
Lecture notes for 9/8/99
Key words
-Syphilis -Conquistador
-Tenochtitlan -Cort�z
-de Coronado -de Soto
-O�ate -sea dogs
-armada -cabot
-Labrador -Gilbert
-Raleigh
Lecture II (cont'd)
Columbian Exchange
-Exchange in metals
-Europeans brought:
-Items made of iron
-New to the natives
-Armor, for man and horse
-New World had:
-silver, gold, copper (precious metals)
-Had a bad reflux on the Spanish economy
-Disease exchange
-Europeans brought:
-Smallpox
-Measles
-Influenza
-Malaria
-Typhus
-After the encounter with Europeans, 90-95% of the Native Americans
died mostly becuse of disease
-In 1519, there were 30 million Native Americans; by 1568, only
about 3 million Native Americans were left
-Syphilis was spreading throughout the land, but very slowly through
sexual contact
-A mild European form met a dangerous American disease and mutated
into an even deadlier form of syphilis
-A major outbreak in Italy occurred in 1494
-About 10 million people had died in Europe from 1492 to 1502
*Essay Question*
-How does life change when the two cultures collide? (exchanges in animals,
diseases, etc.)
First Spanish Advances
-First found Cuba and the Dominican Republic
-In 1519, the Spanish assault began in Mexico
-Led by Hernando Cort�z (34 yrs. old at the time)
-Had about 500 soldiers
-Within two years, captured Tenochtitlan and the Aztec empire
-Cort�z defeated the Aztecs quickly
-Had abundance technology
-Horses
-Weapons
-Aztecs had made a lot of enemies
-Cort�z found tribes who were happy to fight
the Aztecs
-Native Americans started to die due to disease
-Pursuing the 3 G's (conquistadors)
-God
-Gold
-Glory
-King and Queen wanted conquistadors to convert Native Americans
-Native Americans were forced to work in mines
-Given a choice to either convert or die
-Mexican population was exploited by the Spanish
-1540: Coronado and de Soto
-Explored the American Southwest
-1565: St. Augustine became the first Spanish settlement
-1598: O�ate explored New Mexico
-1610: Founded Santa Fe
Lecture III
England rises to power
-Elizabeth I
-First daughter of Henry 8th
-Commercial and military expansion
-Built up strong military and naval forces
-England had to have strong navy to challenge Spain
-Sea Dogs: attack & plunder Spanish ships
-Challenge to Spain
-1588: Phillip II (King of Spain) sends Spanish Armada ("the invincible armada")
against England's piracy, 132 warships and 3000 cannons
-Bad luck, planning, bad weather causes smaller English navy to defeat the Armada
-Spain never fully recovers so English can now go and explore the New World
Early exploration and colonization
-John Cabot
-English's 1st claim 1497
-Claimed Newfoundland of Canada
-2 voyages
-No permanent settlements
-Northwest Passage: thought that there was still a passage to the Orient
-Colonies were important because:
-Source of raw materials
-Outlet for manufactured goods
-Relief for large surplus population in Europe
-Sir Humphrey Gilbert
-1578: landed in New Finland, unsuccessful
-Disappears on return, no permanent settlements
-Sir Walter Raleigh
-Gilbert's half-brother
-takes over colonization in Roanoke Island, North Carolina
-1st attempt fails, colonists go home
-2nd attempt, governor gets stuck in England by Spanish and returns 3 yrs. later,
no sign of settlement when he returns..."The Lost Colony"
-Absorbed into natives
-Hostile natives
-Disease
-Moved
-Financial disaster for Raleigh because he invested his personal fortune and failed
-Joint Stock Company
-Englishmen thought invested personal fortune into something was too risky
-Started the Joint Stock Company where a group of individuals each invested money in a venture
-1606: two joint stock companies formed:
-Plymouth Company
-Popham Company
-Queen stipulated that any Englishmen who establish colonies has all the rights and
liberties in England carried over to the New World
-i.e. right to trial by jury, warrant issued before house is searched, etc.
-1603: Elizabeth I dies
-Her nephew James I succeeds her, 1603-1625