Lecture Notes: Key Terms from Period One

Overview

• Purpose: Define key terms from Period One, often seen in primary sources used by College Board.
• Importance: Useful for understanding questions and possible answers in exams.

Mesoamerican Cultivation

• 6000 BC: Mesoamericans began cultivating maize, a high-yield crop.
• Impact: Agricultural surpluses led to population growth and urban societies.

Native American Cultures

• Mississippi Valley & Southeastern Woodlands: Defined by maize agriculture.
• Great Basin: High desert climate, relied on hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
• Great Plains: Shifted by European-introduced horses; tribes like Comanche, Sioux, and Crow adapted horses for bison hunting.

Hunter-Gatherer Societies

• Characteristics: Mobile, relied on animal migrations.
• Regions: Great Plains, Great Basin, Upper Midwest, Northeast.

Mixed Economies

• Northeast & Atlantic Seaboard: Developed mixed agricultural and hunter-gatherer economies, leading to permanent villages.

Spanish Colonization

• Labor Systems: Native American labor used in encomienda system, replaced by African slavery.
• Migration & Adaptation: Native American societies adapted to new environments and influenced by European settlers.

Western Hemisphere

• Pre-Columbus Population: Estimated 30-75 million Native Americans.
• Colonization: Spanish and Portuguese colonization exploited Native Americans.

Portuguese Exploration

• Prince Henry the Navigator: Funded advances in sailing and explorations along Africa.
• Trade Links: Opening of silk and spice trade routes with Asia.

Spanish Exploration (1492)

• Motivations: Find trade routes, gold, silver, convert people to Christianity.
• Impact: Spread epidemics, created mixed populations, established a caste system.

West African Empires

• Empires: Songhai and Mali, later fragmented into competing kingdoms.
• Triangle Trade: Involvement in slavery for goods and resources.

Plantation Agriculture

• Crops: Sugar, tobacco, indigo, cotton, cacao, ginger.
• Labor Shift: From Native Americans to African laborers.

European Empires

• Portuguese & Spanish: Empire-building, disregard for native cultures, justified conquests.

Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism

• Economy Shift: From localized economy to a mercantile and eventually capitalistic economy.

European Superior Ideologies

• Racial Superiority: Europeans felt superior, justifying their conquests with religion and military technology.

Cultural & Political Autonomy

• Resistance: Native Americans and Africans tried to preserve their culture and political autonomy.

Columbian Exchange

• Exchange: Transfer of plants, animals, people, technology, diseases between Americas, West Africa, and Europe.
• Impact: Significant cultural and population changes.