Brands, American Stories 3e Instructor’s Manual
CHAPTER 1
New World Encounters, Preconquest–1608
Learning Objectives
1.1 What explains cultural differences among Native American groups before European
conquest?
1.2 How did Europeans interact with West Africans and Native Americans during the
fifteenth through seventeenth centuries?
1.3 What factors explain Spain’s central role in New World exploration and colonization?
1.4 How did Spanish conquest of Central and South America transform Native American
cultures?
1.5 What was the character of the French empire in Canada?
1.6 Why did England not participate in the early competition for New World colonies?
Chapter Outline
I. Diverse Cultures: Cabeza de Vaca’s Journey Through Native America
II. Native Americans Before the Conquest
A. The Environmental Challenge: Food, Climate, and Culture
Read the Document: Thomas Harriot, The Algonquian Peoples of the Atlantic
Coast (1588)
B. Aztec Dominance
C. Eastern Woodland Cultures
III. Conditions of Conquest
A. West Africa: Ancient and Complex Societies
B. Cultural Negotiations in the Americas
C. Threats to Survival: Columbian Exchange
IV. Europe on the Eve of Conquest
A Spanish Expansion
B. The Strange Career of Christopher Columbus
Watch the Video: How Should We Think of Columbus
V. Spain in the Americas
A. The Conquistadores: Faith and Greed
B. From Plunder to Settlement
Use MyHistoryLab Explorer to answer, How Did Global Exploration Change
the Old and New Worlds?
Read the Document: Jacques Cartier, First Contact with the Indians (1540)
Read the Document: Bartolome de Las Casas, The Devastation of the Indies
(1565)
1
Copyright © 2014, 2012 & 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
, Brands, American Stories 3e Instructor’s Manual
VI. The French Claim Canada
VII. The English Take Up the Challenge
A. Birth of English Protestantism
Read the Document: Henry VII, Letters of Patent Granted to John Cabot
(1496)
B. Religion, War, and Nationalism
VIII. Conclusion: Campaign to Sell America
Chapter Summary
Introduction: Diverse Cultures: Cabeza de Vaca’s Journey Through Native America
The author views some of the first contacts between Europeans and Native Americans in
terms of narratives. Each side brought preconceptions molded by their long histories into
their contacts with other peoples, and each side was molded by contact with the other.
The narrative of the voyages of Christopher Columbus, on the other hand, was told in
terms of adventure. This one-sided story can be nuanced by considering contacts as
creative adaptations to encompass the entire range of experiences on both sides.
1.1 Native Americans Before the Conquest
America was first inhabited some 20,000 years ago when small bands of nomadic
Siberian hunters chased large mammals across the land bridge between Asia and
America. During this long migration, the people who became known as the American
Indians stopped carrying several diseases, such as smallpox and measles, and thus their
children lost the immunities that would have protected them against such diseases.
The Environmental Challenge: Food, Climate, and Culture: During the thousands of
years before the arrival of the Europeans, the continents of North and South America
experienced tremendous geologic and climate changes. As the weather warmed, the great
mammals died off, and the Indians who hunted them turned increasingly to growing
crops, bringing about an Agricultural Revolution.
Aztec Dominance: In Central America, the Aztecs settled in the fertile valley of Mexico
and conquered a large and powerful empire, which they ruled through fear and force.
Eastern Woodland Cultures: Elsewhere, along the Atlantic coast of North America, for
example, Native Americans lived in smaller bands and supplemented agriculture with
hunting and gathering. In some cases, women owned the farming fields, and men the
hunting grounds.
1.2 Conditions of Conquest
The arrival of Europeans profoundly affected Native Americans, who could be said to
have entered a new world.
West Africa: Ancient and Complex Societies: Contrary to ill-informed opinion, sub-
Saharan West Africa was never an isolated part of the world where only simple societies
2
Copyright © 2014, 2012 & 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
, Brands, American Stories 3e Instructor’s Manual
developed. As elsewhere, West Africa had seen the rise and fall of empires, such as
Ghana or Dahomey. West Africa had also been heavily influenced by the coming of
Islam. The arrival of Europeans was just the latest of many foreign influences that helped
shape African culture. The Portuguese came first, pioneering the sea lanes from Europe
to sub-Saharan Africa in the fifteenth century. They found profit in gold and slaves,
supplied willingly by native rulers who sold their prisoners of war. The Atlantic slave
trade began taking about 1,000 persons each year from Africa, but the volume steadily
increased. In the eighteenth century, an estimated 5.5 million were taken away.
Altogether, Africa lost almost 11 million of her children to the Atlantic slave trade.
Before 1831, more Africans than Europeans came to the Americas.
Cultural Negotiations in the Americas: Native Americans were not passive in
their dealings with the Europeans. They eagerly traded for products that made life
easier, but they did not accept the notion that Europeans were in any way culturally
superior, and most efforts by the Europeans to convert or “civilize” the Indians
failed.
Threats to Survival: Columbian Exchange: Wherever Indians and Europeans came
into contact, they exchanged ideas, goods, crops, technologies, and so on. Part of this
“Columbian Exchange” included the transmission of diseases, like smallpox and measles.
As a result, the Indian population declined rapidly. For example, the Arawak population
in Santo Domingo fell from almost 4 million before the arrival of Columbus to just 125 in
1570. An entire way of life disappeared.
1.3 Europe on the Eve of Conquest
The Vikings discovered America before Columbus, but European colonization of the
New World began only after 1492 because only then were the preconditions for
successful overseas settlement attained. These conditions were the rise of nation-states
and the spread of the new technologies and old knowledge.
Spanish Expansion: Spain first vied as a world power after unification in the 1400s. The
united kingdoms took on new life and prosecuted the Reconquista more fiercely than
ever. Militantly Catholic, the Spanish crown pushed the last Muslim state out in 1492,
forcing both Muslims and Jews to flee. The conquistadores took this religious war
overseas. The Canary Islands were the first overseas possessions taken by the Spanish.
The Strange Career of Christopher Columbus: Of Genoese origin, Christopher
Columbus helped Spain to capture its American lands. Columbus went first to the
Portuguese, but they pursued their goal of reaching the East by rounding the southern tip
of Africa. He was more successful in petitioning the Spanish monarchs and was supplied
with a fleet to sail to Cathay in August 1492. Miscalculating the distance required to
reach Asia, Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean. He reached the Bahamas
first, convinced that he had reached the East. In spite of three more voyages to the
Americas, Columbus died in disgrace, ignorant of the fact that he had found a new
continent. Amerigo Vespucci published a fictional account of his travels across the
3
Copyright © 2014, 2012 & 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
, Brands, American Stories 3e Instructor’s Manual
Atlantic and convinced Europeans that new lands had indeed been hit upon. His name
was given to the Americas.
1.4 Spain in the Americas
Immediately after Columbus’s first voyage in 1492, Spain and Portugal quarreled over
the hoped-for spoils from what they thought was Asia. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
divided the new lands along a line running from north to south through the Americas.
The Conquistadores: Faith and Greed: To expand Spain’s territories in the New World,
the Crown commissioned independent adventurers (conquistadores) to subdue new lands.
For God, glory, and gold they came. Within two decades they decimated the major
Caribbean islands, where most of the Indians died from exploitation and disease. The
Spaniards then moved onto the mainland and continued the work of conquest. Hernán
Cortés went to Mexico in search of legendary treasures. He came up against the Aztec
emperor Montezuma. Helped by tributary tribes, firearms, and horses, and seen initially
as a god, Cortés destroyed the Aztec Empire in 1521.
From Plunder to Settlement: The Spanish crown kept her unruly subjects in America
loyal by rewarding the conquistadores with large land grants—encomiendas—that
contained entire villages of Indians. In spite of these grants, the Spanish crown tried to
keep direct control over their American lands. The Catholic Church also became an
integral part of the administrative system, and mitigated some of the damage done by the
conquistadores. By 1650, about half a million Spaniards immigrated to the New World.
Since most were unmarried males, they married Indian or African women and produced a
mixed-blood population. Spain’s empire proved to be a mixed blessing. The great influx
of gold and silver made Spain rich and powerful, but set off a massive inflation and the
Spanish crown became dependent on bullion imports.
1.5 The French Claim Canada
French kings sent several expeditions to America. Jacques Cartier arrived in the
Americas in 1534, and explored the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The region was settled by
Frenchman Samuel de Champlain, who founded Quebec in 1608. The French settlers saw
cooperation with Native Americans as the best way to succeed. French coureurs de bois
traveled deep into Canada searching for furs. This led Jacques Marquette and Sieur de la
Salle down the Mississippi, ultimately reaching the Gulf of Mexico. French Catholics had
fair success in converting Native Americans. The French empire, however, was largely
ignored by the French crown. The limited trading was easily controlled in Quebec,
hindering economic growth.
1.6 The English Take Up the Challenge
When the Italian John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto), sailing for the English, crossed the
Atlantic in 1497, England won a claim to the Americas. However, this claim was not
pursued until the late sixteenth century. The English crown, though growing in strength
under Henry VII and his successors, was not in a position to undertake overseas ventures.
An alliance between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon in 1509 made English forays
into what was perceived as the Spanish New World difficult.
4
Copyright © 2014, 2012 & 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
CHAPTER 1
New World Encounters, Preconquest–1608
Learning Objectives
1.1 What explains cultural differences among Native American groups before European
conquest?
1.2 How did Europeans interact with West Africans and Native Americans during the
fifteenth through seventeenth centuries?
1.3 What factors explain Spain’s central role in New World exploration and colonization?
1.4 How did Spanish conquest of Central and South America transform Native American
cultures?
1.5 What was the character of the French empire in Canada?
1.6 Why did England not participate in the early competition for New World colonies?
Chapter Outline
I. Diverse Cultures: Cabeza de Vaca’s Journey Through Native America
II. Native Americans Before the Conquest
A. The Environmental Challenge: Food, Climate, and Culture
Read the Document: Thomas Harriot, The Algonquian Peoples of the Atlantic
Coast (1588)
B. Aztec Dominance
C. Eastern Woodland Cultures
III. Conditions of Conquest
A. West Africa: Ancient and Complex Societies
B. Cultural Negotiations in the Americas
C. Threats to Survival: Columbian Exchange
IV. Europe on the Eve of Conquest
A Spanish Expansion
B. The Strange Career of Christopher Columbus
Watch the Video: How Should We Think of Columbus
V. Spain in the Americas
A. The Conquistadores: Faith and Greed
B. From Plunder to Settlement
Use MyHistoryLab Explorer to answer, How Did Global Exploration Change
the Old and New Worlds?
Read the Document: Jacques Cartier, First Contact with the Indians (1540)
Read the Document: Bartolome de Las Casas, The Devastation of the Indies
(1565)
1
Copyright © 2014, 2012 & 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
, Brands, American Stories 3e Instructor’s Manual
VI. The French Claim Canada
VII. The English Take Up the Challenge
A. Birth of English Protestantism
Read the Document: Henry VII, Letters of Patent Granted to John Cabot
(1496)
B. Religion, War, and Nationalism
VIII. Conclusion: Campaign to Sell America
Chapter Summary
Introduction: Diverse Cultures: Cabeza de Vaca’s Journey Through Native America
The author views some of the first contacts between Europeans and Native Americans in
terms of narratives. Each side brought preconceptions molded by their long histories into
their contacts with other peoples, and each side was molded by contact with the other.
The narrative of the voyages of Christopher Columbus, on the other hand, was told in
terms of adventure. This one-sided story can be nuanced by considering contacts as
creative adaptations to encompass the entire range of experiences on both sides.
1.1 Native Americans Before the Conquest
America was first inhabited some 20,000 years ago when small bands of nomadic
Siberian hunters chased large mammals across the land bridge between Asia and
America. During this long migration, the people who became known as the American
Indians stopped carrying several diseases, such as smallpox and measles, and thus their
children lost the immunities that would have protected them against such diseases.
The Environmental Challenge: Food, Climate, and Culture: During the thousands of
years before the arrival of the Europeans, the continents of North and South America
experienced tremendous geologic and climate changes. As the weather warmed, the great
mammals died off, and the Indians who hunted them turned increasingly to growing
crops, bringing about an Agricultural Revolution.
Aztec Dominance: In Central America, the Aztecs settled in the fertile valley of Mexico
and conquered a large and powerful empire, which they ruled through fear and force.
Eastern Woodland Cultures: Elsewhere, along the Atlantic coast of North America, for
example, Native Americans lived in smaller bands and supplemented agriculture with
hunting and gathering. In some cases, women owned the farming fields, and men the
hunting grounds.
1.2 Conditions of Conquest
The arrival of Europeans profoundly affected Native Americans, who could be said to
have entered a new world.
West Africa: Ancient and Complex Societies: Contrary to ill-informed opinion, sub-
Saharan West Africa was never an isolated part of the world where only simple societies
2
Copyright © 2014, 2012 & 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
, Brands, American Stories 3e Instructor’s Manual
developed. As elsewhere, West Africa had seen the rise and fall of empires, such as
Ghana or Dahomey. West Africa had also been heavily influenced by the coming of
Islam. The arrival of Europeans was just the latest of many foreign influences that helped
shape African culture. The Portuguese came first, pioneering the sea lanes from Europe
to sub-Saharan Africa in the fifteenth century. They found profit in gold and slaves,
supplied willingly by native rulers who sold their prisoners of war. The Atlantic slave
trade began taking about 1,000 persons each year from Africa, but the volume steadily
increased. In the eighteenth century, an estimated 5.5 million were taken away.
Altogether, Africa lost almost 11 million of her children to the Atlantic slave trade.
Before 1831, more Africans than Europeans came to the Americas.
Cultural Negotiations in the Americas: Native Americans were not passive in
their dealings with the Europeans. They eagerly traded for products that made life
easier, but they did not accept the notion that Europeans were in any way culturally
superior, and most efforts by the Europeans to convert or “civilize” the Indians
failed.
Threats to Survival: Columbian Exchange: Wherever Indians and Europeans came
into contact, they exchanged ideas, goods, crops, technologies, and so on. Part of this
“Columbian Exchange” included the transmission of diseases, like smallpox and measles.
As a result, the Indian population declined rapidly. For example, the Arawak population
in Santo Domingo fell from almost 4 million before the arrival of Columbus to just 125 in
1570. An entire way of life disappeared.
1.3 Europe on the Eve of Conquest
The Vikings discovered America before Columbus, but European colonization of the
New World began only after 1492 because only then were the preconditions for
successful overseas settlement attained. These conditions were the rise of nation-states
and the spread of the new technologies and old knowledge.
Spanish Expansion: Spain first vied as a world power after unification in the 1400s. The
united kingdoms took on new life and prosecuted the Reconquista more fiercely than
ever. Militantly Catholic, the Spanish crown pushed the last Muslim state out in 1492,
forcing both Muslims and Jews to flee. The conquistadores took this religious war
overseas. The Canary Islands were the first overseas possessions taken by the Spanish.
The Strange Career of Christopher Columbus: Of Genoese origin, Christopher
Columbus helped Spain to capture its American lands. Columbus went first to the
Portuguese, but they pursued their goal of reaching the East by rounding the southern tip
of Africa. He was more successful in petitioning the Spanish monarchs and was supplied
with a fleet to sail to Cathay in August 1492. Miscalculating the distance required to
reach Asia, Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean. He reached the Bahamas
first, convinced that he had reached the East. In spite of three more voyages to the
Americas, Columbus died in disgrace, ignorant of the fact that he had found a new
continent. Amerigo Vespucci published a fictional account of his travels across the
3
Copyright © 2014, 2012 & 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
, Brands, American Stories 3e Instructor’s Manual
Atlantic and convinced Europeans that new lands had indeed been hit upon. His name
was given to the Americas.
1.4 Spain in the Americas
Immediately after Columbus’s first voyage in 1492, Spain and Portugal quarreled over
the hoped-for spoils from what they thought was Asia. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
divided the new lands along a line running from north to south through the Americas.
The Conquistadores: Faith and Greed: To expand Spain’s territories in the New World,
the Crown commissioned independent adventurers (conquistadores) to subdue new lands.
For God, glory, and gold they came. Within two decades they decimated the major
Caribbean islands, where most of the Indians died from exploitation and disease. The
Spaniards then moved onto the mainland and continued the work of conquest. Hernán
Cortés went to Mexico in search of legendary treasures. He came up against the Aztec
emperor Montezuma. Helped by tributary tribes, firearms, and horses, and seen initially
as a god, Cortés destroyed the Aztec Empire in 1521.
From Plunder to Settlement: The Spanish crown kept her unruly subjects in America
loyal by rewarding the conquistadores with large land grants—encomiendas—that
contained entire villages of Indians. In spite of these grants, the Spanish crown tried to
keep direct control over their American lands. The Catholic Church also became an
integral part of the administrative system, and mitigated some of the damage done by the
conquistadores. By 1650, about half a million Spaniards immigrated to the New World.
Since most were unmarried males, they married Indian or African women and produced a
mixed-blood population. Spain’s empire proved to be a mixed blessing. The great influx
of gold and silver made Spain rich and powerful, but set off a massive inflation and the
Spanish crown became dependent on bullion imports.
1.5 The French Claim Canada
French kings sent several expeditions to America. Jacques Cartier arrived in the
Americas in 1534, and explored the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The region was settled by
Frenchman Samuel de Champlain, who founded Quebec in 1608. The French settlers saw
cooperation with Native Americans as the best way to succeed. French coureurs de bois
traveled deep into Canada searching for furs. This led Jacques Marquette and Sieur de la
Salle down the Mississippi, ultimately reaching the Gulf of Mexico. French Catholics had
fair success in converting Native Americans. The French empire, however, was largely
ignored by the French crown. The limited trading was easily controlled in Quebec,
hindering economic growth.
1.6 The English Take Up the Challenge
When the Italian John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto), sailing for the English, crossed the
Atlantic in 1497, England won a claim to the Americas. However, this claim was not
pursued until the late sixteenth century. The English crown, though growing in strength
under Henry VII and his successors, was not in a position to undertake overseas ventures.
An alliance between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon in 1509 made English forays
into what was perceived as the Spanish New World difficult.
4
Copyright © 2014, 2012 & 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
