LG 6 - Age of Exploration-Increasing Connectivity

LG 2 – Describe how European exploration impacted political control of territories (colonialism) and impacted the diffusion of products and ideas (Columbian Exchange)

Early ExplorationIn the early 1400s,

Europeans began exploring the west coast of Africa in search of an all water route to Asia to gain access to the lucrative spice trade. 

Cristobol Colon/Christopher ColumbusIn 1492, Christopher Columbus

crossed the Atlantic Ocean and “discovered” the Americas for Spain.

Columbus insisted to the day he died that he in fact found India instead of a new land. (That is why natives were and are mistakenly called “Indians”)

The region was later named after Amerigo Vespucci who was supposedly the one that realized Columbus found a new continent.

How is Columbus different in these two pictures?How are the Indians different in these two pictures?

1 2

Colombian Exchange- Label on your map 5 items going to each location

The Great DyingAbout 90% of the

native population was wiped out due to the Columbian Exchange bringing smallpox, measles, typhus, and even the common cold to the New World.

Spain: Gold, Glory and God

SpainSpanish found

advanced civilizations with advanced trade networks, armies, and a system of collecting tribute in the form of gold, silver, and surplus crops.

The Spanish conquered and built over native cities, enslaved the native population, set up missions to convert natives to Catholicism, and brought riches and surplus crops back to Spain.

Present day Mexico City

The ruins of the Aztecs’ Templo Mayor, in Mexico City’s famous Zócalo, where it abuts a Spanish-built cathedral.

Portugal: “Crab-like” Empire Like crabs, the Portuguese stayed near the coast to set

up trading posts for their seaborne empire.

PortugalReliance on natural resources/cash crops in Brazil would continue

with sugar and then coffee creating the greatest need for slaves in the New World.

•31% of slaves between 1701-1810 went to Brazil. •By comparison, 6% went to N America

Language and Colonization

Why are Spanish and Portuguese the main languages spoken in Latin America?

People and CulturesLatin Americans trace their ancestry to

Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans. Most people have a mixed heritage.

Today, ethnic and cultural diversity is evident in Latin America’s growing cities.

Mestizos, for example, are people of both Native American and European descent.

Mulattoes are people whose ancestry is African and European.

Conquistadors & ColonizationStarting late 1400s-early 1500s European

explorers were setting up colonies, mostly under the control of Spain or Portugal.

The role of the colonies was to provide resource wealth for ruler nation.

A class structure developed within the region that put the Europeans (peninsulares/criollos) on top, those of mixed ancestry in the middle (mestizos), and Native Americans on the bottom.

ReligionsDuring the colonial period, governments of Spain and

Portugal, whose official religion was Roman Catholic, paid for missionaries to go to the New World.

Priests, friars, and monks set up missions all over Latin America. Their job was to convert the indigenous people to Christianity.

The governments of Spain and Portugal supported the missionaries with money to build missions and churches.

Indigenous people were often forced to say they were accepting Christianity. However, they often continued to practice their traditional beliefs. Some people mixed their traditional beliefs with the beliefs of the Catholic Church.

Government: Democratic Reforms & StabilityMovement for Democratic reforms began in

the early 1900s and stretched into the 1980s.For example, the Mexican Democratic

Constitution was written in 1917, but full multi-party democracy was not achieved until 2000.

The more stable democracies tend to be the more economically successful countries.

Some nations are still struggling to develop democratic reforms (Venezuela) or do not have a democratic government (Cuba).

Economy: Subsistence vs Market AgricultureA large percentage of Latin America meets it

most basic needs through subsistenceLarger commercial agriculture industries are

often owned by a small local elite or foreign business.

Much of the resulting product is exported as a cash crop and not for local consumption.Economies that are too dependent on the export of

cash crops suffer greatly when there is a poor season or prices on those items fall.

For example, Colombia (coffee), Honduras (bananas), Jamaica (coffee and sugar)

http://www.schooltube.com/video/c27211bd0adf1b257236/The-Columbian-Exchange

Create a restaurant in either the OLD World or the NEW World!

Exit TicketIn your ISN, describe the impact of the Columbian

Exchange on the colonization of the New World and list some popular foods we eat that would not exist had the Columbian Exchange not taken place.