American Studies—Plano East

Chapter 1 Study Guide

Total Number of Pages: 33

Dates Covered by Chapter: pre-history (or ca. 1490 from the European perspective) to ca.
1680.

Events, Innovations, and Individuals

Remember to include the Why Does It Matter (WDIM)

● Maize— Corn; Cultivated in present-day Mexico and spread to the SW portion of the US and
beyond. Many Native American societies were built around maize.
o WDIM— basis of agriculture in Native societies

● Great League of Peace (pg. 5)— An alliance of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) nations,
originally formed at least 400 years ago.
o WDIM— oldest “democracy” said to have inspired modern American government, led
to order after Little Ice Age ravaged North America
o Land was seen as a resource, not a commodity to be bought or sold
o Each nation would send a delegate to council meetings
o Freedom of religion

● Reconquista (pg.12)—the effort by the Christian monarchs of Spain to reconquer Spain for
Christendom. Completed in 1492.
o WDIM— led to a surge for the spread of Catholicism in the new world, Pope
Alexander VI required Portugal and Spain to spread the word of God → doubled
down on imperialism and conquest
o Several missionaries set up in Arizona, New Mexico, Carolinas, etc. → led to spread
of disease

● Aztec (pg.17)— The Mesoamerican empire ruled by the Mexica people that was overthrown
by Hernan Cortes and his Native allies, 1519-1528.
o WDIM— were a wealthy class of warriors and did not welcome Spaniards initially
o Were eventually overthrown by the spread of disease

● Tenochtitlan (pg.17)—The capital of the Aztec empire. Modern Mexico City.

o WDIM— became an urban center of the Spanish New World
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● Columbian Exchange (pg. 18)— Exchange of goods, ideas, diseases, and people between the
Americas, Africa, and Europe. Each region was significantly impacted because of trade and
contact.
o WDIM— helped create healthier, well rounded diets in Europe and the Americas
o Disease spread decimated Native populations in the Great Dying
o Transfer of slaves from Africa grew the Transatlantic Slave Trade to makeup for loss of
Native labor

● Encomienda system— Spanish system of granting land to colonists in the new world.
Exploited natives and resources. Eventually, Natives were replaced with African slave labor.
o WDIM— extremely exploitative of Native labor
o Criticized by Pope Paul III who said enslavement of Natives was unchristian
o Eventually outlawed by the New Laws of 1542

● Repartimiento system (pg. 22)— Spanish labor system under which Indians were legally free
and able to earn wages but were also required to perform a fixed amount of labor yearly.
o WDIM— growth of haciendas (large scale farms), exposed Spanish cruelty

● Bartoleme de Las Casas (pg. 21)— Catholic missionary who renounced the Spanish practice
of coercively converting Indians and advocated their better treatment.
o WDIM— Dominican priest who fought for Native liberties and wrote about Spanish
atrocities towards them, helped establish the repartimiento system and was vocal about
using African slave labor instead

● Black Legend (pg. 22)— Idea that the Spanish empire was more oppressive than the other
European empires.
o WDIM— gave the opportunity to other European powers to justify their colonization
efforts

● Pueblo Revolt (pg. 27)— Revolt in 1680 by the native and mestizo people of modern New
Mexico against Spanish landowners and colonists. The only wholesale expulsion of
European settlers in North American history.
o WDIM— was led by a Pueblan man named Pope who had been arrested for not
believing in Catholicism.
o United Pueblans in kicking the Spanish out of Santa Fe and reclaiming their land
o Inspired revolts across north America against the Spanish
o By 1692, Spanish had re-invaded most Native towns but with more religious tolerance
and less demands on labor

Context: What is happening in the larger world outside of what will become the United States
during this time and how did those things affect American History (see pg. 2 for help)?
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1. Reconquista of 1492 and the Protestant Reformation: made Catholicism one of the
main factors of Spanish colonization and led to the establishment of several missionaries
→ some Christian faith was accepted by natives, but some led to local discontent and
chaos

2. Portugal’s establishment of a trading post empire

3. Development of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade

Focused Reading

● What were the major patterns of Native American life in North America before the
Europeans arrived? (pg. 4)
o They followed an egalitarian way of life, especially with the Haudenosaunee alliance,
land was a resource and communally shared, women had power in managing food
and appointing chiefs, followed inclusivist animist religion, virtually no slavery
except for some prisoners of war

● How did Native American and European ideas of freedom differ on the eve of contact? (pg.
9)
o Freedom for Native Americans meant consensus-building and following the will of
the community, individual will was there but less prioritises
o Freedom in Western Europe meant following the will of Christ to maintain order
which was obedience to the law and following social status which could entertain
slavery

● What impelled European explorers to look west across the Atlantic? (pg. 11)
o Portugal was using new tech like caravels to build a trading-post empire across the
Indian Ocean in the 15th century
o Ottomans/Muslim empires cut off Western access to overland Asian trade routes, so
they needed a new way to access those goods

● What happened when the peoples of the Americas came in contact with Europeans? (pg. 13)
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o The arrival of the Spanish led to the decimation of local populations like the Aztecs
through both violence and the spread of disease like smallpox which destroyed
Tenochtitlan
o Spain forced inhabitants of Mexico and Peru into an encomienda and later hacienda
system which demanded brutal labor with low wages
o Missionaries in the Spanish empire and in south current day U.S. converted Natives
to Catholicism
o Revolts like the Pueblan Revolt in the 17th century led to greater Native freedom
along with the New Laws as a result of Bartolome de Las Casas work
o Dutch and French tried to build better relations with the Haudenosaunee and
Algonquins respectively to develop strong fur trade

● What were the chief features of the Spanish empire in the Americas? (pg. 18)
o Strong social hierarchy with peninsulares, creoles, mestizos, natives, and african
slaves
o Extraction of labor and forced conversion to Christianity from Natives (brutal and
violent)
o Hierarchical government structure, Spanish crown → Council of Indies → local
viceroys and the Catholic church
o Spanish settlement was mostly focused in Mexico and South America but could never
settle the American southwest or Florida

● What were the chief features of the French and Dutch empires in North America? (pg. 27)
o Fur trade was extremely vital and French and Dutch established partners with
Algonquins and Mohawks respectively
o French emigration and settlement in New France was very low but trade along the
Mississippi River was very strong
o Dutch settled in modern New York along the Hudson River and had much more
religious and liberitarian tolerance compard to other European colonizers, but
personal religion could only be practiced in private
o Both built good relationship with Natives, as Dutch set up Fort Orange in modern day
Albany
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Chapter Review and AP Practice (pg. 33)

Review and be able to answer the (6) questions on page 33. At least one of them will appear on
an assessment.

1. Briefly explain the different global economies that Europeans participated in or created
during the European age of exploration.
a. Europeans participated in global economies that relied on foreign goods and labor
sources, including trading post empires and colonial economies
i. Trade: Columbian Exchange, Portugals trading posts in Indian Ocean and
West Africa, eg. Benin
ii. Colonial Economies: Spanish silver mining, repartmiento system
iii. CCOT: European economies moved from relying on domestic agriculture, to
foreign exports which created global movement of goods
iv. Causation: Colonial economies and Columbian exchange cause decimation of
Native pop.

2. Evaluate the extent to which the following statement is accurate: One of the most striking
features of Indian societies at the time of the encounter with Europeans was their
diversity."
a. Indian societies at the time of their encounter with Europeans were very diverse in
both their political structures and cultural practices
i. Political: Centralized empires/confederacies like Aztec/Iroquois, nomadic
tribes like Mississippi civilizations after Little Ice Age
ii. Cultural: Religious diversity (animist polytheistic religions), language
difference across N.A.
iii. Compare and Contrast: Didn’t see themselves as one unified people, smaller
confederacies in the North, big empires in South America, social structure
allowed for more egalitarian lifestyles in almost all societies.

3. Compare European and Native American worldviews. In your response, address TWO of
the following, religion, land ownership, gender relations, OR notions of freedom.
a. European and Native American worldviews differed in their notions of land
ownership and freedom
i. Land ownership: Native Americans viewed it as a resource that was
communally shared, English used land to define social status, eg. feudalism
ii. Freedom: Slavery virtually non existent in Native American societies,
normalized in West Europe, consensus building for N.A., Christian liberty of
subordinance in West Europe
iii. Compare: Both valued social order, society > individual, status matter for both

4. Briefly explain the main factors fueling European exploration.

a. European exploration was mainly fueled by spread of national religions and economic
gain through colonial exports.
i. Religion: Spanish Reconquista + Protestant Reformation, Pope Alexander VI
required Spain and Portugal to spread Catholocism thru missionaries
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ii. Economic Gain: Closing off of Silk Road → global supply chain networks
like Spanish silver mining and French fur trade
iii. Causation: Religious and economic conflicts in Europe caused mercantilist
settlements to develop in the Americas

5. Evaluate the different economic and political systems of European powers in the age of
exploration. In your response address TWO of the following nations: Spain, Portugal, the
Netherlands, OR France.
a. During the age of exploration, Spain and the Netherlands were two European powers
that developed varying economic and political systems in response to different
environmental conditions in Europe and the Americas.
i. Economic: Spain based on Native labor in silver mines using haciendas and
repartmiento system, Netherlands economy based on Native trade with
Mohawks and development of Fort Orange for fur
ii. Political: Strict bureaucracy ruled by Spain in Spanish America like viceroys
and Council of Indies, self government in New Netherlands with many more
freedoms for religious dissenters and women
iii. Compare: Spain had strong ties with its colonies and subjugated Natives to
boost their society CONQUER, New Netherlands much more independent and
allied with Natives to stabilize society

6. Evaluate the political, economic, and religious motivations behind the French, Dutch, and
Spanish empires.
a. The political, economic, and religious motivations behind the French, Dutch, and
Spanish empires varied but shared common goals of expansion and dominion.
i. Political and Religious: French and Spanish both spread catholicism, eg
French Jesuits and Spanish missionaries, Dutch religiously tolerant.
Politically, religious wars created state-based competition, eg. Eighty Years
War between England, Netherlands, Spain
ii. Economic: trade, eg. Dutch East India company and French fur trade,
wealth, eg. Spanish silver mines in Potosi → Phillipines → spain
iii. CCOT: local and regional agrarian trade → mercantilist global networks
that relied on colonial outposts for raw materials.