Chapter 1: Ancient America and Africa

American Stories: Four women’s lives

1. Isabella of Castile (b. 1451)
Supported Columbus
2. Tecuichpotzin (Isabella) (born 1521)
Cortes
Pioneer of message (mixing of races)
3. Elizabeth I (1603)
English colonies in N.A.

Three worlds meet in new global age

I. The Peoples of America Before Columbus

A. Migration to the Americas
From Asia to Alaska across the Bering Straights land
bridge between 11,000 and 14,000 years ago.
B. Hunters, Farmers, and Environmental Factors
Separate, diverse cultures
Developed from hunting to agricultural techniques
Megafauna: large animals (wooly bison, mammoths,
huge bison, etc.).
Kin-based groups, regional trading networks, greater
social and political complexity
C. Mesoamerican Empires
Middle region (Mexico)
Aztec empire 1427-1515 10-20 million people
Immense capital, Tenochitilian, a canal city island, with
aqueduct, floating gardens, 150,000 people
Stratified society (nobility, free commoners, serfs,
slaves)
Advanced civilization
D. Regional North American Cultures
American Southwest
Pueblo people developed planned villages
multistoried buildings, irrigation, in agriculture,
skill in ceramics and woven textiles.
Pacific Northwest
Skill in carving and painting
Potlach, great winter gathering with song, dance,
Ritual
Great Plains
Mound building societies have been
Traced back as far as 9000 BCE
Developed complex society with vast trading
network. City of Cahokia has at least 20,000
inhabitants.
E. The Iroquis
Confederation of five tribes
Communal kinship groups
Matrilineal families (through the female)
Women appointed as chiefs
Men did most of the hunting and fishing
Women were primary agriculturists
Different approach to raising children and authority;
less complicated and focused on tradition and
attachment to the group

F. Pre-contact Population
50-70 million population in hemisphere in 1500
no horses, oxen, wheeled vehicles, or potter’s wheel; no
technology for smelting iron. But had valuable crops
such as corn and potatoes.
G. Contrasting Worldviews
Europeans “civilized” and Native Americans “savages”
 Conflicts over human relationship to environment.
property, personal identity, women’s roles, economics,
religious beliefs

II. Africa on the Eve of Contact

a. Spread of Islam
Ibn Battuta greatest traveler of premodern times
Muhammad, founder of Islam 610 BCE
Islam encompassed much of eastern hemisphere
African slaves predominantly Muslim
b. Kingdoms of Central and West Africa
Ghana empire
Major Empire, extensive urban settlement
Built on trade
Mali Empire
Replaced Ghana empire
Agricultural production, gold trade
Mansa Musa
Songhai empire
Shift to Songhai empire after Mansa Musa death
Declared independence from Mali
Collapsed due to resentment of Muslim kings
Kingdoms of Kongo and Benin
Portugese Catholic missionaries
Affonso I, slave trade
African American ancestory

c. African slavery
Tribe identity rather than Africans
Accepted part of life
Slavery revocable
 d. African ethos
Diverse tribes, shared characteristics
Kinship, matrilineal,
Supreme creator, ancestor worship, spirit possession
Elaborate social organization, kings to servants

III. Europe on the Eve of Invading the Americas

a. The rebirth of Europe
1000 BCE, weakening feudal system
1300 famine, Black plague 30 million died
Magna Carta 1215
b. The New monarchies of Europe and the Expansionist
Impulse
Economic revival and expansion
Renaissance (rebirth) culture
Two exploratory objectives: circumvent Muslim
traders, African gold trade
Portuguese led trade outside of Europe