Overview
- Before European Arrival
- Natives of North America had a diverse multicultural society before the Europeans.
- Coastal regions had fishing villages, others had hunter-gatherer lifestyles, and some gathered in massive cities.
- Three Sisters
- Corn, squash, and beans.
- Farming all three plants together helped to establish more permanent and larger settlements.
- Pueblo Desert Pueblo People (Utah and Colorado)
- Farming society.
- Advanced irrigation systems.
- Built urban centers.
- Plains
- Hunter-gatherers.
- Organized into bands.
- Pacific Coast
- Large fishing villages.
- Created trading networks.
- Northeast
- Created longhouses.
- Mississippi River
- Farming society.
- Traded through waterways.
- Massive civilizations with centralized governments.
- European Arrival
- Politically changing.
- Growing upper class wanted luxury resources.
- Portuguese Trading Empire
- Limited liability organizations where people pooled money to fund a venture.
- Shared profits and easier losses.
- Encomienda System
- Colonial labor system in which the Spanish, known as encomenderos, enslaved native people to farm and mine in the Americas.
- Gave way for vast wealth.
- Difficult to keep natives subservient.
- Natives continued to die from disease, leading the Spanish to import slaves.
- Caste System
- A social system that organized the Spanish at the top and American Indians at the bottom.
- Exchange of American Indian and European information.
- Sepulveda believed American Indians were biologically inferior
- Las Casas believed they were worthy of defense.
- Spanish Trading Empire
- Wanted to spread Catholic Christianity.
- Seeking economic opportunities.
- Christopher Columbus wanted to sail West and landed in the Caribbean, spreading the word of the New World and prompting Europe to explore further.
- Columbian Exchange
- Transmitted food, animals, people, and diseases throughout the two hemispheres.
- Disease Exchange
- European diseases caused entire populations to be extinguished.
- Influx of wealth gave way to capitalism instead of feudalism.
Key Concept 1
Native populations developed distinct cultures as they migrated and adapted to their environment.
The American Indian population in North America was a culturally diverse region with people living various different lifestyles. There were signs of government, agriculture, and permanent settlements, each depending on different areas.
- The Pueblo people living in now Utah and Colorado were a farming society that had advanced irrigation systems and urban centers.
- The Plains had hunter gatherers that organized into bands.
- The Northeast had people create Longhouses from the abundant timber
- The Pacific had fishing villages with large trading networks
- The Mississippi River Valley had trade through waterways
Key Concept 2
Contact of Native populations and Europeans resulted in trade and changes for both sides.
The arrival of Europeans led to an exchange of resources, disease, people, and technology between the two hemispheres. American Indians would introduce new animals and crops while the Europeans introduced new technology and disease.
- European diseases like smallpox wiped out entire American Indian settlements.
- American Indians taught the English how to properly hunt in the New World.
- Slaves and labor systems became prominent in Spanish settlements.
Terms and Concepts
Early Settlements
- Roanoke Colony
- First attempted permanent English settlement in North America.
- Founded in 1585; the colonists disappeared under unknown circumstances.
- Jamestown
- First permanent English settlement in North America.
- Founded in 1607.
- Saint Augustine
- Oldest continually occupied settlement.
- Founded in 1565.
Native American Tribes and Civilizations
- Powhatan
- A tribe that occupied the coastal plains of Virginia.
- Iroquois Confederacy
- A union of American Indian tribes across upper New York.
- Played a significant role in the struggle between French and British control over North America.
- Maize Civilization
- Maize was a significant part of Maya culture, primarily farmers located around Central America.
- Tenochtitlan
- A city founded by the Aztecs; became the center of the Aztec Empire.
Key Figures and Events
- Bartolomé de Las Casas
- Spanish clergyman, writer, and activist.
- Advocated against the oppression of American Indians.
- Pueblo Revolt
- A revolution against Spanish institutions imposed on the Pueblo people.
- Only successful Native uprising against European powers in North America.
- Hernán Cortés
- Conqueror of the Aztecs; claimed Mexico for Spain.
- Treaty of Tordesillas
- In 1494, Spain and Portugal moved the line of demarcation several degrees west, establishing Portugal’s claim to Brazil.
Colonial Systems and Economy
- Columbian Exchange
- Exchange of food, animals, people, and disease between the two hemispheres.
- Encomienda System
- A colonial labor system that forced American Indians to work for Spanish settlers.
- Mission System
- Spanish missions in California; military-backed outposts to preach Christianity to American Indians. -Joint-stock Companies
- Limited liability organizations where people pooled money to fund ventures.
- Profits were shared; losses made more manageable.
- Tobacco and Plantation Economy
- Tobacco-based economy in European colonies; used to purchase slaves and laborers for expansion.
- House of Burgesses
- Elected representatives of the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia.
- Played a major part towards American independence.
- Indentured Servants
- Contract workers who agreed to work a set number of years in exchange for transportation and supplies to North America.
- Conditions were similar to enslaved counterparts.