Week 2 - Europe

Course Requirements Paper

A 2000 word paper (+/- 10%) page research paper, topic to be of students choosing in consultation with professor Due Thursday 5th November 

Children’s Story critical thinking paper. A 1500 word paper (+/- 10%) Due Thursday

19th November

Portfolio

Each student will keep a portfolio for the class which will be split into two blocks. The first block to be handed in on Thursday 15th October the second block to be handed in on Tues 8th December

There will be 2 sections within your portfolio

1: This section will relate to the readings from – Reading the American Past – And the end of each set of readings from this text are a number of comparative questions. The student shall select one (1) question from each set of readings and write a one (1) page answer.

2: Video quiz. On numerous occasions during the class I will show movies, documentaries, and several video clips. Questions will be set before the showing. Your answers to each set of video quiz’s will also be kept in the portfolio.

Week 2: Portfolio VideoQuestions

1. How was Cabeza de Vaca’s Experience in America different from most other Spanish Conquistadors?

2. In the video, Professor David Weber reminds us that in frontier regions

A) people tend to develop a new culture. B) democracy always emerges among settlers. C) indigenous culture is totally destroyed. D) expansion moves almost invariably from east

to west.

Final Due Thursday December 17th 9:30 AM

A take home essay. The question for the take home essay will be “America did not exist until 1877: discuss using evidence from the class readings and lectures”

p.s. I am available for favorite Professor dinner’s

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. Class covers chronological era up to 1877 the

period of reconstruction An “are” to an “is” The United States “are” The United States “is”

Early attempts at colonization

Beringa

1798 Philadelphia French aristocrat Constantin-

Francois de Chasseboeuf meets Miami Chief Little Turtle Chasseboeuf notices facial

similarities between Little Turtle and Asians and points out small gap between continents

‘Isn’t it possible’ asked Little Turtle that the Tartars, who resemble us so closely, came from America? Why shouldn’t we have been born here?’

Much mystery surrounds the travels of St. Brennan 7th century Catholic Missionary He and crew of 60 are given credit for

discovering North America. Artifacts have been found testiying to

their exploration of Maine and Nova Scotia. St. Brennan returned to Ireland and died at

age 92

First (?) European transatlantic colonizers

Norse or Vikings From Norway, via

Iceland and Greenland to Newfoundland

L'Anse aux meadows

Some traditions recalled dreams, premonitions, and prophecies that foretold the coming of powerful strangers

Europe’s Expansion

Reconquista Beginning in 711 Catholics began an

attempt to retake Spain from the Muslims (Moors)

Finally completed in 1492 with the marriage of

Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille

1400 Venice dominated the trade of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Plague hit Europe in in mid 14th century

Black Death Changed structure

of society 1/3rd population

dead Result

More food for those still alive Survivors inherit property Peasants began to move around 15th century a dangerous place Big challenges lead to some taking

big risks

Genoese and Florentines looked west Brought sailing know-how, mercantile

instincts, and banking practices to cities of Spain and Portugal.

The commercial community of fifteenth century Lisbon hoped they could find a way to outflank Muslims and Venetians, i.e. those who still held the keys to the

doors of African gold and Asian Luxury goods

Portugal Worked with Spain on the Reconquista 1415 Portuguese forces conquered Ceuta, the Muslim

bastion at the mouth of the strait of Gibraltar that blocked Portugal's access to the Atlantic coast of Africa

Ideal of Reconquista allowed for expansion into ‘heathen’ lands

Prince Henry the Navigator, son of the Portuguese King

from 1415 until death in 1460 acted as an important conduit for bringing together technology, money, and prestige

pushed for greater expansion down Africa’s coast

New ship design the caraval allowed them to take advantage of winds and tacking against the winds

It was sturdier and larger than earlier European sea going ships

Portugese came first to the Canary Islands

Appealing because of their inhabitants

The Guanche had livestock, which could supply

hides, tallow, and wool, early visitors found they could

extract orchil, a valued purple dye, from Lichens found on the island.

But the Guanche themselves made colonization of the Island difficult

After the Canary Islands were taken Portuguese moved on to Madeira

Planted Cane Sugar Like all planters Madeira’s

new landlords wanted workers that were plentiful, robust, long lived inexpensive.

First, they brought to the islands a few Jews and Moors who still resided in Portugal

Also Africans enslaved by Portuguese explorers from the African coast.

Many more Madeiran slaves were Guanche, however, captured during the most aggressive period of warfare in the Canaries.

Cane took root in Madeira’s fertile soils Owned and managed by Europeans with social as well as

economic aspirations Worked by men and women totally denied such aspirations

This mechanism developed into European dominanceplantation agriculture and a slave system to support both

This system fell into gear with a loud clunk that would echo on every continent bordering the ocean

Despite success of Portuguese exploring eastern Atlantic

Spain first country to head west looking for the east

Christopher Columbus Background

Born sane year as Isabella 1451 Genoa Freelance Sailor

Father raised in household of Prince Henry the Navigator

Sailed to central Africa Convinced Asia was 2,500 miles

to west (actually 11,000)

Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile 1469 Unified

Kingdom of Spain 1492Defeated

Moors at Grenada Ends Islamic

presence in Spain Sponsor Columbus

Tried to persuade Portugal England France Spain

To let him sail West to China

Columbus’s First Voyage, 1492

Niña, Pinta, Santa María

San Salvador (Watling’s Island) Tainos (Arawaks) & Caribs Cuba & Hispaniola

Claimed land in name of Spain

Called locals “Indians”

Actually Taino’s (good - noble)

No religion Actually

worshipped Zemis- Ancestral Spirits

The people of these lands do not understand me nor do I, nor anyone else that I have with me [understand] them. And many times I understand one thing said by theses Indians . . . For another, its contrary

Columbus talking about Taino

The world before Columbus

Cabinets of curiosity,

Intellectuals and modern/ changing world

The unknown adventurer

June 24, 1497 John Cabot stepped

onto North American soil

Claimed the land for Henry VII and England

Spain major player in Americas in 16th C

Major impact on Europe appears to be and was the wealth

Another important aspect Continued exploitation of local population

Limited number of migrants to the Spanish New World From 1492 – 1592 approx 225,000 Still only 1-2% of population

The majority of people to move to “New Spain” were male 1 women in twenty in 1519 To 1 women in three 1589

Leads to intermarriageVery few women to keep the

Spanish bloodlines “pure”Limpieza de Sangre – clean

bloodAll people categorized and

assigned a fixed position in New Spain

After Columbus’s voyage And increasing Spanish presence

in European activities Others begin to follow But first I want to stay with Spain

as they headed north

Principal Spanish Explorations of North America

Spain in North America

Juan de Ponce de Leon Florida 1521 Killed by Calusa Indians

Lucas Vázquez de Ayellón 1521 explores Atlantic coast north of Florida – 1526 set up a short lived colony in Georgia

1528 Pánfilo de Narváez surveyed Gulf coast – ended in shipwreck

Cabeca De Vaca

1539 Hernando de Soto ex conquistador from Peru spent three vicious years in

southeast then died in 1542 buried in the Mississippi

Francisco Vásquez de Coranado southwest and great plains in 1540 looking for the

fabulous wealth of the seven cities of Cíbola 1542 turned back

Juan Rodríguiz Cabrillo 1542 along the coast of California died on Santa

Catalina Island off coast from LA. Men sailed on to Oregon before storm turned them

back

1565 French begin to show interest in North America

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founds St Augustine in Florida,

by 1600 population of about 500

Second region of Spanish settlement Southwest 1598 Juan de Oñate received Kings

permission for settlement on Rio Grande Hoped to find mines

Farming and ranching also drew Spaniards into the region

Oñate never found the vast wealth he wanted

1605 the viceroy in Mexico City recommended that Spanish withdraw from region Isolation Distance from centre

Made New Mexico to expensive Especially with Peru’s Silver and

Mexico’s gold

Franciscan priests intervened Oñate didn’t find gold Priests found souls Told crown either we stay or you will have to move

thousands of converts 1608 Crown gave New Mexico

reprieve As it did to Spanish Florida

New Mexico changed from a proprietary colony to a crown colony

Early French Explorers

Giovanni da Verrazano explored Atlantic coast from

Carolinas to Nova Scotia in 1534

Jacques Cartier explored St. Lawrence Valley

between 1534 and 1543

Samuel de Champlain led eleven voyages to Canada by 1645

Established colony at Acadia (Nova Scotia) Founded Quebec in 1608 Sought friendly relations with Native

Americans Efforts were made to restrain fur trade in

the colony’s population Population 3,000 by 1750 Catholicism only acceptable religion in

1625

Important role of Jesuit Missionaries Believed the Indians could retain their

traditions while still accepting Catholicism

Concentrated attention on five confederated Huron nations Mastered Indian languages and cultures

Only Europeans who measured up to Indian standards of bravery

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New France and the Jesuit Missions

VideoBlack Robe

Church lost ground around 1640s especially after the

crown assumed control of New France after 1663

New France Under Louis XIV Tried to transform

colony into model absolutist society

Frenchmen also settled in the Caribbean Founded sugar

colonies on Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe Martinique