American People and

Cultures
The historian James Lockart divided the American cultures in:
Nomadic: They live by hunting and gathering. With few member, they
dont produce extra food. These tribes cant develop even the most
basic social divisions: gender roles, age divisions, someone recognized
for their special religious powers, such as a shaman. Examples of
Nomadic: Cheyenne, Apaches.
Semi-sedentary: They settle for periods in a specific location, but then
move on to new lands. They develop some limited knowledge of
domesticating animals and growing crops. They may have dogs, or
herding animals, and basic knowledge about planting some crops.
This rudimentary form of agriculture produces a small surplus. Slash-
and-burn, is typical of many semi-sedentary peoples, it involves
clearing the forest with stone tools, and then burn everything. The ash
serves as fertilizer, but after a couple of seasons the poor tropical soils
force the tribes to move on and repeat the process. Tribes can grow
into the hundreds, with many families and large huts. Groups
sometimes grow to such an extent that they split into two separate
groups. The division of labor becomes more complex but still limited to
hunters, those who tend the crops (generally women) and those with
special religious duties. Examples of semi-sedentary: The Yanomami,
who today straddle the Brazilian Venezuelan border.

Sedentary: are rooted in a single place on a permanent basis. These

cultures that have mastered the domestications of plants and animals.
They joined the exclusive group of people in the Old World (Africa,
Europe, and Asia) who moved into sophisticated manipulation of their
surrounding environment. The sedentary peoples of the Americas had
no large beasts of burden no horses, oxen, water buffalo, or pack
animals, this absence of large domesticated animals also probably
shielded the Native Americans from the kinds of diseases that
developed in the Old World they had animals
Mayas Aztecs Incas
Place occupied a wide territory that Valley of central The Andes Mountains
included southeastern mexico Mexico of South America
and northern central america.
Economy based on agriculture and Based on agriculture Based on high-altitude
trade agriculture
Capital city Tikal Tenochtitlan Cuzco
Religion Bloodletting and drug-induced -Built pyramids as temples Chief god, the sun god.
trances. Mutilations of tongues, to their gods and went to They believed each
and genitals to keep the cycle of war to capture people they mountain peak was either
life. Polytheist could scarify to their gods the home of a god or an
- Chief god, the sun god actual god

Political organization Groups of city-states ruled by the
king
Society Hierarchy inequality:
- Nobles,commoners,slaves
Achievement Hieroglyphics1, complex calendar,
s astronomy knowledge, number
system
Priestsa special social They believed in after life
class*
Ruled by an emperor Ruled by an emperor
(tlatoani) (Sapa Inca). Complex
government
*group of families that The basic social unit was a
owns a land Calpulli clan
-Causeways Kept records on Quipu, a
-aqueducts system of knotted strings.
-canals Demonstrated themselves
-damsdiques/represas to be superb engineers
created vast network of
roads linking
entire empire road system.
1 /harlfks/+*.

Common features
Highly irrigation and farming
Complex social and cultural organization
Sophisticated calendar
Astronomical knowledge
Highly developed religions
Militant ideologies of conquest and empire-building

iberians&africans
The Mediterranean Sea was important in the middle ages and modern times because it
formed the center of an economic and political network that linked Europe, North Africa and
the middle East.

1Sub-Saharan Africa
1Gold and ivory (marfil)

1Indian Ocean
1 Spices
1East Asia
Silks
1

1Central Europe
1 Silver

The most important cities of the 15 th century were Florence,

Genoa and Venice,(all of them Italian) they were among the
most important trading centers in the world because goods
flowed out Asia across the Middle East, into the Eastern
Mediterranean, and to the Italian Peninsula.
routes of commerce
-In the second half of the thirteenth century, when Marco
Polo, his father and this uncle left Venice, they moved across
Iran to the Persian Gulf then to Kashgar in central Asia. From
there they took the Silk Road across China to Peking.
- Another major trade route connected Peking with Canton
(China) and then Malacca. From there, ships moved to
southwestern India, where traders linked up with trade routes
into the Persian Gulf, the red sea, and east Africa.
-Another strong stream of commerce moved across north
Africa into the Mediterranean.
Situation of Europe during the middle ages
and the Renaissance
Creating Spain and
Portugal
Political situation in Spain and
Portugal during the 15th century
During the 15 century Spain and Portugal were at the forefront of a
process in which the key to power was to gain control of many
resources, and gaining control of land and a portion of agricultural
wealth produced by the peasants.
By the mid-twelfth century, a monarchy had begun to emerge in
Portugal, and, by the mid-thirteenth century, the house of Burgundy
had gained control over roughly the area of modern Portugal. Several
kingdoms emerged in Spain in the late Middle Ages, and a unified
Spain would emerge under Fernando and Isabel in the last quarter of
the fifteenth century.
Roman legacy in Spain
Latin language, which would gradually evolve across the Peninsula
into a series of languages and dialects.
The romans also imposed Christianity on local peoples just as the
Spanish and Portuguese would impose it on the peoples of the
Americas years later. Roman law endured as the basis for the legal
systems.
The Problem with the moors in south
of Spain
In the early 8th century the moors (Islamic people) from North Africa
conquered most of the Peninsula, these peoples were followers of
Mohammed and Islam. Over centuries, they conquered and reconquered
the peninsula.
The reconquest by the Christian rulers would take nearly 800 years. It
began in the early 8th century in the mountain region of North Western
Spain and area never conquered by the Moors. Slowly, over the centuries,
the Christian lords reconqueres territory from the infields, leading to the
formation of a series of kingdoms on the peninsula. This war was both a
religious and a political conflict.
 Most powerful kingdoms in the Iberian
Peninsula
The most powerful kingdoms on the Peninsula were Castile (basically
central Spain) and Aragn (much of Eastern Spain). With the marriage
of Isabel of Castile and Fernando de Aragn in 1469, and the rise to
their respective thrones in the 1470s, most of what we consider Spain
today had come under their joint control, expect Granada the long
reconquest of Spain ended in January 1492 with the fall of Granada
and the retreat of the last Moorish ruler, Boabdil, across the Strait of
Gibraltar.
What did the Iberians get from the
Islamic world?
The Iberians had access to the advances in science, mathematics,
astronomy and navigations in the Islamic World; The Iberia
continuedly absorbed the developments of the Islamic world
throughout the middle ages. In this sense, Spain and Portugal had an
enormous head start on the other European peoples in the process of
overseas expansion. Nearly all the key technology in the shipping and
navigation would come out of the middle east and the indian ocean
during the middle ages. The Portuguese, more so than any other
Iberian people, had honed and accumulated knowledge about
astronomy, cartography, shipbuilding, and sailing.

Moving out across

the oceans
 Characteristics of the modern times in
Europe
In the 15th century European people began to expansion across the
earth during the renaissance. They crisscrossed the globe, and
established the global supremacy. Europe played a significant role in
the formation and development of new world societies for centuries,
the expansion created a global economic system linking up all
societies and cultures.
The great routes of commerce linked Europe with Asia via Muslims
merchants in the middle east, and black Africa with Europe via
Muslims traders in north Africa.
Political situation of the main
European countries during the 15th
century
Europe, in 1492, was politically fragmented and splintered. Germany
and Italy would not come together as unified nations until the
nineteenth century. France and England were wracked by civil wars.
England would not begin to emerge as a unified nation until the
conclusion of the war of roses in the late fifteenth century, and did not
really get going until the reign of Elizabeth I (1668-1603)
Only Portugal and Spain began to emerge as nations. They pioneered
the process of state-building. England, France and the Netherlands
followed in the sixteenth century.
Technological innovation developed in
Portugal and Spain
Europeans gradually assimilated astronomical knowledge and the
compass & navigation tools that had been developed in China, India,
and the Middle East. By the 15 th century they had also developed the
ships (caravels) that would take them around the globe.

Political situation in Portugal and

Spain in the 16th century
In the 16th century Portugal and Spain were the first of the centralized
monarchies, left the Italian city-states behind. After the 1942, the
Iberian empires in the Americas the east shifted the axis of the
European economy out of the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic.

Why were the Portuguese the

pioneers in the process of expansion
in the Atlantic Ocean?
Because they combined all the needed factors: -political will,
economic dynamism, religious zeal, and technological innovation-
emerged in Europe and they emerged first in Spain and Portugal.
The Iberians were the leader in this process because they combined
all four factors. They put their houses in order through the
consolidation of a national monarchy. The unification of the kingdoms
of castile and Aragon under Fernando and Isabel effectively created
modern Spain, and the fall of Granada in 1492 completed the process.
Spain was the cutting edge in state formation and nation-building in
the renaissance. Portugal was at the forefront of the trade revolution.
The Portuguese had consolidated their monarchy and boundaries two
centuries before Spain, and the new nation was at the crossroads of
trade from the Mediterranean.

Why was 1492 important?

1.Europe was politically fragmented
2.France and England had civil wars
3.Germany and Italy were fragmented, in the 19 th
were unified nation
4.England emerged as a unified nation in the war of
the roses. 15th century
5.Spain and Portugal were the pioneers of state
building. When they centralized authority and
consolidated control over land. They could turn
their attention to overseas expansion.
6.Europe was a Christian civilization church
headquarters in Rome
7.The Muslims were expelled from the Iberian
Peninsula
8.Spain was unified from the political and religious
point of view: the marriage of Fernando & Isabel
9.The discovery of America by Colon

Causes of
1.
expansion
Innovation in science and technology
2. Astronomical knowledge
3. Compass and navigation
4. They developed ships (triangular sails and
artillery)
5. The consolidation of nation-states
6. Capitalism-commerce
7. Religious causes
8. Political will to obtain new lands for the
kingdoms

The first conquest

Santo Domingo became the first Spanish city in the Americas and
the founding point of the key legal, political, economic, and
cultural institutions. It had the cathedral on one side of the main
square, and the governors palace on another, with the city
council quarters on a third side. The residences of the most
important families in the community would always be on or near
the main plaza.
Bartolome de las Casas was one of the greatest figures in Latin
American history, witnessed the conquest of the island of
Hispaniola and wrote severe denunciations of Spanish methods.
He had come to the Caribbean as a merchant and conquistador,
as a mature adult he took his vows as a Dominican priest and
dedicated the rest of his life to defending the Indian people of the
Americas.

Conquest of mexico
Mexican leaderMontezuma (Aztec ruler)
Spanish leader Hernan Cortes leader of the Spanish
conquistadors

Hernan Cortes met Marinche at Tabasco; the tabascans gave

him 20 women as a present, among them Marina of about 15
years old. She became Cortess mistress and interpreter, she
played a crucial role in the conquest, providing Cortes with the
ability to understand the Aztecs. She had knowledge of the Aztec
empire and their political system, and worldview that she could
convey to the Spaniards. She also could listen to the Aztecs and
give Cortes a sense of their deliberations and disagreements.
The king of Spain in that period was Charles/Carlos I, he
inherited an impressive empire: from his mothers side of the
family he acquired Spain and its possessions in the Americas,
and from the Hapsburgs, the low countries and parts of southern
Italy.

On the Sad Night, June 30, 1520, the Spanish battled their way
across the shortest causeway to the western side of Lake
Texcoco. Attacked by thousands of Aztec, the Spaniards and their
Indian allies suffered staggering losses. Nearly all the Tlaxcalans
were killed and many Spaniards died from wounds or drowned
after falling into the surrounding waters, and many Spaniards
drowned in the lake pulled down by the gold they had
accumulated from Montezumas ransom.
Cortes, Marina, Aguilar and other key lieutenants survived the
disastrous retreat.
In early 1521 smallpox emerged on Tenochtitlan