The First Americans to the 13
Colonies
Chapter 1
Beginnings of America
• Ice Age
• Land Bridge
• First Americans (Native Americans, Indians)
migrated from Asia 35,000—10,000 years ago
• 54 million by the time Europeans arrived
Native American Cultures
• Very diverse
• 30 different language groups, hundreds of
different languages (map on pg 9)
• Some civilizations very complex (Aztec, Maya)
some not very complex at all (North American
Groups)
• What explains this difference?
Major Native American Civilizations:
Mesoamerican, Mississippian
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Agriculutre changed everything
What does agriculture allow you to do?
How does it lead to sophisticated civilizations?
What was the major crop that led to advanced
civilizations in the Americas?
Major Native American Civilizations:
Mesoamerica
• Corn—first domesticated in Mesoamerica 5,000
BC
• Olmec, Toltec, Mayan, and Aztec civilizations
• Achievements:
• Complex government
• Large cities (Tenochtitlan) over 300,000
• Complex religion
• Massive buildings
• Technological achievements: writing, astronomy,
calendars
Major Native American Civilizations:
Mississippian
• Corn got to Mississippi valley much later than
Mesoamerica (900 AD)
• Mississippi valley civilizations developed much
later than Mesoamerica, not as advanced
• Achievements:
• Major cities—Cahokia 25,000
• Complex Buildings—Giant earth mound temples
• Civilization died out before arrival of Europeans—
outgrew food supply
Other North American Indian Groups
• Corn/agriculture spread to the rest of North
America very late (not until after 1000 AD)
• Complex civilizations such as the Aztecs and
Maya didn’t have time to develop before
Europeans arrived around 1500-1600 AD
• Iroquois: very important for history of colonial
US—upstate NY, Canada. Not very
technologically advanced but very organized
major force during colonial times
Geography’s Impact
• In what ways did geography shape the way
different Native American civilizations
developed?
• Level of sophistication
• Types of housing
Columbian Exchange
• When Europeans came to North America
(after Columbus) they brought new plants and
animals with them
• When they came back to Europe they brought
new plants and animals back with them
• This=the Columbian Exchange
• Pages 12-13
Columbian Exchange
Found in the “New World”
Found in the “Old World”
Corn
Wheat, Rice, Rye, Oats
Tomatoes
Peas
Tobacco
Sugar
Beans
Bananas
Chocolate
Cows
Potatoes
Pigs
Peppers
Sheep
Pumpkins/Squash
Goats
Llama
Horses
Guinea Pigs
Chicken
Turkey
Diseases: flu, small pox, the plague
European Contact With the New
World: Background
• Background Causes: Why start exploring?
• Crusades: gave Europeans a taste for products from
Asia (spices, sugar, silks, etc)
• Crusades: gave Europeans Asian technologies (better
sails, compass, knowledge of astronomy)
• Trade routes to Asia dominated by Italian merchants
and Ottoman Turks (not friendly to Europeans)
• Middle Ages were starting to end in Europe-modern
countries (Portugal, Spain, France, England) emerging,
had the leadership/money to pursue exploration
European Contact With the New
World: Beginnings with Portugal
• Newly established west European countries
(Portugal, Spain, etc) wanted in on spice trade
• Mediterranean route already taken
• Portugal began to explore Africa (2nd best option)
• Gold, salt, eventually found islands (Canaries,
Madiera, Cape Verde, Azores) could grow sugar
on these islands, with slave labor from Africa
• Eventually came all the way around Africa—got to
India/Asia=success!
Portuguese Route to Asia
European Contact With the New
World: Spain and Columbus
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Spain saw Portugal’s success wanted to copy
Portugal dominated the African route
Spain needed a new way to get to Asia
Columbus suggested getting east by sailing
west—sail around the world
• 1492 Columbus ran into North America—
didn’t realize he had found a new continent—
thought he was in India (Indians, West Indies)
What Columbus Thought He Was
Doing
Miscellaneous
• Northwest Passage: route around North
America to the North trying to get to Asia
• Amerigo Vespucci: Italian explorer after
Columbus, mapmakers in Europe mistakenly
credited him with discovering the new
continent and named it after him: America
Spanish Empire in the New World:
Conquistadores
• 1492-early 1500s Spain colonized the Caribbean
(Bahamas, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, etc)
gateway to the rest of America
• Conquest of mainland began in 1519-Cortes
• Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztecs 1519-1521
(Tenochtitlan became Mexico City)
• Francisco Pizarro conquered Incas in 1532 (Inca
Empire became Peru)
• Other Conquistadores filled in the middle and
regions to the North and South
Spanish Empire in the New World:
New Spain
• New Spain=Caribbean (Columbus),
Mexico/Central America (Cortes), Peru/South
America (Pizarro), New Mexico (Don Onate,
Coronado, others), Florida (Ponce de Leon)
• Included St Augustine (1st permanent
settlement by Europeans in modern-day US
1565)
Spanish Empire in the New World:
What was it like?
• Not good for Indians: By 1700 population had been
reduced by 90%
• Indians forced to labor in mines and on farms for the
Spanish (encomienda system)
• Not much immigration from Spain
• A lot of control from high up (King, governors,
aristocrats) not much freedom for ordinary people
• Convert Indians to Catholicism, exploit their labor,
slowly incorporate them into Spanish society
• Mestizo culture—mixture of Spanish and Native
American
English Colonization of North America:
Background
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No English Colonization before the late 1500s
Late 1400s civil war (War of the Roses)
Early 1500s Protestant Reformation (Henry VIII)
Late 1500’s major issues over—ready to go
Wanted to compete with Spain
Enclosure movement in England—surplus
population
• Religious issues: more later
English Colonization: Early Attempts
• Newfoundland (Canada) 1583 failed—too cold
• Roanoke (North Carolina/Virginia Border)
1585 failed—got cut off by Spanish navy
• 1588 Spanish Armada defeated by the
English—no more barriers to colonization
Southern Colonies: Virginia
• 1607 Virginia Company of London establishes
Jamestown—1st permanent settlement by the
English in future US
• Important precedent: guaranteed rights of
Englishman in the colony before they left
• No reason for the colony, didn’t make money,
until tobacco 1612—cash crop
• Interacted and fought with the Powhatan
Confederacy of Virginia
Southern Colonies: Maryland
• 1634 founded by Catholics seeking refuge
from persecution in England
• George Calvert, Lord Baltimore
• 1649 Act of Toleration (meant to protect
Catholics from persecution) didn’t protect
whom?
• A lot like Virginia—tobacco centered
• Virginia+Maryland=Chesapeake Colonies
Southern Colonies: Carolinas
• North Carolina: unofficially settled by poor/outcasts
from Virginia in the 1650s
• 1663 area of soon-to-be North and South Carolina
granted to 8 nobles by King Charles II (Carolina) at first
one big colony
• Southern part settled by wealthier English from the
English Caribbean: important African slavery AND slave
codes
• North and South very different: North=a lot like
Virginia (tobacco), South=richer, grew rice and indigo
tied to the Caribbean
• 1712 the colony split in 2—North and South Carolina
Southern Colonies: Georgia
• 1733 founded by James Oglethorpe (General)
• 2 purposes: more humane option than prison for
non-violent prisoners, and military buffer against
Spanish in Florida
• Religious toleration but no Catholics allowed,
why?
• Successful as a military buffer, not successful as a
reform colony
• A lot like S. Carolina, grew rice indigo for sale as
cash crops, became dependent on African slavery
Southern Colonies: Recap
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5 total
Virginia-1607
Maryland-1634
N. Carolina-unofficially 1650s, officially as part
of Carolina Colony 1663, own colony 1712
• S. Carolina-organized on paper 1663, actually
settled 1670, own colony 1712
• Georgia-1733
New England Colonies: Background
• Protestant Reformation in England, new
religion=Church of England, Anglican Church
• Protestant but still a lot of Catholic traditions
• Some wanted to “Purify” the Anglican Church
of its Catholic traits—Puritans
• Some wanted to leave entirely Separatists
• Catholics persecuted (Maryland), other
Protestant religions persecuted as well,
Puritans/Separatists
New England: Plymouth and
Massachusetts
• SeparatistsEnglandHollandEngland
America
• Headed for Virginia, ended up in New England
1620
• Pilgrims—Mayflower Compact
• 1629-1630 Puritans decided to leave as well
• Massachusetts Bay Colony, Boston 1630
• 11 ships over 1,000 colonists
• Massachusetts took over Plymouth eventually
New England: Massachusetts
Offshoots
• 1635 migrants from Mass want more room, settle
at Hartford: Thomas Hooker—Connecticut
• 1638 New Haven—eventually becomes part of
Connecticut
• 1636 Roger Williams kicked out of Mass—Rhode
Island—religious toleration
• 1640’s New Hampshire and Maine settled by
migrants from Mass, king grants both areas to
two of his friends, one sells his land to Mass
(Maine), one doesn’t (New Hampshire)
New England: Recap
• 4 colonies
• Massachusetts Bay (includes Plymouth and
Maine)
• Connecticut 1635 (includes New Haven)
• Rhode Island 1636
• New Hampshire 1640’s
• All New England colonies dominated by
Puritanism (except Rhode Island)
• Note: Maine and Vermont not part of the 13
colonies
Middle Colonies: Beginnings
• Not colonized by the English at first: Dutch,
Swedes
• Dutch: New Netherland (Modern-day NY, NJ)
• New Amsterdam (NYC), Fort Orange (Albany)
• Swedes: New Sweden (Delaware)-taken over
by Dutch
• 1664 New Netherland conquered by the
English, given to the Duke of York
Middle Colonies: English Colonization
• New York 1664
• New Jersey 1664 given by the Duke of York to two
of his noble friends, eventually sold to a group of
Quakers—used as a haven for Quakers
• Pennsylvania 1681 given to William Penn by the
King: based on Quaker ideals—religious
toleration, non-violence toward Indians, equality
among social classes, slavery discouraged (not
banned though)
• Delaware 1681 part of the land given to William
Penn: separate colony but same governor as PA
Middle Colonies: Recap
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4 middle colonies
New York 1664
New Jersey 1664
Pennsylvania 1681
Delaware 1681
All colonies except NY influenced by the Quakers,
all colonies except NY had official religious
toleration (New York was pretty tolerant of other
religions although Anglicanism was the official
religion technically)
The South and Slavery
• From Servitude to Slavery in the South
– Warm climate=good for crops, not good for
people
– Low population=not a lot of workers
– Solution: early to mid 1600s=indentured servants
– Headright system-rich got richer, not a lot of land
for the poor
– Freed servants (freedmen) became disgruntled,
result was Bacon’s Rebellion 1676
The South and Slavery (cont.)
• Bacon’s Rebellion 1676
– Defeated by the colonial govt of Virginia
– Effects: wealthy planters turned away from servants to
slaves, why?
• How to treat slaves? As servants??
• 1670 South Carolina colonized, English brought
African slaves with them, plus their slave codes—
African slaves would be treated as property
(chattel) not as people
• By 1700 slaves had surpassed servants in the
South
Slave Society in the South
• Slaves taken from all over west coast of Africa
• Not monolithic
• New African American culture was the fusion of many
different African cultures plus European influences
• North America was not the focus of the slave trade
(Caribbean, S. America) about 5%
• Americans=poor couldn’t afford many slaves, had to
protect their “investment”
• Naturally reproducing slave population in America
Comparing/Contrasting the 3 Colonial
Regions: the South
• Economy: all about cash crops
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Tobacco (MD, VA, NC)
Rice and Indigo (GA, SC)
Dependent upon slavery (after 1676)
Large farms (plantations)
• Society
– Not a lot of big cities (each plantation was like a mini city)
– People isolated from one another—not a big sense of
community
– Because of plantations and slavery—big gap between rich
and poor (elitist, not egalitarian)
– Large numbers of African Americans but otherwise not
very ethnically diverse
The South (cont.)
• Religion
– Not very important in the South (more concerned
with material things)
– Mostly Anglican
– Religious toleration of some kind in all colonies
• Government
– Representative govts (House of Burgesses 1619)
– Dominated by the wealthy (elitists)
New England
• Economy
– Too cold/too rocky for farming cash crops
– Small farms due to climate also due to religious beliefs
– Turned to the sea: fishing, trading, ship building, ship
building industries (logging, etc)
• Society
– Dominated by Puritan beliefs, strong sense of community,
dominated by small towns and cities
– Big families (lots of kids+small farms=no need for more
labor=no servants/slaves)
– Only way to be fully accepted in New England society was
to be a member of the Puritan Church
– Lots of small equally sized farms=very egalitarian society
– Almost entirely English=not diverse
New England
• Religion
– Left England for religious freedom—freedom for
themselves not for anybody else
– Puritanism, no other religions tolerated*
• Government
– Very democratic (town hall meetings)
– Needed land to vote but almost everyone had land
– Problem: needed to be a part of the Puritan church to
vote and hold office* (undemocratic)
Middle Colonies
• Economy
– Bread colonies
– Grew wheat raised cattle to sell to New England
and the Caribbean
– Big families, medium to small sized farms=not a
real big need for servants or slaves
– More farming centered than NE, but more
industry than the South
– Big cities (NYC, Philadelphia)
Middle Colonies
• Society
– Egalitarian (like New England)
– Diverse ethnically
• Religion
– Religious toleration/separation of Church and State in
all colonies except NY
– Very diverse in terms of religion (most diverse region)
• Government
– No religious qualifications
– Land qualifications but land = easy to get
Colonial Government
• 3 types of colonies: Corporate, Royal, Proprietary
– corporate=company/group of people (Virginia /
Massachusetts for a while)
– Royal=owned by the king (New York)
– Proprietary=belonged to one individual (PA)
• All colonies had representative government (House of
Burgesses 1619)
– Assembly elected by the people—controlled taxes made
most laws
– Governor/Upper house—ran day to day affairs of colony
represented the King (assembly controlled their salary)
Colonies Mature: Growth of
Trade/Backcoutnry
• Backcountry=area away from the coast (the
frontier)
– Poorer people, less settled, more of a mix of Indian
and European
– Felt slighted by the elites close to the coast (Bacon’s
Rebellion)
• Trade: centered in New England
– Trade between colonies and England (other European
countries)
– Trade between colonies and Africa/Caribbean
(triangle trade)
Efforts to Control Trade: Mercantilism