Chapter 2 Flashcards

Question

Hernán Cortés

Answer 1

Spanish conqueror of Aztec empire In 1519 Hernán Cortés led a small band of Spaniards to the Mexican coast. Destroying his boats and enlisting Indian allies, he marched inland to conquer Mexico Upon reaching the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán the Spanish were stunned by its size and wealth. The Spanish raided the imperial palace and treasury, melting down all the gold they could ﬁnd. But the Aztecs regrouped and recaptured the city. Then an epidemic of smallpox, which the Aztecs and other Indians were ill equipped to resist, plus reinforcements from Cuba, enabled Cortés to defeat the Aztecs. By 1521 the Spanish had begun to build Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlán. Within twenty years, Central America lay at the Spaniards’ feet. Thus was New Spain born.

Answer 2

Exchange of people, plants, animals, and disease within the Atlantic world as a result of European voyages

Answer 3

Except for a Spanish fort at St. Augustine, Florida, all sixteenth century attempts at colonizing North America failed. Only the ravaging of the Indians by disease, declining Spanish power, and rising French, Dutch, and English power ﬁnally made colonization possible In 1607–1608 the English and French established permanent colonies. By 1614 the Dutch had followed. Within a generation, North America’s modern history took shape as each colony developed an economic orientation and its own approach to Native Americans

Answer 4

The Spanish built their New World empire by subduing the Aztecs, Inca, and other Indian states. Earliest came Juan Ponce de León, the conqueror of Puerto Rico For decades after failures, Spain’s principal interest in the lands north of Mexico lay in establishing a few strategic bases in Florida to keep out intruders. In 1565 Spain planted the ﬁrst successful European settlement on mainland North America, the fortress of St. Augustine. In 1598 Juan de Oñate led ﬁve hundred Spaniards into the upper Rio Grande Valley, where he proclaimed the royal colony of New Mexico When Acoma Indians refused his demands for provisions in December 1598, Oñate ordered massive retaliation. In January, Spanish troops captured the pueblo, killing more than eight hundred inhabitants. Oñate then forced surviving men to have one foot cut off and sent them, along with women and children, to become servants In 1606 the Spanish replaced Oñate because of his excessive brutality. By 1630 Franciscan missionaries had established more than ﬁfty pueblo missions stretching along the Rio Grande and had converted about 20,000 Indians to Christianity

Answer 5

England had two objectives in the Western Hemisphere in the 1570s. The ﬁrst was to ﬁnd a northwest passage to Asia, preferably one lined with gold. The second, as Sir Francis Drake said, was to “singe the king of Spain’s beard” by raiding Spanish ﬂeets and cities. The search for a northwest passage proved fruitless, but the English did stage spectacularly successful and proﬁtable privateering raids against the Spanish. The most breathtaking enterprise of the era was Drake’s voyage around the world in 1577–1580 in quest of sites for colonies Roanoke - Site of the ﬁrst English attempt at New World colonization by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1587; it was a failure England’s victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 preserved English independence and conﬁrmed its status as a major Atlantic power.

Answer 6

Two events opened the way for English colonization: peace with Spain and the emergence of the joint-stock company In the peace between England and Spain, concluded in 1604 by Elizabeth’s successor, James I (ruled 1603–1625), the Spanish not only agreed to peace but also renounced their claims to Virginia, leaving England a free hand. At the same time, the development of joint-stock companies, which could amass money through sales of stock, created a way for potential colonizers to raise large sums of money with limited risk for the individual investor Virginia Company of Plymouth-Received charter to establish colonies from Chesapeake Bay northward Virginia Company of London - Received charter to establish colonies from Chesapeake Bay southward; founded Jamestown Jamestown - First successful English colony, established in 1607 John Smith - Soldier of fortune who “saved” Jamestown by establishing order and maintaining good relations with Indians An inﬂux of new recruits and the imposition of military rule, however, enabled Virginia to win the First Anglo- Powhatan War (1610–1614) and, by 1611, to expand west to modern Richmond John Rolfe - Englishman who brought tobacco to Jamestown, thus ensuring its economic survival. He also married Pocahontas In 1619 the Virginia Company ended military rule and provided for an elected assembly, the House of Burgesses - First elected representative legislature in New World, in Virginia; ﬁrst met in 1619

Answer 7

After Virginia, the next permanent English settlements appeared in New England. Along the coast, a terrible epidemic in 1616–1618 had devastated the Indian population by about 90 percent. In 1620 the Virginia Company of London granted a patent for a settlement to a group of English merchants, who dispatched eighteen families (102 people) in a small ship, the Mayﬂower. The colonists promised to send back lumber, furs, and ﬁsh for seven years, after which they would own the tract. In November 1620 the Mayﬂower landed at Plymouth, outside the bounds of Virginia. Because they had no legal right to be there, the leaders insisted that adult males in the group sign the Mayﬂower Compact before they landed. By this document they constituted themselves a “civil body politic”—a civil government—under James I’s sovereignty and established Plymouth Plantation. Plymouth - Colony established by Pilgrims in Massachusetts Mayflower Compact - Agreement signed by Pilgrims to govern themselves Plymouth’s relations with the Indians soon worsened. Learning of the Virginia massacre of 1622, the Pilgrims militarized their colony and threatened their Indian “allies” with their monopoly of ﬁrepower. Within a decade, Plymouth had attracted several hundred colonists and had become economically self-sufﬁcient. Plymouth colony had three lasting inﬂuences. 1. It constituted an outpost of Puritans dissenting from the Church of England 2. Proved that a self-governing society could exist in New England 3. Foreshadowed the aggressive methods that would give Europeans mastery over the Indians

Answer 8

In 1609 Henry Hudson sailed up the broad, deep river that today bears his name, and in the next year Dutch ships sailed up the Hudson to trade with Indians. In 1614 they began their New Netherland colony by establishing Fort Nassau at the site of modern Albany, New York, and in 1625 planted another fort on an island at the mouth of the Hudson. Within two years, Peter Minuit, director-general of the colony, bought the island from local Indians, named it Manhattan, and began a settlement christened New Amsterdam. Furs, particularly beaver pelts, became the New Netherlanders’ chief economic staple. The Mohawks, as well as the other nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, became the Dutch colonists’ chief suppliers of furs and soon found themselves embroiled in competition with the French-supported Hurons.

Answer 9

Dutch colony that would become New York

Answer 10

The ﬁfteenth and sixteenth centuries were times of tumultuous change in both West Africa and Europe. In the West African savannah, powerful kingdoms such as Mali gave way to more fragmented political structures. In Europe, the Renaissance, the Reformation, a population boom, and the emergence of the market economy created new tensions as well as new opportunities. In England, the Reformation led to the rise of Puritanism, which found itself in a tense relationship with the monarchy

Answer 11

The Atlantic world began to open as Portuguese explorers traveled along the African coast; one sad result of this was the brutal “new slavery,” based primar-ily on race. Spanish explorers such as Columbus, Balboa, and Magellan opened the way for the creation of an empire that would encompass both the Aztecs and the Inca in the Americas. Plants, animals, drugs, and diseases crossed the Atlantic in both directions in the “Columbian exchange.”

Answer 12

The Spanish explored large parts of North America, conquered the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest, and incorporated them into their empire. Although France attempted to plant agricultural colonies, its primary success lay in establishing the fur trade with the Indians of the interior. After failure at Roanoke, Englishmen successfully planted colonies at Jamestown in Virginia and at Plymouth in Massachusetts. The Dutch established New Amsterdam.