Chapter 1 & 2 Flashcards
How did the Americas become populated?
During the Ice Age when there was a land bridge between Asia and America (barring straight)
What was the Ice Age?
When there was sheets of ice covering Europe, Asia, and America
Why did people travel to the Americas?
In search of food, they were following the animals
What happened to the people in the Americas when the Ice Age ended?
They were trapped there by the sea and began to settle (neither side of the world knew the other existed)
What happened once Columbus arrived in the Americas?
Colombian Exchange
What was the Colombian Exchange?
When people in the New and Old world began to share ideas, cultures, food, animals, diseases
What tribes were considered the Earliest Americans?
Incas, Aztecs, Mayans (formed complex societies)
What did the complex societies of the Earliest Americans consist of?
Math, farming, advanced technology, streets, buildings, irrigation system, settled, agriculture
What was the farming method used within the Incas, Aztecs, and Mayan tribes?
Three sisters farming (secure in food, feeding lots of people=larger population)
What type of crops did the Three sister farming consist of?
Corn, squash, beans (corn becomes staple/foundational crop)
How were natives different from Central and South America compared to the natives in North America?
South/Central American natives were settled while in North America they were nomadic
What does nomadic mean?
Not settled, travel in search of food, no permanent home
Why did each native tribe have a different lifestyle?
The environment impacted the way they acted
Who were the Southwest tribes and what was their lifestyle like?
Pueblo who lived in adobe hunts made out of clay and Anasazi who lived in caves cut out of mountains
Who was the Mound Builder tribe?
Cahokia living in the Mississippi and Ohio Valley lived in mounds (mounds were both their homes and religious places)
Who was the Eastern Woodland tribe?
Iroquois (Iroquois Confederacy) lived in the Northeast building longhouses out of wood
What tribes made up the Iroquois Confederacy?
Mohawks, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Oneida (powerful group)
What was the Great Plains tribe?
Lakota Sioux (most nomadic) lived in tee-pees (carried to hunt)
Why does the Lakota Sioux tribe travel around so much?
In search for buffalo (used every part including teeth, fur, and bones)
What would happen to the Lakota Sioux tribe if the buffalo were destroyed?
They would lose their way of life and the tribe would die out
What does it mean for a tribe to be sedentary?
Stay in one place (settled)
What does it mean for a tribe to be semi-sedentary?
They are mostly settled by they move around a little
What motivated the Europeans to explore the New World?
Competition, gold, power, waterway to Asia, emerging nation-states, new military technology, economic, mercantilism, renaissance
What were nation-states?
Small countries that were claimed by more powerful countries
What were the economic reasons to explore?
land=power, originally in search of spices in Asia (people really want spices, creates a new and larger market)
What is mercantilism?
The idea that a colony only exists to benefit the mother country
What did Spanish Conquistadors find in 1942?
People as well as gold (looking for 3 G’s)
How did the crusades spark an idea for exploration?
during the crusades they get spices, brought back silk, ate the food and realize how amazing it is, they bring it back to their nations and these people will desire these same things
What were the three G’s?
God (wanted to bring the gospel), gold (wanted to be rich), glory (want to be praised)
Due to the Columbian Exchange what happened to the population of the Americas?
⅘ people were Africans (slaves) due to the need for labor
What was brought to the New World from the Old and vice versa?
Animals (pigs, horses, cow, sheep, goat) brought to the New World, plants (tobacco, corn) brought to Old World
What happened when diseases brought from the Old World entered into the New World?
They killed most of the natives because they were no immune to the diseases like the Europeans (smallpox, measles)
What was the Spanish’s relationship with the natives like?
Treated them as inferior, less than human, used for labor, demanded tribute
What was a tribute?
When a group is forced to pay in terms of labor, crops, gold, silver
What was the Treaty of Tordesillas?
When Spain and Portugal divided the New World (Spain got North/South America, Portugal got Brazil/parts of Africa)
What were the names of two conquistadors and what tribes did they defeat?
Hernan Cortes defeated Aztecs and Franciso Pizarro defeated Incas
How was Spain benefiting from the exploration of the New World?
Swimming in gold and silver, had a price revolution (massive money supply)
What was the new culture created by the Spanish?
Mestizos with both Indian and Spanish parents
What was the new social structure created by the Spanish in their new culture?
Peninsulares (born in Spain with the most power), Creoles (born in America with two parents that were born in Spain), Mestizos (Spanish and Native American parents), Africans/Natives (enslaved laborers)
What was the encomienda system?
Forcing natives into labor and tribute, oppression of native people, labor economical system developed as a way to control the natives
Who was Bartolomé de las Casas?
Spanish priest who wanted to end the encomienda system
Who was Juan Sepulveda?
He thought that natives were not humans and deserved to be treated the way they were
What happened at the Valladolid Conference?
Las Casas and Sepulveda presented their ideas about natives
What was the Black Legend?
Claimed that they miss treated the natives (labor), ONLY killed for Christ, only left misery, sole gold, infected (even though it was a rumor doesn’t mean there wasn’t some truth)
What was the only thing the Spanish did that was against the Black Legend?
Intermarrage (only nation to do so)
Why did the English not start exploring at the same time as the Spanish?
They were having religious conflict (catholics vs protestants) protestants won with Queen Elizibeth
Who were sea dogs?
Buccaneers who stole Spanish treasure and settlements, one being Francis Drake who returned to England with tons of Spanish booty with 4600% profit for his financial backers
What happened during Sir Walter Raleigh’s attempt at colonization?
Landed on an island near North Carolina 1585 named “Virgin Queen” but the island vanished
What happens when England gets attacked by Spain in 1588?
Philip II invaded England with the “Invincible Armada” but the sea dogs fought back with the “Protestant Wind” (English win, made them thirst for adventure)
How did England begin to colonize?
With joint-stock companies and investors
What was the Virginia Company of London?
The joint-stock company who received a charter (allowed the traveler to have the same rules/right in the New World) and ended up arriving in Jamestown
Who prevented the English from dying when the first arrived the Jamestown, Virgina?
John Smith took charge “he who shall not work shall not eat”
Who was John Smith kidnapped by and why?
Powhatan because his daughter (Pocahontas) “saved” Smith, Powhatan faked killing Smith to show his power
How did Pocahontas become an asset to the English?
She became a translator
What was the “starving time” 1609-1610?
A time where the English were so hungry that they began to die and the living people would eat the dead
Who became the new governor of England?
Lord De La Warr who undertook aggressive military action against the natives using “Irish Tactics” starting the First Anglo-Powhatan War
What were “Irish Tactics”?
Raided Indian villages, burned house, took provisions, torched cornfields
How did the First Anglo-Powhatan War end?
With a peace agreement sealed by the marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe
What started the Second Anglo-Powhatan War?
An Indian attack on the English, response was a war without peace or truce
How did the Second Anglo-Powhatan War end?
Agreeing on no peace and the English pushing the natives off the land
How did the Three D’s effect the natives?
Disease, disorganization, disposability; smallpox and measles killed them, lacked the unity to fight back, settlers did not find them useful which made them disposable
