week 2 - europe
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Course Requirements Paper
A 2000 word paper (+/- 10%) page research paper, topic to be of students choosing in consultation with professor Due Thursday 5th November
Children’s Story critical thinking paper. A 1500 word paper (+/- 10%) Due Thursday
19th November
Portfolio
Each student will keep a portfolio for the class which will be split into two blocks. The first block to be handed in on Thursday 15th October the second block to be handed in on Tues 8th December
There will be 2 sections within your portfolio
1: This section will relate to the readings from – Reading the American Past – And the end of each set of readings from this text are a number of comparative questions. The student shall select one (1) question from each set of readings and write a one (1) page answer.
2: Video quiz. On numerous occasions during the class I will show movies, documentaries, and several video clips. Questions will be set before the showing. Your answers to each set of video quiz’s will also be kept in the portfolio.
Week 2: Portfolio VideoQuestions
1. How was Cabeza de Vaca’s Experience in America different from most other Spanish Conquistadors?
2. In the video, Professor David Weber reminds us that in frontier regions
A) people tend to develop a new culture. B) democracy always emerges among settlers. C) indigenous culture is totally destroyed. D) expansion moves almost invariably from east
to west.
Final Due Thursday December 17th 9:30 AM
A take home essay. The question for the take home essay will be “America did not exist until 1877: discuss using evidence from the class readings and lectures”
p.s. I am available for favorite Professor dinner’s
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. Class covers chronological era up to 1877 the
period of reconstruction An “are” to an “is” The United States “are” The United States “is”
Early attempts at colonization
Beringa
1798 Philadelphia French aristocrat Constantin-
Francois de Chasseboeuf meets Miami Chief Little Turtle Chasseboeuf notices facial
similarities between Little Turtle and Asians and points out small gap between continents
‘Isn’t it possible’ asked Little Turtle that the Tartars, who resemble us so closely, came from America? Why shouldn’t we have been born here?’
Much mystery surrounds the travels of St. Brennan 7th century Catholic Missionary He and crew of 60 are given credit for
discovering North America. Artifacts have been found testiying to
their exploration of Maine and Nova Scotia. St. Brennan returned to Ireland and died at
age 92
First (?) European transatlantic colonizers
Norse or Vikings From Norway, via
Iceland and Greenland to Newfoundland
L'Anse aux meadows
Some traditions recalled dreams, premonitions, and prophecies that foretold the coming of powerful strangers
Europe’s Expansion
Reconquista Beginning in 711 Catholics began an
attempt to retake Spain from the Muslims (Moors)
Finally completed in 1492 with the marriage of
Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille
1400 Venice dominated the trade of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Plague hit Europe in in mid 14th century
Black Death Changed structure
of society 1/3rd population
dead Result
More food for those still alive Survivors inherit property Peasants began to move around 15th century a dangerous place Big challenges lead to some taking
big risks
Genoese and Florentines looked west Brought sailing know-how, mercantile
instincts, and banking practices to cities of Spain and Portugal.
The commercial community of fifteenth century Lisbon hoped they could find a way to outflank Muslims and Venetians, i.e. those who still held the keys to the
doors of African gold and Asian Luxury goods
Portugal Worked with Spain on the Reconquista 1415 Portuguese forces conquered Ceuta, the Muslim
bastion at the mouth of the strait of Gibraltar that blocked Portugal's access to the Atlantic coast of Africa
Ideal of Reconquista allowed for expansion into ‘heathen’ lands
Prince Henry the Navigator, son of the Portuguese King
from 1415 until death in 1460 acted as an important conduit for bringing together technology, money, and prestige
pushed for greater expansion down Africa’s coast
New ship design the caraval allowed them to take advantage of winds and tacking against the winds
It was sturdier and larger than earlier European sea going ships
Portugese came first to the Canary Islands
Appealing because of their inhabitants
The Guanche had livestock, which could supply
hides, tallow, and wool, early visitors found they could
extract orchil, a valued purple dye, from Lichens found on the island.
But the Guanche themselves made colonization of the Island difficult
After the Canary Islands were taken Portuguese moved on to Madeira
Planted Cane Sugar Like all planters Madeira’s
new landlords wanted workers that were plentiful, robust, long lived inexpensive.
First, they brought to the islands a few Jews and Moors who still resided in Portugal
Also Africans enslaved by Portuguese explorers from the African coast.
Many more Madeiran slaves were Guanche, however, captured during the most aggressive period of warfare in the Canaries.
Cane took root in Madeira’s fertile soils Owned and managed by Europeans with social as well as
economic aspirations Worked by men and women totally denied such aspirations
This mechanism developed into European dominanceplantation agriculture and a slave system to support both
This system fell into gear with a loud clunk that would echo on every continent bordering the ocean
Despite success of Portuguese exploring eastern Atlantic
Spain first country to head west looking for the east
Christopher Columbus Background
Born sane year as Isabella 1451 Genoa Freelance Sailor
Father raised in household of Prince Henry the Navigator
Sailed to central Africa Convinced Asia was 2,500 miles
to west (actually 11,000)
Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile 1469 Unified
Kingdom of Spain 1492Defeated
Moors at Grenada Ends Islamic
presence in Spain Sponsor Columbus
Tried to persuade Portugal England France Spain
To let him sail West to China
Columbus’s First Voyage, 1492
Niña, Pinta, Santa María
San Salvador (Watling’s Island) Tainos (Arawaks) & Caribs Cuba & Hispaniola
Claimed land in name of Spain
Called locals “Indians”
Actually Taino’s (good - noble)
No religion Actually
worshipped Zemis- Ancestral Spirits
The people of these lands do not understand me nor do I, nor anyone else that I have with me [understand] them. And many times I understand one thing said by theses Indians . . . For another, its contrary
Columbus talking about Taino
The world before Columbus
Cabinets of curiosity,
Intellectuals and modern/ changing world
The unknown adventurer
June 24, 1497 John Cabot stepped
onto North American soil
Claimed the land for Henry VII and England
Spain major player in Americas in 16th C
Major impact on Europe appears to be and was the wealth
Another important aspect Continued exploitation of local population
Limited number of migrants to the Spanish New World From 1492 – 1592 approx 225,000 Still only 1-2% of population
The majority of people to move to “New Spain” were male 1 women in twenty in 1519 To 1 women in three 1589
Leads to intermarriageVery few women to keep the
Spanish bloodlines “pure”Limpieza de Sangre – clean
bloodAll people categorized and
assigned a fixed position in New Spain
After Columbus’s voyage And increasing Spanish presence
in European activities Others begin to follow But first I want to stay with Spain
as they headed north
Principal Spanish Explorations of North America
Spain in North America
Juan de Ponce de Leon Florida 1521 Killed by Calusa Indians
Lucas Vázquez de Ayellón 1521 explores Atlantic coast north of Florida – 1526 set up a short lived colony in Georgia
1528 Pánfilo de Narváez surveyed Gulf coast – ended in shipwreck
Cabeca De Vaca
1539 Hernando de Soto ex conquistador from Peru spent three vicious years in
southeast then died in 1542 buried in the Mississippi
Francisco Vásquez de Coranado southwest and great plains in 1540 looking for the
fabulous wealth of the seven cities of Cíbola 1542 turned back
Juan Rodríguiz Cabrillo 1542 along the coast of California died on Santa
Catalina Island off coast from LA. Men sailed on to Oregon before storm turned them
back
1565 French begin to show interest in North America
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founds St Augustine in Florida,
by 1600 population of about 500
Second region of Spanish settlement Southwest 1598 Juan de Oñate received Kings
permission for settlement on Rio Grande Hoped to find mines
Farming and ranching also drew Spaniards into the region
Oñate never found the vast wealth he wanted
1605 the viceroy in Mexico City recommended that Spanish withdraw from region Isolation Distance from centre
Made New Mexico to expensive Especially with Peru’s Silver and
Mexico’s gold
Franciscan priests intervened Oñate didn’t find gold Priests found souls Told crown either we stay or you will have to move
thousands of converts 1608 Crown gave New Mexico
reprieve As it did to Spanish Florida
New Mexico changed from a proprietary colony to a crown colony
Early French Explorers
Giovanni da Verrazano explored Atlantic coast from
Carolinas to Nova Scotia in 1534
Jacques Cartier explored St. Lawrence Valley
between 1534 and 1543
Samuel de Champlain led eleven voyages to Canada by 1645
Established colony at Acadia (Nova Scotia) Founded Quebec in 1608 Sought friendly relations with Native
Americans Efforts were made to restrain fur trade in
the colony’s population Population 3,000 by 1750 Catholicism only acceptable religion in
1625
Important role of Jesuit Missionaries Believed the Indians could retain their
traditions while still accepting Catholicism
Concentrated attention on five confederated Huron nations Mastered Indian languages and cultures
Only Europeans who measured up to Indian standards of bravery
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New France and the Jesuit Missions
VideoBlack Robe
Church lost ground around 1640s especially after the
crown assumed control of New France after 1663
New France Under Louis XIV Tried to transform
colony into model absolutist society
Frenchmen also settled in the Caribbean Founded sugar
colonies on Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe Martinique