“Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.”- George Santayana, Spanish author & poet

OR“History doesn’t make you smart for the next time, it makes you wise forever.”- I can’t remember where I read this. (Sorry.)

U.S. Financial Crises• 1785• 1792• 1819• 1837• 1857• 1873• 1893• 1907• 1929• 2008

Before the English: A Review of Early American History

APUSHMr. Clowes

The First Americans• The first Americans were Asian nomads who journeyed

here between 33,000-8,000 BCE– They crossed the Bering Strait towards the end of the last major

Ice Age while there was a temporary land bridge formed from the receding ocean waters

– They were following the animal herds who comprised their main form of sustenance (food from meat, tools from bones, clothes and tents from hides, etc.)

*** Some evidence suggests that the first people may have come as early as 40,000 years ago

*** Some evidence even suggests that some ancient Americans may have come by boat from Europe

The First Americans

• Over the next 500 years these first Americans would follow the animal herds throughout the Americas, all of the way to the southern tip of South America

• Diverse communities would form– By the time of Columbus’ arrival over 400 different

languages had developed among the diverse peoples and cultures of the Americas

The First Americans

• By 5,000 BCE many of the native cultures had grown into centers of agriculture and trade– Developed around a mixture of hunting and

farming• “The Three Sisters”: the growth of maize (corn),

beans, and squash aided in this domestication– Fishing and pottery-making also became very

important trades

The Mayans

• Dominated Mesoamerica from CE 300 – 900 • Developed great cities which included

pyramids, religious temples, and administrative centers

• Their math and astronomy was developed enough to have created a more accurate calendar than the one the Europeans used at the time of Columbus’s arrival

Aztecs

• The dominant culture of the Mexican region when the Spanish arrived

• Controlled upwards of 10-20 million people by 1519

• Capital city was Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City)

• Would be toppled only by the Spanish

North American Native Cultures

• Never reached the level of development of the Meso- and South American

• Southeastern US had the Mississippians– Resembled the Mayans and Aztecs on a smaller

scale with well-developed towns, rigid class structures, and trading centers

• Southwestern US had the Pueblo peoples– Peaceful society with no rigid class structure– Built large 4 and 5 story dwellings of sun-baked mud

Early European Visits

• The Norse people (aka Vikings) would reach Northern America around 1000 CE– Established settlements in Iceland, Greenland, and

Vinland (Canada)• The Canadian settlements would not last in the face of

Native hostilities– Erick the Red (985 CE) and his son Leif Erickson

were the explorers

European Expansion

• Why did Europe begin setting its sights beyond the known geography?– Difficult trade routes to Asia• Hostile overland routes, domination of the African sea

routes by a few– Advances in sea travel and navigation• the caravel • The astrolabe

Difficult Trade Routes• Europeans were obsessed with Asian trade– Spices, silks, rugs, medicines, precious stones– The Muslims dominated the overland routes• Long and hazardous already

– The Crusades had furthered trade due to many more Europeans (soldiers fighting the wars) coming into contact with Asian goods and stories

– Marco Polo and his accounts of the wonders of Asia

Sea Routes to Asia

• Wealthy European monarchs were more than willing to sponsor explorations to find alternative routes to Asia

• In 1488 Bartholomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa and discovered a sea route to Asia

Columbus

• Believed that a shorter route to Asia lay due west of Europe

• Wins the support of the wealthy monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella

• He was allowed to charter three ships and set sail from the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa

Columbus• Columbus adamantly believed that he had reached

the Indies (a series of islands off the coast of mainland Asia) and so named the people Indians

• He would later make three more voyages, but he went to his deathbed believing that he had found a new route to Asia– This was the reason the New World was not named for

him– Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer, would be the first

to officially declare the new lands to be large enough to be their own continents, and thereby the new worlds were named the Americas

Spain’s Explorations

• The Pope so believed that it was God’s will that these new subjects be civilized and brought under the power of the Church that he granted all rights of exploring the New World to Spain

• The Treaty of Tordesillas drew a line of demarcation down the eastern part of South America and it gave all lands west of the line to Spain (most of the Americas) and all lands east to Portugal (some of Brazil and Africa)

Columbian Exchange

• The New and Old Worlds experienced an exchanging of cultural goods and values that would have tremendous impacts on both sides of the Atlantic

Columbian Exchange• Exchanging of food stuffs and animals– The New World would give the potato, corn, the sweet

potato, many kinds of beans, and squash (and many others) to the Old Worlds• This would create a population explosion unseen since the

invention of agriculture as the populations of the Old World would triple in the next centuries

– The Old World would introduce rice, barley, oats, wine grapes, coffee, and bananas (among others) to the New World

– Animals were exchanged as well• The Old World brought horses, pigs, cows, sheep, and goats to

the New World• The New World introduced turkeys, llamas, guinea pigs and many,

many others to the Old World

Columbian Exchange• The greatest impact of the Europeans on the

Native Americans would be disease– Native Americans had never been exposed to these

diseases so they had no immunological response (resistance)

– Within the first hundred years of European exposure nearly 90% of the entire American native population would be devastated (estimated 50-70 million to 5 million)• The Taino people of Santo Domingo numbered 4 million in

1496, by 1570 they were 125– These diseases included smallpox, malaria, yellow

fever, cholera, and others

Explorations of the Early 16th Century

• John Cabot (Eng) would be the first to sight the North American mainland– England was too busy with internal conflicts and war

with France to capitalize on his discoveries• Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Sp) would be the first to

sight the Pacific Ocean• Ferdinand Magellan (Pgl) would sail around the

southern tip of South America in 1519 and would be the first to sail all the way around the globe

Spanish Empire• Its conquering of the Americas would allow Spain to

become the most powerful empire in the world during the 16th 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 calvary) and also pigs, cattle, and goats

(foodstuffs) played a very important role in conquest

Spanish Conquistadors (Conquerors)• Hernan Cortes– Began his conquest of the Aztecs in 1519– With a force of only 600 he was able to bring down the

massive empire by taking advantage of internal strife and forming alliances with enemies of the Aztecs

– After he besieged the city he sent an African slave with smallpox into Tenochtitlan and then waited 85 days for the disease to wipe out a majority of the population

– Within the next couple of decades the lieutenants of Cortes would conquer most of Central and South America • With Pizarro’s destruction of the Incan Empire in western South

America in the 1530’s the entire continent had come under Spanish control

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

Spanish Exploration of the US• Spain would never develop successful settlements (in

terms of trade and power) in US territory, and 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 Protestant Reformation

• In 1517 a monk by the name of Martin Luther would rebel against the corruption and indulgent practices of the Catholic Church and seek to reform the Church ‘from the outside in’… this was known as the Protestant Reformation

Calvinism

• John Calvin was a protestant who developed his own Christian doctrine, and his teachings would lead him to having the most profound impact of possibly any religious leader on the North American colonies

• Calvinistic doctrine– Predestination – belief that God has predetermined a

person’s salvation– Insisted upon hard work and very strict morality– Normal people could participate in the running of the

church through the presbytery (a body of church elders)

The Church of England (the Anglican Church)

• In the 1500’s King Henry VIII was a supporter of the Catholic Church, but when his wife produced no heir he called on the Pope to annul his marriage– The Pope refused and Henry cut off all ties with the

Catholic Church and declared the Church of England supreme in all English Affairs

– Ironically, a ‘bastard’ daughter of Henry’s would come to be the most influential lady in English history and would determine the course of England’s future… Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth• Ruled England for 45 years • She led the defeat of the “invincible” Spanish Armada in

1588– This would usher in a reign of the English navy as the supreme

power of the seas for centuries to come, and would allow for English colonization of the New World

• Was the first English ruler to focus English efforts upon settling the New World

• Authorized the settlement of Roanoke by Sir Walter Raleigh, the first attempt of the English at settling the American mainland