The Meeting of Cultures

1
The Meeting of Cultures

• Chapter 1

2
Theme

• The colonization of the Americas was a collision
  of culturesthe European and Native Americanthat
  had been developing along completely different
  lines for thousands of years.
• A variety of ambitions and impulses (such as
  international rivalries, the quest for wealth and
  personal glory, and a desire to spread the
  Christian religion) moved individuals and nations
  to colonize the New world.
• The motives of the colonizers and their
  experiences prior to immigrating shaped their
  attitudes toward Native American cultures.

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Before Columbus

• The first Americans arrived sometime
  approximately between 12-14,000 years ago via the
  Bering Strait
• As a result of regional adaptations, many
  varieties of civilizations developed.
• South-Incas, Mayas, and Aztecs-primarily
  agricultural economies with elaborate cities,
  political systems, and religious centers
• North-hunting, gathering, fishing,
  agricultural-Eskimos/pacific northwest tribes,
  Far West, Southwest, Great Plains,
  Woodland/Mississippian tribes (all enormously
  diverse economically, politically, and socially)
• Due to an agricultural revolution, tribes were
  becoming more sedentary, were developing new
  sources of food, clothing, and shelter, and
  experienced a population growth.

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Migration of Peoples
5
Reasons for European Exploration

• Population growth the reawakening of commerce
  that created a new merchant class
• New united governments in western Europe under
  powerful monarchs created centralized
  nation-states that were eager to grow
  commercially.

6
Additional events/factors

• The Crusades were launched in 1095 by the
  Catholic Church (Pope Urban II) to save the Holy
  Land from the Muslims. This changed Western
  Europe, and ignited a desire for world
  exploration. Europeans came into contact with
  both Muslim and Byzantine civilizations, and they
  discovered luxury goods such as spices, sugar,
  melons, tapestries, and silk. As the demand for
  these goods increased, trade increased in the
  eastern Mediterranean area and especially Italian
  cities such as Venice, Pisa, and Genoa. By 1200,
  Arab traders controlled much of the trade. Gold
  coins, from Africa, began to circulate, and the
  Mongol empire protected trade into and through
  Asia.
• GovernmentAs trade increased and merchants grew
  in wealth, kings began to tax merchants, and in
  return, open and protect trade routes. Trade
  laws and common currencies were developed within
  kingdoms. By the 1400s, four countries began
  financing exploration in hopes of expanding trade
  and increasing their power Portugal, Spain,
  England and France.
• Renaissance1350-1600 triggered the Scientific
  Revolution astrolabe-uses the position of the
  sun to determine direction, latitude, and time.
  Other inventions include the compass, lateen
  sails (allowed ships to sail against the wind),
  multiple masts, and caravel ships created by the
  Portuguese.
• The first to find a route to Asia was Portugal.
  In 1419, Prince Henry the Navigator set up a
  center where mapmakers, astronomers, and
  shipbuilders could study and plan voyages. In
  1420, they began to map Africas coast, and in
  1488, Bartolomeu Dias reached the southern tip of
  Africa. Nine years later, Vasco da Gama made it
  to India.

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Columbus and the Spanish Conquistadores

• In 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella agreed
  to finance Columbus expedition as a result of
  competition between countries for power, wealth,
  and converts.
• He landed in San Salvador, and discovered Cuba
  and Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican
  Republic).
• He returned in 1493 with Native Americans, gold,
  birds, and spices. Six months later he returned
  to Hispaniola with colonists. He forced Native
  Americans to mine for gold and plant crops.
• His brother, Bartholomew founded Santo Domingo
  which became the first capital of Spains empire
  in America.
• Columbus voyages and tails of gold spurred
  interest in the Americas, and by the early 1500s,
  the Spanish had explored the Caribbean and the
  American mainland, and they had established
  colonies on Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto
  Rico.
• As a result of Columbuss initiative, Spain
  devoted more resources to exploration and
  replaced Portugal as the leading seafaring
  nation. By 1550, Spain was on its way to
  creating a Spanish empire in the New World.

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Spanish Empire

• Hernan Cortes-in 1511 he helped to conquer Cuba
  and received control of several Native American
  villages. Six years later, smallpox killed much
  of the workforce, and Cortes was sent in search
  of a new workforce and to investigate rumors of a
  wealthy civilization. In 1518, he arrived in
  Mexico. The first assault on Tenochtitlan
  failed however, smallpox decimated the
  population and made it possible for Spain to
  conquer the nation.
• News of wealth spread and conquistadores flocked
  to Mexico in search of fortune.
• Francisco Pizzaro- Peru defeated the Incas and
  opened South America when he easily defeated
  Atahuallpa by imprisoning him and ambushing his
  men at a celebratory feast.
• Hernando de Soto-FL, NC, TN, AL, AR, TX (first to
  cross MS River)
• Francisco Vasquez de Coronado- searched for the
  Seven Golden Cities of Cibola (opened the
  southwestern US)
• Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca- Texas and New Mexico
• The Spanish conquistadores subjugated and
  almost exterminated the native populations for
  greed and the creation of an empire.

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• 3 periods discovery and exploration, age of
  conquistadores, and then in 1570s under the
  Ordinances of Discovery (new Spanish
  laws)-colonization
• Colonization was a private enterprise led by
  individual leaders with little help from the
  government. The first step was to receive a
  license (permission) from the crown, and then
  permission was therefore granted to use local
  labor and receive tribute from the natives in
  specific areas (Encomienda system).
• Most important in colonization-Catholic Church
  most common settlement was the mission This
  helped establish permanent elements of European
  culture in the New World.

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Outposts

• St. Augustine, FL-first permanent European
  settlement in present-day U.S.
• 1598-Don Juan de Onate claimed Pueblo land for
  Spain and established a colony in New Mexico.
  Santa Fe was established in 1609.
  Economy-ranches of cattle and sheep.
• 1680-Pueblo uprising led by Pope as a result of
  Spanish priests suppressing the religious rituals
  of the natives. They captured Santa Fe and the
  Spanish temporarily fled the region. The Spanish
  returned twelve years later.
• They realized that in order to remain they must
  work with the native population and 1) tried to
  assimilate them and 2) permitted the Pueblos to
  own land and practice tribal rituals. In time,
  the Pueblos and Spanish worked together.

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The Empire

• One of the largest in history
• The monarchy directly governed.
• Spain became extremely wealthy from the gold and
  silver that they acquired.
• Rigid trade regulations-trade went through a
  single Spanish port two times a year.
• Number of Spanish Europeans remained small
  compared to native populationthey did not make
  an effort to populate the region.They did not
  create a self-contained European society.

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Spanish Empire
13
Exchanges

• AKA Columbian Exchange
• Disease decimated the native population in
  addition to the conquistadores policy of
  subjugation and extermination of the savage
  population.
• New crops in America-sugar, bananas, livestock,
  horse.
• To Europeans-new agricultural techniques, corn,
  squash, pumpkins, beans, tomatoes, sweet
  potatoes, and peppers.
• New dialects
• Hybrid of faiths
• Intermarriage created a new racial hierarchy and
  benefited both natives and Europeans (1.
  Peninsulares, 2. criollos, 3. mestizos, 4. Native
  Americans, Africans, or mixed Spanish/African/Nati
  ve Americans
• Importation of Africans

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The English Incentives

• 1st English contact began with John Cabot in
  1497 looking for the
• northwest passage.
• Commercial and Religious incentives for
  settlement began during the 16th century.
• England was plagued with social and economic
  illswars, religious strife, and unemployment,
  population surplus, and a restriction of food
  supplies due to the enclosure movement.
• Merchant capitalists/charter companies desired an
  expansion of markets. The policy of mercantilism
  (goal of increasing a nations total wealth)
  began and guided the economic policies and
  increased competition among nations.
• The Reformation-Luther and Calvin (Calvin greatly
  influenced Puritans in England).
• The English Reformation began with Henry VIII
  and the Church of England, or Anglican Church,
  became official under Elizabeth I. People who
  wanted to purify the Church of unwanted
  elements began to be known as Puritans. Radical
  Puritans who refused to abide by English law and
  chose to worship as they pleased became known as
  Separatists. The Puritan movement grew under
  James I who antagonized Puritans with his
  policies.

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Colonization in Ireland

• Englands policies with colonization was greatly
  influenced by its colonization of Ireland. In
  the 1560s and 70s English colonists captured
  lands in Ireland and subdued the native
  population. The English believed the native
  population to made up of savages who were
  Catholic, spoke their own language (Gaelic) and
  had their own culture.
• They believed the natives could not be tamed
  and could not be assimilated so they must be
  suppressed and isolated. Individuals such as Sir
  Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Sir
  Richard Grenville took their experiences from
  Ireland to the New World.
• Plantation life-English settlements should be
  separated from native settlements
  (transplantations of English society to keep
  English culture pure).

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English Settlements

• In Once the Spanish Armada was defeated off the
  coast of England in 1588, England felt free to
  challenge Spains claim in the New World.
• English colonization began under Sir Humphrey
  Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh.
• Gilbert took control of Newfoundland in 1583,
  and Raleigh and Sir Richard Grenville led a group
  of men to establish a colony in Roanoke (1585)
  (Virginia) but the colony was unsuccessful and
  the colonists fled with Sir Francis Drake.
  Raleigh tried again in 1587. The governor of the
  expedition, John White, left after a few weeks
  for supplies and when he returned in 1590 not one
  person was found. Thus, Englands first colony
  became known as the Lost Colony.
• Under James I, efforts at colonization renewed
  under English merchants. In 1606, James issued a
  new charter that divided America between the
  London group (south) and the Plymouth group
  (north).

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The Lost Colony
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French and Dutch

• French-first permanent settlement in Quebec in
  1608. Their population grew slowly, and their
  relationship with natives was much different for
  others because they forged close ties and became
  a part of native society, living with native
  tribes.
• The fur trade opened the way for agricultural
  estates, alliances, and military centers that
  allowed the French to compete with the British.
• Henry Hudson explored what would become the
  Hudson River for the Dutch in 1609. The Dutch
  became active in trade around New York and
  established permanent posts in this area.