Early America: Pre-Columbus, Exploration Contact

The Age of Exploration! Contrary to popular myth, people did not believe the world was flat. However, many did believe it was much smaller than it actually was, which helps explain why Columbus thought he could simply sail west and reach India. Europe emerges from the Dark Ages and enters the Renaissance period, fresh off the Crusades and hungry for adventure and, more important, resources like gold, silk and spices. Arab traders control much of the overland trade routes, so the sea is the place to be. In Africa, the trans-Saharan trade helps give rise to wealthy empires and draws the attention of some European traders. In the Americas, millions of people span both North and South America. Some live in large, complex civilizations like the Aztec in present day Mexico, the Inca in present day Peru, and the Cahokia in present day Illinois.  Others are smaller hunter-gatherer or agriculturally based societies, like the Iroquois in the present day northeast US. None of these populations, however, expected or were prepared for the dramatic transformations that would take place after three continents--Europe, Africa and the Americas--became permanently interconnected after 1492.