APUSH Chapter 1: New World Beginnings

Chapter Summary
In the New World, before Columbus, there were many different Native American tribes. These people were very diverse. In what’s today the U.S., there were an estimated 400 tribes, often speaking different languages. It’s inaccurate to think of “Indians” as a homogeneous group. Columbus came to America looking for a trade route to the East Indies (Spice Islands). Other explorers quickly realized this was an entirely New World and came to lay claim to the new lands for their host countries. Spain and Portugal had the head start on France and then England. The coming together of the two worlds had world changing effects. The biological exchange cannot be underestimated. Food was swapped back and forth and truly revolutionized what people ate. On the bad side, European diseases wiped out an estimated 90% of Native Americans.

Chapter Outline

 * A Land Bridge emerged, linking Asia and North America
 * Groups of people walked across and spread all over America
 * Countless tribes emerged, notably the Incas (Peruvian empire with many roads and bridges), Mayas (Yucatan empire with pyramids), and Aztecs (Mexican empire with pyramids)
 * The development of corn allowed people to settle down and farm, which gave rise to cities
 * The earliest Americans included Pueblos (first American corn growers, lived in adobe houses, had an elaborate irrigation system), Mound Builders (built huge mounds in the Ohio Valley, including Cahokia which held 40K people), Eastern Indians (grew corn, beans, and squash in three sister farming, very diverse diet) and the Iroquois Confederation (led by Hiawatha, this was a group of 5 tribes in New York that were independent of each other yet still allied in war/defense)
 * Native Americans differed from Europeans in that they felt no man owned the land (and that their tribe did), they savored nature, and they had little interest in money
 * The Norse (Vikings from Norway) were the first Europeans to come to America, led by Erik the Red and Leif Erikson
 * They landed in Newfoundland but left without leaving any record of their arrival
 * Christian Crusaders fought in Palestine to regain the Holy Land, which created a European desire for goods in the East
 * Trade began to flourish between the East and West, which initiated exploration down around Africa in hopes of an easier route
 * Portugal developed caravels, compasses, and astrolabes
 * The first slave trade was across the Sahara Desert, and later along the West African coast
 * Spain saw Portugal's success with slavery and wanted some of its own
 * Christopher Columbus convinced Isabella and Ferdinand to fund his expedition to reach the East by sailing West; however, he unknowingly reached America
 * New system:  Europe provided the market, capital, and technology, Africa provided the labor, and America would provide the raw materials
 * America brought vegetables and syphilis to Europe, wheras Europe brought animals, wheat, sugar, fruits, Kentucky bluegrass, smallpox and other diseases to America
 * The Indians had no immunities and so ~90% of them died from disease
 * The Treaty Line of Tordesillas divided South America into two, splitting it between Portugal (east) and Spain (west)
 * Conquistadores included Vasco Balboa (discovered the Pacific Ocean), Ferdinand Magellan (first to circumnavigate the globe), Ponce de Leon (touched Florida looking for the Fountain of Youth), Hernando Cortes (traveled through Southeastern US), Fransisco Pizarro (conquered the Incas), and Fransisco Coronado (found the Pueblos in Southwestern US while looking for El Dorado)
 * The encomienda system was basically just slavery disguised as missionary work
 * Hernando Cortez, with the help of smallpox, conquered the Aztecs, and mestizos emerged (Spanish/Indian mix)
 * Spanish society spread, though they began to feel threatened when England and France began landing in the US, so the Spanish set up forts in California and established St. Augustine in Florida
 * Don Juan de Onate followed Coronado's old path into the Southwest and conquered the Pueblos, whom revolted in Pope's Rebellion
 * Robert de LaSalle of France claimed the Louisiana area
 * The Black Legend was a notion that Spaniards only brought bad things, though they also brought good things (law systems, architecture, Christianity, language, and civilization)