 Essential Questions:

Questions

 What key changes in Europe took place in the 15 th &

16th centuries that allowed for overseas colonization?

 How did European exploration in America impact

native peoples?

 What are the similarities & differences among the

Spanish, French, & British patterns of colonization in
America?
America Prior to the
Arrival of Europeans
Locations of Major Indian Groups
and Culture Areas in the 1600s
The Old World
Explores
The New World
 Europe in the Middle Ages
 Why was it often called the Dark Ages?
 Limited Exchange of Ideas
 Curiosity and New Learning De-emphasized
 Superstition Predominated
 Travel Limited
 When did this change?
 The Crusades
 Europe in the Middle Ages
 What effect did the
Crusades have on
Europe?
 Interest in the products of the
Middle East
 and the Far East

What products?
Gold/Silver/Jewels
 Cheaper ways of getting these Silk
products
Spices
 TRANSPORTATION: Water
vs. Land
Voyages of European Exploration
 The Treaty of Tordesillas
 Spain versus Portugal
Why did the “Age of Exploration” Occur?

What was the motivation of the individual

explorer, conquistador, monarch?
 Materialism, personal wealth

 Glory, personal fame

 Religion, conversion of the “heathens”

 Nationalism, promoting the wealth and

power of the nation

 Scientific Curiosity
The Columbian Exchange
 How did the European Colonization
affect Native Culture?
 New Products
 Especially Cutting tools, metal
 Loss of Land
 Loss of Liberty
 Diminishing of Culture
 Language
 Customs
 Religion
 How did the European Colonization
affect Native Culture?
 Diminishing of Numbers
 Extinction
 Example - Taino
 90% death rate
 War
 Disease
 Small Pox
 Whooping Cough
 Measles
 Chicken Pox, etc.
How did Native American Culture affect

Old World civilizations?

 Money
 Three times the gold and silver in Europe
 Inflation
 More money in more hands …
 … More People wanting more goods …
 … More People making more goods …
 … Industrial Revolution
How did Native American Culture affect

Old World civilizations?

 Food
 Corn
 Tomatoes
 Peppers
 Chocolate
 Pineapples
 Sweet Potatoes
 Potatoes ***
 Health, Nutrition
 Economic
How did Native American Culture affect

Old World civilizations?

 Medicine
 Vitamins

 Anesthetics for Surgery and Dentistry

 Cocaine and derivatives
 Muscle relaxants for Lockjaw and Muscle spasms
 Curare
 Expectorants for cold remedies
 Guafenisen
 Poison treatment
 Ipecac
 Malaria
 “Fever Bark” - Quinine
 Analgesics
 Aspirin
How did Native American Culture affect

Old World civilizations?

 Recreation
Lacrosse
Tobacco
Chocolate
 Government
Iroquois Confederacy
 “Federalism” in the US Constitution
The Spanish Colonies
in America
A World Transformed
 Native Americans were eager for European
trade; they were not initially victims of
Spanish exploration
 They became dependent on and indebted to
Europeans
 Disease decimated perhaps 95% of Native
American population
The Spanish used the encomienda system to
Spanish Conquests & Colonies
create large cash crop plantations using
Native American
Spanish & African
missionaries slave labor
focused
heavily on converting Native
Americans & establishing missions
From Plunder to Settlement
 By 1650, 1/2 million Spaniards
immigrated to the New World
Whites from
 Mostly Spain males came to New World;
unmarried
intermarriage led to mixed-blood mestizos &
Whites born in America
mulattos
 Distinguished between social classes:

peninsulares & creoles

 The Spanish government operated strict

control over the colonies

Spanish Empire
 Its conquering of the Americas would allow Spain to become
the most powerful empire in the world during the 16 th Century
 “We came here to serve God and King… and to get rich”
 Not only disease, but civil wars and religious superstitions
also allowed the Europeans, namely the Spanish, to conquer
the Native Americans (who GREATLY outnumbered the
explorers)
 The advanced technology of the Europeans offered an
incredible advantage in combat
 Gunpowder, cannon, and bullets vs. bows and arrows

 Horses (transport and cavalry) and also pigs, cattle, and

goats (foodstuffs) played a very important role in conquest

Spanish-American Culture
 The Spanish conquerors would establish the
encomienda system
 Encomienda – a system of villages granted to a
privileged Spanish officer or aristocrat
 Was responsible for providing for Spanish missionaries
and contributing wealth to the empire
 Extreme class discrepancy: at one end were the wealthy
conquistadores and at the other the impoverished
natives
The Spread of Catholicism
 Catholic missionaries quickly spread to the Americas in the wake
of the conquistadors’ victories
 The Natives were viewed as pagans and the Catholic religion
was in turn imposed upon the people
 The spreading epidemics were seen as the wrath of God
upon the pagans and justified the actions of the god-fearing
Spanish
 A few missionaries would become the only advocates that the
Natives had among the Europeans
 Bartolome de la Casas and A Brief Relation of the

Destruction of the Indies

 Poet Staceyann Chin reads Bartolomé de Las Casas
 Spanish Exploration of the US
 Spain would never develop successful settlements (in terms of trade
and power) in US territory  mainly due to its primary lust for gold
and silver instead of developing centers of trade
 Juan Ponce de Leon – explored Florida

 Hernando de Soto – explored the Southeast US

 Francisco Coronado – explored the Southwest US

 St. Augustine – the oldest surviving settlement in the US,

established in 1565 in Florida

 Spanish missions would dot the Southwest US with some surviving

today
 Santa Fe was the 1st permanent seat of government in the US

 By 1630 there were over 50 missions and 3,000 Spanish in the

New Mexico territory

The Horse
 The introduction of the horse would forever
transform the Native American cultures of the US
 Tribes such as those of the Great Plains

converted from agriculturally domestic to nomadic

within a very short period of time after acquiring
and breeding a significant horse population
 Following the buffalo herds became the focus of

Native society
The French Colonies
in America
 The French Claim Canada

 In 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded

Quebec; French Empire eventually included
St. Lawrence River, Great Lakes, Mississippi
 The French government strictly controlled the
colonies but made little effort to encourage
settlement
 Because the fur trade was the basis of the
colonial economy, Indians became valued
trading partners (not exploitive like Spain)
 Like Spain, the French gov’t
encouraged converting Native
Americans & establishing missions