America’s History Fifth Edition Chapter 1: Worlds Collide: Europe, Africa, and America, 1450–1620 Copyright © 2004 by Bedford/St. Martin’s Henretta Brody

America’s HistoryFifth Edition

Chapter 1: Worlds Collide: Europe, Africa, and America,

1450–1620

Copyright © 2004 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

Henretta • Brody • Dumenil • Ware

Orbis Typus Universalis (p. 4) John Carter Brown Library, Brown University.

Native American Worlds• The First Americans

– The first people to live in the Western Hemisphere were migrants from Asia; most came between 13,000 B.C. and 11,000 B.C. across a land bridge (Beringia) connecting Siberia and Alaska.

– Glacial melting created the Bering Strait and isolated the people of the Western Hemisphere for 300 generations.

– Around 6000 B.C. the ancestors of the Navajos and the Apaches crossed the Bering Strait, followed by the ancestors of the Eskimos around 3000 B.C.

– For centuries, Native Americans were hunter-gathers; they developed horticulture around 3000 B.C.

– Agricultural surplus led to populous and wealthy societies in Mexico, Peru, and the Mississippi River Valley.

Native American Worlds

• The Mayas and the Aztecs– The flowering of civilization of a

unique culture began among the Mayan peoples of the Yucatan Peninsula and Guatemala (Mesoamerica)

– Beginning around A.D. 800, Mayan civilization declined.


• The Mayas and the Aztecs– A second major Mesoamerican civilization

developed around the city of Teotihuacan; by A.D.800 Teotihuacan had also declined.

– In A.D. 1325 the Aztecs built the city of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), where they established a hierarchical social order and subjugated most of central Mexico.

– By A.D. 1500, Tenochtitlan had grown into a metropolis of over 200,000 inhabitants


• The Indians of the North– The Indians north of the Rio Grande had

smaller, less coercive societies; in A.D. 1500, most of these societies were self-governing tribes composed of clans.

– Some tribes exerted influence over their immediate neighbors through trade or conquest; by A.D. 100, the Hopewells had spread their influence through Wisconsin and Louisiana.


• The Indians of the North– For unknown reasons the Hopewell’s economic

trading network gradually collapsed around A.D. 400.– In the Southwest the complex Hohokam and

Mogollon cultures developed by A.D. 600, and the Anasazi culture developed by A.D. 900. Drought brought on the collapse of both of these cultures after A.D. 1150.


• The Indians of the North– The advanced farming technology of Mesoamerica

spread into the Mississippi Valley around A.D. 800; the Mississippian society was the last large-scale culture to emerge north of the Rio Grande.

– By A.D. 1350, overpopulation, disease and warfare over fertile bottomlands led to the decline of the Mississippian civilization.


• The Indians of the North– Horticulture was a significant part of the

lives of the women of the eastern Woodland peoples, and because of the importance of farming, a matrilineal inheritance system developed.

– By A.D. 1500, there were no great Indian empires left to lead a military campaign against the European invasion.

Map 1.2 Native American Peoples, 1492 (p. 10)

Traditional European Society in 1450

• The Peasantry– There were only a few large cities in Western Europe

before A.D. 1450; more than 90% of the population were peasants living in small rural communities.

– Cooperative farming was a necessity, and most farm families exchanged their surplus farm products with their neighbors or bartered it for local services.

– Most peasants yearned to be yeomen, owners of small farms that provided a marginally comfortable living, but few achieved that goal.


• The Peasantry– Mortality rates among the peasants were high; life

consisted of little food and much work.– The deprived rural classes of Britain, Spain, and Germany

consisted the majority of white migrants to the Western Hemisphere.

• Hierarchy and Authority– In the traditional European social order, authority came

from above; kings and princes lived in splendor off the labor of the peasantry.

– after A.D. 1450, kings began to undermine the power of the nobility and create more centralized states.

– The peasant man ruled his women and children; his power was codified in laws, sanctioned by social custom and justified by the teachings of the Christian Church.


• Hierarchy and Authority– The inheritance practice of primogeniture forced

many younger children to join the ranks of the roaming poor; there was little personal freedom or individual fulfillment for these peasants.

– Hierarchy and authority prevailed because they offered a measure of social stability; these values shaped the American social order well into the eighteenth century.


• The Power of Religion– The Roman Catholic Church served as one of the great

unifying forces in Western European society; the Church provided a bulwark of authority and discipline.

– Christian doctrine penetrated the lives of peasants; to avert famine and plague, Christians offered prayer and turned to priests for spiritual guidance.

– Between A.D. 1096 and 1291, successive armies of Christians embarked on Crusades; Muslims were a prime target of the crusaders.

– The Crusades strengthened the Christian identity of the European population and helped broaden the intellectual and economic horizons of the European privileged class.

European Encounters Africa and the Americas, 1450-1550

• The Renaissance– Stimulated by the wealth and learning of the Arab

world and the reintroduction of Greek and Roman texts, Europe experienced a “rebirth”; the Renaissance had the most impact on the upper classes.

– A new ruling class of moneyed elite-merchants, bankers, and textile manufacturers-created the concept of civic humanism. This concept celebrated the public expression of virtue and public service.


• The Renaissance– Following Niccolo Machiavelli’s advice in the Prince

(1513), an alliance of monarchs, merchants, and royal bureaucrats challenged the power of the agrarian nobility.

– The increasing wealth of the monarchical nation-state propelled Europe into its first age of expansion.

– Because Arabs and Italians dominated trade in the Mediterranean, Prince Henry of Portugal sought an alternate oceanic route to Asia; under Henry’s direction, Portugal led European expansion overseas.

– By the 1440’s the Portuguese were the first Europeans engaged in the African slave trade.


• West African Society and Slavery– Most West Africans farmed small plots

and lived with extended families in small villages.


• West African Society and Slavery– At first, European traders had a positive impact on the

West African peoples by introducing new plants, animals, and metal products and by expanding the African trade networks.

– Inland trade remained in the hands of Africans because the death rate among Europeans was often 50% a year due to disease.

– A small portion of West Africans were trade slaves, mostly war captives and criminals sold from one kingdom to another.

– Europeans soon joined the West African’s long-established trade in humans; by 1700, Europeans shipped hundreds of thousands of slaves to American plantations.


• Europe Reaches the Americas– While they traded with the Africans, the Portuguese

continued to look for a direct ocean route to Asia.– Bartholomew Dias sailed around the southern tip of

Africa in 1488, and ten years later Vasco de Gama reached India.

– In 1502, Vasco de Gama’s ships outgunned Arab fleets; the Portuguese government soon opened trade routes from Africa to Indonesia and up the coast of Asia to China and Japan.

– The Portuguese replaced the Arabs as leaders in world commerce and African slave trade.


• Europe Reaches the Americas– Spain followed Portugal’s example, but they sought a

western route to the riches of the East.– Christopher Columbus, a Christian and Genoese sea

captain, set sail on August 3, 1492, with the support of Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, and financially backed by Spanish merchants.

– In addition to searching for riches, Ferdinand and Isabella wanted Columbus to carry Catholicism to the peoples of Asia.


• Europe Reaches the Americas– On October 12, 1492, Columbus landed on what he

thought was the “Indies” and called the native inhabitants “Indians”; he had actually landed at the present-day Bahamas.

– Although Columbus found no gold, the monarchs sent three more expeditions over the next twelve years; the Spanish monarchs wanted to make the new land they called “Las Indias” a Spanish empire.


• The Spanish Conquest– To encourage adventurers to expand its American

empire, the Spanish crown offered plunder, landed estates, titles of nobility, and Indian laborers in the conquered territory.

– In 1519, Hernan Cortes and his fellow Spanish conquistadors landed on the Mexican coast and overthrew the Aztec empire.

– Montezuma, the Aztec ruler, believed that Cortes might be a returning god and allowed him to enter the empire without challenge; the empire’s collapse was mainly due to internal rebellion and death by disease.


• The Spanish Conquest– In the late 1520’s the Spanish conquest entered a

new phase when Francisco Pizarro overthrew the Inca empire in Peru; the Incas were also easy prey due to internal fighting over the throne and disease brought by the Spanish.

– In little more than a decade, Spain had become the master of the wealthiest and most populous regions of the Western Hemisphere.

– The conquests devastated the Native American population, and survivors were forced to work on plantations.

Malinche and Cortés (p. 31) Bibliothèque Nationale.


• The Spanish Conquest– The Spanish invasion of the Americas had a

significant impact on life in Europe and Africa due to a process of transfer known as the “Columbian Exchange.”

– Native Americans lost part of their cultural identity; a new mestizo, or mixed-race, culture emerged

– Indians who resisted assimilation lacked the numbers or the power to oust Spanish invaders

Map 1.6 The Columbian Exchange (p. 28)

The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of England

• The Protestant Movement– Christianity ceased to be a unifying force in

European society as new religious doctrines divided Christians into armed ideological camps of Catholics and Protestants.

– Over the centuries the Catholic Church became a large and wealthy institution, controlling vast resources and political power throughout Europe.

– Martin Luther publicly challenged Roman Catholic practices and doctrine with his Ninety-five Theses; the document condemned the “sale of indulgences” by the Church.


• The Protestant Movement– Luther argued that people could be saved only by

grace, not good works. He dismissed the need for priests to act as intermediaries between Christians and God and downplayed the role of high-ranking clergymen and popes by naming the Bible the ultimate authority in matters of faith.

– As peasants mounted violent social protests of their own, Luther urged obedience to established political institutions and condemned the teachings of religious dissidents more radical than him.


• The Protestant Movement– The Peace of Augsburg allowed princes to decide the

religion of their subjects; southern German rulers installed Catholicism, and Northern German rulers chose Lutheranism.

– In his Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536), Protestant John Calvin preached predestination-the idea that God determines who will be saved before they are born.

– Despite widespread persecution, Calvinist won converts all over Europe.


• The Protestant Movement– When the pope denied his request for a marriage

annulment, King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church and created a national Church of England (the Anglican Church).

– Henry’s daughter, Elizabeth I, combined Lutheran and Calvinist beliefs. Angered by Elizabeth, some radical Protestants took inspiration from the Presbyterian system in which male church elders guided the church.

– Other radical Protestants called themselves Puritans; they wanted to purify the church of “false” Catholic teachings and practices.


• The Dutch and the English Challenge Spain– King Philip II wanted to root

Protestantism out of the Netherlands.– As Spanish government and economy

struggled, the Dutch Republic became the leading commercial power in Europe.


• The Dutch and the English Challenge Spain– England’s economy was stimulated by a rise in

population and mercantilism, a system of state-supported manufacturing and trade.

– Mercantilist-minded monarchs like Queen Elizabeth encouraged merchants to invest in domestic manufacturing.

– By 1600 the success of merchant-oriented policies helped to give the English and the Dutch the ability to challenge Spain’s monopoly in the Western Hemisphere.


• The Social Causes of English Colonization– The “Price Revolution,” major inflation, caused social

changes in England; the nobility were its first casualties largely because they had rented their lands on long-term leases at low rents.

– As the influence of the House of Commons increased, rich commoners and small property owners had a voice; this had profound consequences for English and American political history.


• The Social Causes of English Colonization– Due to enclosures and inflation, many peasants lost

the means to earn a living and were willing to go to America as indentured servants, while yeoman looked to America to secure land for their children.

– This massive migration to America brought about a new collision between European and Native American worlds.

Figure 1.3 The Structure of English Society, 1688 (p. 35)

Discussion Questions

1. What factor best explains the ability of Europeans to prevail over Native Americans in their encounters in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

2. What are some of the aspects of life today in the United States that one can trace from the course of the interaction between Native Americans and Europeans? In that interaction, how can we see the development of a new kind of society and culture?

Writing Assignments

1. Among the various factors that tipped the interaction between Europeans and Native Americans in the Europeans’ favor, what were the most important?

2. Which factors propelled Europe from an inward-looking society to an expansive outward-looking one? Did culture drive economics, or did economics affect culture and society?

3. Given the various factors that shaped the course of events in the European-Native American interaction, could what happened have turned out any differently? If so, how? If not, why not?

Documents

America’s History Fifth Edition Chapter 1: Worlds Collide: Europe, Africa, and America, 1450–1620 Copyright © 2004 by Bedford/St. Martin’s Henretta Brody