Old Worlds Collide, 14501620

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Old Worlds Collide, 1450-1620
unknown artist, Benjamin Hawkins and the Creek
Indians, c. 1805

• Lecture Outline
• Colonial America Overview
• Old Worlds before 1500
• European Exploration and Expansion Driving Forces

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History of the United Statesto 1865

• Therefore, this course sets out to retrace the
  significant human events that occurred within
  this context.
• Periods
• Colonial America
• Revolutionary America
• Expansion America
• Civil War America
• Finally, what pitfalls ought we to be aware of as
  we set out to study this history?
• That we potentially (easily) distort what
  happened with (false) representations that
  satisfy our expectations.
• E.g., that fuel our pride as Americans or as
  __(?)__.
• Or, conversely, express our indignations about
  aspects of the United States.

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Colonial AmericaOVERVIEW

• What takes place during this period?
• European exploration and expansion
• nexus of commerce shifts
• Mediterranean Sea ? Atlantic Ocean
• 2. Columbian Exchange
• 3. Demographic Takeover of the Western Hemisphere
• Political takeover results from
  (Poly-)Colonialism
• Iberian imperial dominance, 1500s
• English, French, and Dutch colonies established,
  1600s
• English ascendancy, 1700s
• Questions raised by this sketch?
• Where do we begin?

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America, Africa, and EuropeBefore Their Meeting

• What do we need to know about these so-called
  three worlds?
• --Each was neither united nor new.
• --What makes these worlds (distinct)?

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American HistoryBefore Columbus

• What is Native American history before 1500 CE?
• Scholars identify (four) distinct phases between
  c. 20,000 BCE 1500 CE
• What happens between the two endpoints?
• Evidence?

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Native American Historical Phases

• 1. Beringian
• (40,000 12,000 BCE)

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(No Transcript)
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Native American Historical Phases

• 1. Beringian
• (40,000 12,000 BCE)
• 2. Paleo-Indian
• (12,000 6,000 BCE)
• 3. Archaic
• (6,000 500 BCE)
• 4. Post-Archaic
• (500 BCE 1500 CE)

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Anasazi (100 CE 1150 CE) Center Chaco
Canyon (estimated pop. 1,000)
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Hopewellian Networks --Adena (1000 BCE
200 CE) --Hopewell (300 BCE 700 CE)
Serpent Mound
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Mississippian (800 CE 1300 CE) City Center
Cahokia (Estimated pop. 20,000)
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• 4. Post-Archaic
• (500 BCE 1500 CE)

Mayan (200 CE-800 CE) City Center Teotihuacan
(estimated pop. 100,000) NOTE By 1450, only
Paris, London, and Naples had equal numbers of
residents.
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Aztecs (1300 CE -1500 CE) City Center
Tenochtitlán (estimated population 200,000)
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Native American Historical Phases

• Snapshot at 1500
• Aboriginal population
• Mesoamerica and South America
• c. 45 million
• North of Mexico
• c. 15 million
• Cultural Diversity
• Industries

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Native American Historical Phases

• Snapshot at 1500
• Aboriginal population
• Mesoamerica and South America
• c. 45 million
• North of Mexico
• c. 15 million
• Cultural Diversity
• Industries
• Linguistic

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Native American Historical Phases

• Snapshot at 1500
• Aboriginal population
• Mesoamerica and South America
• c. 45 million
• North of Mexico
• c. 15 million
• Cultural Diversity
• Industries
• Linguistic
• Political/Religious
• Northern vs. Southern pattern

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NA Historical Phases

• 5. European
• (1500 present)
• Now what happens?
• Whom do Europeans encounter?
• Whom do Native Americans encounter?
• How do these new American encounters compare to
  earlier ones?

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West African HistoryBefore Columbus

• What characteristics are commonly overlooked?
• As with American history, the complex and
  separate histories of its peoples on the eve of
  American conquest. (T.H. Breen, 2004)

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Indians of North America, ca. 1500 pg. 26
Indians of North America, ca. 1500
What does this map underscore about the invasion
of North America? Whats misleading about it?
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West African SocietyBefore Columbus
Industry? Religious Patterns? Basic life?
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Civilizations before European colonization
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West African SocietyBefore Columbus

• Slavery?

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European Society 1450

• Social Classes
• Peasants (90 of pop.)
• What was life like?
• Yeomen
• Local Nobles
• Monarchs (kings and princes)
• (others?)
• Key Organizing Principles
• Paternalism
• Pervaded ones sense of allegiance to family,
  church, village, (and empire)
• Primogeniture
• Christianity
• Was it understood and practiced uniformly?

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Western EuropeWhat drove overseas exploration?

• Economic/Political
• Mercantilism (alliance of monarchs, merchants,
  and royal bureaucrats)
• Renaissance (1400-1600)
• Machiavelli, The Prince (1513)
• Concentration of Monarchical Power
• Religious (spread Christianity)
• To convert heathens
• To counteract false religions
• External Threat Islam
• Crusades (1096-1291)
• Ottoman Empire (1299-1923)
• Fall of Constantinople, 1453
• Reconquista (1492)
• Internal Divisions
• Roman Catholic vs. Eastern Orthodox (1453- )
• Roman Catholic vs. Protestant (1517- )
• Technological (Shipping advances)

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The Old World on the Eve of American
Colonization, ca. 1500 pg. 8
The Old World on the Eve of American
Colonization, ca. 1500
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Voyages of Discovery pg. 13
Voyages of Discovery
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1507 Martin Waldseemuller, German cartographer,
publishes map with the name, America.
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The Meaning of America

• How did the appearance of America on a map
  transform Europes view of the world?
• Well, what did it look like before?

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Before 1507 World Orbis Terrarum
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Before 1507 World Orbis Terrarum
O and T Map
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• European perspective, after 1507
• Four World-Parts Continents (contiguous)
• How was America different?

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The Meaning of AmericaEdmundo OGorman The
Invention of America (pub. 1961)

• OGormans Thesis
• America was never discovered it was invented.
• Since 1507, Europeans believe that America always
  existed (as a distinct and autonomous entity
  independent of human imagination)
• Yet, unlike the three known parts
  (Europe-Africa-Asia), America represented an
  unknown and undeveloped world.
• This world is New in the sense that it is just
  now being developed (explored and mapped) in a
  process inaugurated by Columbus discovery.
• How does this view of America, disclosed by
  OGorman, distort the reality of the lands and
  peoples to which it applies?