 1488: Bartholomeu Dias rounded the southern
tip
Why Search for a New World
 1498 Vasco de Gama sailed to India
5. Spain: Late 15th Century the reconquest of
Spain was complete.
 Moors kicked out of Spain
 Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile
were married.
 Began expansion west to compete with
Portugal.
Why search for a New World
6. The Renaissance
 Ideas of optimism and exploration spread
 Mariners compass made it easier to sail
 Maps improved
 Printing press: spread scientific knowledge
and ideas
 Spain was poised to expand
Christopher Columbus
 Italian
 Not sure how he truly
Looked due to several
Portraits.
 Persuaded King Ferdinand
And Queen Isabella to
Finance his trip to find a
Western route to the East
Indies.
Christopher Columbus
 The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria
 Six week voyage
 October 12, 1492 reached the Bahamas
 Thought he had reached the Indies and
accordingly called the people “Indians”
 Accidental discovery sparked an economic
system that lasted centuries.
New Market System
 Europe: Provided Markets, Capital, and
Technology
 Africa: Provided Manual Labor
 New World: Provided Raw Materials
 Metals
 Food products: corn, tobacco, potato, tomato,
and beans
Columbian Exchange
 3/5 of all crops cultivated today come from
the New World
 Foods from New World led to population
booms in both Europe and Africa (which
helped fuel the slave trade)
 Europeans brought beast of burden to
Americas. (Horse, cattle, and pigs)
 Page 12 on plants
Columbian Exchange
 1493: Columbus returned to Hispaniola (
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present day Haiti and DR)
17 ships
Cattle, swine, and horses
Horses forever changed the way Indians lived
(especially in the plains and in the SW)
Brought sugarcane, which led to the forced
migration of millions of African slaves
Columbian Exchange
 Disease: Small Pox, Yellow Fever, and Malaria
 Indians were not immune to these diseases
and they quickly spread
 Taino tribe in Hispaniola: In 50 years their
numbers went from 5 million to 200.
 Within a century after Columbus landing,
nearly 90% of native americans perished
 Did give Europeans syphilis
The Spanish Conquistadores
 Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) gave much of new
world to Spain. Portugal received land in
Africa, Asia, and present day Brazil.
 Vasco Nunez Balboa: discoverer of Pacific
Ocean. Landed in Panama in 1513.
 Ferdinand Magellan: 1519-1522: first trip
around the globe. Killed by natives in the
Philippines. Only one of 5 ships made it back
to Spain.
Spanish Conquistadors
 Juan Ponce de Leon: 1513 and 1521 explored
Florida seeking gold. Killed by natives.
 Francisco Coronado: 1540-1542: Searched for
city of gold (actually pueblo homes). Wondered
through much of the Soutwest and all the way
into Kansas. First European to see the Grand
Canyon and buffalo.
 Hernando de Soto: 1539-1542: Gold seeking
expedition through Florida and westward up
Mississippi River. Died of fever and wounds from
Indian attacks.
Spanish Conquistadors
 Francisco Pizzaro: 1532: Conquered the Inca
Empire in Peru.
Spanish Conquistadors
 Flow of silver from New World sparked
economic boom in Europe.
 Prices increased and led to growing
capitalism in Europe.
 Also increased trade with Asia.
 Led to well developed banking systems in the
world.
Spanish Conquistadors
 The West Indies became the testing ground
for new economic system.
 Became a storage area for goods and resting
place before conquests in the New World.
 Became a testing ground for “Christianizing”
the natives which in essence was a process of
enslaving the native people.
 Bartoleme de Las Casas, a missionary, wrote
of the evils of the slave system being created
in the New World.
Hernan Cortez
 Set sail form Cuba in 1519 for Mexico.
 Picked up a Spanish castaway who had been
imprisoned by Mayan speaking Indians.
 Also picked up a female Indian slave named
Malinche who spoke Mayan and Nahuatl, the
language of the Aztecs.
 These two interpreters added him in his
conquest of the Aztecs.
Hernan Cortez
 Landed near Vera Cruz and started his approach
for Tenochtitlan with 20,000 Indian allies. Sought
the gold he had heard rumors of.
 Met by ambassadors of Montezuma who
flowered him with gifts, only increasing his
desire for gold.
 Montezuma thought this white man riding a
horse was the god Quetzalcoal. This thought
allowed the Spanish to enter the capital
unopposed.
Hernan Cortez
 The Spanish were amazed by the scope and advancement
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of the town with it’s use of causeways and aqueducts.
The Aztecs eventually realized the Spanish only wanted
their gold and attacked the Spanish on June 30, 1520.
The Spanish counter attacked on August 13. Their attack
coincided with a smallpox epidemic that destroyed the
Aztec empire and led to a Spanish victory.
The Spanish then controlled the city for 3 centuries,
creating Mexico City and destroying the Aztec culture.
New culture emerged as Spanish and natives intermarried
creating a new mestizos culture, a blending of new and old
world ways.
Spanish Rule
 Within a half century some 160,000 Spanish
came to the Americas, creating churches and
schools.
 Threatened by other countries seeking a
foothold in the Americas
 John Cabot: Italian sailing for the English: 1497 and
1498 explored Northeasten coast.
 Giovanni de Verranzano: Italisn sailing for the French:
1524 Eastern seaboard
 Jacques Cariter: French 1534: Explored the St.
Lawrence River
Spanish Rule
 Catholic Churches and Missions became
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centers of Spanish control in America.
Establish many in the Southwestern U.S.
Pueblos destroyed the missions in Pope’s
Rebellion in 1680 in New Mexico.
Also establish churches and forts in Texas
including the Alamo in the early 1700s.
Mid-1700s they establish mission in California
including San Diego and San Francisco.