Discovery and Settlement of America

1. Discovery and Settlement of America Interactions of European, African, and American Cultures

2. Europe from 1100-1300s • What were the Crusades? • What changes did they bring to Europe? • Where would you find Arabs? What did they have to do with the Europeans during this time period? • How was Africa a part of this time period?

3. A sweet life, but not for everyone The Islands off the coast of Africa (Madeira, Canary, & Azores) were found to be perfect for sugar cane. Growing sugar cane was hard work, and not meant for gentlemen. They would have to find others to do their work. Muslims had been using Africans as slaves to dig for gold and salt. Slavery was common in West Africa. Humans were used as items of trade, along with gold, salt, and ivory. The slave trade was an important part of West Africa’s economy. African slavery was brutal, however, African slavery differed from the system that would eventually develop in the Americas. Most became slaves through war. If they were captured, they would be made slaves or traded. In Africa, slaves were usually adopted by the families into which they were sold. They could marry and their children did not inherit the status of slaves.

4. Portuguese explorers established a profitable trade with the people of West Africa. They exported a variety of goods, including peppers, ivory, copper, and African slaves. In this way, Europeans in the mid-1400s first became involved in the slave trade of Africa. The Portuguese did not invent the slave trade, but they did greatly expand it. By 1500, Europeans purchased about 1,800 African slaves a year. This nearly doubled the previous trade of 1,000 slaves between Arab traders and the West African rulers. Some slaves were shipped to Europe. Most worked on sugar plantations. Growing numbers went across the Atlantic to new plantations in the Americas. Thus began the brutal exploitation of West Africans enslaved by Europeans – a fate that would befall millions more African men and women in the centuries ahead.

5. Europeans(slavery) • Traders took enslaved Africans from their homes and sent them across the Atlantic. • Torn from their own cultures, they had to learn a completely new way of life amid often horrifying conditions.

6. Europe , Asia, and Africa: Interactions The Church ruled Europe and used her influence to get the kings to fight a “holy war” known as the Crusades. Europeans had made it through the “Dark Ages” but they needed to expand. Because of the Crusades, the people of Europe discovered spices. They used spices to flavor and preserve their foods. They also discovered silk for clothing. The cost of spices and silks was so high, only the rich could afford them. The Muslims charged too high a price to allow trade overland, so they had to find a way around. The Renaissance brought about new inventions and new thoughts. If the world was round, they could sail around the world using the compass and astrolabe. Columbus decided he would try. He was Italian, but he asked Spain to finance him.

7. Europe in 1400s • What was happening in Europe in the 1400s? • What major devastation had occurred and what did it leave in it’s wake? • The time period prior to the 1300s was commonly referred to as the Middle Ages, why? • The time period of the 1400s into the 1600s was referred to as what? Why?

8. Renaissance • An intellectual revolution known as the Renaissance began around 1350 and lasted until around 1600 • The Renaissance marked a renewed commitment to learning and started a scientific revolution. • Three inventions: the astrolabe (which uses the sun to determine direction, latitude, and local time), the compass (invented in China), and lateen sails (triangle-shaped sails which made it possible to sail against the wind) helped to spark westward exploration.

9. Push/Pull Factors • Why would people of the 15th century leave their homes and families in Europe and Africa? • What would motivate you to leave your home and families to go to another state or country? • Would you go to a distant land and work for someone else for no pay and only room and board for 7 years?

10. Europe Encounters America • The first Europeans to arrive in the Americas were the Vikings. They explored Labrador and Newfoundland in 1001. • By the 1400s most educated Europeans knew the world was round. • In 1492 Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailing for Spain, reached the Caribbean and landed on Watling Island. He found Cuba and also Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) • America named after Amerigo Vespucci in 1507.

11. Three Worlds Meet Old World Meets New World

12. Native Americans Native Americans came to America during the last Ice Age They crossed a land bridge that formed between Russia and Alaska They were hunter/gatherers and followed big game animals south until they reached the southern tip of South America They lived in close relationship to the land.

13. They were hunter/gatherers and followed big game animals They lived in close relationship to the land They did not believe in private ownership of the land. They believed in communal sharing. The men hunted and the women worked the hides into needed materials, worked in the gardens, and cared for the children There were many different tribes and languages. They fought and traded between each other.