APUSH- CH.

1: (33,000 BC- AD 1769)

-several billions of years- Earth born 6000 years- recorded history of western world 500 years-
European explorers to Americas

-geography: 350 million years- Appalachians 225 million years ago- Pangaea supercontinent 135-25
million years- Rockies, Sierra Nevadas, Cascades, Coastal Range 10 million years- basic geo shape of N.
America formed 2 million years- Great Ice Age (eventually formed Great Lakes and Lake Bonneville
(when drained, left salty Great Salt Lake))

-during Ice Age (35,000 years ago)- glaciers lowered sea level revealed land bridge connected Eurasia
and N. America (now the Bering Sea b/n Siberia and Alaska)  nomadic Asian hunters wandered over
hunting—for 250 centuries, they peopled the Amercias

-end of Ice Age (10,000 years ago)- glaciers melted and raised sea level, barring the land bridge

-1492- Europeans arrived in Americas. 72 million people already inhabited Americas

-Natives Characteristics: tribes…some sophisticated civilizations (Incas Peru, Mayans C. America, Aztecs
Mexico) mainly due to advanced agricultural practices with maize (corn cultivation especially in Mexico
and S. America) corn cultivation reached USA southwest in 1200 BC with Pueblo (village) culture
(irrigation systems)

-women grew crops and men hunted—accounted for slightly matriarchal cultures

-empires in S. America, but not really any in N. America (except Aztecs in Mexico) lead to easy
capture-ability by Europeans

-“three sister” farming- beans, squash, and maize all together—accounted for populations of Creek,
Choctaw, and Cherokee

-Discovery: 1000BC- Scandinavian Norse seamen found and named tip of NA “Vinland”

ASIA-Christian Crusaders- discovered exotic Asia while trying to take Holy Land from Muslim control
(luxury goods)  PROBLEMS- expensive, long distance transportation, middlemen fee made goods
exceedingly rare (2 choices- less expensive route to Asia or develop alt. sources of supply) Marco Polo
(1295) told tales of China

AFRICA- initially very difficult to pass northern winds and south currents on W. Africa, but (1450)
Portuguese overcame problem with the caravel ship riches of sub-Sahara- Mali

Africa provided 2 things: slaves and gold Portugeuse set up trade ports and created sugar plantations
(modern plantation system born) later, Spain came too. (15th century 2nd half- 40,000 Africans taken to
Atlantic sugar islands)

-Portuguese traveled a lot—completely monopolized the African coast and water route to Asia. Spain
united (Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile) and looked westward to beat Portuguese.
Requirements:

-Europeans wanted more cheap goods Africa provided cheap slave labor Portuguese proved long-
range ocean navigation feasibility Spain was growing a powerful state Renaissance and printing
presses (1450)

-Columbus (Italian seafarer worked for Spain with 3 ships)- 1492- wanted a new route to Indies and
went westward instead—discovered Bahamas (land bridge)—saw new continents

-world economy: Europe-capital, market, and technology. Africa- labor. New World- raw materials.

When They Came:

-Introduced many invasive species, but also horses and sugar (plantations later on), germs of (smallpox,
yellow fever, malaria)

-Natives (3/5 of food introduced from the Americas) provided maize, manioc, sweet potatoes…fed the
African pop. Boom that offset losses from slave trade…only lethal disease is STD, syphilis

Spanish Conquistadores:

-Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)- Spain & Portugal splid the lands of NW. Spain got most of Americas, but
Portugal is compensated with territory in Africa, Asia, and Brazil

-1500s-Spanish dominant explorers and conquerors- 1) Vasco Balboa-Pacific Ocean (1513), 2) Ferdinand
Magellan (1519) circumnavigated the world, 3) Juan Ponce de Leon (1513, 1521) Florida for gold and
fountain of youth, 4) Francisco Coronado (1540-1542) discovered Grand Canyon of Colorado Riv. And
herds of buffalo/bison, 5) Hernando de Soto (1539-1542) Florida to Mississippi, 6) Francisco Pizaro
(1532) crushed Incas in Peru

-conquest of Mexico- Hernan Cortes (1519) left Cuba to Mexico…with superior weaponry and two
interpreters (Malinche)—hoodwinked Montezuma and invaded the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan—
important note: he intermarried two cultures and created a culture of mestizos

-Spanish firmly rooted by 1551…other European countries are approaching…English- Giovanni Caboto
(John Cabot-1497, 1498) at NE coast of NA….French- Giovanni de Verrazano (1524) eastern sea board,
Jacques Cartier (1534) to St. Lawrence Riv.

-Spanish began fortifying by being cruel to Indians and converting them to Roman Catholic…some
rebelled (in New Mexico, Santa Fe—built a religious temple)….no trouble in California(west) though,
Juan Cabrillo didn’t discovery SF bay (1542), Spanish missionaries by Father Junipero Serra (1769)- San
Diego mission (1st of 21)

-“Black Legend”- Spanish misdeeds lead to the belief that the conquerors were horrible

Differences b/n Spanish and Anglo-Saxons: -Spanish created empires, endured longer, and fused
cultures…English not empire-builders, isolated and shunned the Indians instead