The First Americans

CH 1, sec 1 and 5

Ch 2

Early Civilizations of Mesoamerica

Nomads - Agricultural Revolution – 8,000 BC

By the time Europeans arrived in the Americas in 1492, there were around 54 million people in the two American continents

3 Major Civilizations

The Mayans – ad. 900-1500s

The Aztec

ad. 1200s – 1500s

The Incaad. 1100 – 1500s

The Earliest North

Americans

The Mound Builders of the Ohio River valley

The Mississippian Culture

Cahokia

The Anasazi

The Iroquois Confederacy

Ch 1 Sec 5 European Explorers

The first Europeans to arrive in the Americas were the Norse, or Vikings

Leif Ericsson and 35 others explored the coast of Newfoundland in A.D. 1001

Their attempts for permanent settlement failed

Christopher Columbus wanted to sail across the Atlantic in an effort to get to India in the mid-1400s

Columbus was driven by the rediscovery of the work of a Greek astronomer named Claudius Ptolemy who drew maps of a round world.

Ptolemy’s work was rediscovered through the Renaissance or rebirth of culture and the return to classical learning in Europe.

The Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther, opened interest in Europe to the rest of the world

Europeans fell in love with the silks

and spices from Asia

However the Crusades, holy wars won by the Muslims over Christians from Europe for control of the middle east, blocked trade

Columbus asked King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to finance his expedition

Columbus and his three ships left Spain in August of 1492, and landed in the Bahamas, probably on what is today San Salvador

Columbus returned with gold, spices, parrots, and began the Columbian Exchange

Spain led the way for exploration in their search for God, Gold and Glory

Other Important Explorers

Leif Ericson – first European to reach Americas, Viking Marco Polo – Explored Asia and brought back goods for

Europeans Hernan Cortes – Conquistador who defeated the Aztecs John Cabot – First English explorer in America Amerigo Vespucci – Realized new world and named after him Ponce De Leon – Claimed Florida for Spain, Fountain of Youth Ferdinand Magellan – Circumnavigated the world Giovanni Da Verrazano – Frenchman who claimed northeast

coast for France Hernando Desoto – Explored and claimed the future U.S.

Southeast for Spain Francisco Coronado - Explored and claimed the future U.S.

Southwest for Spain, 7 cities of gold

13 Colonies Art Project

Draw all 13 original colonies, separated by regions

Write in each the who, when, why/how it was started

Color

This information comes from Ch 2 sections 3 and 4

English Colonies in America

At the time of exploration there were many changes going on in England

There were three major things that drove English colonization in the Americas

King Henry VII had just created the Anglican Church

Some wanted the Anglican church similar to the catholic church just not under the pope

Others wanted to “purify” the church of Catholic elements, while others wanted to “separate” from both churches

In 1620 the one group of separatist known as the pilgrims settled in Plymouth under William Bradford

The economy in England also affected American colonization

English landowners began to realize the price for wool in Europe was greatly rising

So they converted their lands to sheep farms, making many tenant farmers homeless and jobless

This became known as the enclosure movement

Also many of these merchants needed new markets for their wool so they formed Joint-stock companies to try to help set up colonies

Military conflict with Spain also aided settlement by the English

Sr. Walter Raleigh set up the first English colony in the Americas known as Roanoke, however it wouldn’t last

He named the land Virginia in honor of the queen

Journal - Tues, Aug. 23

Yesterday, we decided what it would take to leave our homes. Today we are going to start our own colony.

* What groups of people would be welcome? * What would your government/laws be like? * What would the name of your colony be? * How would your colony try to make money?

Answer these questions and give any other important, legal, and appropriate info for your colony

Jamestown was settled in 1606 by a charter from the Virginia Company, under the leadership of John Smith

Despite early struggles, mostly with Native Americans, the colony lasted, mostly thanks to John Rolfe and his cultivation of tobacco

The colony was governed by the Virginia House of Burgesses which was the first representative government in the colonies

  Patrick Henry before the House of Burgesses in an 1851 painting by Peter F. Rothermel

Other Colonies and Their Founders

Maryland – Lord Baltimore, for Catholics to have freedom to worship

Massachusetts – John Winthrop, a refuge for puritans

Rhode Island – Roger Williams, for government with no authority in religious matters, he was a separatist

Connecticut – Thomas Hooker, they adopted the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the first written constitution in the colonies

New Hampshire – was started by a royal charter due to overcrowding in Massachusetts. Maine was as well but later was bought back by Massachusetts

New York and New Jersey – originally founded by Henry Hudson for the Dutch but King Charles sent his brother James to take it for England

Pennsylvania and Delaware– William Penn, refuge for Quakers, love and pacifism for all

North and South Carolina – King Charles gave this land to his political allies, mostly for farming

Georgia – James Oglethorpe, a place for poor English debtors to start over

THE END