APUSH UNIT 1: Europeans Arrive in North America (chapters 1-2)
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Unit 1 Key Concepts
On a North American continent controlled by American Indians, contact among the peoples of Europe,
the Americas, and West Africa created a new world.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
As native populations migrated and settled across the vast expanse of North America over time, they
developed quite different and increasingly complex societies by adapting to and transforming their diverse
environments. (MIG-2.0) (GEO-1)
Contact among Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans resulted in the Columbian Exchange and
significant social, cultural, and political changes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. (WXT-2) (WXT-3)
(WOR-1)
European expansion into the Western Hemisphere caused intense social/religious, political, and economic
competition in Europe and the promotion of empire building. (WXT-2) (WXT-3) (WOR-1)
The Columbian Exchange and development of the Spanish Empire in the Western Hemisphere resulted in
extensive demographic, economic, and social changes. (MIG-1) (WXT-1) (GEO-1)
In their interactions, Europeans and Native Americans asserted divergent worldviews regarding issues such
as religion, gender roles, family, land use and power. (CUL-1) (CUL-3) (CUL-4 (WOR-1)
Content terms:
Atlantic seaboard
caste system
Columbian Exchange
God, gold, glory
hunter-gatherer
economy
maize
Pueblo
Algonquian
Iroquois
autonomy
demographic
diversification
subjugation
feudalism
capitalism
reconquista
Encomienda System
Review questions:
Day 2
1. Describe the effect of corn and other agricultural advancements on Native Americans’ society, culture
and economics.
2. Why and in what ways did the environment and geography affect the development of Natives American
societies differently depending on the unique geography of the region in which each settled?
3. Why did mobile lifestyles develop in the Great Basin and Great Plains?
Day 3
4. Compare European and Native Americans societies at the beginning of exploration and conquest. Make
sure to address politics, economics, religion, society and art. (PERSIA)
Day 4
5. How did international trade affect society and politics in both Europe and Africa before the 15th
Century?
6. How did technological and commercial advancements (joint stock companies, e.g.) affect both American
and European economies?
7. How did the slave trade begin as a result of Portuguese and Spanish trading?
Day 5
8. Why did the Spanish introduction of non-native diseases, crops and livestock to the Americas have a
dramatic impact on Native Americans?
9. How did the Columbian Exchange affect both the Americas and Europe economically (European shift
from feudalism to capitalism), socially and environmentally?
10. Why was the encomienda system supportive of plantation economics and then replaced with African
slave labor in Spanish colonies?
11. How did the Spanish development of a caste system incorporate and carefully define the status of
diverse populations of Europeans, Native Americans and Africans?
Day 6
12. How did the Spanish and Portuguese explorations and conquests affect Native Americans and Africans?
Make sure to address society, race, health, culture and politics
13. How and why did Native Americans respond to these European attempts to encroach on their lands and
subjugate their people?
14. How did European contact with Native Americans lead to debate amongst Europeans about how to
treat non-Europeans as well as develop religious, cultural and racial justification for subjugation of
Africans and Native Americans?