Early Colonization of the New World (1419-1607)

Question 1

Bering Strait

Answer 1

How the first Native Americans came to the continents (40,000 years ago to 15,000 years ago). Bering Strait was a land bridge that emerged when the planet warmed and the sea levels rose.

Question 2

Characteristics of the first Native Americans Europeans encountered?

Answer 2

Smaller tribes, who had permanent agriculture and who lived along the Atlantic Ocean. Iroquois and Algonquian.

Question 3

When did Christopher Columbus arrive in the New World? Also, what did it mark?

Answer 3

1492 - the beginning of the Contact Period.

Question 4

Was Christopher Columbus the first to arrive in North America?

Answer 4

No, the Norse had arrived in modern Canada at around 1000.

Question 5

Columbian Exchange

Answer 5

Transfer of plants, animals, foods, diseases, and ideas.

Question 6

Conquistadors

Answer 6

Spanish conquerors who collected and exported as much of the land’s wealth as possible.

Question 7

Spain’s Encomienda System

Answer 7

Colonists had authority over natives. Colonists protected the natives and convert them to Catholocism - in exchange, they put the natives to labor for sugar harvesting and silver mining. (a form of slavery)

Question 8

Racial Caste System

Answer 8

A product of the Spanish and Portuguese colonization of North America. Europeans at the top, then Mestizos (mixed Europeans and Natives), then Zambos (mixed African and European), pure Africans at the bottom.

Question 9

Spanish Armada

Answer 9

Kept other European powers from establishing much of a foothold, but then England defeated the Armada in 1588, and French and English colonization became much easier.

Question 10

Why were the Europeans so victorious over Native Americans?

Answer 10

Epidemics - like small pox - devastated native settlements, sometimes killing 95% of the population.

Question 11

Motivations for the Competition for Global Dominance

Answer 11

Wealth and resources, new Christian converts, race to play a dominant role in geo-politics. Endless possibilities for agriculture and mineral extraction.

Question 12

Sextant

Answer 12

navigation tool that made sailing the Atlantic ocean in 1700s much safer and more efficient.

Question 13

Joint Stock Companies

Answer 13

Made intercontinental trade more organized.

Corporate businesses with shareholders whose mission was to develop and settle lands in North America.

Question 14

Most famous Joint Stock Companies and their Colonies

Answer 14

British East India Company

Virginia Company - Jamestown

Question 15

Philosophy on how to treat Native Americans

Answer 15

European superiority was nearly universal, but Spanish and Portuguese thinkers had vastly different views on how to treat them.

Question 16

Spanish mission system

Answer 16

Particularly successful mission by Spain in meso-america to convert Natives to Catholocism

Question 17

As colonization spread…

Answer 17

the use of slavery increased. African traders from their home continent became more common. Caribbean and Brazil became permanent settlements for slaves and plantations.

Question 18

Haitian Revolution

Answer 18

A slave uprising (beginning in 1791), and was one of the largest and most successful uprisings in western hemisphere. Shocked and frightened slave owners into creating stricter rules.

Question 19

How SPAIN interacted with native inhabitants

Answer 19

Conquer and enslave, convert to Catholicism, European men had children with Native women - created mestizos

Question 20

How FRANCE interacted with native inhabitants

Answer 20

Friendly, ally with them and adopt native practices. Had little choice, the French colonies were so sparsely populated that they couldn’t take Natives head on.

Question 21

How NETHERLANDS interacted with native inhabitants

Answer 21

Wanted to build a great trading empire. Most of their colonies fell to Great Britain.

Question 22

How ENGLAND interacted with native inhabitants

Answer 22

Wanted to exclude Native Americans as much as possible, but also used them as labor, allies, and trading partners. English flooded New World in huge numbers, with entire families rather than just men. English launched wars with Indians because colonies grew too large.

Question 23

England’s First Attempted Settlement

Answer 23

1587 - Sir Walter Raleigh. Roanoke Island, the colony disappeared. English did not try again until Jamestown in 1607.

Question 24

Jamestown

Answer 24

Settled by Virginia Company. Men were ill-suited to actually sustain themselves. Many died from starvation and disease, town only survived because many more people were brought in.
Captain John Smith - claimed that those who did not work would not eat
Powhatan Confederacy - stopped supplying Jamestown with food, created the “starving time”
Survivor - John Rolfe

Question 25

John Rolfe

Answer 25

Married Pocahontas, pioneered the growing of tobacco - became a cash crop exported back to England. Success of tobacco brightened prospects of settlement in Virginia.

Question 26

Chesapeake

Answer 26

Virginia and Maryland - plantations mainly focused on tobacco production. Migration to Chesapeake was financial, indentured servitude was a new opportunity.

Question 27

Indentured Servitude

Answer 27

Meant to be seven years, and after they would receive their freedom. Got a small amount of land with that freedom with gave them the right to vote. Many did not survive their servitude.

Question 28

Headright System

Answer 28

1618 Virginia Company introduced a system that granted 50 acres of land to potential colonists and settlers as a way to address the labor shortage created by tobacco farming, which needed a large amount of laborers.

Question 29

House of Burgesses

Answer 29

Any property owning, white male could vote. All their decisions had to be approved by Virginia Company, however. (1619)

Question 30

1619 marks the..

Answer 30

Creation of House of Burgesses AND the introduction of slavery into English colonies.