APUSH Unit 1

• Before the Europeans arrived, native American peoples organized themselves into diverse cultures depending on where they live
• Native Americans did not all live the same way - some lived in fishing villages, others were nomadic hunters and gatherers, some settled down and farmed, and others lived in large city-based empires
• Central and South American civilizations

  • Boasted large urban centers
  • Had complex political systems
  • Had well-formed religions
• Central and South American civilizations

  • Aztecs (Mexica)
  • Maya
  • Inca
• Maize


  A nutritious corn-like crop that spread north and supported economic development, settlement, irrigation, and social diversification
• Native peoples of North America

  • Pueblo people (New Mexico, Arizona)
  • Nomadic hunter-gatherers of the Great Plains and Great Basin
  • Fishing villages of the Pacific Northwest
  • Chumash people (California coast)
  • Hopewell people (Mississippi River Valley)
  • Cahokia people (Mississippi River Valley)
  • Iroquois (Northeast)
• The Pueblo people were a sedentary population who farmed maize and other crops, and built adobe and masonry homes
• The nomadic hunter-gatherers of the Great Plains and Great Basin needed a lot of land due to the aridity of the region
• The Pacific Northwest peoples lived in fishing villages and relied on elk, using cedar trees to build large plank houses
• The Chumash people of California were hunters and gatherers who lived in permanent settlements
• The Hopewell people lived in towns of 4,000-6,000 people and traded extensively with other regions
• The Cahokia people had the largest settlement in the Mississippi River Valley, with 10,000-30,000 people, and were led by powerful chieftains who engaged in extensive trade networks
• The Iroquois lived in villages where they grew crops like maize, squash and beans, and lived in longhouses with 30-50 family members
• Reasons for European exploration of the Americas

  • Population rebound after Black Plague
  • Political unification and centralized governments
  • Wealthy upper class wanting luxury goods from Asia
• Land-based trade routes controlled by Muslims


  Prevented Europeans from establishing exchange of goods with Asia on their own terms
• Water-based route to Asia


  Goal for European exploration
• Portugal's exploration efforts


  • Prince Henry the Navigator
  • Established trading post empire along African coast
  • Dominated Indian Ocean trade
  • Used caravels, maritime charts, astrolabe, sternpost rudder
• Portugal's profitable trade


  Motivated Spain to also explore
• Spain's exploration efforts


  • Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand
  • Spread Christianity as additional motive
• Christopher Columbus


  Italian sailor who sought Spanish sponsorship to find western route to Asia
• Columbus landed in the Caribbean, not Asia, and called the inhabitants "Indians"</b>
• Columbus returned to Spain with gold jewelry and enslaved natives, sparking more Spanish exploration of the Caribbean and South America
• Columbus's voyage set off the "Columbian Exchange" which would drastically change the world
• Colombian exchange


  The transfer of food, animals, minerals, people, and diseases between Africa, Europe, and the Americas
• The Colombian exchange fundamentally transformed the societies, economies, and environments of Africa, Europe, and the Americas
• Transfer of disease in the Colombian exchange

  1. Spanish conquistadors brought deadly diseases like smallpox

  2. Native populations had no immunity

  3. Resulted in massive population declines
• Foods transferred in the Colombian exchange

  • Maize
  • Tomatoes
  • Potatoes
  • Cacao
  • Tobacco
  • Rice
  • Wheat
  • Soybeans
  • Rye
  • Oats
  • Lemons
  • Oranges
• Animals transferred in the Colombian exchange

  • Horses
  • Pigs
  • Cattle
  • Chickens
• Horses and cattle transformed the diet and farming/warfare of native Americans
• Spanish plundered gold and silver from the Incan and Aztec empires, making Spain wealthy beyond belief
• Influx of wealth from the Americas

  Hastened the end of feudalism and the rise of capitalism in Europe
• Enslaved Africans were captured and transported to the Americas in the Colombian exchange
• Spanish colonization was driven by mercantilist economic policies, while later colonizing nations used joint-stock companies to fund exploration
• The selling of people into slavery had a long history in Africa long before the period of European involvement
• Slaves in Africa had some legal rights and their bondage was not a permanent situation and was almost never an inheritable bondage
• During the period of European involvement, Europeans began establishing forts along the African coast and traded goods, especially guns, for enslaved people
• The Europeans faced enslaved Africans who had strange customs and spoke strange languages, but they looked like human beings, which made it morally unjustifiable to enslave them
• Europeans adopted thought systems that proved the inferiority of the black people and helped them justify purchasing them as enslaved labor, including the biblical story of Noah's curse on Ham's son Canaan
• The Spanish brought enslaved Africans to the Americas in increasing numbers to solve a labor problem, as native Americans made very bad slaves
• Encomienda system of labor

  1. Leading men called encomenderos were granted a portion of land and all the natives who lived on that land became the coerced labor force

  2. This was justified on religious grounds, as the Spanish monarchs had the authority to claim lands and convert the natives, and if they resisted, they could be subjugated or killed