AP World History Chapter 25 New Worlds: the Americas and Oceania

AP World History Chapter 25 New Worlds: The Americas and Oceania THE CHAPTER IN PERSPECTIVE Before the end of the fifteenth century the western and eastern hemispheres existed in almost complete isolation from one another. This situation began to change after the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. From this point on, the contact between the two would increase dramatically, often with disastrous consequences. The Europeans, with military and technological advantages, imposed their will on the Americas. Ironically, much of the European success was based on a weapon they didn’t know they possessed: smallpox. The massive migration of Europeans into the western hemisphere brought an astonishing transformation of American society. Australia and the Pacific islands would undergo a similar experience two hundred years later. OVERVIEW Colliding Worlds The first people of the Americas to come into contact with the Europeans were the Taino of the Caribbean. After Columbus made Hispaniola his base of operations and established the fort of Santo Domingo, he initially attempted to build trading posts to allow European merchants to trade with the indigenous population. The experience of the Taino, ranging from forced labor under the encomienda to death from smallpox, would set a precedent for the other societies of the Americas. Between 1519 and 1521, Hernán Cortés and a small force of 450 men brought down the powerful Aztec state. European technological advantages and divisions within Motecuzoma II’s empire threatened the Aztecs. In the end the death blow, quite literally, was delivered by smallpox. The Inca suffered a similar fate in the 1530s at the hands of Francisco Pizarro and an even smaller force. The rule of conquistadores such as Cortés and Pizarro was short, and they were quickly replaced by formal Spanish imperial rule. From their governmental centers in Mexico City and Lima the Spanish expanded control. The viceroys, the Spanish king’s main representatives, wielded tremendous power, although their decisions were reviewed by courts of lawyers called audiencias. New cities such as St. Augustine, Panama, Concepción, and Buenos Aires arose as part of the bureaucratic system. Brazil, ceded to Portugal by the Treaty of Tordesillas, was initially ignored by the Portuguese. The establishment of profitable sugar plantations changed that, and the Portuguese quickly established a bureaucratic presence. The cities of New Spain, New Castile, and Brazil took on a European feel, but the countryside remained indigenous in character. The Spanish and Portuguese viewed the new world more as an opportunity for exploitation than as a potential center of colonization. Spanish dominance, at least in the north, was eventually challenged by the English, French, and Dutch. Unlike the Spanish, and mainly for reasons of economic expediency, these nations looked to North America as a source of trade and a place for colonization. Colonies such as Port Royal and Quebec (French), Jamestown and Massachusetts Bay (English), and New Amsterdam (Dutch) were founded in the early years of the seventeenth century. Even with the occasional help of local Indian tribes these colonies struggled mightily. Only sixty of Jamestown’s population of five hundred survived the winter of 1610. The English, French, and Dutch private investors maintained much greater direct control over their colonies than the Spanish and Portuguese royal patrons did over theirs. The English concept of and demand for private ownership of land was a strange and threatening idea for the indigenous Indian population. Conflict between the two groups was, increasingly, the result. Colonial Societies in the Americas The small percentage of Spanish and Portuguese female migrants ensured that there was considerable intermingling and intermarriage between the European and indigenous peoples. The result was a growing mixed population (mestizos, mulattoes, and zambos). Nevertheless, the Europeans (peninsulares) and their descendents (criollos) continued to dominate society. The mestizos, mulattoes, and zambos played an increasingly larger role. Christianity, often of a syncretic variety, spread rapidly through the subject peoples of New Spain and Brazil. The situation was different in North America. A much higher percentage of female migrants, especially among the English colonists, reduced intermarriage. The English made every attempt to eliminate contact between the different groups. French attitudes lay somewhere in between. Métis were the result of French and Indian intermarriage, but did not form a distinct social class. Silver from the prosperous mines around Zacatecas and Potosi proved to be the main attraction for the Spanish. A fifth of the silver production, known as the quinto, was reserved for the Spanish government. Silver from the Americas ensured a powerful Spanish army and navy and eventually made its way into the world market. Agriculture and craft production were also important to the inhabitants of New Spain. The hacienda was the center for both activities. In an attempt to supply laborers for the mines and farms, but also provide fair wages and reduce brutal treatment, Spanish officials replaced the encomiendas with the repartimiento system in the late sixteenth century. While the transformation was a change for the better overall, the system of forced labor still allowed for harsh treatment and resulted in low productivity. In Brazil, the social and economic center was the sugar plantation or engenho. Labor, because of a lack of experienced cultivators and the ravages of disease, remained a problem in Brazil. In the end the Portuguese would turn to a particularly brutal system of slavery. In North America different social, political, and economic factors ensured that trade, first for fur and then for tobacco, was of central importance. Indentured servants and eventually slaves provided the labor force. Although the southern colonies may have owned the slaves, the northern colonies also benefited from their labor. Europeans in the Pacific The peoples of Oceania discovered that their greater isolation provided a few centuries’ respite but not total protection from the Europeans. For almost fifteen hundred years Europeans had theorized about the existence of Terra australis incognita (“unknown southern land”). The first recorded sighting of Australia (originally called New Holland) was made by Dutch sailors in 1606, although the Portuguese almost certainly arrived first. Captain James Cook finally charted the entire continent in 1770. Initially, the reports were not favorable. It wasn’t until 1788 that the English finally decided to make use of Australia as a penal colony. Areas such as Guam and the Marianas fell under Spanish control in the 1670s and 1780s. Islands like Tahiti and Hawai`i were increasingly brought into the European trading network. Unfortunately, Oceania also suffered through the horrors of epidemic disease and a staggering loss of life. AP World History Chapter 25 Study Questions Colliding Worlds IDENTIFICATION: PEOPLE What is the contribution of each of the following individuals to world history? Identification should include answers to the questions who, what, where, when, how, and why is this person important? 1. Hernan Cortes 2. Motecuzoma II 3. Francisco Pizarro 4. Atahualpa IDENTIFICATION: TERMS/ CONCEPTS State in your own words what each of the following terms means and why it is significant to a study of world history. (Terms with an asterisk are defined in the glossary) 1. Mestizo* 2. Mita 3. Encomienda* 4. Taino* 5. Conquistadores* 6. Treaty of Tordesillas STUDY QUESTIONS 1. What became of the Taino people of the Caribbean? 2. Consider the impact of the encomienda system of land distribution on the future of Spanish America. 3. How did Pizarro conquer the Inca Empire with 180 men? 4. What kinds of communities were established in the New World colonies of Portugal and Spain? 5. How were they organized? How were they governed? 6. Compare the French and English settlements of North America. What kind of settlers came to each? How did these colonies differ from the Iberian colonies further south? 7. Describe the typical relations between French and English settlers and the Native Americans. Chapter 25 Study Questions Colonial Society in the Americas IDENTIFICATION: PEOPLE 1. Cabeza de Vaca IDENTIFICATION: TERMS/ CONCEPTS 1. Tupac Amaru rebellion 2. Engenho* 3. Indentured labor STUDY QUESTIONS 1. What determined the social hierarchy in the Iberian colonies? Who tended to have wealth and power? 2. What was the basis of the economy of the Spanish empire? Who profited most from this? 3. Explain how sugar production came to dictate so much of colonial Brazilian life. 4. What became the basis of the economy and settlement in the North American colonies of France and England? 5. When and how did slavery come to North America? How did the arrival of slavery impact the societies that emerged there? Chapter 25 Study Questions Europeans in the Pacific IDENTIFICATION: PEOPLE 1. James Cook IDENTIFICATION: TERMS/ CONCEPTS 1. Aboriginal Australians STUDY QUESTIONS 1. What was distinctive about the European exploration and settlement of Australia? Chapter 25 Review MATCHING Match these figures or groups with the statements that follow. A. Hernan Cortes G. Viceroy B Motecuzoma H. James Cook C Francisco Pizano I. Cabez de Vaca D Taino J. Dona Marina E Mestizos K. Peninsulares F Conquistadores L. Atahualpa 1. The original habitants of the Caribbean Islands 2. Mixed-race descendants of European and Indian parents 3. Spanish conqueror of the Inca peoples 4. Spanish conqueror of the Aztec peoples. 5. The last Aztec emperor 6. The last Inca emperor 7. Provided both intelligence and translating services to the Spanish conquerors 8. Failed to complete the northwest passage but charted most of the Pacific Ocean in the process 9. Spanish soldiers who came to the Americas seeking gold and glory 10. Distinction claimed by those who lived in the Americas but were born in Iberia 11. Title of the Spanish king's representative in the Americas 12. A European who explored Florida and the southeast of North America SEQUENCING Place the following clusters of events in chronological order.

Load more