Social Studies Ch 15 Test

New france

French claims in Canada - which the French called New France - quietly grew while French rulers were distracted by wars at home in Europe. Wealthy landlords bought huge tracts, or areas of land, along the St. Lawrence River. They sought settlers to farm the land, but the harsh Canadian climate, with its long winters, attracted few French peasants. Many who went to New France soon abandoned farming in favor of the more profitable fur trapping and trading. They faced a hard life in the wilderness, but the soaring European demand for fur ensured good prices. Fishing was another industry that supported settlers, who exported cod and other fish to Europe.

Audiencias

Lesser officials and audiencias or advisory councils of Spanish settlers, helped the viceroy rule.

Viceroys

The king also appointed viceroys, or representatives who ruled in his name, in each province.

Pilgrims

These English settlers who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts were Pilgrims, or English Protestants who rejected the Church of England. They sought religious freedom rather than commercial profit.

Effects of the slave trade

1. On the European nations The slave trade brought enormous wealth to merchants and traders, and provided the labor that helped profitable colonial economies grow. 2. On the Africans Yet the impact on Africans was devastating. African states and societies were torn apart. The lives of individual Africans were either cut short or forever brutalized. Historians still debate the number of Africans who were directly involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In the 1500s, they estimate about 2,000 enslaved Africans were sent to the Americas each year. In the 1780s, when the slave trade was at its peak, that number approached 80,000 a year. By the mid-1800s, when the overseas slave trade was finally stopped, an estimated 11 million enslaved Africans had reached the Americas. Another 2 million probably died under the brutal conditions of the Middle Passage between Africa and the Americas.

English colonies grow

1. Why did people settle in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Maryland? Some, like Virginia and New York, were commercial ventures, organized for profit. Others, like Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, were set up as havens for persecuted religious groups. Still others, like Georgia and South Carolina, were gifts from English kings to loyal supporters. 2. When they were first established, what was the main struggle? Settlers in all of the colonies spent the early years just struggling to survive. They quickly abandoned dreams of finding riches like the Spanish gold and silver. However, over time they learned to create wealth by using the resources native to their surroundings. 3. How did colonies in New England, the Mid-Atlantic (middle colonies) states, and South create wealth? In New England, prosperous fishing, timber, and shipbuilding industries grew. In the middle colonies, farmers grew huge quantities of grain on the abundant land. In the South, colonists found that cash crops such as rice and tobacco grew well in the warm climate.

Bartolomé de las casas & new laws of the Indies

A few bold priests, like Bartolome de Las Casas, condemned the evils of the encomienda system. In vivid reports to Spain, Las Casas detailed the horrors that Spanish rule had brought to Native Americans and pleaded with the king to end the abuse. Prodded by Las Casas, Spain passed the New Laws of the Indies in 1542. The laws forbade enslavement and abuse of Native Americans, but Spain was too far away to enforce them. Bringing Workers From Africa - To fill the labor shortage, Las Casa urged colonists to import workers from Africa, believing they were to tropical disease and had skills in farming, mining, and metal working. He later regretted the advice because it furthered the brutal African slave trade.

Treaty of tordesillas

A large area of South America remained outside of the Spanish empire. By the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, Portugal claimed its empire in the east, Brazil.

Hernán cortés

Among the earliest conquistadors was Hernán Cortés. Cortés, a landowner in Cuba, heard of Spanish expeditions that had been repelled by Indians. He believed that he could succeed where none had before. In 1519, he landed on the coast of Mexico with about 600 men, 16 horses, and a few cannons. He learned that the Aztecs had gained power by taking over other groups and the groups did not like the Aztecs.

Tupian indians

As in the Spanish empire, the Native Americans who lived in Brazil - the Tupian Indians - had been largely wiped out by disease. In the 1530s, Portugal began to issue grants of land to Portuguese nobles, who agreed to develop the land and share profits with the crown. Landowners sent settlers to build towns, plantations, and churches. Unlike Spain's American colonies, Brazil offered ni instant wealth from silver or gold. However, early settlers cut and explored brazilwood. The Portuguese named the colony after this wood, which was used to produce a valuable dye. Soon they turned to plantation agriculture and raising cattle. Like the Spanish, the Portuguese forced Indians and Africans to clear the land for plantations. As in Spanish America, a new culture emerged in Brazil that blended European, Native American, and African elements.

Encomienda system

At first, Spanish monarchs granted the conquistadors encomiendas, the right to demand labor or tribute from Native Americans in a particular area. The conquistadors used this system to force Native Americans to work under the most brutal conditions. Those who resisted were hunted down and killed. Disease, starvation, and cruel treatment caused drastic declines in the Native American population. The encomienda system was used in the mines as well as on plantations. By the 1540s, tons of silver from the Potosi region of Peru and Bolivia filled Spanish treasure ships. Year after year, thousands of Native Americans were forced to extract the rich ore from dangerous shafts deep inside the Andes Mountains.

Mayflower compact

Before coming ashore, they signed the Mayflower Compact, in which they set out guidelines for governing their North American colony. A compact is an agreement among people. Today, we see this document as an important early step toward self-government.

Spanish empire (geography)

By the mid-1500s, Spain claimed a vast empire stretching from California to South America. In time, it divided these lands into four provinces, including New Spain (Mexico) and Peru.

Conquistadors

Columbus's encounter was repeated by a wave of Spanish conquistadors, or conquerors, who soon arrived in the Americas. Throughout the region, the conquistadors seized the Native Americans' gold ornaments and then made them pan for more gold. At the same time, the Spanish forced the Native Americans to convert to Christianity. Although the Spanish conquistadors only numbered in the hundreds as compared to millions of Native Americans, they had many advantages. Their guns and cannons were superior to the Native Americans' arrows and spears, and European metal armor provided them with better protection. They also had horses, which not only were useful in battle and in carrying supplies, but also frightened Native Americans, who had never seen a horse.

Malinche

Cortés began an inland trek toward Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire. A young Indian woman named Malinche, called Dona Marina by the Spanish, served as his translator and advisor. Malinche knew both the Maya and Aztec languages, and she learned Spanish quickly. Malinche told Cortés that the Aztecs had gained power by conquering other groups of people. The Aztecs sacrificed thousands of their captives to the Aztec gods each year. Many conquered peoples hated their Aztec overlords, so Malinche helped Cortés arrange alliances with them. They agreed to help Cortés fight the Aztecs.

Francisco pizarro

Cortés's success inspired other adventurers, among them Spaniard Francisco Pizarro. Pizarro was interested in Peru's Inca empire, which was reputed to have even more riches than the Aztecs.

Floating coffins

Disease was the biggest threat to the lives of the captives and the profit of the merchants. Of the slaves who died, most died of dysentery. Many died of smallpox. Many other died from apparently no disease at all. Whatever the cause, slave ships became "floating coffins" on which up to half the Africans on board died from disease or brutal mistreatment. Some enslaved Africans resisted, and others tried to seize control of the ship and return to Africa. Suicide, however, was more common than mutiny. Many Africans believed that in death they would be returned to their home countries. So they hanged themselves, starved themselves, or leapt overboard.

French and indian war

During the 1700s, Britain and France emerged as powerful rivals. They clashed in Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia. In North America, war between the two powers erupted in 1754. Called the French and Indian War, it raged until 1763. It also turned into a worldwide struggle known as the Seven Years' War, which spread to Europe in 1756 and then to India and Africa. During the war, British soldiers and colonial troops launched a series of campaigns against the French in Canada and on the Ohio frontier. At first, France won several victories. Then, in 1759, British troops launched an attack on Quebec, the capital of New France. The British scaled steep cliffs along the river and captured the city. Although the war dragged on until 1763, the British had prevailed in Canada.

Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs, or people who take on financial risk to make profits, were key to the success of capitalism. Entrepreneurs organized, managed, and assumed the risks of doing business. They hired workers and paid for raw materials, transport, and other costs of production. As trade increased, entrepreneurs sought to expand into overseas ventures. Capitalists, because their resources, were more willing to take risks. Thus, the price revolution of the early modern age gave a boost to Capitalism. Entrepreneurs and capitalists made up a new business class devoted to the goal of making profits. Together, they helped change local European economies into an international trading system.

Mercantilism

European monarchs enjoyed the benefits of the commercial revolution. In the fierce competition for trade and empire, they adopted a new economic policy, known as mercantilism, aimed at strengthening their national economies. Mercantilists believed that a nation's real wealth was measured in its gold and silver treasure. To build its supply of gold and silver, they said, a nation must export more goods than it imported. To mercantilists, overseas colonies existed for the benefit of the parent country. They provided resources and raw materials not available in Europe. In turn, they enriched a parent country by serving as a market for its manufactured goods. To achieve these goals, European powers passed strict laws regulating trade with their colonies. Colonists could not set up their own industries to manufacture goods. They were also forbidden to buy goods from a foreign country. In addition, only ships from the parent country or the colonies themselves could be used to send goods in or out of colonies.

Capitalism

Expanded trade, an increased money supply, and the push for overseas empires spurred the growth of European capitalism, or an economic system in which most businesses are owned privately. (Business owner just cares about making money and their business, not other businesses.)

Tariffs

Governments also sold monopolies to large producers in certain industries as well as to big overseas trading companies. Finally, they imposed tariffs, or taxes on imported goods. Tariffs were designed to protect local industries from foreign competition by increasing the price of imported goods. All of these measures led to the rise of national economies, in which national governments had a lot of control over their economies. However, modern economists debate whether mercantilist measures actually made nations wealthier.

Jacques cartier

In 1534, Jacques Cartier began exploring the coastline of eastern Canada, eventually discovering the St. Lawrence River. Traveling inland on the river, he claimed much of present - day eastern Canada for France. Jesuits and other missionaries soon followed the explorers. They advanced into the wilderness, trying with little success to convert the Native Americans they met to Christianity.

Plymouth, massachusetts

In 1620, another group of English settlers landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Many Pilgrims died in the early years of the Plymouth colony. Local Native Americans, however, taught them to grow corn and helped them survive in the new land. Soon, a new wave of English Protestant immigrants arrived to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Privateers

In the 1500s, the wealth of the Americas helped make Spain the most powerful country in Europe, with Portugal not far behind. The jealous English and Dutch shared the resentment that French king Francis I felt when he declared, "I should like to see Adam's will, wherein he divided the Earth between Spain and Portugal." To get around those countries' strict control over colonial trade, smugglers traded illegally with Portuguese and Spanish colonists. In the Caribbean and elsewhere, Dutch, English, and French pirates preyed on treasure ships from the Americas. Some pirates, called privateers, even operated with the approval of European governments. Other European explorers continued to sail the coasts of the Americas, hunting for gold and other treasure, as well as a northwest passage to Asia.

Jamestown, virginia

In the 1600s, England concentrated on establishing colonies along the Atlantic seaboard - the coast of the present-day eastern United States. The English built their first permanent colony at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Although the colony was meant to bring wealth and profit, in the early years of the colony many settlers died of starvation and disease. The rest survived with the help of friendly Native Americans. The colony finally made headway when the settlers started to grow and export tobacco, a plant that had been cultivated by Native Americans for thousands of years.

King louis XIV

In the late 1600s, the French king Louis XIV set out to strengthen royal power and boost revenues, or income, from taxes from his overseas empire. He appointed officials to oversee economic activities in New France, He also sent soldiers and more settlers - including women - to North America. Louis, however, who was Catholic, prohibited Protestants from settling in New France. By the early 1700s, French forts, missions, and trading posts stretched from Quebec to Louisiana, and the population was growing. Yet the population of New France remained small compared to that of the English colonies that were expanding along the Atlantic coast.

Peons

Many Native Americans were forced to become peons, workers forced to labor for a landlord in order to pay off a debt. Landlords advanced them foods, tools, or seeds, creating debts that workers could never pay off in their lifetime.

Moctezuma

Meanwhile, messengers brought word about the Spanish to the Aztec emperor Moctezuma. Because Moctezuma did not know for sure if Cortés was a god, he did not know how to respond to the news. He sent gifts of turquoise, feathers, and other goods with religious importance, but urged the strangers not to continue to Tenochtitlan. Cortés, however, had no intention of turning back. He was not interested in the Aztec religious objects, but was extremely interested in the gold and silver ornament that Moctezuma began sending him. Cortés became more determined than ever to reach Tenochtitlan. At last, the Spanish arrived in Tenochtitlan, where they were dazzled by the grandeur of the city. Moctezuma welcomed Cortés to his capital. However, relations between the Aztecs and Spaniards soon grew strained. The Spanish scorned the Aztecs' religion and sought to convert them to Christianity. At the same time, as they remained in the city, they saw more of the Aztec treasure. They decided to imprison Moctezuma so they could gain control of the Aztecs and their riches. Cortés compelled Moctezuma to sign over his land and treasure to the Spanish. In the meantime, a new force of Spanish conquistadors had arrived on the coast to challenge Cortés. More than half of the Spanish were killed in the fighting, as was Moctezuma. Cortés retreated to plan an assault. In 1521, in a brutal struggle, Cortés and his Indian allies captured and demolished Tenochtitlan.

Immunity

Most importantly, an invisible invader - disease - helped the conquistadors take control of the Tainos and other Native Americans. Europeans unknowingly carried diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza to which Native Americans had no immunity, or resistance. As a result, the Native American population of the Caribbean islands declined by as much as 90 percent in the 1500s. Millions of Native Americans died from disease as Europeans made their way inland.

Commodities

On the final leg, merchants carried sugar, molasses, cotton, and other American goods such as urs, salt fish, and rum made from molasses. These goods were shipped to Europe, where they were traded at a profit for the European COMMODITIES that merchants needed to return to Africa.

Middle passage

On the second leg, known as the Middle Passage, the slaves were transported to the Americas. There, the enslaved Africans were exchanged for sugar, molasses, and other products manufactured at plantations owned by Europeans.

Mutinies

Once purchased, Africans were packed below the decks of slave ships, usually in chains. The ships faced many perils, including storms at sea, raids by pirate ships, and mutinies, or revolts, by the captives. However, the biggest threat to the slaves was disease.

Atahualpa and civil war

Pizarro arrived in Peru in 1532, just after the Incan ruler Atahualpa had won the throne from his brother in a bloody civil war. A civil war is fought between two groups of people in the same nation. Atahualpa refused to become a Spanish vassal or convert to Christianity. In response, Pizarro, aided by Indian allies, captured him and slaughtered thousands of Inca. The Spanish demanded a huge ransom for the ruler. The Inca paid it, but the Spanish killed Atahualpa anyway. Despite continuing resistance, Pizarro and his followers overran the Incan heartland. He had superior weapons, and the Inca were weakened by European disease. From Peru, Spanish forces surged across Ecuador and Chile. Before long, Spain had added much of South America to its growing empire. Pizarro himself was killed by a rival Spanish faction a few years after he established the city of Lima.

Quetzalcoatl

Terrified, he wondered if the leader of the pale-skinned, bearded strangers might be Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec god-king who had long ago vowed to return from the east.

Council of the indies

Spain was determined to maintain strict control over its empire. To achieve this goal, the kin set up the Council of the Indies to pass laws for the colonies. The Council of the Indies in Spain closely monitored these colonial officials (Viceroys & Audiencias) to make sure they did not assume too much authority.

Spanish social classes

Spanish colonial society was made up of distinct social classes. Lower social groups reflected the mixing of populations. (Native Americans and people of African descent formed the lowest social classes.) 1. Peninsulares - At the top were peninsulares, people born in Spain. Peninsulares filled the highest positions in both colonial governments and the Catholic Church. 2. Creoles - Next came creoles, American - born descendants of Spanish settlers. Creoles owned most of the plantations, ranches, and mines. 3. Mestizos - People of Native American and European descent. 4. Mulattoes - People of African and European descent.

Treaty of paris

The 1763, Treaty of Paris officially ended the worldwide war and ensured British dominance in North America. France was forced to cede Canada and its lands east of the Mississippi River to Britain. It handed the Louisiana Territory over to Spain. However, France regained the rich sugar-producing islands in the Caribbean and the slave-trading outposts in Africa that the British had seized during war.

Triangular trade route

The Atlantic slave trade formed one part of a three-legged international trade network known as triangular trade. This was a triangle-shaped series of Atlantic trade routes linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Triangular trade worked in the following way. On the first leg, merchant ships brought European goods -including guns, cloth, and cash- to Africa. In Arica, the merchants traded these goods for slaves.

Spreading christianity

The Catholic Church worked with the government to convert Native Americans to Christianity. Church leaders often served as royal officials and helped to regulate the activities of Spanish settlers. As Spain's American empire expanded, Church authority expanded along with it. Franciscans, Jesuits, and other missionaries baptized thousands of Native Americans. They built mission churches and worked to turn new converts into loyal subjects of the Catholic king of Spain. They also introduced European clothing, the Spanish language, and new crafts such as carpentry and locksmithing. Where they could, the Spanish missionaries forcibly imposed European culture over Native American culture.

The effects of the spanish conquistadors

The Spanish conquistadors accomplished a major victory in the Americas. Within a few decades, a few hundred European soldiers - helped by superior weapons, horses, and especially disease - had conquered millions of Native Americans. In the 1500s and early 1600s, treasure fleets sailed each year to Spain or the Spanish Philippines loaded with gold or silver. With this wealth, Spain became Europe's greatest power. The effect on Native Americans, however, was quite different. Some Native Americans believed that the disasters they suffered marked the world's end. As tens of thousands of Indians died, some of the bewildered and demoralized survivors felt that their gods were less powerful than the god of their conquerors. They therefore stopped resisting. Yet many Indians continued to resist the Spanish in any way they could. For centuries, the Maya fought Spanish rule in Mexico and Central America. Long after the death of Atahualpa, revolts erupted among the Inca. And throughout the Americas, Indians resisted European influences by preserving aspects of their own culture, including language, religious traditions, and clothing. In time, Native American culture came to influence the culture of Latin America. By establishing an empire in the Americas, Spain dramatically changed the pattern of global encounter set in motion with the first European exploration of Africa. For the first time, much of the world was now connected by sea routes, on which traveled ships carrying goods, people, and ideas.

Inflation

The opening of direct links with Asia, Africa, and the Americas had far reaching economic consequences for Europeans and their colonies. In the 1500s, prices began to rise in many parts of Europe. At the same time, there was much more money in circulation. A rise in prices that is linked to a sharp increase in the amount of money available is called inflation. Inflation was fueled by the enormous amount of silver and gold flowing into Europe from the Americas by the mid-1500s.

Price revolution

The period in European history when inflation rose rapidly is known as the price revolution.

Samuel de champlain

The population of New France grew slowly. The first permanent French settlement was not established until 1608, when Samuel de Champlain established a colony in Quebec.

Hispanola

They (Columbus and his men) first settled on the island of Hispaniola, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.

Controlling trade

To make the empire profitable, Spain closely controlled its economic activities, especially trade. The most valuable resources shipped from Spanish America to Spain were silver and gold. Colonists could export raw materials only to Spain and could buy only Spanish manufactured goods. Laws forbade colonists from trading with other European nations or even with other Spanish colonies. When sugarcane was introduced into the West Indies and elsewhere, it quickly became a profitable resource. The cane was refined into sugar, molasses, and rum. Sugar cane, however, had to be grown on plantations, large estates run by an owner or the owner's overseer. And plantations needed large numbers of workers to be profitable.

Tainos

When Columbus first arrived in the West Indies, he encountered the Taino people. The Tainos lived in villages and grew corn, yams, and cotton, which they wove into cloth. They were friendly and open to the Spanish. Columbus noted that they were "generous with what they have, to such a degree as no one would believe but he who had seen it." However, relationships went on to become sour. The Tainos offended the Spanish when out of ignorance they failed to pay proper respect to Christian symbols.Columbus's actions showed that he felt himself superior to the Tainos and could therefore decide their fate. He claimed their land for Spain, and then took several Tainos as prisoners to take back to the Spanish king.

The columbian exchange

When Columbus returned to Spain in March 1493, he brought with him plants and animals that he had found in the Americas. Later that year, Columbus returned to the Americas with some 1,200 settlers and a collection of European animals and plants. In this way, Columbus began a vast global exchange that would profoundly affect the world. Because this exchange began with Columbus, we call it the Columbian Exchange.