UNIT 1: COLONIAL AMERICA PERIOD 1: 1491-1607 On a North American continent controlled by American Indians, contact among the peoples of Europe, the Americas and West Africa created a New World. Key Concept 1.1: Before the arrival of Europeans, native populations in North America developed a wide variety of social, political and economic structures based in part on interactions with the environment and with each other. What happened as settlers migrated and settled across the vast expanse of North America over time? Result? (pp. 1-35) - Native populations often resisted the European advances, but millions of Indians were killed through disease, war, and slavery. Land was taken by European settlers. In Spanish America, Catholicism spread quickly through missions and forced conversions.

What impact did the spread of maize cultivation have on the American southwest? (pp. 5-9) – Maize and other food crops led to large, more permanent agricultural societies with larger populations. Europeans discovered that corn was a valuabe agricultural staple because it was relatively easy to grow and very useful.

What was the impact of the lack of natural resources (pp. 6-9) – Some native peoples had difficulty farming their land and focused on hunting and gathering. A lack of natural resources also led to conflicts among Native peoples. How did the development of permanent villages in the northeast impact native tribes?(pp. 7-9) – Some tribes in the northeast were able to form some loose alliances based on language and other factors. Key Concept 1.2: European colonization resulted in the Columbian Exchange, a series of interactions and adaptations among societies across the Atlantic. This resulted in demographic and social changes on both sides of the Atlantic. What did Spanish and Portuguese exploration and conquest lead to? (pp. 10-11, 19-21)

Spread of smallpox and other diseases which decimated huge numbers of American Indians. The Spanish and Portuguese often employed violent and brutal tactics in their search for gold, silver, and other riches. This led to many conflicts between Native peoples and the Spanish and Portuguese and the deaths and subjugation of many, many Native people.

What impact did Spanish and Portuguese traders have on West Africa? (pp.21-23) Spanish and Portuguese traders dominated the slave trade, especially as demand for labor in the colonies increased. In particular, slaves were desired for growing sugar. Some African tribes participated in the slave trade in order to receive European goods, especially guns, and to weaken their African rivals.

What was the impact of new crops and livestock in the Americas? (pp.19-20) New crops (bananas, sugar) and domestic livestock (pigs, sheep, and cattle) had a huge impact on the Americas. Horses, in particular, changed the way of life in the Americas. Disease, though, had the largest impact, killing millions.

What was the encomienda system and why was it replaced by slave labor? (pp. 18, 20-21) The encomienda system gave Spanish settlers land and the ability to force local Native Americans to work on this land. Since so many Indians were dying from disease, the Spanish and Portuguese looked to African slaves to work as laborers.

European expansion into the Western Hemisphere caused intense social/religious, political, and economic competition in Europe and the promotion of empire building. What was the impact of Christianity? (pp. 15-19, 25-28, 31-32, 57-58) The Protestant reformation and the break with the Roman Catholic church created different sects and groups of Christians. Puritans sought to purify the Anglican Church. Some of these dissenter groups looked towards distant lands for some autonomy. Even in the colonies, divisions within the Puritan community helped lead to the creation of Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, for example.

What was the impact of new crop and mineral wealth? (pp. 19-21, 25-27, 40, 55-57) Although many early English settlers sought mineral wealth, most prosperity in the English colonies came from agricultural commodities. Tobacco was the key crop that made English settlements, like Jamestown, viable in North America. Sugar was the most valuable crop in the Caribbean and helped drive the strong demand for African slaves.

What was the impact of improvements in technology and better methods of international trade? (pp. 23-27, 40, 62) The enclosure movement in England repurposed land from fields for crops to pastures for sheep. This displaced many poor farm workers and led to some food shortages. The increase in wool production led to the growth of English and international trade, creating a new class of merchant capitalists. Most European settlers had the advantage of oceangoing vessels and muskets. Indians helped teach the European settlers about improved methods of agriculture in the Americas.

Key Concept 1.3: Contacts among American Indians, Africans, and Europeans challenged the world views of each group. How did European expansion and sustained contact with Africans and American Indians dramatically alter European views of social, political and economic relationships between white and nonwhite people? Some of the original European settlers respected the American Indians and their strength, but the impact of disease greatly weakened most Indian societies. This confirmed European beliefs of their superiority over the Indians. The African slave trade led to the insidious social concept of racism that seemed to justify the permanent enslavement of a race of people.

How did treatment of American Indian tribes reflect European views of their civilization? (pp. 20, 30-31, 41, 43, 47-49, 57-58) The English attempted to create a separate society away from Indian people, believing that the Indians were clearly inferior. The French and Spanish were much more likely to live among and with Native people, partly because few women or families from France and Spain emigrated to the Americas and partly because the French and Spanish settlements more often depended on cooperation from the American Indians than English settlements did.

How did the development of white superiority impact the New World? (pp. 20-21, 23, 48, 57) The Spanish developed an elaborate racial hierarchy that valued Spanish ancestry above Indian or African ancestry. The slave trade was justified by a belief in white superiority. Many Puritan settlers saw Indians as savages and godless people. Some English settlers believed that the Indians could be “civilized.” Other English settlers disagreed and sought to displace or eliminate Indian societies.

How did Native and African attempts to maintain their political and cultural autonomy fare in the face of European challenges to their independence? (pp. 12-23, 30-33, 47-50, 55-61) There was often Native resistance, but much of it was undermined by the devastation of disease and warfare. Indian people on the coasts were often the first to be subjugated to European domination, but throughout the Americas there were areas of “middle grounds” where power was shared between Europeans and Indians and where the two societies greatly influenced one another. There were also a number of brutal wars and conflicts between the groups. Africans also fought to maintain autonomy, especially in the Caribbean where there were several major slave revolts. However, slavery in the western hemisphere was often brutal and resulted in harsh control over most aspects of slaves’ lives.

What European attempts were there to change American Indian beliefs and worldviews on basic social issues? Were they successful? (pp. 16, 18-19, 20-21, 47-50, 60-61) Europeans attempted to convert Indians to Christianity. In some cases, they were successful. In some cases, Indians successfully resisted. Indians also impacted European agricultural practices. The French were usually much more successful at developing trade partnerships with Indians than the English were.

How did African slaves achieve some level cultural preservation and autonomy.? (21-23, 55-58) African slaves maintained many traditional African religious and cultural practices under slavery. Slaves sought to marry and create families and communities in even the most difficult situations. There were at least seven major slave revolts in the Caribbean. In addition, slaves resisted their owners in a variety of subtle and sometimes not subtle ways. Finally, from the first African immigrants to the western hemisphere, there was always a population of free African settlers in the Americas.

IDs:

Pueblo Indians: Native people found in the American southwest who for many years resisted Spanish encroachment on Indian land and attempts at forced conversions.

Algonquin Indians: Native people found in the American northeast who were close allies of the French and participated in the fur trade. Algonquin Indians were the historic enemy of Iroquois Indians.

Small pox: highly contagious disease brought by Europeans that killed millions of American Indians, who had not been previously exposed to this disease because most American Indians had not lived with or near domesticated animals like cattle or sheep.

Mestizo: Individuals with mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry.

Zambo: Individuals with mixed African and Indian ancestry.

Encomienda System: a land and labor distribution system that gave Spanish settlers land and the ability to force local Native Americans to work on this land.

Columbian Exchange: the trade pattern that developed between the Americas and Europe/Asia. Named after Columbus. Bananas, sugar, cattle, horses, small pox, etc., were brought to the Americas. Chocolate, tomatoes, corn, tobacco, etc., were taken to Europe and Asia.

Bartolome de Las Cases: Spanish priest who wrote about the many atrocities he witnessed the Spanish commit against the Indians.

Spanish Mission System: Series of Spanish settlements focused on converting American Indians to Catholicism. Many of these missions (San Francisco, San Diego, etc.) were key to economic and social development of the American southwest.

African Religions: Traditional African religions and practices were brought to the Western hemisphere through the African diaspora and the slave trade, often resulting in a syncretic blending with Christianity. African immigrants and slaves worked to maintain traditional religious and social practices in their new surroundings.