Overview
This lecture covers the diverse societies of Native Americans before European contact, the impacts of European exploration and colonization, and the transformative effects of the Columbian Exchange on both the Old and New Worlds.
Native American Societies Before Contact
- Native Americans inhabited the Americas for over 10,000 years, creating diverse cultures, languages, and economies.
- They maintained complex kinship networks, traded widely, and developed settled and migratory lifestyles based on environment.
- Spiritual beliefs often blended the natural and supernatural, and many societies traced family lines matrilineally.
- Agriculture, especially maize, enabled population growth and cultural development, with "three sisters" crops (corn, beans, squash) central in Eastern Woodlands.
- Artistic and communicative traditions included birch bark scrolls, woven fibers, and monumental earthworks.
Major Indigenous Civilizations
- Puebloan peoples built Chaco Canyon with advanced farming, trade networks, and ceremonial centers.
- Mississippian culture, centered at Cahokia, created large cities and constructed earthen mounds, practicing hierarchical politics.
- Pacific Northwest peoples relied on salmon, built plank houses, and practiced potlatch feasts to distribute wealth and establish social status.
Early European Expansion
- Scandinavian Vikings reached Newfoundland around 1000 CE but failed to establish permanent colonies.
- The Crusades and Renaissance led to increased European demand for Asian goods and technological advancements in navigation (astrolabe, caravel).
- Portugal pioneered Atlantic exploration and plantation systems using enslaved African labor.
- Spain sought direct routes to Asia, leading Columbus to land in the Caribbean in 1492, mistaking it for Asia.
Spanish Conquest and Colonization
- Spanish established the encomienda system, forcing indigenous labor on large estates.
- Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire with native allies and the effects of smallpox.
- Francisco Pizarro exploited an Inca civil war and disease to conquer the Inca Empire.
- Spanish colonial society became racially stratified (peninsulares, creoles, mestizos, indigenous peoples).
The Columbian Exchange and Its Consequences
- The Columbian Exchange transferred people, animals, plants, and diseases between continents.
- European diseases devastated native populations, with mortality rates up to 95% in some areas.
- New world crops like potatoes, maize, and tomatoes revolutionized global diets.
- European animals, especially horses, transformed Native American cultures.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Columbian Exchange — transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas and the Old World after 1492.
- Encomienda — Spanish system granting colonists control over native labor and land.
- Matrilineal — tracing family lineage through mothers.
- Potlatch — ceremonial feast among Pacific Northwest tribes to display and redistribute wealth.
- Mestizo — person of mixed Spanish and indigenous ancestry.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review the main impacts of the Columbian Exchange.
- Study the differences between major indigenous societies before European arrival.
- Prepare to discuss how disease shaped the course of American history.