There is little known about the first inhabitants of North & South America, but most historians agree that they migrated from northeast Asia 25,000 years ago and most settled within a few hundred miles of the equator. Only four to seven million of these people inhabited the land that would eventually become the United States. Each group was different, some establishing villages centered around farming, fishing, and/or hunting, while others chose to be nomadic, following herds and seasons. Like all ancient civilizations, their lives were dependent on the land they inhabited and influenced much of their culture. 

As time passed, more complex societies emerged. People domesticated animals, developed tools, and established crop systems through improved farming techniques which allowed them to overcome environmental obstacles. Most cultivated essential crops, like beans, tomatoes, squash, potatoes, and most importantly maize (corn). Improved strains of corn were vital to the survival of many of these groups, feeding the people and the animals they depended on, allowing for future population growth and stability.

Unlike the massive civilizations seen in Central and South America, the Native American tribes of North America were much smaller and spread out. They also did not have the same longevity of those civilizations, until the cultivation of maize (corn) spread north, which provided increased nutritional value. 

Much like their southern counterparts, their settlements centered around sources of water, depended on agriculture to survive, and found ways to overcome the obstacles of their environment. They developed complex societies with a wide variety of languages, cultural traditions, and religious practices. They were also grossly unprepared for the arrival of Europeans, many falling to disease. 

Hohokam

• Arizona & New Mexico

• extensive irrigation systems

Pueblo

• Colorado & Utah

• built urban centers with houses of adobe brick, retreated to cliff dwellings later to protect themselves from invaders

Mandan

• North & South Dakota

• relied on river flooding to provide fertile soil for farming

• plains and forests provided diverse animals to hunt

Chumash

• California

• harvested resources from land and sea

• heavily populated, relied on trade

Chinook

• Oregon & Washington

• built extensive plank houses which multiple families resided in

Ute

• Colorado & Utah

• nomadic hunter-gatherers

• lived in small family bands

Iroquois

• Parts of Canada, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, & Virginia

• built large long houses from forests which multiple families resided in

• depended on hunting, fishing,& farming

• matrilineal society in which women chose leaders

Hopewell

• Illinois & Ohio 

• fertile land for farming & extensive trading networks provided by the Mississippi River

• later cultivated corn which allowed for immense population increase

• sculpted earthworks and constructed temple mounds for various deities

After suffering through decades of war and plague, Europe wanted to celebrate life and the human spirit. This brought forth a resurgence of philosophical questioning that had not been seen since the time of the Greeks. With this also came a revival of classical literature, art forms, and other elements of culture. Starting in Italy, the Renaissance (meaning “rebirth”) was a movement dedicated to life, creativity, art, and education. Furthermore, rising population growth and an increased demand for trade urged the nations of Europe to expand their horizons. 

In an effort to explore the world and find new ways to gain access to valuable goods from Asia, the leaders of Spain and Portugal financed adventures to discover better trade routes. Travel by land was expensive and often perilous, as the lands between Europe and Asia were largely controlled by Italian and Muslim rivals. First orchestrated by missionaries who brought back knowledge and goods while hoping to spread Christianity, these expeditions continued to bring Europeans farther from their own shores and closer to the unknown.

Although the Catholic Church dominated Northern and Western Europe since the 10th century, it did not have universal approval and many questioned some of its practices. The emergence of the Renaissance only increased criticism of the Church, specifically the role of religious leaders in politics and their massive wealth despite vows to abandon worldly possessions. 

Criticism of the Church grew into rebellion, spurred by one man - Martin Luther. A German monk, Luther had no plans for leading a movement and starting a new branch of Christianity, he merely wanted the Church to address its problems. As more of his ideas became practice, Luther and his followers became a separate religious group, known as Lutherans. Other influential individuals took Luther's lead and challenged the ideas of the Catholic Church, creating a variety of Protestant religions, like Calvinism, Anglicanism (Church of England), then eventually, Quakers, Puritans, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and many more!

As the kings of Europe struggled for control, they ordered their citizens to follow the religion of their choice, rather than allowing for religious tolerance. This pushed many persecuted groups to flee Europe for the new world where they could practice their faith in peace.

The Renaissance unleashed a spirit of curiosity and the Reformation prompted people to question the accepted ways of thinking about God and the universe. 

In the mid-1500s, a few scholars published works that challenged the ideas of ancient thinkers and the Church. As these scholars replaced old assumptions with new ideas and theories, they launched a change in European thought known as the Scientific Revolution. This new way of thinking about the natural world was based on careful observation and study, as well as, a willingness to question accepted beliefs. 

This fervor for science lead to the creation of innovative technology that allowed for exploration. Tools such as the sextant, caravel, and compass, as well as, new models of the earth inspired people to venture beyond their shores into the unknown. 

In the wake of the Scientific Revolution, the Renaissance, and adventures to the new world, a new intellectual movement emerged that stressed reason, thought, and the power of individuals to solve problems - it was known as the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers sought new insight into the underlying beliefs regarding government, religion, economics, and education. 

The Enlightenment started from key ideas put forth by two English political thinkers of the 160ss - Thomas Hobbes & John Locke.

• Thomas Hobbes believed in social contract theory, which states that people make an agreement with their ruler to lose some of their rights in exchange for the ruler maintaining law and order in their land. Because people acted in self-interest, a ruler needed total control. 

• John Locke had a more positive view of human nature, and believed that all people are born free and equal, with three essential rights - life, liberty, and property. It is the role of government to protect these rights, and failure to do so justifies rebellion. 

Enlightenment thinkers believed that reason could be applied to all aspects of life, and sought to do just that.

• The Baron de Montesquieu devoted himself to the study of political liberty, and believed the best government had a separation of powers that kept anyone one man or group from having complete political control. 

• Laws should exist to promote and preserve social order, not to avenge crimes. (Cesare Bonesana Beccaria)

• The perfect government was one formed and controlled by the will of the people. (Jean Jacques Rousseau)

Hoping to find new ways to access Asian goods, the monarchs of Spain and Portugal initiated efforts to explore the world, aided by missionaries, explorers, and merchants. → “For God, Glory, & Gold!”

When the so-called “new world” was discovered, every nation of Europe wanted a piece. As Spanish and Portugal were the first to arrive, they disputed over claims to the territory.  (Technically, the first Europeans to reach the North American continent were Norsemen led by Leif Erikson, but their settlements disappeared. ) To help minimize the conflict, the Pope drew an imaginary line of demarcation decreeing that the land to the west belonged to Spain and the land to the east belonged to Portugal. The line was later shifted to give more land to Portugal. This agreement, though still unfair, is known as the Treaty of Tordesillas. 

Many Spanish conquistadors (conquerors) arrived in lands occupied by Native Americans, but their presence didn’t stop their quest for land and resources. On his final voyage, Columbus introduced a system of encomienda (leading men received land and unpaid labor from the natives they conquered). Later Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain issued a requerimiento which established rules for how to interact with the native people, which were often adopted by other European nations. 

In the mid-1500s, the Pope outlawed the enslavement of Native Americans. This decree, as well as, the fact most natives were wiped out from disease, forced the Spanish to engage in the African slave trade, creating the asiento system, in which colonists paid the Spanish king a tax for each enslaved person they brought to the Americas. After areas were conquered, they were settled. Settlers were known as “peninsulares”, and most of them were men, so many developed “relationships” with Native American women or their slaves, creating a new classes of settlers of mixed race. This led to a new social hierarchy - the Spanish caste system.

Spain’s colonies in the New World made them one of the richest, most powerful nations in the world during much of the 16th century. 

• Built a powerful navy to protect treasure-filled ships

• Expanded their power in North America by claiming Florida  and the Southwestern areas of what is now the US (CA, TX, NM, & AZ)

• Built forts, missions, and ranches in colonies

• Converted those they conquered to Christianity (Catholicism) → made up for the loss of followers from the Reformation

Until the Spanish Armada was defeated by the English navy in 1588, they were the dominant power in the Americas & Europe. 

After the success of Spanish conquest, other nations sought wealth in the New World and established colonies:

• England had claims to territory in the Americas around the same time as Columbus, but due to internal conflicts (namely Henry VIII’s creation of the Church of England and all that followed) and lack of funding, they failed to settle the area until a few decades later. The area they claimed was along the Atlantic coast, forming 13 colonies.

• France began exploring the continent in hopes of finding a northwest passage to Asia. Like England, they were slow to settle their claims, also due to religious conflicts (Catholics vs. Huguenots). They established colonies in middle North America along the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico, as well as, Canada and the Caribbean. Like the Spanish, they were largely single men, so they came as missionaries or for wealth, and many married native women.

• Dutch, also in search of the northwest passage, settled in eastern Canada, the Caribbean, and modern-day New York to establish strong trade networks and key ports along the Atlantic coast.

While those who organized and profited from the Columbian Exchange (the global exchange of goods, ideas, plants/animals, and disease that began with Columbus’ journey to the Americas) only saw the goods, much more than food and raw materials were exchanged along this trading network:

• Languages

• Religions

• Philosophies

• Diseases

• Farming Practices

• Ideas/Innovations

• People

The debate over the role for Native Americans in the Spanish colonies came to a head in a formal debate in Valladolid, Spain. Bartolome de Las Casas argued for the better treatment of natives and the end of Indian slavery. Juan Gines de Sepulveda, however, argued that the natives were less than human and benefitted by serving the Spanish. Laws were later passed ending enslavement of the natives.

The English settled in areas with smaller native populations, so they cooperated with them instead of fighting with or enslaving them. They also came as families, so there was less of a blending of the populations. The natives taught them how to survive in the new climate, while the English provided them with manufactured goods.

The French saw the natives as potential economic and military allies, so they worked together to establish settlements along the rivers for the fur trade. 

African slaves had been traded since the 9th century, but their demand was minimal until the colonization of the Americas. Colonists couldn’t keep up with European demand for new goods and raw materials on their own, and they needed a cheap source of labor. Once the enslavement of Native Americans was outlawed and the contracts of indentured servants ended, there was only one option - African slaves. 

Before the slave trade ended in the 1800s, over ten million African slaves were brought to the Americas, 10-15% of which died on the crossing of the Middle Passage. Although treated and thought of as inferior, Africans contributed to the cultural traditions in the Americas and Europeans benefited from their knowledge of different agricultural practices.

The conquest of territory and the accompanying wealth of the Americas transformed the economies of Europe, causing a shift from feudalism (a social and economic system organized by a hierarchy of inherited classes) to capitalism (an economic system based on private ownership of property and the open exchange of goods). In centuries past, European nations largely operated through a feudal system in which peasants worked and lived on the land owned and protected by nobles who acquired it through inheritance or merit. With more land in the Americas in need to cultivation and settlement, peasants and nobles alike had opportunities to make their own fortune and break away from the feudal bonds of their ancestors.

Ventures to the New World were risky and expensive, but could prove lucrative for those brave enough to try it. To encourage exploration and settlement of territory, European leaders advocated for the use of joint-stock companies: businesses owned by a large number of investors. If it failed they only lost the portion they invested, but if it succeeded, they split the rewards.