Early Exploration of Early Exploration of North AmericaNorth America

30,000 BC – 1600

Geography of the New WorldGeography of the New WorldNew World = Atlantic SeaboardNew World = Atlantic SeaboardGeographyGeography

–RiversRivers

–HarborsHarbors

–MountainsMountains

–ValleysValleys

NEW WORLD

OLD WORLD

ClimateClimate–almost identical to Europe’salmost identical to Europe’s

ResourcesResources–SoilSoil

–MineralsMinerals

–TimberTimber

Native Americans & The New World

Approximately 50-100 million natives in New World circa 1500– ~ 4-10 million Native Americans

in North America in 1492

Developed civilizations–Incan, Aztec, Mayan

–Based in corn/maize agriculture

–North American tribes were less developed

Eve of European arrival:–numerous scattered tribes with

different languages, culture, economies, etc.

–discouraged unity against common enemy

Populated Area = “moral decision”

European movement

Different from Europeans:–Socially

–Religiously

–Warfare

Cultural differences made conflict inevitable

Results:–By 1600, nearly 90% of Native

American population wiped out

A Map of the Known World,

pre- 1492

A Map of the Known World,

pre- 1492

Reasons for ExplorationCrusades (11th-14th Centuries)

–New culture, ideas, & goods

Renaissance (14th-15th Centuries)–rebirth of learning

–“Man is the measure of things.”

Rise of Nation-States–Political unification and the rise of

absolute monarchs

–Ferdinand & Isabella, Tudors, Valois

–Created strong feelings of Nationalism

Trade–Marco Polo (1271-1295)

–Italian spice monopoly

–fall of Constantinople

–eliminate the middle man

–new route needed to India

15th century trade routes

European trade routes

Reformation & Counter-Reformation–competition to spread religious

beliefs

Spanish Reconquista–excess soldiers in Spain

–restless class of adventurers left

Technological Advances–Printing Press, Caravel,

Astrolabe, Quadrant, Compass, Portolano, Lateen Sail

Quickwrite:

How should European discovery of the New World be viewed today – triumphant, genocidal, or something else?

Early ExplorationVikings

–Leif Erikson establish colonies of Vinland in Nova Scotia - c. 1000 A.D.

Irish? Japanese?Mali?

Portugal Leads the Way

Prince Henry the Navigator (1425)–School for Navigators

African Trading Posts–Plantation slavery is established

in Africa by the Portuguese (~1441)

Bartholomew Dias (1488) – reached tip of Africa

Vasco da Gama (1498) – sailed around tip to India

Pedro Cabral (1500) – Brazil

Spain and GloryChristopher Columbus

- Genovese sailorConvinces Queen

Isabella of Spain to try western route to Cathay and spices

Columbus lands at San Salvador in 1492 - claims all land for Spain

Made four voyages total Completely wipes out Arawok

tribe while gathering gold Died thinking he reached Asia

An Equitable SettlementPope tries to prevent fighting

over new lands 1493 – Line of Demarcation 1494 – Treaty of Tordisillas

–Portugal gets Africa and Brazil

–Spain gets rest of New World

–Ignored by England & France

Ferdinand Magellan & the Ferdinand Magellan & the First Circumnavigation of First Circumnavigation of

the Worldthe World

Ferdinand Magellan & the Ferdinand Magellan & the First Circumnavigation of First Circumnavigation of

the Worldthe World

Spanish Explorers and Conquistadores

Spanish seek The 3 G’s–“Gold, Glory, & God”

Amerigo Vespucci (1499) – “America”

Vasco Balboa (1513) – Pacific Ocean Ferdinand Magellan (1519-22) –

circumnavigates globe

Hernan Cortes (1519-21) – destroys the Aztec Empire & ignites Gold Rush

Francisco Pizarro (1532) – defeats the Incan Empire in Peru

Treasures from the Americas

Cabeza de Vaca (1527) – explores the Gulf Coast

Ponces de Leon (1573) – explores Florida

Francisco Coronado (1540-42) – explores the desert southwest

Hernando de Soto (1541) – explores the South and crosses the Mississippi

Spanish Explorer Routes

Spanish empire by the 1600’s

consisted of the part of North

AmericaCentral America

Caribbean Islands Much of South

America.

Spanish Colonization

Motives: “Gold, Glory, God”Rigid control from Madrid

–no self rule

Encomiendas System –large feudal estates

–brutal Native American slavery

The Colonial Class The Colonial Class SystemSystem

The Colonial Class The Colonial Class SystemSystem

PeninsularesPeninsularesSpanish Spanish

ancestoryancestory

PeninsularesPeninsularesSpanish Spanish

ancestoryancestoryCreolesCreolesSpanish Spanish

and Black and Black mixture.mixture.

CreolesCreolesSpanish Spanish

and Black and Black mixture.mixture.

MestizosMestizosSpanish Spanish

and and Indian Indian

mixturemixture

MestizosMestizosSpanish Spanish

and and Indian Indian

mixturemixture

MulattosMulattosWhite White

American American and Black and Black mixturemixture

MulattosMulattosWhite White

American American and Black and Black mixturemixture

Native IndiansNative IndiansNative IndiansNative Indians Black SlavesBlack SlavesBlack SlavesBlack Slaves

Very stratified society–peninsulares, creoles, mestizos

“Black Legend”–Myth that Spanish only brought

evil to New World

St. Augustine (1565): oldest European settlement

Columbian ExchangeEurope gave the New World:

–Diseases (smallpox, influenza, cholera…)

–Horses, Cattle, Sheep–Sugar, Tea, Coffee

New World gave Europe:–Foods (corn, chocolate, potatoes)–Tobacco–Furs

* Squash * Avocado * Peppers * Sweet Potatoes* Turkey * Pumpkin * Tobacco * Quinine* Cocoa * Pineapple * Cassava * POTATO* Peanut * Tomato * Vanilla * MAIZE * Syphillis

* Olive * Coffee Beans * Banana * Rice* Onion * Turnip * Honeybee * Barley* Grape * Peach * Sugar Cane * Oats* Citrus Fruits * Pear * Wheat * HORSE* Cattle * Sheep * Pig * Smallpox* Flu * Typhus * Measles * Malaria* Diptheria * Whooping Cough

Columbian ExchangeColumbian Exchange or the transfer of goods involved 3 continents, Americas, Europe and Africa

Overview (Big Ideas) By 1600, Europe created a global economy. In 15th & 16th centuries, the cultural

differences between Europeans & Native American were so immense that conflict was inevitable. (huge human catastrophe)

Relationships between three major colonial powers & the Native Americans.

– Spain, France, & England

explorers

French ExplorationGiovanni Verrazano (1524) –

Atlantic coast & NY Harbor Jacques Cartier

(1535-36) – St. Lawrence River

Samuel Champlain (1608) – founds town of Quebec

Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet (1673) – Great Lakes and Mississippi river

Robert de La Salle (1682) – follows Mississippi River to its mouth

French Explorer Routes

French ColonizationFrench ColonizationMotives: Trade & ConversionGOOD RELATIONS WITH

NATIVE AMERICANSNo one would come!

–Fur-traders & missionaries

–No Protestants (Huguenots)

Not a high priority for Paris