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First Encounters in the Americas

As we learned about in the previous chapter Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean islands in 1492.

When he first arrived he encounted the Taino people. They were the native people living on the islands.

The Spanish and the Taino people got along at first but after the Taino people unknowingly failed to show proper respect to Christian symbols, relations between the two peoples soured.

Columbus and the Spanish thought they were superior to the natives and could decide their fate so they claimed all of their land for Spain and took several Tainos as prisoners to Spain.

Soon many Spanish conquistadors, or conquerors, arrived in the islands south of present day America. They took the Native Americans' gold and forced Native Americans to convert to Christianity.

While Spanish conquistadors only numbered in the hundreds compared to millions of Native Americans, they had many advantages.

Such as guns, metal armor, horses, and most importantly disease...

Europeans unknowingly carried diseases such as smallpox, measles, and the flu to the New World and the Native Americans had no immunity, or resistance to these diseases because they had not been exposed to them before.

These diseases spread rapidly!

As a result, the Native American population of the Caribbean islands declined by as much as 90 percent in the 1500s.

Millions of Native Americans died from disease as Europeans made their way inland.

Cortes took 600 men, 16 horses, and a few cannons and set out to conquer the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan.

Cortes used a young woman named Malinche as a translator and adviser. She spoke both the Maya and Aztec languages and she learned Spanish too.

Malinche's parents sold her as a slave when she was a child, believing that she was born under an unlucky star.

The Aztecs gained most of their power by conquering other local tribes and they even sacrificed thousands of these people every year to their gods so many of the local tribes didn't like the Aztecs...

Cortes arranged alliances with these people to help fight against the Aztecs.

Cortes finally made it to the city of Tenochtitlan. He was initially defeated in 1519 by the Aztecs but he later returned to the city in 1521 and defeated the Aztecs and took control of the city.

Within a few decades, a few hundred European soldies-helped by superior weapons, horses, and especially disease-had conquered millions of Native Americans.

The Spanish had seized huge quantities of valuable goods...including silver and gold which was shipped back to Spain.

With all this wealth Spain became Europe's greatest power in the 1500s and early 1600s.

Tens of thousands of Native Americans died and their empires were all but destroyed. Some Native Americans converted to Christianity thinking their gods were less powerful than the Christian God and some Native Americans continued to fight again the Spanish for decades.

However, with the new world being discovered, for the first time the entire world was connected by sea routes which carried goods, people, and ideas!

A flood of Spanish settlers and missionaries followed the conquistadors to Spain's new empire. Wherever they went they established colonies, claiming the land and its people for their king and Church. When there was resistance, the newcomers imposed their will by force. Over time, however, a new culture emerged that reflected European, Native American, and African traditions.

Your group will be assigned a sentence from the previous paragraph. You will then read Chapter 15, Section 2 and find examples of your sentence in the reading. Your group will then make a PowerPoint Presentation composed of 2 slides with 6-8 bullet points explaining the examples from the reading you used and how it relates to your sentence.

Building New France

As you saw from the last two sections there is a lot of exploration going on at this time and with the discovery of America all the European powers are trying to get control of this new land.

Who do you think will follow the French explorers?

The Jesuits and other missionaries...what do you think they were trying to do?

France wanted to establish a permanent settlement in "New France" (Canada) so they asked French citizens especially the poor to go to this new land and farm.

The English build their first colony in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. In the early years many of these colonists died from starvation and disease but with the help of some friendly Native Americans the colony was able to survive.

In 1620, another group of English settlers landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. They were Pilgrims, or English Protestants who rejected the Church of England and came to America for religious freedom and not commercial profit.

In the 1600s and 1700s, the English established 13 total colonies. Some, like Virginia and New York, were commercial ventures, organized for profit. Others, like Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, were set up as havens for persecuted religious groups.

Settlers in these colonies, early on at least, had to struggle to survive but then eventually adapted to their surroundings and thrived.

One important difference in the English colonies was that the colonists were able to rule themselves instead of being ruled by monarchs in their home country.

By the 1600s all the major European powers were fighting for control of the New World.

The French claimed Canada and most of present day central United States. The Spanish had moved north into present day Florida and Texas. The English and Dutch claimed the colonies on the east coast of the U.S.

The Native Americans tried to play the Europeans against each other to gain more control and hold onto what used to be their land.

During the 1700s Britain and France emerged as powerful rivals. They clashed in Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia.

The British emerged as the winner of this war and became the world's greatest power in the mid 1700s through the 1800s.

Now please open your book to page 485. Look over the map on that page and answer questions #2-3.

Chapter 15: The Beginnings of Our Global Age: Europe and the Americas

Effects of the Spanish Conquistadors

Cortes Conquers Mexico

Conquest in the Americas

Spanish and Portuguese Colonies in the Americas

Struggle for Power

In North America, was between the two powers erupted in 1754, called the French and Indian War it lasted for 7 years!

The 13 English Colonies

In the northern colonies the settlers set up fishing and timber industries. In the middle colonies farmers grew food crops. In the southern colonies farmers grew cash crops like tobacco.

Just as in New Spain, the colonists imported African slaves to clear land and work on their large farms or plantations.

Struggle for North America

France is one of those powers...they claimed almost all of present day Canada as French property in the 1500s.

photo credit Nasa / Goddard Space Flight Center / Reto Stöckli

French explorers and fur traders wanted to explore this new land so they made alliances with some Native American tribes who served as guides.

That's right! Convert the natives who were living in Canada to Christianity. These missionaries had little success converting the Native Americans.

Many who did eventually go to New France quickly gave up farming in favor of fur trapping and trading and fishing. Why do you think these settlers gave up farming in favor of fur trapping?

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