This chapter, “Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492 – 1600,” covers the social, political and economic events that occurred in the worlds that made up America between 1492 and 1600. This chapter explores the history of the small societies that became the United States in broad contest of European exploration and exploitation. There existed conflicts between European kingdoms and this led to interest in colonies that strengthened the emerging nations. The curiosity of Europeans helped introduce them to African and American societies that had evolved over the centuries. The social and cultural collisions of these worlds changed and profoundly influenced Western history.
American Societies: Paleo-Indians, the first Americans, were nomadic hunters
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The continent was divided linguistically, politically and economically. Just like the other two worlds, they also practiced gender division of labor. However, this was the only region in which women played and almost entirely submissive role; men dominated in every aspect, from society to religion to politics. In the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Europeans were slowly recovering from Black Death which has affected them in the fourteenth century killing a third of the population. The leaders took the chaos form Black Death as an advantage to consolidate power. Along with this political revolution, technological and economic changes helped shaped the societies. European explorers and colonizers, especially Roman Catholics, sought to spread Christianity and this was used as a motive to increase the nation’s wealth through the establishment of direct trade with the other worlds (Africa and America). Sailors gained knowledge of navigation, wind and currents by first sailing in the Mediterranean Atlantic. The knowledge acquired helped them establish plantation economies and beneficial trading post in West Africa. They learnt that they could successfully transplant crops and livestock in new …show more content…
This means that men and women were entitled to a particular job and they were obliged to do their work. Agricultural societies assigned work in divergent ways and this helped them because there was increase in productivity.
Annotated Hashtag #3 #SmartassOlmecs
The Olmecs who resided along the Gulf of Mexico about 4000years ago were the earliest group of people to become advanced. They were termed the “mother culture of Mesoamerica.” Their advancements included them being artists, carving large head statues of Basin, engineers, graphic writing and trade. They were the first known major American Indian societies in Mesoamerica.
Annotated Hashtag #4 #Governmentbythepeople
Long before the Europeans came to the Americas, Indians of North America engaged in wars with each other. The Indian leadership portrayed a widespread of democracy, but political structure, including the role of women varied from tribe to tribe.
Annotated Hashtag #5 # Beneficialsocialorganizations
The practice of matrilineality in the Americas did not imply matriarchy but served as a means of reckoning kinship. Matrilineal ties helped link extended families into clans and this ensured their
The small environment no longer had enough resources to sustain such a large population which motivated them to subdivide and move on. They expanded southward and eastward. They developed seasonal rounds of activity and movement. Climate change expanded the temperate forest throughout North America allowing them to become more familiar with their land. Early Americans. Soon the domestication of plants and animals established. They developed different cultures traditions diets and languages. During the late fifteenth century, Europeans developed the navigational technology and ambitions which allowed them to explore and conquer the world's seas. The Atlantic Ocean once a barrier became a bridge to vast lands and people. The Europeans traveled to the West Indies and India by traveling around Africa. The new discoveries transformed Europe into one of the most dominant continents. European Christians first felt surrounded by their Muslim neighbors. The Muslims were more a more powerful religion extended to North Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia. The Europeans Christians got an opportunity to break out of the Muslim world and spread their beliefs to the newly discovered world and search for the trade riches such as gold, silks, and
During the 1600’s the New England and Chesapeake regions were beginning to settle and colonize. While both came from English origin and had dreams of wealth and freedom, differences began to form just as they settled and by the 1700s the two regions will have evolved into two distinct societies. Because of the exposure to different circumstances both regions developed issues that were unique from one another and caused them to construct their societies differently. Therefore, the differences socially, politically and economically in the two regions caused the divergence.
Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States: 1492-present. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.
In the 1600’s, America was the new world, and the land of opportunity, which spurred settlers to travel to the region seeking religious freedom or economic success. However, as the colonies of New England and Chesapeake were settled, they had contrasting viewpoints on how they should live, and manage their newly occupied settlements. These viewpoints correlated to specific problems arising in each area. For example, the New England colonies experienced the witchcraft scare, and the Chesapeake colonies experienced civil uprisings like Bacon’s rebellion. To better understand why these colonies experienced contrastingly different problems, a closer look is required of the two colonies social, economic, and religious viewpoints, which contributed
It was not until the 1700s that the thirteen colonies finally started to flourish on their own. The east coast of North America was soon booming with success. But the Northern and Southern colonies’ did not take exactly the same routes in order to reach success. The Southern and Northern colonies began to show similarities in immigration and social structure and began to show differences in their economy.
The author starts the chapter by briefly introducing the source in which this chapter is based. He makes the introduction about the essay he wrote for the conference given in at Vanderbilt University. This essay is based about the events and problems both Native Americans and Europeans had to encounter and lived since the discovery of America.
Henretta, James A., Rebecca Edwards, and Robert Self. America: A Concise History.( Boston: Bedford, St. Martin's, 2006),
Written sometime after A People’s History of the United States, the play on words might indicate the authors’ intent to refute the biased nature of the older book, and redeem the major players. Chapter one begins covering the year 1492-1707 with the age of European discovery. Schweikart and Allen focus of the catchy phrase “God, glory, and gold” as the central motives for exploration, emphasizing the desire to bring the Gospel to the New World. They paint native settlers as “thieves” and “bloodthirsty killers who pillage for pleasure” (Allen 1). The narrative continues, discussing the explorers from Portugal and Spain and their contact with the Arabs and Africans. The authors quote Columbus as saying “[he] hoped to convert them ‘to our Holy Faith by love rather than by force’” (4) a contrary portrayal to that in A People’s History of the United States. The authors continue on to discuss the French and English and the foundations for success in the New World; how people lived in the Colonial South. They write about the physical labor, the natural resources, and the food. Schweikart and Allen enlighten the readers about early slavery, the start of the House of Burgesses, the founding of Plymouth, Massachusetts, the Pequot Indian War, the English Civil War, Bacon’s Rebellion, Pennsylvania’s settlement, and the
The new world is something of which much ink has been used to write about it. To make the topic far less broad than simply all of the religious aspects of each colony, it is necessary in this essay to state that the scope of this Essay will be limited to the colonies established in the new world by the puritans from England. This is not meant to reduce the topic but only keep it stream lined and manageable, after all there is so much to write on the topic that there must be limitations placed on what will and what will not, be included. This is largely due to the source material being Of Plymouth Plantation, which focused on the forming of a puritan colony in the new world and had very little to do with any of the other European Empires in any way at all. So, the question of religion versus economics will be l...
Native Americans established primary relationships either through a clan system, descent from a common ancestor, or through a friendship system, much like tribal societies in other parts of the world. In the Choctaw nation, " Moieties were subdivided into several nontotemic, exogamous, matrilineal 'kindred' clans, called iksa." (Faiman-Silva, 1997, p.8) The Cheyenne tirbe also traced their ancestry through the woman's lineage. Moore (1996, p. 154) shows this when he says "Such marriages, where the groomcomes to live in the bride's band, are called 'matrilocal'." Leacock (1971, p. 21) reveals that "...prevailing opinion is that hunting societies would be patrilocal.... Matrilineality, it is assumed, followed the emergence of agriculture...." Leacock (p. 21) then stated that she had found the Montagnais-Naskapi, a hunting society, had been matrilocal until Europeans stepped in. "The Tanoan Pueblos kinship system is bilateral. The household either is of the nuclear type or is extended to include relatives of one or both parents...." (Dozier, 1971, p. 237)
... An American History of the World. 4th ed. of the book. W.W. Norton, 2012, 671. 2.)
The European society had a profound expansion facilitated by multiple causes to include the desire to rebuild economically after the devastating effects of the Black Death, their desire to spread the religion of Christianity and their desire to explore the unknown. In essence, the upbringing is based on the old saying “gold, God and glory”. Ultimately, this age of exploration would lead to global trade between Europe, Africa, Asia, and the New World.
Early American history began in the collision of European, West African, and Native American peoples in North America. Europeans “discovered” America by accident, then created empires out of the conquest of indigenous peoples and the enslavement of Africans. Yet conquest and enslavement were accompanied by centuries of cultural interaction—interaction that spelled disaster for Africans and Native Americans and triumph for Europeans, to be sure, but interaction that transformed all three peoples in the process.
When Africans were brought to America during slavery they were forced to give up most of their heritage and were usually separated from their families. This common occurrence usually brought about tremendous pain and grief to the slaves. “West Africa family systems were severely repressed throughout the New World (Guttmann, 1976)”. Some slaves tried to continue practices, such as polygamy, that were a part of traditional African cultures but were unsuccessful. However, they were successful in continuing the traditional African emphasis on the extended family. In the extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents played important roles. Slaves weren’t allowed to marry, but they didn’t let that stop them, they created their own marriages. And through all the hardships they had placed on them, they developed strong emotional bonds and family ties. The slaves discouraged casual sexual relationships and placed a lot emphasis on marriage and stability. To maintain some family identity, parents named their children after themselves or other relatives or sometimes gave them African names.
Olmec of Mexico – The Olmec civilization prospered in Pre-Classical Mesoamerica from and is generally considered the precursor of all subsequent Mesoamerican cultures such as the Maya and Aztecs. Centered in the Gulf of Mexico their influences and trade stretched as far as Nicaragua. Sacred complexes, massive stone sculpture, ball games, as well as animal gods were features of Olmec culture which would be passed on to all those who followed the Mesoamerican civilization.