A.P. U.S. History
Mrs. Sanchez
Chapter 1-New World Beginnings

I. Planetary Perspectives
a. Trace the development of Human history on the Americas.
II. The Shaping of North America
a. Discuss various theories for the development of earth, specifically America.
b. When was the Great Ice Age and what was its impact?
III. The First Discoverers of America
a. What is the current theory on how humans arrived in the Americas?
b. Why did the immigration to the Americas stop about 10,000 years ago?
c. What developments occurred in the civilizations of early Americans?
IV. The Earliest Americans
a. Where did early development occur and for what reasons?
b. When did corn reach the area that became the US?
c. Who were the Mound Builders?
d. What was the three-sister farming?
e. What was significant about the Iroquois?
f. How did Native life contrast with that of the Europeans that would come later?
V. Indirect Discoverers of the New World
a. What were the contributions of the Vikings?
b. What events led to the European period of Exploration?
VI. Europeans Enter Africa
a. What was the significance of Marco Polo's journeys?
b. What changes in navigation took place during the 1400's?
c. What were the changes wrought by the Portuguese trade around Africa?
d. Who were significant Portuguese navigators?
e. What was the effect of the defeat of the Moors on the role of Spain in the Age of Exploration?
VII. Columbus comes upon a New World
a. Who was Christopher Columbus?
b. What were the details of his voyage?
c. What was the significance of his voyage?
VIII. When Worlds Collide
a. What was the significance of the Columbian Exchange?
IX. The Spanish Conquistadores
a. What was the importance of the Treaty of Tordesillas?
b. Who were the primary conquistadors and what were their notable accomplishments?
c. What was the significance and purpose of the encomienda system?
X. The Conquest of Mexico
a. Why was Cortes able to defeat the Aztecs?
b. What was the effect Cortes' conquest?


XI. The Spread of Spanish America
a. What developments did the Spanish empire bring to the New World?
b. What was the importance of early French and English exploration?  What was the motivation?
c. What effect did English and French exploration have on the development of the Spanish colonies?
d. What were some of the early Spanish explorations and settlements into the modern day US?
e. What was the Black Legend?