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Ch1: Many Cultures Meet
Pre History to 1550
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How did the spread of civilization
begin in the Americas?
The earliest inhabitants of the Americas found
a land rich in resources and varied in
geographic features.
As they settled across the land, they adapted
to local environments and developed distinct
ways of life.
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Paleo-Indians were the first humans to
live in the Americas.
•
Scholars believe the Paleo-Indians came from
Siberia, a region in Asia.
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They disagree, however, about when and how
the Paleo-Indians arrived.
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Migration to the Americas
•
15,000 years ago, during an ice
age, hunters crossed a land bridge
between Siberia and Alaska in search
of mammoths and other animals.
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Hunters and gatherers arrived in
small boats, eventually working their
way down the west coasts of the
Americas.
Land Bridge
Theory
Coastal Route
Theory
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The Paleo-Indians
eventually
migrated
throughout the
Americas.
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About 10,000
years ago,
the climate
warmed,
melting the
polar ice and
raising the
ocean level.
The warming
climate and
the skill of
hunters killed
off the
mammoths
and other
large animals.
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Paleo-Indians
adapted by
turning their
attention to
fishing,
gathering, and
hunting smaller
mammals.
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About 3,500 years ago in central Mexico,
Native Americans developed agriculture.
The expanded
food supply led to
population growth
and permanent
villages.
In Mexico, some
villages grew into
great cities ruled
by powerful chiefs.
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In Mexico, the Mayas and the Aztecs
built advanced civilizations.
From Mexico,
agriculture slowly
spread northward
into North
America.
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However, in some
places, people
continued hunting,
gathering, and
fishing.
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Diverse cultures emerged in what would
later become the United States. In
different regions, Indian tribes:
•
had different kinds of homes and clothes.
•
ate different foods.
•
developed different traditions.
•
spoke hundreds of different languages.
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The arid Southwest climate forced Native
Americans to build dams and irrigation
canals in order to grow crops.
Some Native
Americans in this
region lived in
adobe houses while
others lived in
pueblos and cliff
dwellings.
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The Mississippi River Valley
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The region had a humid and
temperate climate and generally
fertile soil.
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The Native Americans in this region
built towns with central plazas,
pyramids, and temples.
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They traveled by river to trade with
other groups.
Climate
Cultural
Features
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The Great Plains
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The region was an immense, windy,
arid grassland that is hotter in the
south and colder in the north.
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Native Americans in this region
lived in thatched houses, log lodges,
or tepees.
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They farmed in small villages and
hunted the plentiful bison.
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They traded and fought with
western nomads.
Climate
Cultural
Features
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Due to the mild
winters, warm
summers, and ample
rainfall of the
Southeast, most Native
Americans in this
region were farmers.
But they also hunted in
the forests and fished in
the rivers and lakes of
the region.
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Northeastern people developed
into two major language groups:
the Algonquians and the Iroquoians.
The Algonquians
lived in wigwams on
the Atlantic
seaboard, while the
Iroquois lived in
longhouses around
Lake Ontario and
Lake Erie.
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Five Iroquois
peoples united to
form the Iroquois
League, which
promoted peace
among the member
nations.
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Despite their cultural diversity,
most Native American groups
shared several cultural features:
•
decentralized political power.
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spiritual beliefs and shamanism.
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little private ownership of property.
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equality among the various tribes and nations.
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division of labor along gender lines.
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How did Europeans begin to explore
more of the world?
New ideas swept through Europe during the
1400s, causing enormous cultural, economic,
and technological changes.
Europeans began to look beyond their shores
on a quest of exploration and discovery that
would change Europe and much of the world.
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After the collapse of the Roman Empire,
the early years of the Middle Ages
were marked by:
•
the absence of an effective central government.
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the constant threat of famine, disease, and
foreign invasion.
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But as new institutions and ideas slowly took
hold, a new civilization emerged in Europe.
Europe was
recovering from the
effects of the
bubonic plague,
which had killed
about a third of all
Europeans during
the 1340s.
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Most of the
surviving population
lived in the
countryside, and
the economy was
agricultural.
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But cities and towns were growing, especially
in northern Italy and the Netherlands.
Artisans
produced
cloth, tools,
and other
goods in city
workshops.
Cities also
were centers
of trade.
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A ruling elite of less than 5 percent of the
population controlled almost all of the land.
Royalty and
Aristocrats
Church
Leaders and
Merchants
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A monarch was at the top of the
social pyramid in each kingdom.
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Aristocrats inherited social rank,
title, and landed estates worked by
peasants.
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The elite also included leaders of
the Roman Catholic Church.
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Wealthy merchants shipped cargoes
between cities for profit.
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Under the domination of this small elite class
were the commoners.
Middle-Class
Families
The Working
Poor
•
These families owned enough
property to employ themselves as
farmers, artisans, and shopkeepers.
•
They accounted for only a fifth of
the population.
•
In good years, they farmed on
rented land or worked for pay, and
in bad years, many were beggars.
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They accounted for three-fifths of
the population.
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The most
important
kingdoms in
Western Europe
were Spain,
Portugal, France,
and England.
Each was
ruled by a
monarch who
depended on
the elite class
to do much of
the governing.
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The
kingdoms
were often
at war
over land
and power.
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Despite their rivalries, many Europeans
united in the common cause of capturing
and controlling the Holy Land.
During the latter half
of the Middle Ages,
European Christians
and Muslims fought
one another in a
series of religious
wars known as the
Crusades.
In the end, the
Muslims defeated the
Christian Crusaders.
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But the Crusades had lasting effects that
benefitted the people of Europe.
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Europeans became aware of distant lands and
different ways of life.
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Soldiers returned home with exotic goods.
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Demand for these products soared, and
European traders expanded their businesses
into Asia.
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Trade Routes in Europe, 1000−1300
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By the mid-1400s, the European Renaissance
had begun, and during this period:
•
trade with and knowledge of other
lands expanded.
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the wealth generated from trade
fueled further exploration.
•
the development of the printing press
made books more widely available.
•
literature promoted new ideas.
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In some places,
violent conflicts
continued between
Christians and
Muslims.
On the Iberian
Peninsula, the kingdoms
of Aragon, Castile, and
Portugal were waging
the reconquista.
They hoped to drive out the Muslim Moors,
who had ruled Iberia for centuries.
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Starting in 1419, Portugal’s
Prince Henry the Navigator
led early efforts at exploration
and expansion of trade.
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He founded a school
of navigation.
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He sponsored
expeditions down the
west coast of Africa.
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Technological innovations helped the
Portuguese take the early lead in sailing into
the Atlantic Ocean.
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Sailors used the compass, the astrolabe, and
the quadrant to determine their location and
direction.
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Shipbuilders created the sturdy caravel, capable
of sailing hundreds of miles.
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What was life like in West Africa
before the age of European
exploration?
The early civilizations of West Africa grew
into great trading empires with rich and
varied cultures.
Trade between West Africans and
Europeans—including trade in slaves—
would shape the future of both peoples for
years to come.
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West Africa is a land of varied
geographic features.
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The Sahara Desert dominates the northern part.
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To the south of the desert lies a broad savanna.
•
South of the savanna is a lush region watered
by the Niger and Senegal rivers.
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Valuable natural resources such as gold and salt
are found in West Africa.
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A thriving trade network promoted
the growth of trading towns.
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Trading towns
eventually grew
into great and
powerful
empires.
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Ghana
•
Mali
•
Songhai
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Other, smaller
kingdoms
In time, the trading routes of these empires
linked West Africa with North Africa,
the Mediterranean, and Asia.
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West African Trade Routes, A.D. 800−A.D. 1600
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West African societies were diverse.
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Islam had a strong influence,
although many held traditional
beliefs about the spirit world and
the influence of ancestors.
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Land belonged to extended kinship
networks.
•
People often farmed the land in
common and divided the harvest.
Spiritual
Beliefs
Land
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Slavery was common in West Africa, and
slaves were often used as items of trade.
The slave trade
was an important
part of West
Africa’s economy.
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West African rulers
sold about 1,000
slaves annually to
Arab traders, who
took them to the
Mediterranean.
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West African slavery had developed as a
system with unique characteristics.
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It was not based on racial superiority or inferiority.
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Prisoners of war and criminals often became slaves.
•
Slaves were usually adopted by their owners, and
their children usually did not inherit slave status.
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Slaves could become wealthy, important officials
and soldiers.
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Throughout the 1400s, the Portuguese
explored farther south along the West
African coast.
Initially, they
acted as
pirates, seizing
gold, pepper,
and slaves.
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But African
resistance soon
forced the
Portuguese to
shift to trading.
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In time, the Portuguese established a
profitable trade with the West Africans.
The Portuguese
exported peppers,
ivory, copper, and
African slaves.
In this way,
Europeans first
became involved
in the longstanding slave
trade of Africa.
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The Portuguese greatly expanded
the slave trade.
By 1500, Europeans
purchased about
1,800 African slaves
a year, nearly
doubling the trade
between the West
Africans and the
Arabs.
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Some slaves were
shipped to Europe.
•
Most worked on
sugar plantations
on islands in the
East Atlantic.
•
Growing numbers
went to new
plantations in the
Americas.
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Thus began the brutal exploitation of
West Africans enslaved by Europeans.
This fate would befall
millions more African
men and women in the
centuries ahead.
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How did European exploration affect
the Americas?
With the goal of reaching Asia, European
sailors continued their journeys of exploration.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the
Americas, planning to conquer the land, exploit
its wealth, and convert its people to Christianity–
a pattern followed by later explorers.
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In the 1400s, the Portuguese sought a route
to India, the East Indies, and China.
Bartolomeu
Dias
•
In 1487, Dias used the winds of the
South Atlantic to get around the
southern tip of Africa.
Vasco da
Gama
•
In 1498, da Gama exploited Dias’s
discovery to reach India, opening an
enormously profitable trade route.
The Portuguese dominated the trade routes
south and east around Africa.
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By default, the Spanish looked westward
into the open Atlantic.
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The Spanish hoped to find islands in the west
that they could exploit.
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They also hoped that, by leaping from one set
of islands to another, explorers could one day
reach the coveted coast of China.
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The Italian mariner
Christopher Columbus
had heard stories about mysterious
lands to the west.
Columbus was determined
to make a westward
voyage in search of China.
He hoped to convert the
Chinese to Christianity and
use their wealth to begin a
new crusade against Islam.
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Funded by Spain, in 1492 Columbus reached
the Bahamas, which he claimed for Spain.
In all, Columbus
made four voyages
to what he thought
was the East
Indies, near Asia.
He used force to
conquer Native
Americans on the
islands.
Columbus had not
reached Asia, but he
had found a land that
would bring riches and
power to Europe—at
the expense of Native
Americans and African
slaves.
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Columbus’s Voyages, 1492-1504
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In 1494, Spain and Portugal negotiated
the Treaty of Tordesillas.
•
The treaty drew a boundary line through the midAtlantic, giving the Spanish lands west of the line
and the Portuguese lands east of the line.
•
Other European kings refused to honor the treaty.
•
No one bothered to consult the Native Americans.
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Conquistadors extended Spain’s empire in
the Americas, treating Native Americans
brutally in the process.
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The Spanish killed or enslaved thousands of
Native Americans.
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Many were forced to convert to Christianity.
•
The Spanish destroyed their cities, stole their
gold, and exploited their natural resources.
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With steel-edged swords, guns,
and horses, the conquistadors
destroyed native civilizations.
Hernán Cortés
conquered the Aztecs.
Francisco Pizarro
defeated the Incas.
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Even more
deadly
than brutal
attacks,
however,
was
disease.
Europeans
unknowingly
transmitted
new
diseases to
native
populations.
With no
natural
defenses,
huge
numbers of
Native
Americans
died.
As Native American populations fell, the
Spanish turned to African slaves for the labor
they needed to build their growing colonies.
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Europeans who came to the Americas in
the 1400s began the Columbian Exchange.
•
Colonists brought European plants and animals
to the Americas.
•
This affected Native Americans in both positive
and negative ways, but they adapted.
•
People in Europe increased their yields by
growing plants from the Americas.
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The Columbian Exchange
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