Chapter 1 – The World before 1600

Section Notes Video

The Early Americas The World Before 1600
North American Cultures in the
1400s
African Cultures before 1500 Maps
Europe and Exploration The Bering Land Bridge
Cultures Make Contact Native American Culture Areas
West and Central Africa,
1100–1500
History Close-up European Routes
Caravel Columbian Exchange

Quick Facts Images

Visual Summary: The World Artifacts
Before 1600 Differences in Geography,
Differences in Dwellings
Bartolomé De Las Casas
Mosque
 The Early Americas

The Main Idea

People arrived on the American continents thousands of
years ago and developed flourishing societies.

Reading Focus
• According to scientists and historians, how and when did the first
migration to the Americas occur?
• What kind of cultures developed in Central and South America?
• What characterized the earliest cultures of North America?
 Migration to the Americas

• 10,000 years ago ice covered many parts of the

world (land and water), causing lower sea levels.
Ice Age
• Land was exposed along coasts.

• Today the Bering Strait lies between Alaska and

Siberia, but during the Ice Age a land bridge
Beringia connected them.
• Historians call the ancient land area Beringia.

• Hunters from Siberia crossed the land bridge.

Hunters • They arrived in North America between 12,000

Crossed and 40,000 years ago.
• These hunters crossed in small groups at different
times.
The Land Bridge
 Migration to the Americas
Hunters and Gatherers

• They were nomads who • Hunting was good along edges

moved from place to place. of ice sheets.
• Followed hunter-gatherer • Giant sloths
way of life
• Saber-toothed cats
• Women and girls collected
nuts, berries, wild plants, and • Woolly mammoths
birds’ eggs. • Wolves
• Men and boys went on • Camels
extended hunts, followed the
animal herds. • Animals were not accustomed
to humans, making them easy
• When the animals moved, so prey.
did the hunter-gatherers.
• Hunters drove animals off cliffs
• Hunter-gatherers never or killed them with stone-
stayed in one place for long. tipped spears.
 Migration to the Americas

End of the Ice Age

Effects • The climate grew warmer; glaciers melted.
• Large lakes and layers of rich soil were left.
• Thick forests grew in eastern North America.

• Climate change and skillful hunters killed off Ice

Age animals.
Food
Supply • Bands of hunters moved south in search of new
food supplies.
• By at least 11,000 years ago, people were living in
North and South America.
 Migration to the Americas
The Agricultural Revolution
Farming Basic Crops More Changes
• Native Americans • By about 2,000 years
• The food supply was
began farming. ago, ancient American
dependable.
farming was based on
• Farming led them to • Populations grew.
– Corn (maize)
live in villages
– Beans • People began
instead of moving
crafting (pottery &
from place to place. – Squash weaving).
• This dramatic • They developed
change was called Meat ways to govern
the Agricultural villages and to
Revolution. • Men hunted seasonally
for meat, but began distribute wealth.
• This change began raising animals.
at least 7,000 years
ago in parts of the
Americas.
 Cultures of Central America
and South America

Central and South America have archaeological sites from

many different cultures.

• Three major cultures flourished in Mesoamerica.

Central
America • Mesoamerica is the area from present-day central
Mexico into Central America.

South • A fourth important culture arose in South America.

America
 Cultures of Central America
and South America
The Olmec Farmers
• The Olmec were the first major The Olmec used a “slash-and-
Mesoamerican society. burn” farming technique.
• They lived along the Gulf of
Mexico around 1200 BC.
• The Olmec culture is known as the Slash-and-Burn
mother culture of Mesoamerica • Trees were cut down and burned
because their religion, art, on a plot of land.
agriculture, and social
organization influenced later • Ashes made the land fertile for a
peoples. few years.
• The farmers then moved to a new
plot, allowing the old plots to
Engineers and Artists become fertile again.
• First Mesoamericans to develop a • Over time, the farmers cleared
writing system large areas of land.
• Created sculptures made of basalt
that weigh as much as 40 tons
and stand 10 feet high
 Cultures of Central America
and South America
The Maya Mayan The Toltec
Accomplishments
• Mayan society • The Toltec dominated
began to rise around • Priests studied stars central Mexico as the
400 BC. and created Maya began to
calendars. decline.
• Their cities were
• The Mayan developed
religious centers with • They were skilled
a writing system and
stone pyramids, warriors, artisans, and
a number system.
palaces, temples, builders.
sacred ball courts.
Mayan Decline • Toltec influence is
• Religious centers seen in the
grew into city-states • The civilization architecture of late
populated by declined by about Mayan cities such as
thousands of people. 1500, but the culture Chichén Itzá.
lives today. Mayan-
speaking people still
live in Mexico and
Guatemala.
 Cultures of Central America
and South America
The Aztec The Inca
• Came to power in 1400s
• These were the warlike • While the Aztec conquered
Mexica, better known as Mesoamerica, the Inca rose
the Aztec. to power in the Andes
• Aztec capital was Mountains of South
Tenochtitlán. America.
• Built on an island in a • Inca conquered along the
shallow lake
• Featured canals, plazas,
coast.
and marketplaces • Their vast empire was
• Food supplied by floating connected by roads and
gardens called chinampas,
in the lake.
bridges.
• A conquering people, their • Inca empire was largest in
slaves and captives were America with perhaps 12
used for human sacrifice to million people.
their many gods.
Mesoamerica: Mayans and Aztecs
 South
America:
Inca
Machu Picchu
 The Earliest Cultures of North America
Southwest Peoples Mound Builders Mississippian
• Grew corn, beans, • Lived in eastern North Culture
squash and women America in small
• Last major mound-
made pottery farming villages run by
builders
clan leaders
• The Hohokam dug • Most advanced
• Complex villages
irrigation ditches for farming society
developed.
farming. Had simple north of Mexico
temple mounds and • Called mound builders
ball courts because they buried • Grew maize and
their leaders in large beans, invented the
• The Anasazi lived in earth mounds hoe
multistory adobe
• Adena people had a • Towns had large
buildings (pueblos)
trade network to bring temple-mounds.
built on flat mesas
and on steep cliffs. them goods from far • Their greatest cities
away. were Cahokia, near
• The Anasazi had a St. Louis, and
• Hopewell people were
road system. Moundville, in
skilled artists.
Alabama.
Early North American Civilizations
 North American Cultures in the 1400s

The Main Idea

A variety of complex societies existed in different regions of
North America before European explorers arrived in the
early 1500s.

Reading Focus
• How did regional differences among Native Americans shape
their diverse cultures?
• What Native American customs were shared among several
groups?
• How did trading networks link Native American societies?
Regional Differences among Native Americans

• Diverse environments of North America influenced the

Native American cultures across the continent.

The Southwest
• Pueblo peoples inherited many Anasazi customs.
• The Zuni, Hopi, and Acoma lived in pueblos.
• They grew corn, beans, squash, and cotton in river and
creek bottoms.
• They made distinctive pottery and baskets.
• Later the Apache and the Navajo arrived.
– Originally nomadic hunters, gradually took up farming like
the other Pueblo peoples
– Became skilled weavers
Regional Differences among Native Americans

The Northwest Coast

• Climate was cool and rainy. Tall trees, wild plants, game, and
fish were abundant.
• Hunters went to sea to hunt whales.
• The Kwakiutl and the Haida were skilled woodworkers.
• The rich resources made them wealthy.

California
• This region was located south of the Northwest Coast.
• Home to the Pomo, Hupa, and Yuro, among others
• These peoples lived in small communities of 50 to 300. There
were over 100 languages spoken in the region.
• The people fished and hunted because food was available year-
round. They did not have to farm.
Kwakiutl-Northwest Region
Regional Differences among Native Americans
The Far North
• Region also known as Arctic and Subarctic
• The peoples are the most recent migrants from Asia.
• These ancestors of modern Inuit came by boat about
1,500 years ago.
• Aleuts came earlier and settle on Aleutian Islands.

Land and Vegetation

• Much of the land is tundra.
• Animals were abundant despite the lack of vegetation.
• The Inuit and Aleuts mainly hunted.
• On the coast, people hunted seals, seabirds, and whales
• Inland, they hunted caribou, beaver, and bear.
• Archaeological evidence of their sites is rare. Perhaps rising sea
levels after the Ice Age covered the coastal settlements.
Regional Differences among Native Americans
The Great Basin and the Plateau
• These are two dryland regions located east of the mountain
ranges of the Pacific coast.

The Great Basin

• Native Americans such as the Ute and Shoshone were challenged by
the weather and environment.
• There was little rain, few trees, no large rivers, and few wild game.
• They were hunter-gatherers: dug roots, gathered acorns and piñon
nuts, and hunted rabbits.
• Their populations were small.

The Plateau
• Located north of Great Basin
– More rainfall than Great Basin
– More forests than Great Basin
– Crossed by rivers brimming with salmon and other fish
• Groups such as the Nez Percé lived in villages along the rivers.
 Regional Differences among Native Americans
The Great Plains The Eastern Woodlands The Southeast
• Home to the Sioux, • Thick forests
• Most lived in settled
Pawnee, and • Because travel was farming villages.
Cheyenne difficult, groups
developed their own • They had a warm
• Flat land with prairie climate with plenty
traditions, tools, and
grasses and tree- of rain; this allowed
(often) languages.
lined rivers them to grow
• The Iroquois included several crops a
• Herds such as elk several groups who
and bison grazed year.
shared a culture and
there. language. They lived in • Many groups lived
longhouses. here, including the
• Had to hunt buffalo
Choctaw.
—farming was • The Chippewa, Fox, and
difficult with tough Sauk also lived in the • They lived in
grass roots region. They spoke thatched-roof log
Algonquian languages. cabins plastered
• The Caddo and with mud.
Wichita lived in • Plenty of meat, furs,
fertile farm valleys. and fish
Iroquois-Eastern Woodlands
 Native American Customs

Family relations
• Most villages and nations organized into clans by kinship
• Kinship determined inheritance, status, and marriage eligibility
• Housing arrangements and social engagements depended on the
position of women.
• Iroquois society was matrilineal.
• In Hopi culture, a man went to live with his wife’s family when he
married, bringing seeds from his mother’s crops.

Social and political structures

• Social organization varied greatly from group to group.
• Most clans or nations were headed by a chief. Villages were run by
a council of elders.
 Native American Customs

Land use
• They did not believe that land should be bought and sold.
• Some societies viewed land as a gift from the Great Spirit to be
shared by the village or group for farming or hunting.
• Still, some groups warred over territory.

Division of labor
• Ancient hunter-gatherers: men and boys hunted and women and
girls gathered plants, nuts, and berries
• Agricultural Revolution saw women take over planting and
cultivating crops
• Southwest division of labor: women and men farmed; women
cared for children, cooked, wove cloth, and made pottery and
baskets; men were woodcarvers and probably metalworkers
 Native American Customs

Religious beliefs
• Native Americans shared spiritual and religious ideas.
– Belief that there was a spiritual connection to the
natural world
– In many belief systems, a tree stood at the center of
the earth.
– Animals were thought to be powerful spirits.
• Native Americans told many stories.
– Some explained the creation of the world or the origin
of their peoples.
– Other stories were about spirits and crops, rivers or
other aspects of nature.
Native American Religious Beliefs
 Trading Networks Link
Native American Societies
Native Americans Trading Networks Exchange of Ideas
usually traded by a • Hopewell trade
barter system. • The trade networks
network covered two-
carried ideas from
thirds of the United
Reasons for trade place to place.
States.
• Specialization • It could take years to • Mississippians may
began. bring items back to have borrowed
Ohio (long distances temple mounds and
• Farmers could grow pyramids from
and travel difficulty).
extra crops. Mesoamericans.
• The Hopewell people
• Others could access obtained bear’s teeth, • Pueblo peoples’
needed minerals. obsidian, cooper, mica, religious ideas and
and shells through ritual costumes
• People living near
trade. came from Mexico.
water traded shells
or pearls. • Travel made by canoe
and on foot
• Artisans traded their
creations.
 Europe and Exploration

The Main Idea

Renaissance ideas changed Europeans’ medieval outlook and
inspired them to explore the world.

Reading Focus
• What changes took place in Europe during the Middle Ages?
• What happened during the Renaissance and the Protestant
Reformation?
• What did Europeans hope to find during the Age of Exploration?
 The Middle Ages

• The Middle Ages (AD 500 to 1500) began when the

Roman Empire collapsed and created widespread
lawlessness.
Feudalism and the manorial system
• Invaders occupied Spain and attacked other nations in
central Europe. Vikings raided the northern coasts of
Europe.
• Feudal system developed when local nobles gave parcels
of land from their large estates to vassals, or nobles of
lower rank. The vassals pledged their loyalty and military
service to the lords.
 The Middle Ages

The Crusades
• Roman Catholic Pope Urban called on Christian kings and
knights to recapture the Holy Land from Muslim Turks.
Thousands answered his call to the holy wars, known as
the Crusades.
• The Muslims kept their lands, but the wars allowed
Europeans to experience new lands and people and
boosted trade between Europe and the Middle East.
• Wealthy European merchants and artisans made up a
growing middle class.
 The Middle Ages

New nation-states
• Many nobles lost their fortunes in the Crusades; the new
middle-class townspeople did not owe loyalty to a feudal lord.
• Kings gave towns charters and collected taxes. England,
France, and Spain began creating nation-states with strong
central governments and homogeneous populations.
• King John of England was forced to sign the Magna Carta, a
document that established several principles of government:
– No taxation without representation
– The right to trial by a jury of one’s peers
– These rights were gradually extended to ordinary people.
Magna Carta
The Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation

The Renaissance (rebirth)

• In the 1300s, a new era of learning began in the wealthy
city-states of Italy.
• Classics of Greece and Rome were studied, inspiring an
intense creativity in the arts.

• In the medieval period, many people accepted misery in

their lives and hoped for rewards in heaven.
• During the Renaissance people showed an interest in a
meaningful life on earth.
• Scientists began to question teachings of Catholic Church.
Renaissance
The Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation

• Many thought the Catholic clergy had become lazy and corrupt.
They felt the church failed to provide proper spiritual guidance.
• In 1517 a German monk, Martin Luther, nailed a list of
arguments to a church door. This critique of the Catholic Church led
to the Reformation movement.
• Protestants: those who joined protests against the church

Christianity in Spain
• Islam was widespread in Iberian Peninsula. By 1100s, Christian
rulers wanted to take it back. Movement known as Reconquista.
• Spanish Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand wanted Spain to be a
Catholic kingdom. Ordered all Jews and Muslims to convert or
leave Spain. Even Christians could be punished if they were
suspected of defying the church.
Reformation
 The Age of Exploration

Marco Polo Prince Henry the

Navigator
• Polo went to China and
stayed for 17 years and • Set up a school and naval
worked for Kublai Khan. observatory to encourage
exploration
• On the return trip, he
went through Southeast • He sponsored many
Asia and India. expeditions.
• Marco took note of the • Hoped to find a sea route
people, places, and to India to allow Portugal
customs. and other countries to
trade directly with the
• His book about his travels East instead of going
was very popular; it through Italian merchants
influenced later explorers.
 The Age of Exploration

Better sailing technology

• Prince Henry’s school developed the caravel, a sturdy and fast ship.
• Improved navigational instruments: astrolabe and magnetic compass

Looking for a sea route to Asia

• Overland trip to Asia was long, difficult, and dangerous
• Portuguese explorers led the way: Dias, da Gama, Cabral
• Bartolomeu Dias was first to round the southern tip of Africa.
• Vasco da Gama found the sea route to India. The new trade route
helped Portugal become a world power.
• The sea route discovery led to the decline of trans-Sahara trade and
the African trading empires.
• Pedro Álvars Cabral spotted the South American coast.
The Portuguese and Da Gama
 Cultures Make Contact

The Main Idea

Columbus’s voyages to the Americas established contact with
Native Americans and led to European colonies and an
exchange of goods and ideas.

Reading Focus
• When did Vikings visit North America, and why was their stay
brief?
• Why were Columbus’s voyages to the Caribbean significant?
• What impact did European exploration have on Native
Americans?
• What was the Columbian Exchange, and how did it affect both
Europe and America?
 Vikings Visit North America

• Vikings were sea raiders who terrorized the coasts of

western Europe.
• In late 900s, Vikings from Norway reached Greenland in
North America. Erik the Red began settlements there in
986.
• Erik’s son, Leif Eriksson, was heading to Greenland, but
landed on eastern Canadian coast. He named it Vinland.
• Leif tried to establish a colony in Vinland, but was not
welcomed by the Native Americans. The Vikings left
Canada three years later after warfare with the natives.
• The Vikings never settled in Vinland again, but they
continued to return for timber.
The Vikings
 Columbus’s Voyages to the Caribbean

Christopher Columbus
• Believed that he could reach India by sailing west (did not know about
American continents)
• Convinced Queen Isabella to back his voyage (after several years)
• Studied sailing and navigation techniques and read books about travel
and geography

The first voyage

• Set sail on August 3, 1492
• Crew of 90 men, two caravels (the Niña and the Pinta) and his flagship,
the Santa Maria
• Reached land after 3 weeks (San Salvador in the Caribbean)
• Called the local people “los Indios.” They were Tainos.
• Always thought he had explored part of Asia
Spain finances Columbus in 1492
 Impact on Native Americans

Colonies in Hispaniola
• Christmas Town: The men Columbus had left to establish a
town in Hispaniola behaved so wildly in his absence that they
angered the Tainos. The Tainos killed all of them.
• Isabela: The site had no fresh water and malaria-carrying
mosquitoes.
• While Columbus explored other islands, his brothers ran
Isabela. Some Spanish officers rebelled against them.
• Columbus and his brothers captured Indians to sell as slaves.
Colonization turned into conquest.
• He eventually lost his post as governor of Hispaniola in 1500.
 Impact on Native Americans

Native American Labor

• Spaniards wanted to find gold and needed the labor to mine it.
• In 1494 Columbus sent 26 Indians back to Spain, wanting them to
be trained as interpreters.
• He suggested starting a trade in Indian slaves. Also wanted to
convert them to Christianity

Trade in Indian Slaves

• Queen Isabella didn’t want to enslave Indians.
• Many Indians were then sent to Portuguese plantations instead.
• Later the Portuguese, French, and Dutch ran Caribbean plantations
and kept enslaved Indians as local labor.
• Father Bartolomé de Las Casas dedicated his life to protecting the
Indians from mistreatment.
 The Columbian Exchange

Interaction between Native American crops

Europeans and Native
Americans—and • Corn, beans, squash,
eventually Africans—led tomatoes, chocolate,
to exchanges: peanuts
– plants
European contributions
– animals
• Certain foods
– languages
• Domestic animals,
– technology including horses
– deadly germs, • New technology, including
brought epidemics to guns
the Americas • Smallpox and measles
 African Cultures before 1500

The Main Idea

Trade was a major factor in the development of African
societies south of the Sahara.

Reading Focus
• What powerful West African trading kingdoms arose
between 300 and 1500?
• How did trade shape kingdoms in East Africa?
• How did African society change as a result of the slave
trade?
 West African Trading Kingdoms

Trans-Sahara trade
 Despite the danger, trading caravans have crossed Sahara since ancient
times.
 African interior had gold and ivory; Arabs from North Africa traded salt from
mines.
 Great trading empires thrived in the grasslands near the Niger River.
 Desert traders also brought Islam to West Africa.
 West African Trading Kingdoms

Ghana Mali Songhai

• Earliest West • Mansa Musa • This kingdom
African trading most famous became larger
state (arose ruler than Ghana or
around AD 300) • People of Mali Mali.
• Located on a were Muslims. • Askia
gold and salt • When Mansa Muhammad,
route Musa made a most famous
• Grew wealthy pilgrimage to Songhai ruler,
and powerful Mecca, the encouraged
outside world Muslim learning.
• History passed
down through knew of Mali’s
oral tradition wealth.
• Did not convert
to Islam
 West African Trading Kingdoms

Coastal kingdoms

 By 1300, the settlement of Benin became a powerful state.

 Grew rich from foreign trade
 Famous for its brilliant artists
 Farther south, the kingdom of Kongo was growing.
 Thrived by trading salt and palm oil
 Kingdoms of East Africa
Trade Important to Growth
• East Africans traded with Egypt, India, and the Middle East.
• East African trading ships sailed the Red Sea and Indian
Ocean.
• East Africa had gold, cinnamon, rhinoceros horn and tortoise
shell. They also shipped enslaved Africans.
• They bought porcelain, silk, and jewels from India and China.
Arabian Influence
• Arabia was a strong influence along East African coast.
• Arab merchants settled in coastal cities and brought their
customs and Islam.
• New culture and new language (Swahili) developed in East
Africa.
 African Society and the Slave Trade
• African rulers were wealthy and had lavish lifestyles.
• Strong families were central to African society.
• People were loyal to those with the same lineage.
• Men and women could be enslaved if they were captured in war,
found guilty of a crime, or were in debt.
• Slaves could work their way to freedom in most African societies.

The Portuguese in West Africa

• Nature of slavery changed when Europeans arrived in Africa.
• Portuguese established large-scale farms, or plantations, first in
Africa, then in Caribbean islands and in the Americas; later the
Spanish, British, French, and Dutch did the same.
• Plantations were labor-intensive. First Native Americans were used for
labor, but diseases and working conditions took a heavy toll.
West Africa Plantations
 African Society and the Slave Trade

The Atlantic Slave Trade Begins

• Atlantic slave trade began in the sixteenth century as a response for
the demand for cheap labor. Europeans viewed the black Africans as
inferior.
• Planters demanded more laborers for their plantations.

• African merchants helped supply slaves to traders in exchange for the

traders’ business. African rulers supplied slaves in exchange for
European firearms.
• Others who supplied slaves wanted to help weaken rival African
leaders.

• Europeans captured people during conflicts with North African

Muslims.
• European traders conducted slave raids and kidnappings.
• The Portuguese began the slave trade, but by the 1600s the English,
French, and Dutch were heavily involved, too.
 African Society and the Slave Trade

The Impact on African Society

• Atlantic slave trade continued for 400 years.
• Historians estimate that 20 million Africans were sent to the Americas.
• Many others were sent to other parts of the world. Many died
en route.

• The strongest young people were taken, the future leaders.

• Slave raids discouraged people from planning for the future.
• The slave trade interrupted normal political and economic
development because of the loss of population.

• The slave trade divided Africans from one another.

• Young African men were hired by slave traders as kidnappers.
• Rulers warred against their own people and neighbors in order to gain
captives for the trade.