HIST 2111 1nd Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Lectures 1 11 Lecture 1 Native Americans Major Questions Where did the first Americans come from When did they arrive How many were there in 1492 What were their societies like 1 Where did they come from a According to the Beginning Migration Thesis they came from Beringia This is the orthodox view b DNA confirmed that they are decedents from Asians 2 The Basic Theory a 14K years ago a land bridge emerged because of the ice age b 13K years ago small bands spread out among North and South America 3 However there were a few problems with this theory a A Native American named Kennewick Mann was found He showed to have Caucasian traits not Siberian b The Ice Free Corridor Problem i We don t know when it opened closed ii 15K years ago an ice free corridor opened and 14K years ago it dried up and became a prairie iii However some believe it opened 13K years ago instead iv Scholars are beginning to think there were multiple migrations at different times not just one v Alternate routes were also found possible c Alternate Routes There was a possible Coastal route South Pacific Route European Route a Native American origin story i Evidence There are several sites in South America that has artifacts that predates the ice free corridor d In a Southern Chili site the bones and tools that were discovered there are at least 14 800 years old e 3rd Alternate Route The European Route was believed to be from N Spain to N America from the east and not the west i Evidence Stone tool kits used by a Stone Age culture in N Spain were identical to the tools used by the earliest Americans also predates the corridor f The Native American Origin Story Native Americans believe that they have always been there That they emerged from the openings in the earth or falling from the sky or created the world by stealing light from a higher order world heaven 4 When did they arrive a The oldest skeletons known are at least 13K years old b Artifacts support the theory c mtDNA suggests that migration started 20 40K years ago d No one knows the answer to this 5 How many were there in 1492 a There are a few different ways that scientists try to use in order to come up with an accurate figure One way is the Ethnohistorical Method in which scientist take the earliest population data and try to push it back in time to see what precontact might have happened Unfortunately the death rates are unknown There is an estimate of a 95 death rate However European reports are notoriously unreliable They counted systematically and may have counted only warriors and not the young old or the women They also deliberately inflated the numbers b A 2nd method that they used is called the Archialogical Method in which scientists reconstruct the number of homes in a given town Through this they can estimate the number of homes in a given region and continue estimating upward from that However there is a flaw site chronology which makes it look like everyone lived there at once c There are two schools of thought when it comes to the number of Natives The Hi Counters and the Lower Counters The Hi Counters believed there were about 125 Million before European contact whereas the Low counters thought there were only 2 million d The most reliable estimate to date is 43 65 million Native Americans 6 What are their Societies Like a The Mississippi Mound Builders of the South East They were the most advanced out of all the mound builders They had large scale corn field production and there site had over 100 mounds that included temples homes and graves b The Anasazi Culture ancestral Pueblos They were talented road engineers they could build straight roads they lived off of a large scale corn agriculture and they had an advanced water canal system Lecture 2 European Exploration Contours of Contact Major Questions Why did the Europeans explore in the 1400s What happened when they met the Native Americans How did they respond to each other 1 Why did they go exploring the world in the 1400s a Europeans had experience in colonization and they did so for sugar and slavery Sugar was a symbol of wealth and only elites could by it b Religious Warfare Recicuquista Reconquest They wanted to drive out the Moors and they succeeded The Recicuquista also supported Columbus s expedition to spread Christianity This fact also justified war with the Natives If they resisted the legal demands and domination from the Spanish English they were allowed to wage total war c Trade Money Gold Silver Long distance traders created a system of credit and then reinvested the wealth in new trade routes Since the Odomin Empire took over Constantinople the empire cut off access to land routes and cut off access to Black Sea slave trades and Europeans had to start looking for new routes That s why traders invested in new routes d Science Technologies New technologies such as the Quadrant made it possible to determine latitude and make it easier and possible to make it to North America Another technology that made the trip possible was the invention of the Caravel It was a new type of ship that used triangular lateen sails adapted from Arab ships that sailed the Red Sea The new sails made it possible to sail into a head wind 2 What happened when they met a One action that they took was the Columbian Exchange It was the reintroduction of Europe and the Americas in the 1490 s They exchanged plants animals culture i What was so important about the exchange Because of the interaction European diseases were introduced and killed 95 of the Native Americans It also made Europe look elsewhere for labor It also allowed Europe to become the first nation to systematically exploit the vast resources of the Americas 3 How did they respond to each other a Europeans eroded the Native s religious beliefs and military strength b The European diseases destroyed the Native People The survivors came together to make new native societies called tribes c Some Europeans such as Bartolome de las Casas quit being soldiers and fought for the Indian People s rights Lecture 3 New Spain New France Major Questions What are the character defining features of Spanish Colonization What are the character defining features of French Colonization What are the major differences between the two 1 Spanish Colonization a Two phases Exploration Conquest and then Settlement b The Aztec gold made Spain the richest country in the world c In response in 1428 Natives formed the triple