Ch.1, Sec.1 The Earliest Americans

Ch.2, Sec.1- Europeans Set Sail

The European Economy Grows

• Europe’s wealth and population grew throughout the Middle Ages until Italian Merchant ships carrying rats from Asia came. The rats were infected with a deadly disease called the bubonic plague, causing the Black Death from about 1348-1350, killing 30 million people, or one-third of Europe’s population.

• During the Commercial Revolution, instead of setting the prices at what the community said was fair, which is how merchants had done it before, merchants became more focused on making a profit.

• Medici was a wealthy family of people that opened banks and gave loans to high ranking government officials, giving them power.

The Renaissance

• The Renaissance began in Italy and lasted from 1300-1600.

• Leonardo da Vinci- Mona Lisa• Michelangelo Buonarroti- statue David, ceiling of the

Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in Rome.• Baldassare Castiglione- wrote Book of the Courtier• Johannes Gutenberg- invented movable type for printing

presses, making it easier and less expensive to make copies of a book. By 1500, Europe had 15-20 million books.

• Astrolabe and compass made it easier to explore across the ocean.

Trade with Africa and Asia

• From Africa- gold, ivory, salt and slaves

• From Asia- silk and spices

• Along the way each merchant raised the price of the goods when selling to the next trader, until prices were very high when they reached Europe.

The Portuguese Explore Africa

• Prince Henry- also called the navigator, made Portugal leader in exploration. Also had designers develop a small ship called a caravel.

• Bartolomeu Dias- 1487-1488 Portuguese explorer went south along the coast of Africa. Storm blew him around the southern tip of Africa, which he named Cape of Good Hope. Dias wanted to continue, crew did not. This led to the African slave trade.

Sec.2- Voyages to the Americas

Columbus’s Bold Idea

• Christopher Columbus- Italian explorer who believed he could reach Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean.

• King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella funded his voyage, but he had to wait six years because Spain was at war with Granada when he asked. Other countries, including Italy, turned him down thinking he was crazy.

• King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella promised Columbus he would be a viceroy, or royal governor of any land he explored.

Crossing the Ocean

• Columbus set sail on August 3, 1492.

• Had 3 ships: Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. Columbus was on the Santa Maria.

Columbus’s First Explorations

• October 12, 1492, landed on an island in the Bahamas. Columbus named it San Salvador, which means Holy Savior. He thought he was near the coast of China or the islands of Japan.

• Columbus met the Taino on the island of Hispaniola which he called indians because he thought he landed in the Indies.

• After 2 months of exploring, he heads back to Spain, but Santa Maria hits coral reef and sinks. They were forced to leave 40 men behind at a place they called La Navidad. He promised to return for them and he left for Spain on the Nina in January 1493.

Europe Learns of Columbus’s Voyage

• Columbus brings back Taino with him and wanted to make them slaves. Queen Isabella wanted to convert them to Christianity.

• Ferdinand persuades Pope Alexander VI to create Line of Demarcation, showing what land Spain and Portugal could explore and claim. Portuguese king John II said it favored Spain, so line was moved 800 miles west in June 1494 as part of the Treaty of Tordesillas.

Columbus’s Later Voyages

• Columbus returned to La Navidad in 1493 on his second voyage but all the men were killed.

• Columbus was first European explorer to see South America in 1498.

• Columbus fought with the Taino because against the queen’s wishes he tried to enslave them. He was them removed as governor. Columbus pleaded with the king and queen for one last voyage. He set sail in 1502 and wrecked on the coast of Jamaica after encountering a storm. After one year there, he was rescued and brought back to Spain in 1504. He was humiliated by this and died two years later in 1506.

Sec.3- The Race for Trade Routes

Portugal’s Great Discoveries

• Vasco da Gama- discovered a sea route to Asia around the southern tip of Africa.

• Pedro Alvars Cabral- accidentally reached the coast of South America after being blown around in a storm. Landed around what’s today Brazil and claimed it for Portugal.

Cabot and Vespucci Explore

• John Cabot paid for his own voyage and hoped to find Asia by sailing farther north than Columbus did. Instead he finds North America believed to have been around Newfoundland in present day Canada. His voyages led to England’s claim to much of North America. Disappeared on his second voyage.

• Amerigo Vespucci- Italian explorer who in 1501 reached the coast of present-day South America. Mapmaker named the continents America in honor of him.

Balboa Reaches the Pacific

• Vasco Nunez de Balboa- discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1513. He had no idea it was a huge body of water so he named it the South Sea. Spanish authorities viewed him as a threat and executed him for treason in 1519.

Sailing Around the Globe

• Ferdinand Magellan- Portuguese explorer accused of treason in his country so convinced Spain to let him explore for them instead in September 1519. Captains didn’t trust him because he wouldn’t tell them where they were going. He was searching for a sea passage through South America. Found a strait at the southern tip of South America he named Strait of Magellan. Lost 2 ships along the way. Tried to find Asia, and crew named the South Sea the Pacific Ocean. He was killed in the Philippines in a local war. Juan Sebastian de Elcano led the rest of the crew back to Spain in September 1522. Only 18 of the original 250 crewmen made it back to Spain. Those 18 were the first to circumnavigate, or sail around the world, and they found a westward sea route to Asia.

Sec.4- The Opening of the Atlantic

The Columbian Exchange

Explorers carried plants, animals, and diseases to the “New World” of the Americas. They brought back plants and animals to Asia, Africa, and Europe. This was called the Columbian Exchange because it resulted from Columbus’s exploration.

Goods brought to Europe, Africa and Asia: corn, tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco, cocoa

Goods brought to the New World: horses, cattle, pigs, wheat, barley, rice, bananas, measles, smallpox, typhus. Diseases killed hundreds of thousands of American Indians.

The Search for a Northwest Passage

• Giovanni da Verrazano- did not find a Northwest Passage.

• Jacques Cartier- went to Canada at St. Lawrence River, Montreal and near Quebec. Also did not find passage.

• Samuel de Champlain- Founded Quebec and is responsible for most of France’s claim to Canada. Also did not find passage.

• Henry Hudson- Discovered Hudson Bay. Hudson wanted to keep searching but his crew did not, so they put him in a small boat, and he was never seen again. Also did not find passage.

Mesoamerica and South America

• The capital city of the Aztecs was Tenochtitlan, which is where Mexico City is today.

• The capital city of the Incas was Cuzco.

Sec.3- Europe During the Middle Ages

The Viking Explorations

• The Vikings were from Scandinavia.

• Leif Eriksson and his crew were the first Europeans to land in North America, landing in Newfoundland in present-day Canada.

The Middle Ages

• The fall of the Roman Empire was the beginning of the Middle Ages, lasting from 500-1500 A.D.

• During the Middle Ages, a new system of government called feudalism, which people known as vassals pledged their loyalty to a lord in exchange for land.

• The difference between tenants and serfs was tenants rented land from the lord and could leave when their rental agreement was over. Serfs lived on the manor, or estate, for life in exchange for protection from the lord.

The Catholic Church

• Monasteries were religious communities in which men called monks devoted their lives to practicing Christianity.

• Convents were religious centers where women called nuns spent most of their time.

Sec.4- Trade Across Continents

The Spread of Islam

• Muhammad started the religion of Islam. His followers wrote his messages in a book called the Quran. Followers of Islam were called Muslims. They are also responsible for developing Algebra.

The Crusades

• The Crusades took place for over 150 years and was fighting that took place between Christians and Muslims over the holy land, mainly Jerusalem. The Muslims were able to take and maintain control of the holy land.