Unit #1 Flashcards
Bering Land Bridge c. 35,000 years ago
A land bridge connecting Asia and North America that crossed the Bering Sea. A theory states that early people crossed this land bridge to populate the Americas before sea levels rose and closed it off.
Indigenous Societies of South America
Incas: Peru, with elaborate network of roads and bridges linking their empire.
Mayas: Yucatan Peninsula, with their step pyramids.
Indigenous Societies of North America
Aztecs: Mexico, with step pyramids and huge sacrifices of conquered peoples.
Pueblo Indians: First American corn growers with elaborate irrigation systems.
Mound Builders: East St. Louis, made ceremonial burial mounds.
Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw & Iroquois: Eastern America, drew the 3 sisters and had a diverse diet.
Iroquois Confederation
Hiawatha was the leader.
A group of 5 tribes in New York state.
They were matrilineal as authority and possessions passed down through the female line.
Each tribe kept their independence, but met occasionally to discuss matters of common interest
Usually, Indians were scattered and separated (and thus weak).
Effects of Crusades on Exploration
The Christian Crusaders of Middle Ages fought in Palestine to regain the Holy Land from Muslims. This mixing of East and West created a sweet-tooth where Europeans wanted the spices of the exotic East.
Europeans in Africa
The first slave trade began across the Sahara Desert. As Portugal tried to get to the Spice Islands, so they sailed around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.
Christofer Columbus
Got Isabelle and Ferdinand to finance a trip to to the East Indies by going west. After he landed in America he spawned the following system:
- Europe would provide the market, capital, technology.
- Africa would provide the labor.
- The New World would provide the raw materials..
Columbian Exchange
From the New World (America) to the Old:
corn, potatoes, tobacco, etc. also, syphilis
From the Old World to the New: cows,horses, wheat, etc. devastating diseases (smallpox, yellow fever, malaria)
Treaty of Tordesillas/Line of Demarcation (1498)
Portugal and Spain feuded over who got what land. The Pope drew this line (north to south) as he was respected by both.
Portugal got everything east of the line.
Spain got everything west of the line.
Conquistadors
Vasco Balboa, Ferdinand Magellan, Ponce de Leon, Hernando de Soto, Francisco Pizzaro (Incan Empire) , and Francisco Coronado.
Aztec Conquering
Montezuma thought Hernando Cortez (from Cuba) might be a god. The Aztec King welcomed Cortez into Tenochtitlan.
The Spanish lust for gold led Montezuma to attack on the noche triste. Cortez and men fought their way out, but it was smallpox that eventually beat the Indians.
The Spanish then destroyed Tenochtitlan, and built the Spanish capital (Mexico City) exactly on top of the Aztec city.
Black Legend
The Black Legend was the notion that Spaniards only brought bad things (murder, disease, slavery); though true, they also brought good things such as law systems, architecture, Christianity, language, civilization, so that the Black Legend is partly, but not entirely, accurate.
French Colonization Patterns
Founded Quebec in North America.
Spanish Colonization Patterns
Much control in Central and South America, only Santa Fe set up in North America.
Sea Dogs
Under Sir Francis Drake they were sent to steal treasure and plunder from Spanish settlements and ships in new colonizations.
Sir Walter Raleigh
Set up the Roanoke Colony or “The Lost Colony” in the New World that failed.
Defeat of the Spanish Armada
Seeking revenge for England’s sea dogs the Spanish attacked Britain and lost in 1588.
Joint-Stock Company
In the 1600s investors put money into the company with hopes for a good return (a forerunner of today’s corporations).
Factors Pushing English Colonization
New policy of enclosure (fencing in land) for farming. This meant there was less or no land for the poor.
The woolen districts fell upon hard times economically.
Tradition of primogeniture (1st born son inherits ALL father’s land). Therefore, younger sons of rich folk tried their luck with fortunes elsewhere.
The Joint-Stock Company was also perfected.
The Virginia Company
In 1606 it received a charter from King James I to make a settlement in the New World.
Colonial Charters
Guaranteed settlers the same rights as Englishmen in Britain
Jamestown
Settled by the Virginia Company in 1607. The site was a swampy and warm so malaria spread. The men spent their time looking for gold instead of trying to survive.
John Smith
In 1608, he took over control of Jamestown and whipped the colonists into shape. Had a “no work, no food” policy.
Chief Powhatan
Had peaceful relations with the Jamestown settlement and set out a “mock execution” to show it.
Baron de la War
Lead a relief party for to try and alleviate Jamestown suffering.
“The Starving Time”
A forced starvation initiated by the Powhatan Confederacy to remove the English from Virginia.
John Rolfe
Rolfe nurtured the tobacco into a usable form and married Pocahontas to end the First Anglo-Powhatan War.
Indentured Servitude
When the tobacco industry began to rise poor people had period of labor for a fixed time in exchange for a benefit (shelter, transportation etc. )
Headright System
A grant of land to settlers in the colony by the Virginia Company and Plymouth Company and these were given to anyone would pay the costs of an indentured servant to come to the New World. Encouraged the growth of the Chesapeake.
Anglo-Powhatan Wars
At first, Powhatan possibly considered the new colonists potential allies and tried to be friendly with them, but as time passed and colonists raided Indian food supplies, relations deteriorated and eventually, war occurred.
The first war (1614) ended with Rolfe and Pocahontas marrying.
The second war (1644) effectively banished Chesapeake Indians from the land because colonists could grow their own land now.
House of Burgesses
Representative self-government was born in Virginia, in 1619 , a committee to work out local issues.
Lord Baltimore
In 1634, Maryland was the second plantation colony and the fourth overall colony to be formed.
It was founded to be a place for persecuted Catholics to find refuge, a safe haven.
Lord Baltimore gave huge estates to his Catholic relatives, but the poorer people who settled there where mostly Protestant, creating friction.
Act of Toleration
A Maryland statue that guaranteed religious toleration to all Christians, but decreed the death penalty to Jews and atheists and others who didn’t believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ.
West Indies
By mid-1600s, England had secured claim to several West Indies islands.
They grew lots of sugar on brutal plantations there.
Thousands of African slaves were needed to operate sugar plantations at first Native Americans were taken but 90% died of disease.
African Diaspora
This is used to describe the mass dispersion of peoples from Africa during the Transatlantic Slave Trades, from the 1500s to the 1800s.
Barbados Slave Codes
Made in Jamaica to control so many slaves, “codes” were set up that defined the legal status of slaves and the rights of the masters. They were typically strict and exacted severe punishments for offenders
Restoration Colonies
After Charles I was beheaded, Oliver Cromwell rules for 10 years then Charles II took over. Carolina was created with close economic ties to the West Indies as a result of Charleston port. Settlers brought in the slave codes.
Fundamental Constitution of Carolina
A intricate/romanticized feudal scheme which contained grandiose titles for the nobility. This would put strain on the Carolinas and the Carolinas would split officially in 1729.
North Carolina
North Carolinians developed a strong resistance to authority, due to geographic isolation from neighbors.
Two “flavors” of Carolinians developed: (a) aristocratic and wealthier down south around Charleston and rice & indigo plantations, and (b) strong-willed and independent-minded up north on small tobacco farms. In 1712 the Carolina split.
Georgia/Oglethorpe
Founded by James Oglethorpe, Georgia was intended to be a buffer between the British colonies and the hostile Spanish settlements in Florida (Spanish, Indians, runaway slaves) and the enemy French in Louisiana.
Plantation Colonies
Slavery was found in all the plantation colonies.
The growth of cities was often stunted by forests.
The establishment of schools and churches was difficult due to people being spread out.
In the South, the crops were tobacco and rice, and some indigo.
Some religious toleration.
Confrontations with Native Americans were often.
Calvinism/Puritans
Calvinism stresses “predestination” (those going to Heaven or hell has already been determined by God).
Puritans were influenced to totally reform (“purify”) the Church of England.
Separatists/Non-Sparatists
Non-separatists are Puritans. Separatists vowed to break away from the Church of England. These folks became the Pilgrims.
King James I, father of the beheaded Charles I, harassed the Separatists out of England because he thought that if people could defy him as their spiritual leader, they might defy him as their political ruler.
Mayflower Compact
On the coast of New England, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact, a set of rules by which to obey.
Though it wasn’t a constitution, it did set the standard for later constitutions. It also set the first step toward self-rule in the Northern colonies.
