Describe the geological and geographical conditions

that set the stage for North American history.

North America has many different geographical regions and climates
throughout the country, which led to many different cultures, animals,
and crops.

Describe the origin and development of the major

Indian cultures in America.
The lowered sea level created land bridges, allowing humans to
migrate to the Americas. Over time, these people split into many
tribes, evolved thousands of separate languages, religions, cultures,
and ways of life.

Explain the developments in Europe and Africa that

led up to Columbuss voyage to America.
Europeans were mostly unaware of the existence of the Americas.
They were discovered by voyagers hoping to sail around the world to
India to gain direct access to Asian spices. With the voyages of Marco
Polo and other explorers to Africa, the European appetite for new lands
was thoroughly whetted. The Spaniards finally started explorations, but
were unable to get around Portuguese controlled West African coast to
India, so they began to look to the west.

Explain the changes and conflicts that occurred when

the diverse worlds of Europe, Africa, and the
Americas collided after 1492.
After the discovery of the New World many products began being
traded throughout Europe, Africa, and the Americas. African slaves
were brought to work on American plantations, and exports of corn,
potatoes, tobacco, and much more produce were brought back to the
Old World, along with gold, silver, and syphilis. In return, the New
World imported wheat, sugar, rice, coffee, livestock, and many
diseases from the Old World.

Describe the Spanish conquest of Mexico and South

America and identify the major features of Spanish
colonization and expansion in North America.
The Spanish set up churches and schools in an effort to
catholicize the natives. The conquest of South America was
more brutal in comparison to that of North America. Many
South Americans perished as a result of Spanish firepower,
while the majority of Native Americans in the North perished
at the fault of disease.
What further clues to the European mentality of the
time does the map (page 7) offer? In what ways
might misconceptions about the geography of the
Americas have influenced further exploration and
settlement patterns?
The land on the map is smaller than what we know today,
and there are a lot of blank spots. This prompted further
exploration to find out just how big the New World really was
and what else lay beyond.

True or False and to what extent: American Indian

cultures were more similar than different in the
period prior to 1491. (Create a T Chart laying out
similarities and differences in at least two categories
of religion, political structure, economics, and social
order.
Same Different
Cultivated maize Location
Women farmed, men hunted Language
Small, scattered settlements
Matrilineal cultures
Revered physical world

True or False and to what extent: The Columbian

Exchange was more beneficial for the Old World than
detrimental. Support, refute, or modify this
statement using factual evidence to support your
argument.
The Columbian Exchange was more beneficial for the Old World.
Foodstuffs were the main import to the Old World through the
Columbian exchange. Food was also brought to the New World, but so
were copious amounts of illnesses to which the natives had no
immunity. Those diseases killed off an estimated 80-90 percent of the
native population at the time. The Old World got new food items, and
the New World got deadly disease.