Pre-17th Century American History Flashcards
Vikings
Around 1000 A.D., the Vikings, led by Leif Eriksson, sailed from Greenland and established fishing and huntinjl bases in ‘Vlnland’ in Canada.
Atlatl
An atlatl was a spear used by early hunters in North America at least 10,000 years ago.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an Italian sailing under the sponsorship of Spain who was the first European to ‘discover’ the Americas. His goal was to discover a route to India by sailing west from Europe and to evangelize people he found along the route. He sailed from Spain with three ships, Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria, in August 1492, and found land in what is now the Bahamas in October, 1492. Columbus Day is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Columbus’s discoveries had a profound impact. His discoveries opened the way to Western European exploration of the Americas and led to exchanges of people, plants, animals and ideas between Europeans and the native people found in the Americas.
North American groups In the Americas at the time of the arrival of Europeans
When the Europeans arrived in North and South America, there were probably between ten and twenty-five million Native Americans in the Americas. Conflicts between the Europeans and Native Americans arose over land ownership. The conflicts lasted from the 17th and 18th Centuries, to the Indian Removal Act of 1830; and finally, to the last battle, in 1890, at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Native American groups had distinct cultures, economies, governments, and religions. Their ways of life reflected the environments in which they lived and, like people everywhere, they used the resources that were available to them to solve problems.
Native American groups in North America
Iroquois: in northeastern North America
Cherokee: in southeastern North America
Sioux: in the north central plains of North America
Navajo: in southwestern North America
Inuit: in the far northern fringe of North America
Blackfeet: in the northwestern plains of North America
Native American groups in Central and South America
Aztec: in present day Mexico
Mayas: in present day southern Mexico and Central America
Inca: in present day Peru and Chile
Spanish Explorers of the Americas
Ponce de Leon
Ponce de Le6n was the first Spaniard 10 set foot on what is today the United States, in Florida,
Spanish Explorers of the Americas
Hernando Cortez
Hernando Cortez was a Spanish conqueror of the Aztec Empire in Mexico,
Spanish Explorers of the Americas
Hernando de Soto
Hemando de Soto was a Spaniard who explored wh’at is now Florida, Georgia,
North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Kansas,and Louisiana, claiming the huge territory
for Spain, He was the first European to see-ll1e Mississippi River.
Spanish Explorers of the Americas
Cabeza de Vaca
Cabeza de Vaca was a Spaniard who was the first European to explore what is
now Texas and the southwestern United States’, He wandered the area for seven years, eventually
writing an account oL~is adventure, describing the flora, fauna, and people of the region:
Spanish Explorers of the Americas
Esteban
Esteban was an African man who accompanied Cabeza de Vaca’ on his travels through
what is now Texas and the Southwestern United States: Esteban was a participant in a later expedition
to the area of modern day New Mexico and he was killed by Zuni tribal people who were protesting the presence of others on their sacred ground.
Spanish Explorers of the Americas
Francisco Coronado
Francisco Coronado was a Spanish explorer who traveled north from what is now Mexico through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma into present day Kansas looking for the fabled seven cities of gold.
French Explorers of the Americas
Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier was a French explorer in Canada who established trade with the Native Americans, He searched for the Northwest Passage, the hoped for water route cutting through North America to Asia. He never found it because the Northwest Passage does not exist.
French Explorers of the Americas
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer who established a fort at Rubec, which later became Quebec, an important fur-trading center.
French Explorers of the Americas
Rene-Robert Cavelier a.k.a. La Salle
La Salle was a French explorer who sailed the entire length of the Mississippi River and claimed it and all of its tributaries for France, naming the entire large area ‘Louisiana’. La Salle was killed by a mutinous crew near present day Navasota, TX.
