U N IT

American
Beginnings
CHAPTER 1
Three Worlds Meet
Beginnings to 1506
to 1783
CHAPTER 2
The American
Colonies Emerge
1492–1681

CHAPTER 3
The Colonies Come
of Age
1650–1760

CHAPTER 4
The War for
Independence
1768–1783

UNIT

PROJECT

Letter to the Editor

As you read Unit 1, look for an
issue that interests you, such as
the effect of colonization on Native
Americans or the rights of
American colonists. Write a letter
to the editor in which you explain
your views. Your letter should
include reasons and facts.
The Landing of the Pilgrims,
by Samuel Bartoll (1825)
Unit 1 1
 Native Americans observe the arrival of a European ship.

1200 B.C.
Olmec society,
500 B.C. Adena
C. 20,000 B.C. C. 5000 B.C. which created
this colossal culture begins
Asian peoples Corn is raised building large 200 B.C.– A.D. 400
begin migrating as a domesti- stone head, Hopewell culture,
develops in earthen mounds
to America across cated crop in in what is now which created this
the Beringia land central Mexico. what is now mica bird claw, flour-
southern Mexico. southern Ohio.
bridge. ishes in the Midwest.

AMERICAS B.C.* A.D.*

WORLD 1200 500
1020 B.C. 753 B.C. 622 The prophet
Israel becomes Rome is founded. Muhammad founds Islam.
a kingdom.

* B.C. corresponds to B.C.E., or “before the common era.”

A.D. corresponds to C.E., or “common era.”

2 CHAPTER 1
 INTERACT
WITH HI STO RY

You live on a Caribbean island in the

15th century. Your society hunts game
freely, grows crops of great variety,
and trades actively with nearby cul-
tures. Now you sense that your world
is about to change; the ships you see
approaching are like nothing you
have encountered before.

How will the

arrival of a
strange people
change your way
of life?
Examine the Issues
• How would you react to a people
whose appearance and language
are unlike anything you have
ever known?
• What can happen when one culture
imposes its values on another?

RESEARCH LINKS [Link]

Visit the Chapter 1 links for more information
related to Three Worlds Meet.

1000 Viking Leif

Ericson reaches 1492 Christopher c. 1500
what is now Columbus first Iroquois League
Newfoundland. reaches America. is formed.

1000 1500

1096 1434 Portuguese 1440 Johann

The Crusades begin. begin West African Gutenberg develops
slave trade. printing press.

Three Worlds Meet 3

 Peopling the Americas
MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names

In ancient times, migrating Patterns of immigration have •nomadic •Hohokam

peoples settled the Americas, always shaped and continue •Olmec •Anasazi
where their descendants to shape American history. •Maya •Adena
developed complex societies. •Aztec •Hopewell
•Inca •Mississippian

One American's Story

Thomas Canby, a writer for National Geographic mag-

azine, spent a year with archaeologists as they
searched for clues about the earliest Americans. As
Canby watched the archaeologists unearthing fragile
artifacts, a long-lost world came into sharper focus.

A PERSONAL VOICE THOMAS CANBY

“ What a wild world it was! To see it properly, we
must board a time machine and travel back into
the Ice Age. The northern half of North America
has vanished, buried beneath ice sheets two miles
thick. Stretching south to Kentucky, they buckle
earth’s crust with their weight. . . . Animals grow
oversize. . . . Elephant-eating jaguars stand as tall
as lions, beavers grow as big as bears, South
American sloths as tall as giraffes. With arctic cold
pushing so far southward, walrus bask on Virginia ▼
beaches, and musk-oxen graze from Maryland to California.” Modern depiction of early Americans hunting
—“The Search for the First Americans,” National Geographic, Sept. 1979 the woolly mammoth around 20,000 B.C.

This was the world of the first Americans—people who migrated to the
Americas from another continent. Centuries later, a different kind of immigration
to the Americas would bring together people from three complex societies: the
Native American, the European, and the West African. The interaction of these three
cultures helped create the present-day culture of the United States. However, it is
with the ancient peoples of the Americas that the story of America actually begins.

Ancient Peoples Come to the Americas

The first Americans may have arrived as early as 22,000 years ago. Ice Age glaciers
had frozen vast quantities of the earth’s water, lowering sea levels enough to expose
a land bridge between Asia and Alaska. Ancient hunters trekked across the frozen
land, now called Beringia, into North America.

4 CHAPTER 1
 HUNTING AND GATHERING Experts suspect that most of these ancient
explorers came by foot. Some groups may have edged down the Pacific coast
in boats fashioned from the bones and hides of animals—boats that are much
like the kayaks used by modern-day Inuit.
The evidence suggests that the earliest Americans were big-game hunters.
Their most challenging and rewarding prey was the woolly mammoth, which
provided food, clothing, and bones for making shelters and tools.
As the Ice Age ended around 12,000 to 10,000 years ago, this hunting way
of life also ended. Temperatures warmed, glaciers melted, and sea levels rose once
again. Travel to the Americas by foot ceased as the ancient land bridge disap-
peared below the Bering Sea.
Over time, people switched to hunting smaller game, fishing, and gathering
nuts, berries, and fruit along with grains, beans, and squash. While many ancient ▼
groups established settlements in North America, others continued south through
what is now Mexico into South America. Wherever they went, the first Americans Hunters roaming
over 10,000 years
developed ways of life to suit their surroundings.
ago in what is
AGRICULTURE DEVELOPS Between 10,000 and 5,000 years ago, a revolution now southern
quietly took place in what is now central Mexico. There, people began to plant Arizona may have
crops. Some archaeologists believe that maize (corn) was the first plant that used this large
ancient Americans developed for human use. Other plants followed—gourds, spearhead to
kill a woolly
pumpkins, peppers, beans, and more. Eventually, agricultural techniques spread
mammoth.
MAIN IDEA throughout the Americas.
The introduction of agriculture brought tremendous change. Agriculture
Analyzing
Effects made it possible for people to remain in one place and to store surplus food. As
A What were their surplus increased, people had more time to develop other skills. From this
the effects of agricultural base evolved larger, more stable societies and increasingly complex
agriculture on
cultures. However, some Native American cultures never adopted agriculture and
the hunting and
gathering peoples remained nomadic, moving from place to place in search of food and water,
of the Americas? while others mixed nomadic and non-nomadic lifestyles. A

Complex Societies Flourish in the Americas

Around 3,000 years ago, the first Americans began to form larger communities
and build flourishing civilizations. A closer look at the more prominent of these
societies reveals the diversity and complexity of the early American world.

Today, Alaska and Siberia are separated by the Bering Strait, a strip of sea only 55 miles wide.
During the last Ice Age, glaciers moved south from the North Pole, freezing up the waters of the
Bering Sea and exposing more land. This formed the Beringia land bridge, over which the earliest
Americans probably migrated from Asia.
▼

Bering
ASIA ia Lan
d Brid
ge

NORTH
Siberia AMERICA
Alaska

Bering
Strait
 Early North American Cultures
N

E
W

AT L A N T I C
OC E A N

The Great Serpent Mound, a giant effigy ADENA &

mound of the Adena culture HOPEWELL
r River
iv Cahokia, a center of the
e

oR

o
hi
d Missouri R . O Mississippian culture, as it
ora
C ol Cahokia might have looked around 1150
ANASAZI & 30°N
The 200-room Cliff Palace in HOHOKAM MISSISSIPPIAN

ver
i Ri
Colorado, an Anasazi pueblo,

Mississipp
or cliff dwelling Moundville
an
de

Gulf of Mexico 20°N

One of the massive Tropic of Cancer

sculptures created
by Olmec peoples
Chichén Itzá The astronomical observatory in the
Tenochtitlán Mayan city of Chichén Itzá
OLMEC
Artist’s rendering of Tenochtitlán, the Aztec AZTEC
capital in the middle of Lake Texcoco MAYA
0 250 500 miles

0 250 500 kilometers

1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
B.C. A.D.

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER
1. Region Which river ran through the Mississippian,
Adena, and Hopewell culture areas?
2. Place What do the cities of Chichén Itzá and
Tenochtitlán reveal about the cultures that created them?

EMPIRES OF MIDDLE AND SOUTH AMERICA Archaeologists believe that the

first empire of the Americas emerged as early as 1200 B.C. in what is now south-
ern Mexico. There the Olmec peoples created a thriving civilization in the humid
rain forest along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Other civilizations appeared in
the wake of the Olmec’s mysterious collapse around 400 B.C. These included the
Maya, who built a dynamic culture in Guatemala and the Yucatán Peninsula
between A.D. 250 and 900, and the Aztec, who swept into the Valley of Mexico
in the 1200s.
In South America the most prominent of these empire builders were the
Inca, who around A.D. 1200 created a glittering empire that stretched nearly
2,500 miles along the mountainous western coast of South America.

6 CHAPTER 1
 These empires’ achievements rivaled those of ancient
MAIN IDEA
cultures in other parts of the world. The peoples of these HISTORICAL
Summarizing American empires built great cities and ceremonial centers,
B What were
some of the
some with huge palaces, temple-topped pyramids, and S P O TLIG H T
achievements central plazas. To record their histories, some of these civ-
of the early ilizations invented forms of glyph writing—using symbols THE “OTHER” PYRAMIDS
civilizations of or images to express words and ideas. B The stone pyramids of Egypt,
the Americas? which were used as elaborate
ANCIENT DESERT FARMERS As early as 3,000 years
tombs for Egyptian kings more
ago, several North American groups, including the than 4,000 years ago, are some
Hohokam and the Anasazi, introduced crops into the of today’s most famous struc-
arid deserts of the Southwest. Later, between 300 B.C. and tures. However, they were not the
A.D. 1400, each group established its own civilization. The only pyramids to tower over the
ancient world.
Hohokam settled in the valleys of the Salt and Gila rivers
On the American side of the
in what is now central Arizona. The Anasazi took to the Atlantic, the Maya built giant flat-
mesa tops, cliff sides, and canyon bottoms of the Four topped pyramids with stairs lead-
Corners region—an area where the present-day states of ing to rooftop temples, where
Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. Mayan priests performed reli-
gious ceremonies.
MOUND BUILDERS To the east of the Mississippi River, Farther north, at Cahokia, in
in a region extending from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of what is now Illinois, people of the
Mexico, another series of complex societies developed. Mississippian culture constructed
There the Adena, the Hopewell, and the Mississippian more than 100 massive earthen
mounds. The mounds served as
societies excelled at trade and at building. Some Adena and
tombs, temples, and foundations
Hopewell structures consisted of huge burial mounds filled for elaborate homes. The largest
with finely crafted objects. Other mounds were sculpted of these mounds is Monk’s
into effigies, or likenesses, of animals so large that they can Mound, which is 100 feet high and
be seen clearly only from the air. People of the Mississippian covers about 16 acres at its base.
culture constructed gigantic pyramidal mounds.
Although societies such as the Mississippian and the
Aztec still flourished when Christopher Columbus reached American shores in
1492, others had long since disappeared. Despite their fate, these early peoples
were the ancestors of the many Native American groups that inhabited North
America on the eve of its encounter with the European world.

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
•nomadic •Aztec •Anasazi •Hopewell
•Olmec •Inca •Adena •Mississippian
•Maya •Hohokam

MAIN IDEA CRITICAL THINKING

2. TAKING NOTES 3. ANALYZING 5. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
In a chart like the one below, list the How did the development of Which ancient American empire
early civilizations of the Americas. agriculture affect ancient societies do you think was most advanced?
Include the approximate dates they in the Americas? Support your choice with details
flourished and their locations. 4. EVALUATING from the text. Think About:
Evaluate the achievements of the • the cultural achievements
Civilization Dates Location
ancient cultures of the Americas. of each empire
Which single accomplishment do • the characteristics of modern
you find most remarkable and why? civilizations

What are some similarities that you

have noticed among these early
civilizations?

Three Worlds Meet 7

 North American
Societies Around 1492
MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names

The varied landscapes of Many modern Native American •Kashaya Pomo •Iroquois
North America encouraged groups maintain ancient •Kwakiutl •kinship
the diversity of Native customs of their respective •Pueblo •division of labor
American cultures. cultures.

One American's Story

Essie Parrish, a Native American storyteller and medicine

woman, kept alive stories from a time when her people, the
Kashaya Pomo, flourished along the northern California
coast. She invited Robert Oswalt, an anthropologist,
to time-travel with her to the 1540s. As Parrish spoke, the
centuries rolled back.

A PERSONAL VOICE ESSIE PARRISH

“ In the old days, before the white people came up here, there
was a boat sailing on the ocean from the south. Because
before that . . . [the Kashaya Pomo] had never seen a boat,
they said, ‘Our world must be coming to an end. Couldn’t
we do something? This big bird floating on the ocean is from
somewhere, probably from up high. . . .’ [T]hey promised Our
Father [a feast] saying that destruction was upon them.
When they had done so, they watched [the ship] sail way
up north and disappear. . . . They were saying that nothing
had happened to them—the big bird person had sailed north-
ward without doing anything—because of the promise of a
feast. . . . Consequently they held a feast and a big dance.”
—quoted in Kashaya Texts
▼
The event became part of the Kashaya Pomo’s oral history. Dressed for a ceremony in the 1950s,
Stories like this have provided us with a broad picture of the spiritual leader Essie Parrish wears a
Native American world before it came into contact with the feathered headdress and holds two
bead-covered staffs.
world of European explorers and settlers.

Native Americans Live in Diverse Societies

The native groups of North America were as diverse as the environments in
which they lived. The North American continent provided for many different
ways of life, from nomadic to the kind of fixed, nonmigratory life of farming
communities.

8 CHAPTER 1
 CALIFORNIA Not one land, but many lands—that’s how the Kashaya Pomo and
MAIN IDEA
other native peoples regarded the region that is now California. The land has a
Making long coastline, a lush northwestern rain forest, and a parched southern desert.
Inferences
A How might The peoples of California adapted to these diverse settings. The Kashaya
California’s varied Pomo hunted waterfowl with slingshots and nets. To the north, the Yurok and
landscapes have Hupa searched the forests for acorns and fished in mountain streams. A
encouraged
diverse ways NORTHWEST COAST The waterways and forests of the northwest coast sus-
of life? tained large communities year-round. The sea was of prime importance. On a
coastline that stretched from what is now southern Alaska to northern California,
peoples such as the Kwakiutl (kwäQkC-LtPl), Nootka, and Haida collected shell-
fish from the beaches and hunted the ocean for whales, sea otters, and seals.
Peoples such as the Kwakiutl decorated masks and boats with magnificent
totems, symbols of the ancestral spirits that guided each family. Kwakiutl families
also displayed their histories on huge totem poles set in front of their cedar-plank
houses. A family’s totems announced its wealth and status.
Leading Kwakiutl families also organized potlatches, elaborate ceremonies in
which they gave away large quantities of their possessions. A family’s reputation
depended upon the size of its potlatch—that is, on how much wealth it gave
away. A family might spend up to 12 years planning the event.
SOUTHWEST In the dry Southwest, the Pima and Pueblo tribes, descendants of
the Hohokam and Anasazi, lived in a harsh environment. By 1300, the Pueblo
and a related tribe, the Hopi, had left the cliff houses of their Anasazi ancestors.
The Pueblo built new settlements near waterways such as the Rio Grande,
where they could irrigate their farms. However, the Hopi and the Acoma con-
tinued to live near the cliffs and developed irrigation systems.
Vocabulary
People lived in multistory houses made of adobe or stone and grew corn,
adobe: a sun-dried
brick of clay beans, melons, and squash. Like their ancestors, they built underground kivas,
and straw or ceremonial chambers, for religious ceremonies and councils.

Science
FORENSIC RECONSTRUCTIONS
Artists are now able to recreate the facial features of ancient peoples. The appear-
ance of Native Americans who died sometime between A.D. 1000 and 1400 have
recently been reconstructed from skeletal remains. These remains, removed from
a burial site in Virginia, have since been returned to the Monacan tribe. The recon-
structions bear a remarkable resemblance to modern Monacans.
▼

The forensic artist first

makes a plaster cast from
the original skull. Then the
artist uses clay to build up
the facial features. Finally,
the artist individualizes the
head, based on clues about
the subject’s weight, The final reconstruction
▼

muscularity, and presents a close approx-

environment. imation of the person’s
original appearance.

SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Visual Sources

1. What strikes you most about these reconstructed faces?
2. How might forensic reconstructions contribute to our
understanding of the past?
SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R22.

Three Worlds Meet 9

 The lyrics to the ritual songs they sang may have resembled the ones recalled
by a Hopi chief named Lololomai at the start of the 1900s. “This is the song of
the men from my kiva,” Lololomai explained. “It tells how in my kiva the chief
and his men are praying to make the corn to grow next year for all the people.”

A PERSONAL VOICE LOLOLOMAI

“ Thus we, thus we
The night along,
With happy hearts
Wish well one another.

In the chief’s kiva

They, the fathers . . .
Plant the double ear—
Plant the perfect double corn-ear.
So the fields shall shine
With tassels white of perfect corn-ears.
This kachina doll

▼
Hither to them, hither come, represented the corn
Rain that stands and cloud that rushes!” spirit in Hopi religious
—quoted in The Indians’ Book ceremonies.

EASTERN WOODLANDS The landscape of the Southwest contrasted sharply

with the woodlands east of the Mississippi River. Here, hardwood forests stretched
from the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River in the north to the Gulf of
Mexico in the south.
The tribes that lived in the Eastern Woodlands had much in common. Native
peoples like the Iroquois (GrPE-kwoiQ) built villages in forest clearings and blend-
ed agriculture with hunting and gathering. They traveled by foot or by canoe. MAIN IDEA
Because of the vast supply of trees, most groups used woodworking tools to craft Contrasting
everything from snowshoes to canoes. B In what
The peoples of the Eastern Woodlands also differed from one another in their ways did food
production differ
languages, customs, and environments. In the Northeast, where winters could be
among Native
long and harsh, people relied on wild animals for clothing and food. In the American
warmer Southeast, groups grew such crops as corn, squash, and beans. B societies?

Native Americans Share Cultural Patterns

Although no two Native American societies were alike, many did share certain
cultural traits. Patterns of trade, attitudes toward land use, and certain religious
beliefs and social values were common to many cultures.
TRADING NETWORKS Trade was one of the biggest factors in bringing Native
American peoples into contact with one another. As tribes established permanent
settlements, many of these settlements became well known for specific products
or skills. The Nootka of the Northwest Coast mastered whaling. The Ojibwa of the
upper Great Lakes collected wild rice. The Taos of the Southwest made pottery.
These items, and many more, were traded both locally and long-distance.
An elaborate transcontinental trading network enabled one group to trade
with another without direct contact. Traders passed along items from far-off,
MAIN IDEA
unfamiliar places. Intermediaries carried goods hundreds and sometimes thou-
sands of miles from their source. So extensive was the network of forest trails and Forming
Generalizations
river roads that an English sailor named David Ingram claimed in 1568 to have C In what ways
walked along Native American trade routes all the way from Mexico to the did trade link
Atlantic Coast. C Native Americans?

10 CHAPTER 1
 North American Cultures in the 1400s

Tepees could be quickly

KWAKIUTL dismantled and were well
NOOTKA suited to the nomadic
CREE
lifestyle of the Plains.

NEZ PERCE BLACKFOOT OJIBWA

(Chippewa)
CHINOOK ARIKARA
OTTAWA
CROW MANDAN ALGONQUIN
SAUK WAMPANOAG 40°N
SHOSHONE DAKOTA HURON PEQUOT
KATO (Sioux) NARRAGANSETT
POTAWATOMI
CHEYENNE IOWA ATLANTIC
KASHAYA MIAMI DELAWARE
POMO SUSQUEHANNOCK
ARAPAHO PAWNEE
OCEAN
ILLINOIS SHAWNEE MONACAN
UTE KANSA
PAIUTE POWHATAN
CHUMASH
KIOWA OSAGE
HOPI NAVAJO KIOWA- TUSCARORA
APACHE
ZUNI PUEBLO CHEROKEE
PIMA CHICKASAW
30°N
CHOCTAW
MESCALERO
APACHE COMANCHE HITCHITI

JUMANO SEMINOLE
A longhouse of the Eastern
Woodlands region
Gulf of
Mexico
N

HUICHOL a ncer
E Tropic of C
20°N W

S TAINO
Pueblos, built of sun-dried brick, MAYA
or adobe, were characteristic
dwellings of the Southwest. Native American Trade
AZTEC Before the arrival of Columbus, the trade routes of North America
allowed goods to travel across the continent.
PACIFIC OCEAN Group and Region Goods Traded
Algonquin of the Eastern Woodlands colored feathers, copper
Apaches of the Plains meat, hides, salt
Navajo of the Southwest pottery, blankets, crops
Subarctic Southeastern Kwakiutl of the Northwest Coast fish oil
Northwest Coast Southwest Ute of the Great Basin hides, buffalo robes
California Great Basin Choctaw of the Southeast deerskins, bear oil
Plateau Mesoamerican
Plains Caribbean GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER
1. Region What does this map reveal about North America
Eastern Woodlands Major trade routes
in the 1400s?
0° 0 250 500 miles 2. Location Why do you think some regions had more trade
0 250 500 kilometers
routes than others?

Three Worlds Meet 11

 LAND USE Native Americans traded many things, but land was not one of them.
They regarded the land as the source of life, not as a commodity to be sold. “We Vocabulary
cannot sell the lives of men and animals,” said one Blackfoot chief in the 1800s, commodity: an
article of trade or
“therefore we cannot sell this land.” This attitude would lead to many clashes
commerce
with the Europeans, who believed in private ownership of land.
Native Americans disturbed the land only for the most important activities,
such as food gathering or farming. A female shaman, or priestess, from the Wintu
of California expressed this age-old respect for the land as she spoke to anthro-
pologist Dorothy Lee.

A PERSONAL VOICE WINTU WOMAN

“ When we dig roots, we make little holes. When we build houses, we make little
holes. . . . We shake down acorns and pinenuts. We don’t chop down the trees.
We only use dead wood [for fires]. . . . But the white people plow up the ground,
pull down the trees, [and. . . the] tree says, ‘Don’t. I am sore. Don’t hurt me.’”
—quoted in Freedom and Culture

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS Nearly all Native Americans thought of the natural world
as filled with spirits. Past generations remained alive to guide the living. Every
object—both living and non-living—possessed a voice that might be heard if one
listened closely. “I hear what the ground says,” remarked Young Chief of the
Cayuses, who lived in what is now Washington and Oregon, in 1855. “The
ground says, ‘It is the Great Spirit that placed me here.’ The Great Spirit tells me
to take care of the Indians. . . ” Some cultures believed in one supreme being,
known as “Great Spirit,” “Great Mystery,” “the Creative Power,” or “the Creator.”

Native American Village Life

John White, one of the first English colonists to arrive in North
America, made several drawings of Native American life in the
A Chesapeake region in 1585. The engraving shown here was
B copied from White’s original drawing and published in 1590.
The image shows the village life of the Secotan people, who
lived near Roanoke Island, North Carolina.
A Agriculture
A Secotan guards the ripened corn crop to keep away
hungry birds and animals. A tobacco field appears to
the left of this field, and other corn fields and a
pumpkin patch appear below it.
B Hunting
C Men hunt for deer.
C The Home
Huts, whose sides can be rolled up for ventilation,
are woven from thick plant stems.
D Social Life
Villagers prepare for a community feast. The fire for this
feast appears up the path in the heart of the village.
E Religion
Residents dance around a circle of idols in a religious cere-
mony. Across the main path lies a prayer circle with fire.

SKILLBUILDER Analyzing Primary Sources

D 1. What Native American work activities are shown
E in this drawing?
2. Based on the drawing, what appear to be two
significant daily concerns of the Secotan?

12 CHAPTER 1
 SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Bonds of kinship, or strong
ties among family members, ensured the continuation of
N OW THEN
tribal customs. Elders instructed the young. In exchange,
the young honored the elders and their departed ancestors.
The tasks assigned to men and women varied with each
society. Among the Iroquois and Hopi, for example, women
owned the household items, and families traced their
ancestry from mother to grandmother to great-grandmoth-
er, and so on. In other Native American cultures, men
owned the family possessions and traced their ancestry
through their father’s kin.
The division of labor—the assignment of tasks
according to gender, age, or status—formed the basis of SCHEMITZUN
social order. Among the Kwakiutl, for example, slaves per- The sights and sounds of the
Native American world come alive
formed the most menial jobs, while nobles ensured that
each August for several days on
Kwakiutl law was obeyed. the Connecticut reservation of
The basic unit of organization among all Native Mashantucket. Here, performers
American groups was the family, which included aunts, and visitors from nearly 500
uncles, cousins, and other relatives. Some tribes further Native American tribes meet under
organized the families into clans, or groups of families a massive tent for Schemitzun,
the “World Championship of Song
descended from a common ancestor. Among the Iroquois, and Dance.”
for example, members of a clan often lived together in huge Schemitzun was traditionally a
bark-covered longhouses. All families participated in com- dance to celebrate the corn har-
munity decision making. vest. Today it has become an
Not all Native American groups lived together for long occasion for Native Americans to
meet, share their art and culture,
periods of time. In societies in which people hunted and
and celebrate their heritage.
MAIN IDEA gathered, groups broke into smaller bands for hunting. On
Comparing the plains, for example, families searched the grasslands
D What for buffalo. Groups like these reunited only to celebrate
similarities and important occasions. D
differences
In the late 1400s, on the eve of the encounter with the Europeans,
existed among
Native American the rhythms of Native American life were well-established. No one could have
social structures? imagined the changes that were about to transform the Native American societies.

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
•Kashaya Pomo •Pueblo •kinship •division of labor
•Kwakiutl •Iroquois

MAIN IDEA CRITICAL THINKING

2. TAKING NOTES 3. COMPARING 4. SYNTHESIZING
Copy an outline of North America In your opinion, were the differences Describe the relationship between
like the one below. Then shade in between Native American groups the individual and his or her social
the areas belonging to each of the greater than their similarities? Cite group in Native American society.
following Native American cultures: specific examples to support your Use details from the text to support
Northwest Coast, Southwest, and answer. Think About: your description.
Eastern • adaptation to physical settings 5. HYPOTHESIZING
Woodlands. • the role of tradition Why did Native American societies
Describe • the variety of goods and lan- not wish to buy and sell land?
how each guages encountered in trading
society
adapted
to its
environment.

Three Worlds Meet 13

 West African Societies
Around 1492
MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names

West Africa in the 1400s Modern African Americans have •Islam •Benin
was home to a variety of strong ancestral ties to the •plantation •Kongo
peoples and cultures. people of West Africa. •Songhai •lineage
•savanna

One African's Story

Leo Africanus was about 18 when he laid eyes on the renowned city of
Timbuktu in the West African empire of Songhai. A Muslim born in
Granada (in modern Spain) and raised in North Africa, Leo Africanus
visited the city with his uncle, who was on a diplomatic mission to the
emperor of Songhai. At the time of their journey in 1513, Songhai was
one of the largest kingdoms in the world, and the emperor, Askia
Muhammad, was rich and powerful. Leo Africanus later described the
bustling prosperity of Timbuktu and its lively intellectual climate.

A PERSONAL VOICE LEO AFRICANUS

“ Here are many shops of . . . merchants, and especially such
as weave linen and cotton cloth. And hither do the Barbary
[North African] merchants bring cloth of Europe. . . . Here are
great store of doctors, judges, priests, and other learned men,
that are bountifully maintained at the king’s cost and charges,
and hither are brought divers manuscripts or written books out of
Barbary, which are sold for more money than any other merchandise.”
—The History and Description of Africa Done into English by John Pory
▼
Leo Africanus provides a glimpse of 16th-century West African life. From this These ancient
region of Africa, and particularly from the West and West-Central coastal areas, boards from
would come millions of people brought to the Americas as slaves. These people Africa contain
sayings from the
would have a tremendous impact on American history and culture.
Qur’an, the holy
scripture of Islam.

West Africa Connects with the Wider World

Although geographically isolated from Europe and Asia, West Africa by the 1400s
had long been connected to the wider world through trade. For centuries, trade
had brought into the region new goods, new ideas, and new beliefs, including
those of the Islamic religion. Then, in the mid-1400s, the level of interaction with
the world increased with the arrival of European traders on the West African coast.

14 CHAPTER 1
 THE SAHARA HIGHWAY The Timbuktu that Leo Africanus
described was the hub of a well-established trading HISTORICAL
network that connected most of West Africa to the coastal
ports of North Africa, and through these ports to markets in S P O TLIG H T
Europe and Asia. Leo Africanus and his uncle reached
Timbuktu by following ancient trade routes across the ISLAM
Sahara desert. At the crossroads of this trade, cities such as Like Judaism and Christianity,
Timbuktu, Gao, and Jenne became busy commercial cen- Islam is monotheistic, or based
on the belief in one god. Islam was
ters. The empires that controlled these cities and trade
founded by the prophet
routes grew wealthy and powerful. Muhammad (about A.D. 570–632),
Traders from North Africa brought more than goods who believed the angel Gabriel
across the Sahara—they also brought their Islamic faith. appeared to him and told him to
Islam, founded in Arabia in 622 by the prophet preach a new religion to the Arabs.
This religion became known as
Muhammad, spread quickly across the Middle East and
Islam, which in Arabic means “sur-
North Africa. By the 1200s, Islam had become the court reli- render” [to Allah]. (Allah is
gion of the large empire of Mali, and it was later embraced the Arabic name for God.) The
MAIN IDEA by the rulers of Songhai, including Askia Muhammad. followers of Islam are called
Despite its official status, however, Islam did not yet have Muslims, “those who submit to
Making
much influence over the daily lives and religious practices God’s will.”
Inferences
A Why would The words that Muhammad
of most West Africans in the late 1400s. A received from God were recorded in
trade have helped
THE PORTUGUESE ARRIVE The peoples of West Africa the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam.
spread the Islamic
faith? and Europe knew little of each other before the 1400s.
This situation began to change as Portuguese mariners
made trading contacts along the West African coast. By the 1470s, Portuguese
traders had established an outpost on the West African coast near the large Akan
goldfields, the source of much West African gold. Other trading outposts soon

Boundaries of West African kingdoms are

shown at greatest extent. West Africa in the 1400s
Major trade routes
Algiers Tunis
Desert
Mediterra
Savanna nean Sea
Tripoli
Rain forest Marrakesh Alexandria
Cairo
I I
I
0 600 1,200 miles
Sabha
Ni
le

Re
0 600 1,200 kilometers In Salah
Ghat
R.

d
Taghaza

S A H A R A
Se

N
a

W Walata Timbuktu
E HAUSA KANEM-
Gao BORNU
Jenne STATES
SONGHAI
Ni

S
ge
r

R.
Volta R.

10°N Kano
Bobo OYO R.
Kong ue
ATLANTIC Dioulasso B en
Ife
OCEAN Lagos BENIN
AKAN
Gulf of Guinea
Congo R
40°W 20°W 0°
.

Príncipe
GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER Equator
1. Human-Environment Interaction São Tomé
What are the three climate zones of
West Africa? KONGO
2. Location How did Songhai’s location Mbanza Kongo
aid the growth of that kingdom? Luanda

Three Worlds Meet 15

 followed. These early contacts between West Africans and Portuguese traders
would have two significant consequences for West Africa and the Americas.
First, direct trade between the Portuguese and the coastal peoples of West Africa
bypassed the old trade routes across the Sahara and pulled the coastal region
into a closer relationship with Europe. Second, the Portuguese began the
European trade in West African slaves.
In the 1480s the Portuguese claimed two uninhabited islands off the African
coast, Príncipe and São Tomé. Discovering that the soil and climate were perfect
for growing sugar cane, they established large sugar plantations there. A
plantation is a farm on which a single crop, usually one that requires much
human labor, is grown on a large scale. To work these plantations, the Portuguese MAIN IDEA
began importing slaves from the West African mainland. Summarizing
At first this trade was limited to a small number of West Africans purchased B How did the
Portuguese sugar
from village chiefs, usually captives from rival groups. However, the success of the
plantations affect
Portuguese slave plantations provided a model that would be reproduced on a the course
larger scale in the Americas—including the British North American colonies. B of history?

Three African Kingdoms Flourish

In the late 1400s, western Africa was a land of thriving trade, diverse cultures, and
many rich and well-ordered states.
SONGHAI From about 600 to 1600, a succession of empires—first Ghana, then
Mali, and beginning in the mid-1400s, Songhai (sôngPhFP)—gained power and
wealth by controlling the trans-Sahara trade. The rulers of these empires grew
enormously rich by taxing the goods that passed through their realms.
With wealth flowing in from the north-south trade routes, the rulers of
Songhai could raise large armies and conquer new territory. They could also build
A desert caravan
cities, administer laws, and support the arts and education. So it was with two
reaches the great rulers of the Songhai. The first great king, Sunni Ali, who ruled from 1464
fabled Songhai to 1492, made Songhai the largest West African empire in history. His military
city of Timbuktu. prowess became legendary—during his entire reign, he never lost a battle.
▼
 Another great ruler, Askia Muhammad, was a master organizer, a devout
Muslim, and a scholar. He organized Songhai into administrative districts and
appointed officials to govern, collect taxes, and regulate trade, agriculture, and
fishing. Under his rule, Timbuktu regained its reputation as an important educa-
tion center as it attracted scholars from all over the Islamic world.
At its height in the 1500s, Songhai’s power extended across much of West
Africa. However, it did not control the forest kingdoms. Songhai’s cavalry might
easily thunder across the savanna, the region of dry grassland, but it could not
penetrate the belt of dense rain forest along the southern coast. Protected by the
forest, peoples such as the Akan, Ibo, Edo, Ifi, Oyo, and Yoruba lived in kingdoms
that thrived in the 1400s and 1500s.
BENIN Although the forests provided protection from conquest, they neverthe-
less allowed access for trade. Traders carried goods out of the forests or paddled
them along the Niger River to the savanna. The brisk trade with Songhai and
North Africa, and later with Portugal, helped the forest kingdoms grow. In the
1400s one of these kingdoms, Benin, dominated a large region around the Niger
Delta. Leading the expansion was a powerful oba (ruler) named Ewuare.
Stories that have been passed down to the present day recall Ewuare’s
triumphs in the mid-1400s.

A PERSONAL VOICE CHIEF JACOB EGHAREVBA

“ He fought against and captured 201 towns and
villages. . . . He took their rulers captive and he caused the
people to pay tribute to him. He made good roads in Benin
City. . . . In fact the town rose to importance and gained
the name of city during his reign. It was he who had the
innermost and greatest of the walls and ditches made
round the city, and he also made powerful charms and had
them buried at each of the nine gateways of the city so
as to ward against any evil.”
—A Short History of Benin

Within this great walled city, Ewuare headed a highly

organized government in which districts were governed by
appointed chiefs. Through other appointed officials, the oba
controlled trade and managed the metal-working industries such as
goldsmithing and brass-smithing. He also exchanged ambassadors
MAIN IDEA with Portugal in the late 1400s. Under the patronage of Ewuare and
Comparing his successors, metalworkers produced stunning and sophisticated
C How was the works of art, such as bronze sculptures and plaques. C ▼
government in
Benin similar to KONGO Within another stretch of rain forest, in West Central An unknown Yoruba artist in the
that of Askia Africa, the powerful kingdom of Kongo arose on the lower Zaire kingdom of Ife produced this
Muhammad? (Congo) River. In the late 1400s, Kongo consisted of a series of small bronze head of a king in the
kingdoms ruled by a single leader called the Manikongo, who lived 1100s. The highly developed
bronze artistry of Ife was
in what is today Angola. The Manikongo, who could be either a man
handed down to the kingdom
or a woman, held kingdoms together by a system of royal marriages, of Benin, which arose later in
taxes, and, when necessary, by war and tribute. By the 1470s, the the same area.
Manikongo oversaw an empire estimated at over 4 million people.
The Bakongo, the people of Kongo, mined iron ore and produced well-
wrought tools and weapons. They also wove palm leaf threads into fabric that
reminded Europeans of velvet. The Portuguese sailors who first reached Kongo in
1483 were struck by the similarities between Kongo and their own world. Its sys-
tem of government—a collection of provinces centralized under one strong
king—resembled that of many European nations at the time.

Three Worlds Meet 17

 West African Culture
In the late 1400s the world of most West Africans was a local one. Most people
lived in small villages, where life revolved around family, the community, and tra-
dition. West African customs varied greatly but followed some common patterns.
These patterns would influence the future interactions between Africans and
Europeans and shape the experience of enslaved Africans in the Americas.
FAMILY AND GOVERNMENT Bonds of kinship—ties among people of the
same lineage, or line of common descent—formed the basis of most aspects of
life in rural West Africa. Some societies, such as the Akan, were matrilineal—that
is, people traced their lineage through their mother’s family. These lineage ties
determined not only family loyalties but also inheritances and whom people
could marry. Societies such as the Ibo also encouraged people to find a mate out-
side their lineage groups. These customs helped create a complex web of family
alliances.
Within a family, age carried rank. The oldest living descendant of the group’s
common ancestor controlled family members and represented them in councils
of the larger groups to which a family might belong. These larger groups shared a
common language and history and often a common territory. One leader or chief
might speak for the group as a whole. But this person rarely spoke without con-
sulting a council of elders made up of the heads of individual extended families.
RELIGION Religion was important in all aspects of African life. Political leaders
claimed authority on the basis of religion. For example, the ruler of the Ife king-
dom claimed descent from the first person placed on earth by the “God of the MAIN IDEA
Sky.” Religious rituals were also central to the daily activities of farmers, hunters, Hypothesizing
and fishers. D D Why did
West Africans believed that nature was filled with spirits and perceived spiri- political leaders
claim authority
tual forces in both living and non-living objects. They also believed that the spir- on the basis
its of ancestors spoke to the village elders in dreams. Although West African peo- of religion?
ples might worship a variety of ancestral spirits and lesser gods, most believed in
a single creator. The Bakongo, for example, believed in Nzambi ampungu, a term
that means the “creator of all things,” and so understood the Christian or Muslim
belief in a supreme god. However, the Bakongo and other cultures could not
Against the
▼

backdrop of
centuries-old cliff
dwellings built by
their ancestors,
modern-day Dogon
elders in Mali carry
out an ancient
religious ritual.

© 1993 Chester Higgins, Jr.

18 CHAPTER 1
 understand the Christian and Muslim insistence that West
Africans stop worshipping spirits, who were believed to
N OW THEN
carry out the Creator’s work. Out of this difference grew
many cultural conflicts.
LIVELIHOOD Throughout West Africa, people supported KENTE CLOTH
themselves by age-old methods of farming, herding, hunt- Today people of African descent all
over the world value as a symbol
ing, and fishing, and by mining and trading. Almost all
of Africa the multicolored fabric
groups believed in collective ownership of land. Individuals known as kente cloth. For African
might farm the land, but it reverted to family or village Americans who choose to wear
ownership when not in use. kente cloth or display it in their
People on the dry savanna depended on rivers, such as homes, the fabric serves as a tan-
gible link to West African cultures
MAIN IDEA the Niger, to nourish their crops and livestock. On the west-
from which their ancestors came.
Developing ern coast, along the Senegal and Gambia rivers, farmers Artisans of the Asante (Ashanti)
Historical converted tangled mangrove swamps into rice fields. This people of modern Ghana have
Perspective grain—and the skills for growing it—would accompany woven kente cloth for centuries.
E What Working at looms, they produce
West Africans to the Americas. E
agricultural skills long strips of cloth of complex
did West Africans USE OF SLAVE LABOR West Africans divided tasks by age designs and varying colors. These
bring to the and by social status. At the lowest rung in some societies strips are then sewn together into
Americas?
were slaves. However, in Africa, people were not born into a brilliant fabric that sparkles with
slavery, nor did slavery necessarily mean a lifetime of servi- reds, greens, blues, golds, and
whatever other hues the weavers
tude. In Africa, slaves could escape their bondage in a num-
chose as dyes.
ber of ways. Sometimes they were adopted into or they mar-
ried into the family they served. This was a very different
kind of servitude from that which evolved in the Americas,
where slavery continued from generation to generation and
was based on race.
While slavery eventually came to dominate the inter-
action between Africans and Europeans, it was not the
primary concern of the Portuguese sailors who first explored
the African coast. At this time, in the late 1400s, a variety of
political, social, and economic changes in Europe spurred
rulers and adventurers to push outward into unexplored
reaches of the ocean.

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
•Islam •Songhai •Benin •lineage
•plantation •savanna •Kongo

MAIN IDEA CRITICAL THINKING

2. TAKING NOTES 3. ANALYZING CAUSES 4. ANALYZING EFFECTS
Make an outline using the main What factors helped the trade What effects did Portuguese trade
topics shown below, and fill it in with system flourish in West Africa? Use routes have on West Africa?
factual details related to each topic. evidence from the text to support 5. CONTRASTING
your response. Think About: How did West African slavery differ
I. West Africa’s Climate Zones
• the geography of the region from the kind of slavery that
II. West Africa’s Major • the kinds of goods exchanged developed in the Americas?
Geographical Features
• the societies that emerged in
III. Three West African Kingdoms West Africa
and Their Climate Zones

Three Worlds Meet 19

 European Societies
Around 1492
MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names

Political, economic, and European settlement in the •Prince Henry •nuclear family
intellectual developments in Americas led to the founding •Renaissance •Crusades
western Europe in the 1400s of the United States. •hierarchy •Reformation
led to the Age of Exploration.

One European's Story

During the early decades of the 15th century, Prince Henry of

Portugal, often called “Henry the Navigator,” sent Portuguese ships to
explore the west coast of Africa. According to his biographer, Prince
Henry’s driving motivation was the need to know.

A PERSONAL VOICE GOMES EANES DE ZURARA

“ The noble spirit of this Prince . . . was ever urging him both to begin
and to carry out very great deeds. For which reason . . . he had also a
wish to know the land that lay beyond the isles of Canary and that
Cape called Bojador, for that up to his time, neither by writings, nor by
the memory of man, was known with any certainty the nature of the
land beyond that Cape. . . . it seemed to him that if he or some other
lord did not endeavor to gain that knowledge, no mariners or mer-
chants would ever dare to attempt it. . . .”
—The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea

Prince Henry’s curiosity was typical of the “noble spirit” of the

Renaissance, (rDnQG-sänsP) a period when Europeans began investi-
gating all aspects of the physical world. The term Renaissance means
“rebirth” of the kind of interest in the physical world that had charac-
terized ancient Greece and Rome. With his burning desire for knowl- ▼
edge, Prince Henry helped launch the era of European expansion. Prince Henry the Navigator

The European Social Order

In the late 1400s, most Europeans, like most Native Americans and most Africans,
lived in small villages, bound to the land and to ancient traditions.
THE SOCIAL HIERARCHY European communities were based on social hier-
archy, that is, they were organized according to rank. Monarchs and nobles held
most of the wealth and power at the top of the hierarchy. At the bottom labored
the peasants, who constituted the majority of the people. The nobility offered

20 CHAPTER 1
 their peasants land and protection. In return, the peasants supplied the nobles
with livestock or crops—and sometimes with military service.
Within the social structure, few individuals moved beyond the position into
which they were born. Europeans generally accepted their lot as part of a larger
order ordained by God and reflected in the natural world. Writing in the late 1500s,
William Shakespeare expressed the fixed nature of this order in one of his plays.

A PERSONAL VOICE WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

“ The heavens themselves, the planets, and this center [earth]
Observe degree, priority, and place . . .
Take but degree away, untune that string,
And hark! what discord follows. . . .”
—Troilus and Cressida

One group that did experience social mobility was composed of artisans and
MAIN IDEA merchants, the people who created and traded goods for money. Although this
Forming group was relatively small in the 1400s, the profit they earned from trade would
Generalizations eventually make them a valuable source of tax revenue. Monarchs needed them
A Why did to finance costly overseas exploration and expansion. A
artisans and
merchants THE FAMILY IN SOCIETY While Europeans recognized and respected kinship
experience social ties, the extended family was not as important for them as it was for Native
mobility? American and African societies at this time. Instead, life centered around the
nuclear family, the household made up of a mother and father and their chil-
dren. As in other societies, gender largely determined the
division of labor. Among peasant families, for exam-
ple, men generally did most of the field labor and
herded livestock. Women did help in the fields,
but they also handled child care and house-
hold labor, such as preparing and preserving
the family’s food.

History Through
JUNE, FROM LES TRÈS RICHES
HEURES DU DUC DE BERRY
This miniature painting, representing the month of June, is
a page from a prayer book calendar made by the Limbourg
brothers around the year 1412. The book, made for a younger
son of the French king, tells us a great deal about the aristo-
cratic view of the European social order.
In the background, the walls of the city of Paris protect a
palace and the royal chapel, buildings that represent the two
most powerful institutions in medieval European society: church
and aristocracy.
In the foreground, peasants mow the fields in an orderly
world of peace and tranquility. However, the image is a fantasy,
an idealized vision painted to please the aristocracy. There is
no hint of the peasants’ grinding poverty or of the violence of
the Hundred Years’ War that was at that moment devastating
northern France.
SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Visual Sources
1. What does the painting tell you about the importance of gender
in the division of labor during the 1400s?
2. Why might images of poverty have displeased the aristocracy?
SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R22.

Three Worlds Meet 21

 Christianity Shapes the European Outlook
The Roman Catholic Church was the dominant religious institution in western
Europe. The leader of the church—the pope—and his bishops had great political
and spiritual authority. In the spiritual realm, church leaders determined most
matters of faith. Parish priests interpreted the scriptures and urged the faithful to
endure earthly sufferings in exchange for the promise of eternal life in heaven,
or salvation. Priests also administered important rituals called the sacraments— Background
such as baptism and communion—that were thought to ensure salvation. In Christian
Hand in hand with the belief in salvation was the call to convert people of theology, salvation
is the deliverance
other faiths. This missionary call spurred Europe to reach out beyond its borders
from the power or
first to defend, and then to spread, the faith. penalty of sin.
CRUSADING CHRISTIANITY By the early 700s, Muslim armies had seized
huge areas of Asia and North Africa, along with most of the Iberian Peninsula,
where Spain and Portugal sit. To regain this territory, Spanish Christians waged a
campaign called the reconquista, or reconquest. By 1492, the forces of the com-
bined kingdoms of Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon, who
married in 1469, finally drove the Muslims from the peninsula. This victory
ended more than seven centuries of religious warfare. A
united Spain stood ready to assert itself internationally and

KEY PLAYER to spread Christianity around the globe.

Meanwhile, Christian armies from all over western
Europe responded to the church’s call to force the Muslims
out of the Holy Land around Jerusalem. From 1096 to 1270,
Europeans launched the Crusades, a series of military
expeditions to the Middle East in the name of Christianity.
In the end, these bloody Crusades failed to “rescue”
the Holy Land, but they had two consequences that
encouraged European exploration and expansion. First,
they sparked an increase in trade, as crusaders returned
home with a new taste for products from Asia. Second, the
Crusades weakened the power of European nobles, many
“KING ISABELLA” of whom lost their lives or fortunes in the wars. Monarchs
1451–1504 were able to take advantage of the nobles’ weakened ranks
Queen Isabella, who played a by consolidating their own power. Eventually, monarchs
central role in European explo- sponsored overseas exploration in order to increase their
ration by sponsoring Christopher wealth and power.
Columbus’s voyages to the
Americas, made her mark on the DECLINE IN CHURCH AUTHORITY The Crusades had a
Old World as well. As co-ruler of third long-term consequence: the decline of the power of
Spain, Isabella participated in the pope. The ultimate failure of these campaigns weakened
her country’s religious and mili-
the prestige of the papacy (the office of the pope), which
tary matters.
The queen often defied the had led the quest. Power struggles in the 1300s and 1400s
pope to ensure that her candi- between the church and European kings further reduced
dates were appointed to posi- papal authority and tipped the balance of power in favor of
tions in the Spanish church. In the monarchies.
addition, Isabella tasted battle
Disagreements over church authority, along with out- MAIN IDEA
more frequently than most rulers,
either male or female. The queen rage over corrupt practices among the clergy, led to a reform
Recognizing
rode among her troops in full movement in the early 1500s. This movement, known as Effects
armor, personally commanding the Reformation, divided Christianity in western Europe B How did
them in Ferdinand’s absence. between Catholicism and Protestantism. This split deepened religious changes
Whenever Isabella appeared, her in Europe affect
the rivalries between European nations during the period of
troops shouted, “Castile, Castile, the European
for our King Isabella!” American colonization and sent newly formed Protestant colonization of
sects across the Atlantic to seek religious freedom. B the Americas?

22 CHAPTER 1
 North
Sea
European Powers in 1492
20°W 50°N
ENGLAND

Limit of Islamic influence

N 10°W
W H O LY Limit of Roman Catholic influence
ROMAN Limit of Eastern Orthodox influence
E
S AT L A N T I C EMPIRE 0 250 500 miles
FRANCE
OCEAN 0 250 500 kilometers
HUNGARY

VENICE
40°N PORTUGAL

Ad
Black Sea

ri
at
SPANISH STATES OTTOMAN

ic
Se
(Castile, Aragon, PAPAL STATES a EMPIRE
and Granada)
NAPLES

Mediterranean Sea GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER

1. Region What were the most important
European powers at this time?
AFRICA 2. Location Why were Portugal and
Spain particularly well placed for
overseas exploration?

Changes Come to Europe

As the 1400s began, European societies were still recovering from a series of dis-
asters during the previous century. From 1314 to 1316, heavy rain and disease
wiped out crops and livestock. Thousands of peasants died of starvation. Then,
beginning in the 1340s, an epidemic of plagues killed over 25 million people—
a fourth of Europe’s population. Meanwhile, long wars also raged across the
continent, including the Hundred Years’ War between England and France.
However, amid this turmoil, modern Europe began to take shape. After the
plague, Europe experienced vigorous growth and change. The expansion of
Europe pushed Europeans to look to other lands.
THE GROWTH OF COMMERCE AND POPULATION The Crusades opened up
Asian trade routes and whetted the European appetite for Eastern luxuries, such
as silk, porcelain, tea, and rugs. Merchants in Italian city-states were the first to
profit from trade with Asia. They traded with the Muslim merchants who con-
trolled the flow of goods through much of the Middle East. As trade opportunities
increased, new markets were established and new trade routes were opened.
MAIN IDEA By the end of the 1400s, Europe’s population had rebounded from the plagues.
This increase stimulated commerce and encouraged the growth of towns. The
Developing
Historical return to urban life (which had been largely neglected after the fall of Rome)
Perspective brought about far-reaching social and cultural change. The new urban middle class
C In what ways would assume increasing political power, especially in Britain and its colonies. C
would the revival
of the cities THE RISE OF NATIONS The Crusades weakened the nobility and strengthened
have affected monarchies. Western European monarchs began exerting more control over their
European social lands by collecting new taxes, raising professional armies, and strengthening cen-
and cultural life?
tral governments. Among the new allies of the monarchs were merchants, who
willingly accepted taxes on their newfound wealth in exchange for the protection
or expansion of trade. By the late 1400s, four major nations were taking shape in
western Europe: Portugal, Spain, France, and England.
Only the king or queen of a unified nation had enough power and resources
to finance overseas exploration. Monarchs had a powerful motive to encourage

Three Worlds Meet 23

 the quest for new lands and trading routes: they needed money to maintain
standing armies and large bureaucracies. So, the monarchs of Portugal, Spain,
France, and England began looking overseas for wealth.
THE RENAISSANCE “Thank God it has been permitted to us to be born in this
new age, so full of hope and promise,” exclaimed Matteo Palmieri, a scholar in
15th-century Italy. Palmieri’s optimism captured the enthusiastic spirit of the Vocabulary
Renaissance. The Renaissance led to a more secular spirit, an interest in worldly secular: worldly
pleasures, and a new confidence in human achievement. Starting in Italy, a region rather than
spiritual
stimulated by commercial contact with Asia and Africa, the Renaissance soon
spread throughout Europe. Renaissance artists rejected the flat, two-dimensional
images of medieval painting in favor of the deep perspectives and fully rounded
forms of ancient sculpture and painting. Although their themes were still often
religious in nature, Renaissance artists portrayed their subjects more realistically MAIN IDEA
than had medieval artists, using new techniques such as perspective. European
Drawing
scholars reexamined the writings of ancient philosophers, mathematicians, geog-
Conclusions
raphers, and scientists. They also studied scholarly Arab works brought home D How might
from the Crusades. Renaissance
The Renaissance encouraged people to regard themselves as individuals, to attitudes and
ideas have
have confidence in human capabilities, and to look forward to the fame their
influenced
achievements might bring. This attitude prompted many to seek glory through European
adventure, discovery, and conquest. D explorers?

Science

THE CARAVEL The triangular lateen sails, an innovation

The caravel, the ship used by most early Portuguese and borrowed from Muslim ships, allowed the
Spanish explorers, had many advantages over earlier vessels. caravel to sail against the wind. Rigged
It was lighter, swifter, and more maneuverable than other ships. with lateens, the ship could tack (sail on
a zigzag course) more directly into the
wind than could earlier European vessels.

The smaller deck

at the stern provided
protection from the rain.

The large hatch

The sternpost rudder allowed goods to be
allowed greater stored below deck.
maneuverability.

The shallow draft (the depth of the

ship below the water line) made the
ship ideal for coastal exploration.

24 CHAPTER 1
 Europe Enters a New Age of Expansion
Although Marco Polo’s journey to China took place in the 1200s, it was not until
1477 that the first printed edition of Polo’s account caused renewed interest in
the East. Like other European merchants, Polo traveled to Asia by land. The
expense and peril of such journeys led Europeans to seek alternative routes.
European merchants and explorers listened to the reports of travelers and reex-
amined the maps drawn by ancient geographers.
SAILING TECHNOLOGY Europeans, however, needed more than maps to guide
them through uncharted waters. On the open seas, winds easily blew ships off
course. With only the sun, moon, and stars to guide them, few ships ventured
beyond the sight of land. To overcome their fears, European ship captains adopt-
ed the compass and the astrolabe, navigating tools that helped plot direction.
They also took advantage of innovations in sailing technology that allowed ships
such as the caravel to sail against the wind. (See “The Caravel” on page 24.)
PORTUGAL TAKES THE LEAD Under Prince Henry the Navigator, Portugal
developed and employed these innovations. Although Henry was only an arm-
chair navigator, he earned his nickname by establishing an up-to-date sailing
school and by sponsoring the earliest voyages.
For almost 40 years, Prince Henry sent his captains sailing farther and farther
south along the west coast of Africa. Portuguese explorations continued after
Prince Henry died. Bartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa in 1488.
Vasco da Gama reached India ten years later. By sailing around Africa to eastern
Asia via the Indian Ocean, Portuguese traders were able to cut their costs and
increase their profits.
While cartographers redrew their maps to show the route around Africa, an
Italian sea captain named Christopher Columbus traveled from nation to nation
with his own collection of maps and figures. Columbus believed there was an
even shorter route to Asia—one that lay west across the Atlantic.
In Spain an adviser of Queen Isabella pointed out that support of the proposed
venture would cost less than a week’s entertainment of a foreign official. Isabella
was convinced and summoned Columbus to appear before the Spanish court.

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
•Prince Henry •hierarchy •Crusades •Reformation
•Renaissance •nuclear family

MAIN IDEA CRITICAL THINKING

2. TAKING NOTES 3. ANALYZING ISSUES 4. SUMMARIZING
Re-create the web below on your Which European event of the late How did advances in technology
paper. Fill it in with the changes 1400s to early 1500s do you think open the way for world exploration?
taking place in western Europe had the most far-reaching impact on 5. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
during the 1400s. European lives? Explain and support Why do you think other European
your answer. Think About: nations lagged behind Portugal in
• the importance of religion the race for overseas exploration?
changes • the role of adventurers Support your reasons with details
in western and explorers from the text.
Europe
• the increase in prosperity

How did these changes help lead to

the European Age of Exploration?

Three Worlds Meet 25

 Transatlantic Encounters
MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names

Columbus’s voyages set off The interactions among the •Christopher •Columbian
a chain of events that people of these three Columbus Exchange
brought together the continents laid the foundations •Taino •Treaty of
peoples of Europe, Africa, for modern multicultural •colonization Tordesillas
and the Americas. America.

One European's Story

In January 1492, the Genoese sailor Christopher Columbus stood

before the Spanish court with a daring plan: he would find a route
to Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean. The plan was
accepted, and on August 3, 1492, Columbus embarked on a voyage
that changed the course of history. He began his journal by restating
the deal he had struck with Spain.

A PERSONAL VOICE CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

“ Based on the information that I had given Your Highnesses about
the land of India and about a Prince who is called the Great Khan [of
China], which in our language means ‘King of Kings,’ Your
Highnesses decided to send me . . . to the regions of India, to see . .
. the peoples and the lands, and to learn of . . . the measures which
could be taken for their conversion to our Holy Faith. . . . Your
Highnesses . . . ordered that I shall go to the east, but not by land
as is customary. I was to go by way of the west, whence until today
Christopher Columbus,
we do not know with certainty that anyone has gone. . . . ” around 1519
—The Log of Christopher Columbus

Although Columbus did not find a route to Asia, his voyage set in motion a
process that brought together the American, European, and African worlds.

Columbus Crosses the Atlantic

The Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria slid quietly out of a Spanish port in the predawn
hours of August 3, 1492. Although they were setting out into the unknown, their
crews included no soldiers, priests, or ambassadors—only sailors and cabin boys
with a taste for the sea. In a matter of months, Columbus’s fleet would reach the
sandy shores of what was to Europeans an astonishing new world.
FIRST ENCOUNTERS At about 2 A.M. on October 12, 1492, a lookout aboard the
Pinta caught sight of two white sand dunes sparkling in the moonlight. In
between lay a mass of dark rocks. “Tierra! Tierra!” he shouted. “Land! Land!”

26 CHAPTER 1
 At dawn Columbus went ashore and caught sight of a group of people who
called themselves the Taino (tFPnI), or “noble ones.” He renamed their island
San Salvador, or “Holy Savior,” and claimed it for Spain.
On the first day of their encounter, the generosity of the Taino startled
Columbus. “They are friendly and well-dispositioned people who bear no arms,”
he wrote in his log. “They traded and gave everything they had with good will.”
But after only two days, Columbus offered an assessment of the Taino that had
dark implications for the future.

A PERSONAL VOICE CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

“ It would be unnecessary to build . . . [a fort here] because these people are so
simple in deeds of arms. . . . If Your Highnesses order either to bring all of them to
Castile or to hold them as captivos [slaves] on their own island it could easily be
done, because with about fifty men you could control and subjugate them all,
making them do whatever you want.”
—quoted in Columbus: The Great Adventure

GOLD, LAND, AND RELIGION The search for gold was one of the main reasons
for Columbus’s journey. On his second day in the Americas, Columbus expressed
one of the main reasons he had embarked on his journey. “I have been very atten-
tive,” he wrote, “and have tried very hard to find out if there is any gold here.”
When he did not find gold on San Salvador, he left to look elsewhere. Columbus
spent 96 days exploring some small islands in what is now the Bahamas and the
coastlines of two other Caribbean islands, known today as
Cuba and Hispaniola. All along the way, he bestowed Spanish
names on territory he claimed for Spain. “It was my wish to HISTORICAL

S P O TLIG H T
bypass no island without taking possession,” he wrote.
Columbus also honored his promise to assert Christian domi-
nation. “In every place I have entered, islands and lands, I
have always planted a cross,” he noted on November 16. Less THE VIKINGS
MAIN IDEA than two weeks later, he predicted, “Your Highnesses will The first Europeans to reach
North America were probably
Summarizing order a city . . . built in these regions [for] these countries will
Vikings. About 982, the
A What activities be easily converted.” A Norwegian Viking Eric the Red
preoccupied
SPANISH FOOTHOLDS In early January 1493, Columbus crossed the Atlantic in an open
Columbus as he
boat and set up two colonies on
explored the began his trip back to Spain. Convinced that he had landed
Americas?
Greenland. Some fifteen years
on islands off Asia known to Europeans as the Indies, later, his son, Leif, voyaged far-
Columbus called the people he met los indios. The term ther to a place he called Vinland
translated into “Indian,” a word mistakenly applied to all the Good because of its abundant
the diverse peoples of the Americas. grapes. Historians now believe
that present-day Newfoundland is
Columbus’s reports thrilled the Spanish monarchs, who
Leif Ericson’s Vinland. In 1963,
funded three more voyages. When he set sail for the Americas archaeologists discovered there a
in September 1493, Columbus was no longer an explorer but half-burned timbered house of
an empire builder. He commanded a fleet of some 17 ships Norse design that dates to about
and several hundred armed soldiers. He also brought five the year 1000.
priests and more than 1,000 colonists, including hidalgos, or According to Norwegian sagas,
or tales of great deeds, another
members of the minor nobility. Norwegian expedition followed
These European soldiers, priests, and colonists, and the Leif Ericson’s and stayed in
many others that followed, would occupy first the Caribbean Newfoundland for three years.
and then most of the Americas, and impose their will on Then the Skraelings, as the saga
the Native Americans who lived there. Their arrival on calls the native peoples, drove
away the colonists, and the
Hispaniola, the island presently divided between Haiti and
Vikings never returned.
the Dominican Republic, signaled the start of a cultural clash
that would continue for the next five centuries.

Three Worlds Meet 27

 The Impact on Native Americans
The Taino who greeted Columbus in 1492 could not have imagined the colo-
nization and outbreaks of disease that would soon follow. While the Taino resis-
ted Spanish control, there was little they could do against the viruses and diseases
that accompanied the new settlers.
METHODS OF COLONIZATION The European system of colonization—the
establishment of distant settlements controlled by the parent country—was estab-
lished long before Columbus set sail for Hispaniola. During the Crusades, Italians
from Venice had taken over Arab sugar farms in what is now Lebanon. By the late
1400s, the Portuguese had established plantation colonies on islands off the coast
of West Africa, and Spain had colonized the Canary Islands.
From this experience, Europeans learned the advantages of using the planta-
tion system. They also realized the economic benefits of using forced labor.
Finally, they learned to use European weapons to dominate a people who had less MAIN IDEA
sophisticated weapons. These tactics would be used in full against the peoples Summarizing
that the Europeans called Indians. B B Where did
Europeans first
RESISTANCE AND CONQUEST The natives of the Caribbean, however, did not experiment with
succumb to Columbus and the Spaniards without fighting. In November of 1493, the plantation
Columbus attempted to conquer the present-day island of St. Croix. Instead of system?
surrendering, the inhabitants defended themselves by firing rounds of poisoned
arrows. The Spaniards won easily, but the struggle proved that Native Americans
would not yield in the easy conquest predicted by Columbus.
Controlling the Taino who inhabited Hispaniola was even more difficult.
After several rebellions, the Taino submitted to Columbus for several years but
revolted again in 1495. The Spanish response was swift and cruel. A later settler,
the missionary Bartolomé de Las Casas, criticized the Spaniards’ brutal response.

A PERSONAL VOICE BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS

“ This tactic begun here . . . [will soon] spread throughout these Indies and will
end when there is no more land nor people to subjugate and destroy in this part
of the world.”
—quoted in Columbus: The Great Adventure

DISEASE RAVAGES THE NATIVE

AMERICANS European settlers
brought deadly diseases such as
measles, mumps, chicken pox,
smallpox, and typhus, which dev-
astated Native Americans, who
had not developed any natural
immunity to these diseases.
They died by the thousands.
According to one estimate, nearly
one-third of Hispaniola’s estimated
300,000 inhabitants died during
Columbus’s time there. By 1508,
fewer than 100,000 survivors lived MAIN IDEA
on the island. Sixty years later, Analyzing
only two villages were left. These Effects
C How did the
▼ illnesses would soon spread to the
arrival of European
In this series of drawings from an Aztec codex, or book (c. 1575), a rest of the Americas. More surely
settlers affect
medicine man takes care of an Aztec with smallpox, a deadly disease than any army, disease conquered Native American
brought to the Americas by Europeans. region after region. C societies?

28 CHAPTER 1
 The Slave Trade Begins
With disease reducing the native work force, European settlers turned to Africa for
slaves. In the coming years, European slave ships would haul hundreds of thou-
sands of Africans across the Atlantic to toil in the Americas.
A NEW SLAVE LABOR FORCE The enslavement of Native Americans was a con-
troversial issue among the Spaniards. Unfortunately, the Spanish saw the use of
Africans as a possible solution to the colonies’ labor shortage. Advised Las Casas,
“The labor of one . . . [African] . . . [is] more valuable than that of four Indians;
MAIN IDEA every effort should be made to bring many . . . [Africans] from Guinea.”
As more natives died of disease, the demand for Africans grew. The price of
Forming
Generalizations
enslaved Africans rose, and more Europeans joined the slave trade. African slavery
D Why did was becoming an essential part of the European-American economic system. D
European settlers
AFRICAN LOSSES The Atlantic slave trade would devastate many African soci-
increase their
demand for eties, which lost many of their fittest members. Before the slave trade ended in
enslaved Africans? the 1800s, it would drain Africa of at least 12 million people.

The Impact on Europeans

Columbus’s voyages had profound effects on Europe as well. Merchants and mon-
archs saw an opportunity to increase their wealth and influence. Ordinary people
saw a chance to live in a new world, relatively free of social and economic con-
straints. Within a century, thousands of Europeans began crossing the Atlantic in
what became one of the biggest voluntary migrations in history.
THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE The voyages of Columbus and others led to the
introduction of new plants and animals to Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Ships
took plants and animals from the Americas back to Europe and to Africa and
brought items from the Eastern Hemisphere to the Western Hemisphere. This
global transfer of living things, called the Columbian Exchange, began with
Columbus’s first voyage and continues today.

The Columbian Exchange, 1492–present

NORTH
AMERICA
EUROPE
Avocado Cassava Peanut
Sweet Corn Potato ASIA
R I C A , A N D A SIA
EUROPE, AF
Potato Tomato
RICAS TO Tobacco
Quinine
AME Vanilla Beans
Disease
Pineapple • Smallpox
Cacao Bean • Influenza
Squash
Peppers Livestock • Typhus
• Cattle
• Measles
Turkey Grains • Sheep
AT L A N T I C O C E A N • Malaria
• Wheat • Pig
Pumpkin • Diphtheria
• Rice • Horse
• Whooping Cough
• Barley
Sugar • Oats
Coffee Cane
Bean Grape Honeybee
Onion Olive Citrus
E UR Banana S Peach & Pear
O P E, Fruits IC A
A F R IC A, A MER AFRICA
N D A SIA T O A Turnip

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER
Human-Environment Interaction
How do you think the Columbian Exchange
has enriched each hemisphere?

Three Worlds Meet 29

 NATIONAL RIVALRIES Overseas expansion inflamed European rivalries.
Portugal, the pioneer in navigation and exploration, deeply resented Spain’s sud-
den conquests. In 1493, Pope Alexander VI, a Spaniard, stepped in to avoid war
between the two nations. In the Treaty of Tordesillas (tôrQdE-sCPEs), signed in MAIN IDEA
1494, Spain and Portugual agreed to divide the Western Hemisphere between
Making
them. Lands to the west of an imaginary vertical line drawn in the Atlantic,
Inferences
including most of the Americas, belonged to Spain. Lands to the east of this line, E Why might
including Brazil, belonged to Portugal. Spain and
The plan proved impossible to enforce. Its only long-lasting effect was to give Portugal have
been willing to go
Portugal a colony—Brazil—in a South America that was largely Spanish.
to war over the
Otherwise, the agreement had no effect on the English, Dutch, or French, all of issue of overseas
whom began colonizing the Americas during the early 1600s. E exploration?

A New Society Is Born

Christopher Columbus lived on Hispaniola until 1500. That year, King Ferdinand
and Queen Isabella, dissatisfied with the explorer’s inability to maintain order on
the island, ordered him to leave. After further travels throughout the Caribbean,

P O I N T COUNTERPOINT
“Columbus’s achievements “The legacy of Columbus is primarily one
were historic and heroic.” of ‘genocide, cruelty, and slavery.’”
Many historians argue that Columbus’s fateful voyages Some historians have questioned the traditional view of
produced many long-term benefits. As the journalist Columbus as a hero. The historian Hans Konig argues
Paul Gray notes, “Columbus’s journey was the first step that Columbus’s legacy should be deplored rather than
in a long process that eventually produced the United celebrated: “The year 1492 opened an era of genocide,
States of America, . . . a symbol and a haven of individ- cruelty, and slavery on a larger scale than had ever
ual liberty for people throughout the world.” been seen before.” Speaking to the experience of
Other historians suggest that respect is due Native Americans in particular, the activist Suzan
Columbus for the sheer dimension of the change he Shown Harjo insists that “this half millennium of land
caused. grabs and one-cent treaty sales has been no bargain
“The Columbian discovery was of greater magni- [for Native Americans].”
tude than any other discovery or invention in human Historian Howard Zinn argues that the actions of
history. . . . both because of the . . . development of the European conquistadors and settlers were unneces-
the New World and because of the numerous other dis- sarily cruel and plainly immoral. Zinn questions whether
coveries that have stemmed from it,” asserts the histo- the suffering of Native Americans can be justified by
rian Paolo Emilio Taviani. European gains: “If there are necessary sacrifices to be
Some historians contend that, although millions of made for human progress, is it not essential to hold to
Native Americans were enslaved or killed by Europeans the principle that those to be sacrificed must make the
and the diseases they brought with them, this does not decision [to be sacrificed] themselves?”
detract from Columbus’s In any event, Konig
achievements. They argue THINKING CRITICALLY claims, the balance does
that sacrifice is often not favor Columbus: “all
1. CONNECT TO TODAY Evaluating How does each side
necessary for the sake the gold and silver stolen
view the tradeoff between the human progress and the
of progress. Further, they and shipped to Spain did
violence resulting from Columbus’s voyages? With
claim that, like any histor- not make the Spanish
which side do you agree? Why?
ical figure, Columbus people richer. . . . They
was a man of his time SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R14. ended up [with] . . . a
and ought not to be con- 2. CONNECT TO HISTORY Developing Historical deadly inflation, a starving
demned for acting accord- Perspective Do research to find out more about the population, the rich richer,
ing to the values of the Taino’s encounters with Columbus. Then, write a mono- the poor poorer, and a
age in which he lived. logue from the point of view of either (1) a Taino or (2) ruined peasant class.”
Columbus or a member of his expeditions.

30 CHAPTER 1
 Columbus reluctantly returned to Spain in 1504,
where he died two years later. The daring sea cap- North American Population, 1492–1780
tain went to his grave disappointed that he had
not reached China. 5

Neither Columbus nor anyone else could

have foreseen the long chain of events that his
4
voyages set in motion. In time, settlers from

Population (in millions of people)

England would transplant their cultures to
colonies in North America. From within these 3
colonies would emerge a new society—and a
new nation—based on ideas of representative
government and religious tolerance. 2
The story of the United States of America
thus begins with a meeting of North American,
African, and European peoples and cultures that 1
radically transformed all three worlds. The
upheaval threw unfamiliar peoples and customs
0
together on a grand scale. Although the 1492 1650 1780
Europeans tried to impose their ways on Native
Native Americans Europeans Africans
Americans and Africans, they never completely
Sources: American Indians: The First of This Land; American Indian Holocaust and Survival:
succeeded. Their need to borrow from the peo- A Population History Since 1492; A Concise History of World Population; Historical
Abstracts of the United States
ples they sought to dominate proved too strong.
Furthermore, the Native Americans and Africans SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Graphs
resisted giving up their cultural identities. The 1. What happened to the Native American
new nation that emerged would blend elements population in the centuries after 1492?
of these three worlds, as well as others, in a dis- 2. Which group outnumbered the Native
American population by 1780?
tinctly multicultural society. Throughout the
history of the United States, this multicultural-
ism would be one of its greatest challenges and
also one of its greatest assets.

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
•Christopher Columbus •colonization •Columbian Exchange •Treaty of Tordesillas
•Taino

MAIN IDEA CRITICAL THINKING

2. TAKING NOTES 3. DEVELOPING HISTORICAL 5. ANALYZING EFFECTS
Create a time line of the major PERSPECTIVE What do you think were three
events of Columbus’s voyages and Why did European explorers believe of the most important long-term
interactions with Native Americans. they could simply claim lands for consequences of Columbus’s
Use the dates already plotted on the their home countries, even though encounters in the Americas?
time line below as a guide. these lands were already populated? Think About:
4. SUMMARIZING • conquering and claiming land
1492 1495 1504
In the centuries before Columbus’s • forced labor of Native Americans
voyages, where had Europeans and Africans
gained experience in colonization? • the Columbian Exchange
1493 1500

How did the Americas change during

Columbus’s lifetime as a result of
his voyages?

Three Worlds Meet 31

CHAPTER ASSESSMENT

TERMS & NAMES European Societies Around 1492

For each term or name below, write a sentence explain- (pages 20–25)
ing its significance. 7. How did religion reinforce the social hierarchy of
European societies?
1. nomadic 7. Renaissance 8. How did the Reformation deepen rivalries between
2. Aztec 8. Reformation European nations?
3. Iroquois 9. Christopher
4. division of labor Columbus Transatlantic Encounters (pages 26–31)
5. Islam 10. colonization 9. What impact did the Columbian Exchange have on
6. plantation people’s lives throughout the world?
10. Why did the Spanish want to colonize the Americas?
MAIN IDEAS
Use your notes and the information in the chapter to CRITICAL THINKING
answer the following questions. 1. USING YOUR NOTES In a web like the one shown,
describe how trade and commerce affected each region
Peopling the Americas (pages 4–7) and time period shown.
1. What theories explain when and how the first people
arrived in the Americas? West West
2. Which ancient societies flourished in the region now Africa Before Africa After the
occupied by the United States? the Portuguese Portuguese
Trade
North American Societies Around 1492
and
(pages 8–13) Commerce
3. Why did Native American societies develop different Europe America
cultural traditions in different regions? After the Before
4. Describe the social organization of Native American Crusades Columbus
groups.
2. DEVELOPING HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE How do you
West African Societies Around 1492
think the contrasting cultural attitudes to land owner-
(pages 14–19) ship might have affected the relationship between
5. Why was Timbuktu such an important city? Europeans and Native Americans?
6. Which religion did traders from North Africa bring with
them to West Africa?

VISUAL SUMMARY THREE WORLDS MEET

1400s
c. 20,000 B.C.
THE In West Africa,
Asian peoples began AMERICAS sophisticated and ancient
migrating to the Americas. societies were flourishing
during the 1400s.

1492
The Spanish began
exploring and
colonizing the
southwest and
southern regions of
North America.

32 CHAPTER 1
 Standardized Test Practice

Use the quotation below and your knowledge of U.S. 2. In this passage, Momaday describes the “ancient
history to answer questions 1 and 2. ethic”—Native American reverence for the land—
in order to —
“ ‘The earth is our mother. The sky is our father.’ F contrast it with modern attitudes.
This concept of nature . . . is at the center of the G dismiss it as unimportant.
Native American world view. . . . The Native H present it as a quaint, old-fashioned idea.
American’s attitudes toward this landscape have J suggest that European Americans will never
been formulated over a long period of time, a span accept it.
that reaches back to the end of the Ice Age. . . . 3. Why did the Spanish begin importing enslaved
[T]he Indian has assumed a deep ethical regard for Africans?
the earth and sky, a reverence for the natural world.
A The Spanish were weakened by disease and
. . . It is this ancient ethic of the Native American
could not work.
that must shape our efforts to preserve the earth
B There was a labor shortage in the Americas.
and the life upon and within it.”
C They wanted to compete with the British
—N. Scott Momaday, “A First American Views His Land,” colonies.
National Geographic, July 1976
D The Spanish wanted colonies in Africa.
1. N. Scott Momaday refers to the Ice Age because— 4. Unlike some West African and Native American
societies at the time, European societies in the
A Native Americans’ attitudes to the land were 1400s had not developed —
formed during the Ice Age.
B the landscape of the Americas took its present F matrilineal kinship systems.
shape during the last Ice Age. G systems of mathematics and astronomy.
C that was when European immigrants first H a centralized religious authority.
arrived in the Americas. J agriculture.
D he wants to show how long Native Americans
have been living in the Americas.

ADDITIONAL TEST PRACTICE, pages S1–S33.

ITEST PRACTICE [Link]

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT
1. INTERACT Recall your discussion of 2. D-RO LEARNING FROM MEDIA Use the CD-ROM
the question on page 3: Electronic Library of Primary Sources or
M
C

W I T H H I S T O RY
your library resources to read excerpts
How will the arrival of a strange from Cabeza de Vaca’s La Relación or other early
explorers’ journals.
people change your way of life?
• After reading, list the assumptions and conclu-
Now that you know how Native Americans’ way of sions drawn by the writer about the ethnic group
life was changed by the arrival of the Europeans, he encountered.
discuss the following question: Would you have
resisted or helped the Europeans if you had been • Envision the encounter between groups from the
a Native American during the days of European point of view of another group (such as Native
colonization? Americans). Write a journal entry describing the
other group’s physical appearance and behavior
from that point of view.

Three Worlds Meet 33