AP US History Unit 1 Overview

Course Introduction

Diversity of Native American Cultures
- Societies varied based on environment
- Common misconception: monolithic culture
- Coastal groups had fishing villages; others were nomadic or built cities/empires
Regional Examples
- Pueblo People (Utah & Colorado)
  - Settled farmers; crops like beans, squash, maize
  - Built irrigation systems and clay brick urban centers
  - Famous for cliff dwellings
- Great Basin & Great Plains
  - Nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle
  - Small egalitarian kinship bands (e.g., Ute people)
- Northwest & Pacific Coast
  - Permanent settlements due to abundant resources
  - Chumash (California): Villages, trade networks
  - Chinook (Pacific Northwest): Plank houses for kinship groups
- Iroquois (Northeast)
  - Farmers, communal living in longhouses
- Mississippi River Valley
  - Rich soil for farming, trade networks
  - Cahokia: Large civilization with centralized government

European Motivations
- 1300s-1400s: Political unification, centralized monarchies
- Desire for Asian luxury goods; land routes controlled by Muslims
- Portugal initiates sea-based trade routes; Trading Post Empire
- Use of maritime technology (astronomical charts, astrolabe, ship designs)
Spanish Exploration
- Reconquest of Iberia led to Catholicism spread and economic expansion
- Christopher Columbus sponsored by Spain to find Asia via the west
- Columbus lands in Caribbean; starts competition in Europe

Definition: Transfer of people, animals, plants, and diseases between hemispheres
Specific Transfers
- Americas to Europe: Potatoes, tomatoes, maize
- Europe to Americas: Wheat, rice, soybeans, animals (cattle, pigs, horses)
- Diseases: Smallpox decimated Native populations
- Introduction of African slavery

Impact of Wealth on Europe
- Shift from feudalism to capitalism
- Rise of joint-stock companies for exploration (limited liability)
Spain in the Americas
- Agriculture over precious metals for wealth
- Encomienda system: Forced labor of natives
- Problems: Native escape and death from disease
- Solution: Import African slaves for labor
- Casta System: Racial hierarchy based on ancestry

European-Native Relations
- Europeans exploited natives for labor and alliances
- Cultural exchanges: Natives taught Europeans agriculture; Europeans introduced tools
European Justifications
- Ontological beliefs: Natives seen as less than human
- Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda: Argued natives benefited from harsh conditions
- Bartolomé de las Casas: Advocated for native rights
- Biblical justification for African slavery (Curse of Ham)