Period 1 Flashcards
(22 cards)
Native American Societies
- Lifestyle depended on geography
- Plains Souix were nomadic - Oral Tradition:
- creation of stories, like the hopi - Hunting, gathering, agriculture
- Slash and burn, terrace farming, chinampas, 3 sisters
- leads to more complex societies - Clear gender roles
- in many cases
- Often matrilineal
Columbian Exchange
- western Europe wants to cut out Eastern Merchants (italians, ottomans)
- Columbus sails west with spanish support
- contact with Indigenous people leads to conquest
- loss of about 90% of native population
- ^disease, warfare/conflict, poor treatment, loss of culture - increases biodiversity on both sides of the atlantic
- facilitates shift from feudalism to capitalism (via mercantalism)
Labor, Slavery, and Caste in Spanish Colonies
- Encomienda system grants rights to spanish elites to use Native americans for labor
- Castas system: hierarchy based on racial distinctions
- Europeans bring African slaves to the new world to meet demands for labor
- debates about treatment of natives leads to some reform, but demand for raw materials overtook social justice gains
Cultural Interractions between Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans
- Religion:
- Animism + Polytheism (natives)
- Monotheism (Europe) - Gender roles:
- generally more egalitarian in native societies
- more matrilineal among Natives vs. Patrilineal for Europeans - Land use
- Europeans believed in private property
- Native Americans negptiated for and even fought over land use but they knew it was not permanent
- ^They believed all land use was temporary, no permanant possession
egalitarian= all people are equal
Atlantic Economy
- new economic system emerged with the arrival of europeans in the americas
- network of trade routes across the atlantic ocean
- columbian exchange
- transatlantic slave trade
- spanish colonization and the encomienda system
Demand for Labor
- Europeans relied on Native americans as a source of labor, using the encomienda system to do so
- later, as native populations decreased and the demand for labor continued to increase, African slaves were brought over in the transatlantic slave trade
Native American Trade Culture
- Natives had diverse trade networks across the continent, where different tribes exchanged goods based on their regional specialties, often through established trade routes:
- Foodstuffs: Corn, beans, squash, dried meat, fish, berries
- Raw materials: Animal skins, furs, hides, feathers, stone, wood
- Manufactured goods: Pottery, tools, weapons, jewelry - The arrival of Europeans disrupted and nearly destoryed these existing trade routes
Bartolome de las Casas
- spanish priest
- famous for his advocacy for better treatment of native amercans in spanish Spanish colonies
- is considered one of the first advocates for universal human rights
- wrote many petitions, treatises, and books on the subject of the Spanish conquest of the Americas
Encomienda system
- legal system established by spanish crown
- spanish soldiers were given the right to use indigenous people for labor in exchange for providing protection and education.
- in practice, it was a form of slavery
- forced native americans into labor - contrast with repartamiento
castas system
hierarchy based on racial distinctions:
- peninsulares (spanish blood born in europe)
- creoles (spanish blood born in the americas)
- mestizo/mulatto
- mestizo : native mom, european dad
- mulatto: african mom, european dad
- native americans, black slaves
feudalism
a system of political organization (as in Europe during the Middle Ages) in which a vassal (land owning elite) served a lord and received protection and land in return
(a system in which people were given land and protection by people of higher rank, and worked and fought for them in return)
Spanish Requirement of 1513
- spain asserts divine right to conquer the new world
Capitalism
an economic system where private individuals or organizations own and control the means of production, rather than the government
mercantalism
an economic policy that focuses on increasing a country’s wealth and power through trade
Conquistadores
generalized term for soldiers and exploreres of the spanish and portugese empires
repartamiento
- replaced the encomienda system
- American Indians living in native villages were lagally free
- system legally rendered indigenous slavery non-existent:
- natives were allowed land
- recieved pay for labor
- could not be bought or sold - were still abused spanish authorities and working conditions could be brutal
European expansion
- crusades:
- bypass intermediates to get to asia - Renaissance
- curiosity about other lands and people - Reformation:
- refugees and missionaries - Monarchs seeking new sources of revenue
- Technological advances
- fame and fortune
feutal pyramid
- monarch
- clergy + vassuls
- knights
- free peasants
- serfs/slaves
Technology of Exploration
- stern rudder
- magnetic compass
- lateen sail
- astrolabe
- caravels
Spanish empire in the western hemisphere
Demographic
DEMOGRAPHIC: changes in pop size or structure
- Native America:
- vast majority died of diseases brought over during columbian exchange
- Africa:
- Supplied majority of slave trade
Spanish empire in the western hemisphere
Economic
- Africa
- loses large chunk of populated to the transatlantic slave trade
- other nations can now attack easier
- slaves are forced to do work for a leader - Native America:
- lose opportunity to have traditional economy
- chantel slavery (treated like livestock)
- hacienda - plantations
- encomienda
Spanish empire in the western hemisphere
Social
castas system
