APUSH Unit 1 (1491-1607)

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.

What were the chief features of French & Dutch empires in North America?

- New France and New Netherlands were both commercial ventures. They both wanted trade routes. -Low populations, relied on Native Americans on trade and military allies. That means the French and Dutch have better relations with Native Americans then the Spanish. -Economy based on trade more specifically the fur trade. Frontiers of Inclusion vs Frontiers of Exclusion

What happened when the peoples of the Americas came into contact with Native Americans?

-After the "discovery" by Columbus, conquest started very quickly. Spanish were the first, they conquered and urbanized densely populated societies in Mesoamerica and Andes. -Cortez conquering Aztecs, and Pizarro conquering the Inca. -Conquest was aided by metal weapons, gunpowder, and disease. -COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE- Was an exchange of biological goods between Old World and New World. -Corn and potatoes were introduced to Europe. (Helped support and sustain higher populations.) -Horses, cows, pigs, and sheep were introduced to the New World. (These animals reshaped landscape) *Disease of Old World is going to be catastrophic. Transfer of smallpox, influenza, etc. results in a lot of death. As much as 80% depopulation in Americas due to disease as well as conquest by 1900. Almost 1/5th of humanity at the time. This is the largest loss of life in human history. -Remember that the people in the New World had no natural immunities to these European diseases.

What were the major patterns of Native American Life in North America before Europeans arrived.?

-Ancestors of Native Americans arrived in the Americas between 15,000 and 40,000 years ago. -Arrived via Bering Land Bridge -Other evidence shows people arrived by Sea from Asia. -Agriculture developed in Mexico and the Andes. This agriculture is centered around maize, squash, and beans. -Agriculture spread northward to American southwest and beyond. -This American agricultural revolution developed completely independently from the one in Mesopotamia. -Native Americans developed diverse societies that adapted to their environments. -In Northeast, Mississippi River Valley, and Atlantic Seaboard: There were mixed agricultural and hunter-gatherer societies. They favored living in permanent settlements. Created complex political arrangements that were designed to limit conflict. -Iroquois Great League of Peace or Iroquois Confederacy. -Throughout the Great Plains there were mobile hunter-gatherer societies. -On the Pacific Coast there were permanent fishing communities. -In the Southwest there were adaptive desert farmers like the Pueblo.

What compelled European explorers to look west across the Atlantic?

-Europeans wanted to acquire luxury goods from places outside of Europe. Ex: Spices, tea, sugar,tea, coffee, and more. -Europeans wanted elimination of Islamic middlemen along traditional Eurasian trade routes. -Economic and military competition between rival European nations. -European expansion is around the same time as the Protestant Reformation. -Catholicism trying to expand influence, other Christian religions are trying to do the same thing. -Improvement in maritime technology (better ships, compass, etc.) All aided European exploration.

What were the chief features of Spanish Empire in America?

-Was urban, had a centralized government, complex bureaucracy. -The Spanish were able to build it quickly because they built on top of an already existing Mesoamerican institutions of governance and bureaucracy. -Created strict racial class system. Result of the development of diverse populations. -Spanish tried to convert and "civilize" Native Americans by using enslavement. -Encomienda system allowed Spanish landlords to force labor and tribute payments from natives was brutal and dramatically exacerbated population decline. -Used violence to spread Christianity. Particularly on the Pueblo. Lead to the Pueblo Revolt. This rebellion overthrows the Spanish in the American Southwest. Drived them out for decades.

Bartolome de Las Casas

A Catholic missionary who renounced the Spanish practice of coercively converting Indians and advocated the better treatment for them. In 1552, he wrote "A Brief Relation of the Destruction of the Indies", which described the Spanish's cruel treatment of the Indians.

Encomienda System

A labor system instituted by the Spanish crown in the American colonies. In this system, a Spanish encomendero was granted a number of native laborers who would pay tributes to him in exchange for his protection.

Great League of Peace/Iroquois Confederacy

An alliance of the Iroquois tribes, originally formed between 1450 and 1600. Used their combined strength to pressure Europeans to work with them in the fur trade and to wage war across what is today eastern North America.

Black Legend

Idea that the Spanish New World empire was more oppressive toward the Indians than other European empires; was used as a justification for English imperial expansion.

Indentured Servants

Settlers who signed on for a temporary period of servitude to a master in exchange for passage to the New World; Virginia and Pennsylvania were largely peopled in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by English and German indentured servants.

Pueblo Revolt (Pope's Rebellion)

Uprising in 1680 in which Pueblo Indians temporarily drove Spanish colonists out of modern day New Mexico.