A. Mexico and South America
a. Based on agriculture, and hunting-gathering.
b. Cultivation of corn transformed nomads into villagers.
c. Development of Aztec and Inca nations (Mexico and South America respectively)
B. North America
a. The Aztecs settled most of northern Mexico, but there were no other major concentrations of population in the rest of N. America
b. The Iroquois settled in the northeast, but most other nations (tribes) were scattered and impermanent.
c. The land was revered and had a spiritual presence. North America was thinly settled (population of 4-7 million – estimate)
C. Discoverers
a. Scandinavian sailors found Newfoundland about 1000 A.D.
b. The Crusades of the middle ages led Europeans to develop a taste for Asian goods, and for a shorter, cheaper way to the East.
c. Portugal is tentatively exploring Africa and importing slaves and goods.
d. Spain is united by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella – they are able to remove the Moors from southern Spain.
e. Christopher Columbus was outfitted by Spain with 3 ships and crew.
f. Landed in the Bahamas in 1492
D. Results
a. Tobacco, corn, beans, tomatoes, and potatoes were introduced to European diets
b. Cattle, swine and horses were brought to North America. The horse was adopted by the Apache, Sioux, and Blackfoot nations, thus increasing their mobility dramatically.
c. Europeans brought diseases to N. America (smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria). Indian nations had little or no resistance to these diseases.
d. Battles were fought but the greatest killers were diseases. 90% of native populations were wiped out by 1700.
E. Division of the spoils
a. Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) gave most of N. America to Spain; Portugal got some of N. America and most of Africa.
b. Spain became the power in North America in the 1500’s
i. Basco Nunez Balboa – discovered Pacific ocean
ii. Ferdinand Magellan – went around S. American – he was killed in the Philippines, but his crew finished the first circumnavigation of the globe.
iii. Juan Ponce de Leon explored Florida – killed there
iv. Francisco Coronado – went north from Mexico into the current US southwest – he discovered the Grand Canyon
v. Hernando De Soto – discovered the Mississippi River
vi. Francisco Pizarro – conquered the Incas of South America
F. Conquest of Mexico
a. Hernan Cortes landed in Mexico. He cultivated friendships with tribes who were opposed to the Aztecs.
b. He had an army of 20,000 to fight Montezuma.
c. Montezuma thought Cortes was the prophesied God Quetzalcoatl – he allowed Cortes to advance unopposed.
d. Tenochtitlan was the capital – its population of 300,000 was as big as any European city.
e. Cortes was able to conquer the city with his force and with the help of a smallpox epidemic.
f. The result was a culture combining both features of Europe and of Mexico, which exists to this day.
g. Spain fortified Florida with a settlement at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 (the oldest continually inhabited settlement in the US).
h. Spain settled Mexico, Southern California, much of Texas, and parts of the southwest and southeast.