Paste your esTenochtitlan-This city is the ancient capital of the Aztec empire and is located in Mexico City. It was founded in 1325 and built on the island that was on Lake Texcoco at the time. Then around 1521 the capital was seized by spanish conquistadors. In the 1500’s the capital was conquered and destroyed by spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes.Today mexico city lays on the remains of the ancient capital Tenochtitlan. In the aztec empires they found a lot of riches and the and so they moved and conquered parts of the americas in search of more gold in silver.
Aztecs-Arose in mesoamerica around the the 1300’s in northern mexico. There capital was tenochtitlan and the tribe became dominant in many realms such as political, social and religious. As the tribe continued to rise they were later conquered by hernan cortes who is a spanish conquistador and their empire was crushed by the spanish in there hope of spanish colonization of america. The war between the aztecs and conquistadors was long stretched out but when the spanish came back in 1521 the aztecs were sick with disease and famine and they were very easily beat.
Great League of Peace- The great league of peace was created by five iroquois peoples from tribes such as mohawk, Oneida, cayuga, seneca,and onondaga. THe league of peace was created due to the conflicts between the hundreds of tribes that inhabited land that stretched from the gulf of mexico to canada. The tribes would get into wars with each other to steal crops, get revenge for the murder of their relatives and etc. later a diplomac was created to make peace and the first league emerged in the choctaw, cherokee and chickasaw tribes and the united towns and formed alliances.Then later when the europeans arrived the tribes had different political systems and religious beliefs.
Reconquista- The reconquista was completed by the newly married King ferdinand and queen isabella of spain in 1492. Reconquista is the reconquest of spain from the people who had settled in the iberian peninsulas. The issue of the different religions arose and the people who lived there for centuries like muslims and jews were forced to convert tocatholicalism or they had to leave the country completely. They did this to ensure the religious unification.
Conquistadores- The conquistadores arose in spain because they took lead in exploration and conquering. Spain's main goal was to acquire land and wealth and also spread their religious beliefs. When these men would go on explorations a missionary would come with them to ensure the spread of their religion. The first conquistador to come in contact with an american civilization was hernan cortes and he took over the aztec empire and took their land and wealth. He relied on gunpowder and guns to take over this civilization with only 100 other men against the entire aztec empire. Then later Francisco pizarro conquered the inca empire located in peru. He captured the king and held him for ransom and when it was payed he still killed the king. He continued to mine the land of the incas and came upon huge amounts of gold and silver snd cargoes were sent home full of riches.
Columbian Exchange- The columbian exchange is also known as the transatlantic trading of goods. This affected the evolution of many species because they were not formally introduced to species before because of the oceans separating them. Animals and plants such as crops were affected by this transatlantic trading. They were forced together all of a sudden and suffered severe change in evolution. Also due to separation of diseases when people from Europe went to the americas to conquer them they also introduced the natives to disease they have never been exposed to. This caused epidemics and famine to the natives because they had never been exposed to those types of germs before. The natives also suffered major population fall due to wars and enslavement also. For example the population in mexico fell 90 percent and the native americans population continued to fall.
Creoles – Creoles are people who were born in the colonies of the european ancestry. They were a mix of european and a black background due to the conquests and explorations to africa and islands such as the caribbean. They originated from the colonial era. The creoles came to be because there weren't many european women available to marry so the colonist would end up marrying the indians. In the end this made a more diverse culture due to the intermixing. The creoles were restricted from being in high office in the church even though they were labeled as equal to the pure spaniard.
Hacienda – Haciendas are like large-scale farms that gave the empire a lot of its own wealth. Indians mainly worked on these farms and grew wheat, sugar, other crops and raised livestock. THese farms were controlled by spanish landlords. Unlike many other places the indians did most of the work on these farms. The indians were the only ones who worked on these huge farms and due to this there was no need of large scale trading of african slaves. The conditions they worked under were brutal and hey were forced to work and it seemed like they no longer had any freedom.
Mestizos- They were the offspring usually of part spanish and part american indian. They came to be due to the spanish colonizations in spanish america. The population of spanish woman were low ad the spanish crown ordered single men to marry. With this in place spanish men would often marry indian woman and the spanish government approved of these married around 1514. When spanish married the indians the government also saw it as a way of influencing the religion of christianity into the population. By the 1600s mestizos made up a very large portion of the population in spanish america. The offspring of the spanish and indians relocated to the valley of mexico. The valley of mexico was no longer populated by any due to the disease outbreak caused by the spanish colonization. Later the mestizos were considered a “hybrid culture” and they had a single religion, language and government.
Ninety-Five Theses- THis was a document created by Martin Luther in 1517. His purpose of writing this was to try to create reform in catholic churches. He also accused the catholic church of “worldliness and corruption” when he says corruption he means that he believes the church is telling everyone what they should believe. The ninety five theses was the main reason why the protestant reformation started due to all the things he listed in it. It made some people follow him and demand change. He thinks that everyone should read and interpret the bible by themselves rather than the churches priest do it for them. When he called for a reform a new church arose called the protestant churches, that became completely independent. The protestants reformation of the church led to a split in catholic churches. Martin luther accused the church of this when the pope required that spain and portugal had to spread their idea of catholicism to the native people in their colonization. Protestant churches changed the ways of how the original catholic churches did things.
Bartolome de Las Casas- This was a written account about how the indians were being severely mistreated by the spaniards. It was written by Las Casas and he wrote in 15 years after Pope Paul the third outlawed enslavement of the indians. Las casas actually freed indian slaves after he started going on the voyages of columbus. After this he started to write and complain about the spanish injustices against the indians. In the document he accused the spanairs of causing many deaths of the innocent indian people and it amounted in millions of them. He went into further detail about how the spanish burned innocent men women and children alive and forced others into unbearable labor. He wrote that the indians were “totally deprived of their freedom”.He was not opposed to the spanish colonizing but he thought that the indians should still be able to enjoy life and keep their freedom. In the two documents written about the indians freedom they were stated as being part of the human race and should not be deprived of their freedom, but the africans were never included in these standards. Las casas actually proposed the idea of importing slaves from africa to ensure the indians of their freedom.
Black Legend- The black legend was the image of spain that represented them as brutal and expoilating nation. The legend came to be due to the fact that in the first place the spaniards enslaved the native people of their colonization. Even when the slavery of the indians was prohibited the spaniards still required them to reach a certain amount of labor. The indians were given education, medical help and european trade goods. They were also played for the labor they did, but the labor still stayed very brutal. The spaniards did give them their freedom and gave them wages for their labor. The black legend gave other european powers the right to challenge the spanish in the new world.
The Pueblo Revolt- the pueblo revolt was the uniting of many enemy tribes against the spaniards. There main goal was destroy the colonization of the spanish and establish their own places of worship. It all started because the indians felt forced into a religion and disliked the spanish. The Pope of the indians organized the uprising to revolt against the spanish. The spanish never thought that the enemies would never unite and revolt against the spanish because they had remained divided for sometime. They were proven wrong in august of 1680. The indians destroyed isolated farms and missions and killed 400 colonists. The uprooted fruit trees, killed cattle and burned down churches. It was thought that the revolt started due to the oppressions that the indians faced from the spanish. After they defeated the colonist they rebuilt there place of worship and continued their own original ways. Then later in the years the enemy tribes got in a war and raids were conducted. Then again the spanish launched an attack on the indians and took over new mexico again .
Indentured Servants- These are people who are brought over from europe and want to live on the colonies but don't have enough money to pay for it. So they sign a contract that commits them to a certain amount of labors or years as their payment for being brought to the new world. Life was very hard and brutal as an indentured servant no one saw a problem in it because it wasn't slavery. THey were a very vital piece of help to the new world with all of the hard labor that they did and how long they did it for. In the end of their contracts most of then ended up just going back home so it wasn't worth it for them. It was mainly men that were brought over and a very little amount of women. The servants had to work anywhere from 4-7 years before becoming free. They benefited the new world majorly because it was a source of very cheap labor that was also super effective in helping the new world. These people came to the new world because europe's economy was weak and there were a lot of people without any jobs, so they saw this opportunity as a life changing thing and a cheap way to start a new and amazing life.
Metis – These people are a mix between the american indians and europe american people. There parents could have been an indian women and a french trader. These descendants often became guides, traders and interpreters because they grew up with two different cultures and knew each one very well, so they were able to communicate with the indians and the settlers. They were recommended to learn to speak french and adopt the ways of the settlers and also convert to catholicism. This sort of introduction in intermixing also came up in the spanish empire. Then the same thing happened to new france and there was a lot of culture sharing and mixing between the natives and colonists. This directly led to the metis people because of the interaction between the different people and french men didn't have very many options of french women in the new world so they ended up marrying indian woman.
Borderlands- A borderline is where two different colonies, countries, or people border each other, but the exact border is very loosely defined. THese places exist everywhere because at the edge of the empires the power of it was very unstable. The natives and colonist moved around often and constantly pushed the boarded and overlapped each others land. This also caused the interaction of natives and colonists so new cultures arose in the borderlands. This also caused the natives power to be weakened due to europeans power and authority. The different countries like the spanish french and dutch fought over land and disputed to keep dominance in the various parts of the new world. When the bigger countries fought the indians were left out of it and often benefited because of the countries unstability the indians had the power. The different cultures did continue trading but everyone always struggled in keeping power in their established land.
Essential Questions
Adam Smith said that the discovery of america was one of the most important events ever recorded because of how it changed millions of people's lives. New crops were traded across the seas and people were introduced to think that they had never seen before. This led to many changes in diet and cuisines all over the world. It also had an effect on the environment and ended up changing it. Then when africa was later discovered slaves were introduced to the new world and did hard labor for the colonist. The discovery led to glory but ended not so well for other people including the slaves and the indians. The people who lived in europe during the time were out of jobs and living a miserable life. They saw america as a light and turning point in their life. Millions of europeans moved to america to restart an amazing life in the “New World”. THe misfortune included the indians when there freedom was taken away from them and they worked under brutal conditions as slaves, just like the african slaves taken from their homeland to work in horrible conditions against their will.
It created a global economy in which the bigger countries relied on their colonies for goods and wealth. It gave the europeans free labor with slaves such as the africans and the indians. These groups of people did all the labor for the europeans and planted and harvested crops that were either traded with other countries or sent back to their own county. That Caused Europe to become even wealthier and stronger so they were more capable of expanding their borders which would give them more power. The new and old world would trade plants, animals, crops and etc. Also it affected the indians in a bad way when they were not immune to the germs and disease brought over by the colonist and it caused a huge epidemic in the natives. The europeans were also able to push there harsh religious beliefs on to the people of their colonies.
One of the most striking things about the indians was hat each group had their own religious beliefs and political ideas. Also there were so many different languages all across america, mostly each tribe had there own but it was possible for more. The tribes most importantly never saw themselves as one group of people they always saw themselves as very different people with very different ideals. The tribes were very different in fact because they had their own political and social structure as well as different cultures. They Also had a well established empires with pyramids, roads, irrigation and contained cities. Another feature was there art, dancing and their religious practices that they participated in.
The indians and european lives were different in very many drastic way. Overall i say that The main point for europeans goals is to gain power and wealth. With indians I find it to be a much deeper concept. I think that the europeans religion is important to them but they are told straightforward what to believe and their main goal is to spread their religion because it was what they were told and they think it's the best one. I think that the indians way of approaching religion is more what each individual interest , they aren't told what to think and they don't feel the need to spread it to everyone. With ownership of land the europeans see it as if they have more land they have more power and they want the most power they can obtain. With the indians I think they are very territorial of their land and they find it very important to them, but they don't take as much as land as they can get. European women were seen more as helpless and as people who stayed inside and tende the house and children, the indian women were more independent and powerful adnan trusted to do the same work as men and also raise the children.
There were many factors fueling the european age of exploration and a point to it all. They saw the unconquered land as free land for them to take and that the more land they have the more power they can obtain. Also with more land they can find new resources and trade it or keep it for themselves, this also meant wealth for the europeans. Another motivation was to find a better life because europe's economy was falling at the time and many people were out of work. So there was a search for a better life and for all the hardships to go away. They also had a goal of finding a route to india to exploit the riches. So an overall idea is that their main goal was to obtain wealth, power, land and happiness. Also new resources or trading was a main reason for expansion.
Spain had a colonial government that was led by lawyers and the bureaucrats. There Was an upper class that got a vote on political views and the laws. Then they also had a lower class that were forced to be laborers and had no say in politics. Portugal was more focused on trading and economics. They also created factories and plantations were natives used to work and then they were replaced by the african slaves that were imported. The french focus was on colonization of the new world. They were dependent on the indians in the trading area to obtain new goods that were not familiar to them. They were also much nicer to the natives and gave them much more freedom than the spaniards.
The french were more focused on finding gold and also a passage to the pacific ocean. They were also very interested in fur trading with the indians. The dutch were also looking for a passageway to india and were interested in trading fur with the indians. The did not come to conquer they went to trade. They also believed in freedom of religion. Spain was more dependent on indians as trading partners and also wanted to spread their religion to the indians. They also wanted new resources and new land to conquer. They wanted to build a bigger empire and have the spanish culture the most superior and respectable one.
They would explain it by using the saying of “its the white man's burden” to free the natives of their savage ways. They explained themselves by basically saying they were better and the needed to teach the natives to live like them. They would also say that there way of harvesting crops was more efficient and say that there way of doing it was easier and better so it made sense that they were controlling the land. They used their education and religious beliefs and knowledge to explain to them that they were better and more superior and that they were there to help. They also used God by saying that they they follow god through christianity. They basically said that they were freeing the natives even though they were already free but now the europeans settlers would make them slaves.
say in here…