CHAPTER 1 THE WORLD BEFORE 1600 Big Picture

CHAPTER 1: THE WORLD BEFORE 1600 Big Picture: During the Ice Age, nomads crossed a land bridge connecting Asia and North America. Since then, people of various cultures have made America their home. Meanwhile in Europe and Africa, cultures that would one day explore the world and build colonies in the Americas were coming into contact.

CHAPTER 1 SECTION 1: THE EARLY AMERICAS Main Idea: People arrived on the American continents thousands of years ago and developed flourishing societies.

Migration to the Americas • 10, 000 years ago Asia and North America were connected by a land bridge across the Bering Strait • Small groups of nomads (people who move from place to place) crossed the bridge into North America following a hunter-gatherer way of life • Females collected nuts, berries, wild plants, and birds’ eggs • Males went on extended hunts, following herds

• As the climate warmed, the land bridge disappeared • Skillful hunters wiped out most of the huge Ice Age animals • Need for new food supplies led to the agricultural revolution; Native Americans began planting and harvesting crops, which allowed them to settle into villages • Three crops dominated: corn, beans, and squash • Men hunted seasonally and began to raise animals • This allowed populations to grow, crafts to develop, and governments to be established

Cultures of Central America and South America • Olmec: centered around the Gulf of Mexico and influenced surrounding cultures • had the first system of writing • used slash-and-burn agriculture • Maya: rose as the Olmec declined • Cities served as religious cities • Created the concept of zero • Declined but still exist today • Toltec: rose as the Mayan declined • Dominated central Mexico • were warriors, artisans, and builders

• Aztec: came to power in the 1400 s • Used canals and floating gardens to support large cities • Conquered most of their neighbors and demanded tribute payments • Most famous for their large-scale human sacrifice to their gods • Inca: rose to power in the Andes Mountains in South America • Conquered tribes along the coast and created an empire connected by roads and bridges

The Earliest Cultures of North America • Southwest • Grew crops and traded with each other • Hohokam and Anasazi built irrigation ditches and adobe buildings the Spanish later called pueblos • Declined due to drought and war • Mound Builders • Centered in eastern North American from Mississippi River to Atlantic Ocean • Lived in clans and built massive mounds (included Adena and Hopewell) and had extensive trade networks • Mississippian Culture • Also mound builders but were the most advanced culture • Introduced the agriculture hoe and built massive pyramids for rulers

Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer Chapter 1 Section 1 1. How did the first people arrive in North America? 2. What were the main effects of the agricultural revolution?

CHAPTER 1 SECTION 2: NORTH AMERICAN CULTURES IN THE 1400 S Main Idea: A variety of complex societies existed in different regions of North America before European explorers arrived in the early 1500 s.

Regional Differences Among Native Americans

Northwest Coast and California • Climate cool and rainy • Hunted game and fished in dugout canoes • Built large wooden houses Southwest • Pueblo people: governed by council of religious elders • Grew corn, beans, squash & cotton • Made pottery and baskets

Far North • Inuits: survived through hunting (not much agriculture)

Plateau and Great Basin • Little rain, few trees • Populations remained small as they foraged and hunted small game Great Plains • Best known groups (Sioux, Cheyenne) • Followed the large herds (deer, elk and buffalo)

Eastern Woodlands • Rather isolated from each other due to dense forests and mountains • Iroquois included several nations in the Northeast and built longhouses Southeast • Grew crops and built thatch-roof log cabins plastered with mud

Native American Customs Family Relations • Family was the center of society and family groups were arranged into clans • Kinship determined status, marriage and inheritance; usually matrilineal Social and Political Structures • Some had strict social classes, others were more equal • Nearly all tribes were headed by a chief and run by a council of elders

Land Use • Did not believe in ownership of land • Believed it was a gift from the Great Spirit to be used by all • Would go to war over control of hunting grounds Division of Labor • Women usually cultivated and harvested crops and men hunted • Childcare usually went to women • Women made clothes and pottery, men usually did wood and metal work

Religious Beliefs • Different from European beliefs of Christianity • All tribes had a spiritual connection to the natural world • All societies had creation myths • Animals were thought to be powerful spirits • Most tribes had shamans thought to have spiritual and healing powers

Trading Networks Link Native American Societies • Trade was usually conducted through a barter system • Tribes traded surplus goods for more scarce materials, leading to specialization by tribe • Trading networks developed to connect various tribes and varied in size • Tribes traded ideas as well as goods, especially architectural techniques and religious beliefs

Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer Chapter 1 Section 2 3. How could Native Americans’ view of land ownership work in favor of Europeans when they established colonies in the Americas? 4. Write a brief definition of shaman. 5. What were the main differences between Native American and European religious beliefs?

CHAPTER 1 SECTION 3: AFRICAN CULTURES BEFORE 1500 Main Idea: Trade was a major factor in the development of African societies south of the Sahara.

African Society and the Slave Trade • Family was the center of society • The largest class distinction was between free and slave • People were enslaved due to war, crime, and debt • BUT could usually work their way out of it

The Portuguese in West Africa • The Portuguese established trading posts and later built forts on the Atlantic coast • They found riches in the area called the Gold Coast; most other ventures were unsuccessful • Later the Portuguese and the Spanish set up plantations on islands off the Atlantic coast • In the 1500 s, they started sugar plantations on the Caribbean islands and elsewhere in America; they were later joined by the British, the French, and the Dutch • Plantations require large numbers of workers because it is labor-intensive; first try to use Native Americans, but harsh conditions took a heavy toll

The Atlantic Slave Trade begins and its impact on African society • Atlantic slave trade met a need for cheap labor but also reflected a European belief that black Africans were inferior • Misunderstandings over slavery and a desire to weaken other tribes or obtain European goods led to cooperation by tribes with European slave traders • The slave trade lasted 400 years and 20 million slaves were shipped to the Americas

Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer Chapter 1 Section 3 6. Who were the first European explorers on he Atlantic coast of Africa? 7. How did the demand for slave labor begin? 8. What factors led to the Atlantic slave trade?

CHAPTER 1 SECTION 4: EUROPE AND EXPLORATION Main Idea: Renaissance ideas changed Europeans’ medieval outlook and inspired them to explore the world.

The Middle Ages • 500 -1500 A. D. the time immediately following the fall of the Roman Empire • Feudalism rose to protect peasants by binding them to lords • The Roman Catholic Church dominated peoples’ lives and led to the Crusades (a series of wars to take the Holy Land from Muslims) • Led to trade with Middle East and the development of towns as centers of trade and commerce

• The Late Middle Ages saw a rise of nation-states (kings with centralized power and armies taking power from lords) • Some nobles fought back; English nobles forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 (established trial by jury, representation in government)

The Renaissance and Protestant Reformation • The Renaissance (French word, “rebirth”) begins in Italy in the 1300 s as an era of learning and creativity and spreads throughout Europe • led to a revival of learning, science, and trade

• People began questioning the church which led to the Protestant Reformation: an attempt to correct abuses within the Church that led to the development of various denominations

• In Spain, Catholicism was firmly established with the rule of Ferdinand Isabella • They expelled the Muslims in Granada and purged Protestants in the Spanish Inquisition

The Age of Exploration Marco Polo & Prince Henry the Navigator • Renaissance and Crusades led to exploration and expansion of trade • Italian Marco Polo made a successful voyage to China and wrote a book that inspired other explorers • Prince Henry of Portugal established a school and naval observatory to encourage exploration • Sponsored expeditions along the western coast of Africa • Established trade with many costal tribes

Sailing Technology and Sea Route to Asia • Portuguese developed a new sailing vessel called the caravel: central rudder, triangular sails, cargo holds • Inventions like the astrolabe allowed sea travel beyond the coast • Travel to Asia by land was time consuming, expensive, and dangerous • Explorers began looking for a sea route • Dias and da Gama both rounded the southern tip of Africa; da Gama made it to India and back

Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer Chapter 1 Section 4 9. What were the Crusades? 10. In what ways was the Renaissance a rebirth for Europe?

CHAPTER 1 SECTION 5: CULTURES MAKE CONTACT Main Idea: Columbus’ voyages to the Americas established contact with Native Americans and led to European colonies and an exchange of goods and ideas.

Vikings and Columbus Vikings Visit North America • Vikings from Norway are first to reach North America • They attempt to colonize in Vineland, a settlement in what is now eastern Canada but it is unsuccessful due to hostility of Native Americans

Columbus Voyages to the Caribbean • Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who convinced Queen Isabella of Spain that a westward voyage to Asia was possible • August 1492: Columbus sails westward with three ships • They find land three weeks later in the Caribbean • Because he thought he was in the east Indies, Columbus called the people Indians • The locals showed him gold, but after one of his ships ran aground, Columbus returned to Spain • Columbus made three more voyages to the Americas and died assuming he was in the east Indies

Impact on Native Americans • Columbus’ voyages set off a wave of colonization, starting in Hispaniola • Relations between the Spanish and the natives quickly soured and Europeans began enslaving the natives • Priest Bartolome de Las Casas attempted to win better treatment of the natives and laws were passed to protect them, but these laws were rarely enforced

The Columbian Exchange • Exchange of plants, animals, language, technology, and disease between Europe and the Americas From North America: From Europe: *Beans *bananas *Corn *cattle *Coca *citrus fruit *pumpkins/squash *peaches *peanuts *honeybees *turkey *pigs *tobacco *horses *potatoes/sweet potatoes *wheat *tomatoes *grapes *syphilis *smallpox/measles

Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer Chapter 1 Section 5 11. What was the Viking experience in America? 12. What impact did European exploration have on Native Americans? 13. Who do you think benefited most from the Columbian Exchange, Native Americans or Europeans? Why?

Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer This is part of Columbus’s description of encountering the Tainos. “I gave them a thousand good, pleasing things which I had brought, in order that they might be fond of us, and furthermore might be made Christians and be inclined to the love and service of their Highness and of the whole Castilian [Spanish] nation and try to help us and to give us of the things which they have in abundance and which are necessary to us. ” ~ Columbus’s Letter on his First Voyage 14. Who was Columbus referring to when he wrote “their Highness”? 15. What were Columbus’s goals in giving the Tainos “pleasing things”?

Chapter 1 Review Write the Question and the Answer Read the passage in Section 4 that begins with the heading “The Crusades” (page 24). Then answer the following question. 16. According to the passage, the leading institution in medieval Europe was A. B. C. D. the military. the nation-state. the Catholic Church. the nobility.

Mystery migration to America Anthropologists have long believed that the Americas were settled more than 15, 000 years ago by people from Siberia and East Asia who crossed the now submerged Bering Land Bridge to North America, then worked their way south. But new research at Harvard Medical School suggests an entirely different population made a separate trip from Siberia to the Americas, and that the first Americans were a far more diverse lot than previously thought. DNA studies have found that Native Americans living in Brazil today have a distant, surprising genetic connection to indigenous groups in Australia, New Guinea, and the Andaman Islands. It remains unclear how and when this second group, dubbed Population Y—after ypykuéra, a word meaning “ancestor” in two Amazonian -languages—found its way to South America. Danish researchers uphold the prevailing theory that Native Americans arrived in a single wave of migration and differentiated into today’s distinct groups much later. The Harvard researchers disagree, asserting that this mystery population represents a separate migratory wave. Senior study author David Reich tells The New York Times that “we have overwhelming evidence of two founding populations in the Americas. ” THE WEEK