CHAPTER 1: EXPLORATION, DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT

By: Tazrin Tripti

SHAPING OF NORTH AMERICA

BERING LAND BRIDGE

Small settlement VS Large Societies

Natives lived in small, scattered and impermanent settlements. Women tended crops while men hunted, fished and gathered fuels.

Few tribes developed complex cultures such as the Pueblos who lived in multistoried buildings and gathered developed intricate irrigation system of farming.fuels.

Cahokia- largest with 30,000 inhabitants

Iroquois tribes formed the League of the Iroquois, which stood attacks from opposing Native Americans and Europeans.

Due to the Renaissance, there was an increase in scientific knowledge and technological change. There was also improvements in shipbuilding and mapmaking.

The New World was accidentley discovered by Europeans when in search of a shorter route to Asia. During the Crusades, Europeans acquired a taste for the exotic delights of Asia. In search for a less expensive route to the riches of Asia, Europeans stumbled across the Americas. 

TRADE ROUTES WITH THE EAST

EARLY EXPLORATIONS Columbus was financed by Spanish monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand,

to to sail westward seeking for a new gateway to the Indies. There Columbus came in contact with an island in the Bahamas which he mistook for the Indies.

Vasco da Gama was the first explorer to sail through the southmost tip of Africa to reach India.       

Vasco Nunez Balboa- Discovered the Pacific Ocean Ferdinand Magellan- The first to sail through the southmost tip of South

America, although he was killed in the Phillippines one of his vessels sailed home, completing the first circumnavigation of the globe.

Juan Ponce de Leon- Explored Florida although he first thought it was an island.

Francisco Coronado- Explored Arizona and New Mexico discovering the Grand Canyon and enormous herds of buffalo.

Hernando de Soto- Discovered and crossed the Mississippi River Francisco Pizarro- Crushed the Incas of Peru and received a huge load of

booty resulting in Spanish swimming in New World silver Hernando Cortes- Took over the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan through

deception and a large force of Indian allies

SPANISH EXPLORATION AND CONQUEST

NEW WORLD TO OLD WORLD

The New World contributed plants such as tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes and potatoes eventually revolutionized the international economy.

NEW WORLD TO OLD WORLD (CONTINUED)

OLD WORLD TO NEW WORLD When Columbus returned to the

Caribbean island of Hispaniola, along with 17 ships, he brought cattle, swine and horses.

Europeans also brought organisms such as seeds of Kentucky bluegrass, dandelions and daisies. Most of all, they brought germs causing smallpox, yellow fever and malaria.

OLD WAR TO NEW WORLD (CONTINUED)

SPANISH CLAIMS & ENGLISH CLAIMS

Spanish Claims: The conquistadores sent ships of gold and silver back to Spain increasing the gold supply by 500 percent, making Spain the richest and most powerful nation in Europe.

English Claims: John Cabot explored the coast of Newfoundland.

Sir Francis Drake attacked Spanish ships, seizing the gold and silver they carried.

Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to establish a settlement in Roanoke Island, but it failed.

FRENCH CLAIMS

Giovanni da Verrazano explored part of North America's eastern coast.

Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River.

Samuel de Champlain in 1608 established the first French settlement in Quebec.

EARLY ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS Jamestown: King James I chartered the Virginia Company, a

joint stock company which established the first permanent English colony in America.

Problems: The settlers suffered attacks from Indians, famine and disease. The swampy area they settled in caused malaria. Many were godl seeking adventurers who refused to hunt or farm.

Tobacco     Jamestown colony only survived under the leadership of Captain John Smith and the establishment of a tobacco industry by John Rofle.

The growing of tobacco required a large labor force, therefore the Virginia Company send indentured servants to the colony.

Indentured servants received a free transportation to the colony in exchange to work on a plantation for certain amount of years.

Puritan Colonies: The formation of the Plymouth colony and the Massachusetts Bay colony was relegious motivation. Both were settled by English Protestants influenced by John Calvin's teachings.

Plymouth Colony: The Separatists rejected the idea of reforming the Church of England, therefore organized a competely separate church. They left England searching for religiosu freedom. After facing economic hardships and cultural differences in Holland, they migrated to Virginia in the Mayflower.

MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY

Seeking religious freedom, a group of Puritans gained a royal charter for a new colonizing venture. Thousands led by John Winthrop sailed for the Massachusetts shore.

EARLY POLITICAL INSTITUTION Majority rule in Plymouth

    Mayflower Compact- Pligrams pledged to make decisions by the will of the majority.

Representative government in Jamestown    Colonists in Virginai had the same rights that they had in England, including the right to be represented in the lawmaking process.

Representative government in Massachusetts    All freemen had the right to participate in yearly elections.

EUROPEAN TREATMENT OF NATIVE AMERICANS The Spanish approached was to conquer,

rule and intermarry with the Aztecs, Mayas and Incas.

The English occupied the land and forced the tribes they encountered to move away.

The French tended to treat the Natives as economic and military allies.

In general, Europeans viewed the Native Americans as inferiors who could be exploited for economic, military and religious gains.