Early Colonization of the New World (1419-1607) Flashcards
Bering Strait
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.
Characteristics of the first Native Americans Europeans encountered?
Smaller tribes, who had permanent agriculture and who lived along the Atlantic Ocean. Iroquois and Algonquian.
When did Christopher Columbus arrive in the New World? Also, what did it mark?
1492 - the beginning of the Contact Period.
Was Christopher Columbus the first to arrive in North America?
No, the Norse had arrived in modern Canada at around 1000.
Columbian Exchange
Transfer of plants, animals, foods, diseases, and ideas.
Conquistadors
Spanish conquerors who collected and exported as much of the land’s wealth as possible.
Spain’s Encomienda System
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)
Racial Caste System
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.
Spanish Armada
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.
Why were the Europeans so victorious over Native Americans?
Epidemics - like small pox - devastated native settlements, sometimes killing 95% of the population.
Motivations for the Competition for Global Dominance
Wealth and resources, new Christian converts, race to play a dominant role in geo-politics. Endless possibilities for agriculture and mineral extraction.
Sextant
navigation tool that made sailing the Atlantic ocean in 1700s much safer and more efficient.
Joint Stock Companies
Made intercontinental trade more organized.
Corporate businesses with shareholders whose mission was to develop and settle lands in North America.
Most famous Joint Stock Companies and their Colonies
British East India Company
Virginia Company - Jamestown
Philosophy on how to treat Native Americans
European superiority was nearly universal, but Spanish and Portuguese thinkers had vastly different views on how to treat them.
Spanish mission system
Particularly successful mission by Spain in meso-america to convert Natives to Catholocism
As colonization spread…
the use of slavery increased. African traders from their home continent became more common. Caribbean and Brazil became permanent settlements for slaves and plantations.
Haitian Revolution
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.
How SPAIN interacted with native inhabitants
Conquer and enslave, convert to Catholicism, European men had children with Native women - created mestizos
How FRANCE interacted with native inhabitants
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.
How NETHERLANDS interacted with native inhabitants
Wanted to build a great trading empire. Most of their colonies fell to Great Britain.
How ENGLAND interacted with native inhabitants
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.
England’s First Attempted Settlement
1587 - Sir Walter Raleigh. Roanoke Island, the colony disappeared. English did not try again until Jamestown in 1607.
Jamestown
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
John Rolfe
Married Pocahontas, pioneered the growing of tobacco - became a cash crop exported back to England. Success of tobacco brightened prospects of settlement in Virginia.
Chesapeake
Virginia and Maryland - plantations mainly focused on tobacco production. Migration to Chesapeake was financial, indentured servitude was a new opportunity.
Indentured Servitude
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.
Headright System
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.
House of Burgesses
Any property owning, white male could vote. All their decisions had to be approved by Virginia Company, however. (1619)
1619 marks the..
Creation of House of Burgesses AND the introduction of slavery into English colonies.
