Chapter 2

The American People

period 6

Breaching the Atlantic

The Columbian Voyages

• Ferdinand and Isabella married creating Spain

• In 1492 Columbus found the Americas by accident
• Found the Tainos people of the Caribbean and were enslaved by
Columbus
• Vaso de Gama a Portuguese sailor travels around Africa to Asia

Religious Conflict during the era of Renaissance

• Martin Luther starts his own religion of Protestantism in Germany

• Henry the VIII starts the church of England so he can divorce his
wives
• John Calvin was a French pastor who spread Calvinism

The Spanish Conquest of America

Caribbean experiments

• Columbus establishes the first colony in the Americas at Santo

Domingo
• Used the native Tainos people as slave labor

The Conquistadors the onslaught at Tenochtitlan

• Hernando Cortez was accompanied by 550 men and took over

the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan
• Spain had conquered most of South America after the
conquistadors conquered the Aztecs, Incan, and Mayan
• Spain was motivated by the opportunity of wealth and to spread
Catholicism

The Great Dying

• The Spanish brought diseases to the Americas and caused

millions of natives to die
• The smallpox was responsible for the majority of the deaths
The Columbian Exchange

• Spain brought native animals from Europe which upset the

balance of some ecosystems
• The exchange led to introduction to new foods like corn and
potatoes
• Led to more trade in Africa and Asia

Silver, Sugar and their consequences

• Spanish started to mine silver by using the natives as a source of

labor
• This led to more than doubling the previous amount of silver in
the world leading to inflation
• The Portuguese didn’t have silver so cultivated sugar
• The sugar was hard to grow so Portuguese used slave labor

Spain’s Northern Frontier

• Spain travelled North of South America to conquer central

America and Mexico and some of the southwestern states like
Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, and California

England Looks West

England Challenges Spain

• England was unable to travel to the new world for fear of the
Spanish Armada
• In 1588 England and Spain were fighting a religious war of
Catholics and Protestants
• England defeated the Spanish armada and was able to travel to
the new world

The Westward Fever

• The first colonies form England were in the New England area
and most consisted of Puritans
• The original colonies were unsuccessful because they were
expecting to find gold and riches like the Spanish
• Mostly poor Europeans travelled to the new World in hopes to
gain their own land
Anticipating North America

• English colonist travelled to the new world because didn’t have

anything in Europe
• Had no idea what to expect they had only heard rumors
• Didn’t know if the native Americans would be dangerous or not

African Bondage

The Slave Trade

• The slave trade was already established by Muslims in Africa

• Portuguese needed slaves to work on sugar plantation

The Middle Passage

• They would collect slaves from Africa and put them on a ship for
several weeks
• The slaves were chained to the floors and fit in with other slaves
until there was no room
• Many slaves died on the journey over but the rest went on to
work as slaves for the rest of their lives

Slavery in early Spanish colonies

• Millions of slaves came over to America and started to

outnumber the Spanish and Portuguese