CHAPTER 1
The Collision
of Cultures
This chapter covers the origins of Indian civilizations in the New World, the
motivations for European exploration and colonization, the Spanish conquest,
and developments in other European countries prior to the first permanent
British settlements.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Pre-Columbian Indian civilizations
A. Possible origins of the American Indian
1. Siberia
2. Southwestern Europe
B. Basic stages of development in Middle America
1. Early stages
2. Permanent towns emerged about 2000 b.c. in Mexico
3. Farming of classical Middle American culture (Mayans) from
a.d. 300 to 900
4. Aztecs followed and developed the culture that was present
when the Spanish arrived
5. South American cultures: Chibchas and Incas
C. Indians in the present United States reached three minor cultural
climaxes
1. Adena-Hopewell peoples of the Ohio Valley (800 b.c.–a.d. 600)
had great earthworks
2. Mississippian culture of the Mississippi Valley (a.d. 600–1500)
climaxed about the time of the European discovery and
influenced many tribes
1
01Tindall_Full_ch1.indd 1 10/21/2009 10:32:38 AM
, 2 ◆ Chapter 1 The Collision of Cultures
3. Pueblo-Hohokam-Anasazi cultures of the Southwest (400
b.c.–present) had looser class structure
D. Native Americans in 1500
1. Shared attributes and assumptions
2. Eastern Woodlands peoples
a. Algonquain
b. Iroquoian
c. Muskogean
3. Plains nomads
4. Pacific coast tribes
5. Trauma and resilience when Europeans arrive
II. Viking arrival
A. Greenland settlement
B. Brief settlement of Newfoundland
III. Expansion of Europe
A. The Renaissance brought an intense interest in knowledge of the
world
1. Knowledge that the earth was round
2. Improved navigational aids: compass and astrolabe
3. Development of urban commerce and global trade
a. Merchant class
b. Corporations that shared risk
4. Barriers to trade with the Orient
5. Rise of the nation-states
6. Contributions of the merchant class, professionals, gunpowder,
and Crusades
IV. Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America
A. Explorations of the Portuguese
B. Early life and efforts to gain support for a voyage west
C. First voyage
D. Later voyages
E. America named for Amerigo Vespucci
V. The great biological exchange
A. Animals
B. Plants
C. Worldwide population boom
D. Native American devices and place names adopted
E. Diseases unleashed
01Tindall_Full_ch1.indd 2 10/21/2009 10:32:42 AM
, Chapter 1 The Collision of Cultures ◆ 3
VI. Other early professional explorers
A. John Cabot
B. Ferdinand Magellan
VII. Spanish conquest and settlement of the new lands
A. Initial Caribbean settlements
B. Motives of the Spaniards
C. European advantages
1. Division and disease among Indians
2. Superior Spanish weapons
3. Animals for food and battle
D. Hernán Cortés and conquest of the Aztecs
E. Patterns of Spanish conquest
1. Encomienda system
2. Introduction of African slavery
3. Catholic missionary efforts
F. Development of New Spain
1. Governance by the Council of the Indies
2. Advantages over European rivals
3. Lasting imprint of Spanish culture
4. Interchanges with the native culture
G. Spanish exploration of North America
1. Ponce de León
2. Narváez and Cabeza de Vaca
3. de Soto
4. Coronado
H. Early Spanish settlements
1. Nature of Spanish settlements
2. St. Augustine, first European town in United States
3. The Spanish Southwest
a. Importance of Catholic missions
b. Oñate’s founding of New Mexico
c. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680
d. Spain regained control of New Mexico
4. Horses and the Great Plains
VIII. Impact of Protestant Reformation in Europe
A. Early causes and spread of the movement
B. Martin Luther
C. Impact of Calvin
D. Reformation in England
01Tindall_Full_ch1.indd 3 10/21/2009 10:32:42 AM
, 4 ◆ Chapter 1 The Collision of Cultures
1. An initial political revolt
2. Periods of conflict
3. Elizabethan settlement
IX. Challenge to the Spanish Empire
A. French efforts
1. Verrazano explored coast in 1524
2. Cartier led three voyages
B. Dutch opposition to Spain
1. Rebellion of the Netherlands against Spanish rule, 1567–1648
2. Dutch “Sea Beggars” plunder Spanish ships
C. British effort
1. Elizabethan “sea dogges”: John Hawkins and Francis Drake
2. Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588
3. Promotion of British colonization
4. Sir Humphrey Gilbert lost at sea
5. Sir Walter Raleigh and the Roanoke “lost colonists”
LECTURE IDEAS
1. A lecture on Pre-Columbian America is very appropriate. Give a general
overview of the Western Hemisphere, including the Inca, Maya, and Aztec
cultures. Then focus in on the rest of North America, especially the contig-
uous forty-eight states. Describe the wide variety of cultures that existed as
well as the various philosophies concerning shared land, governance, and
so forth. Good sources would be Alvin M. Josephy and Frederick E. Hoxie’s
(eds.) America in 1492 (1993), Thomas D. Dillehay’s The Settlement of the
Americas (2001), and Charles Mann’s 1491: New Revelations of the Ameri-
cas Before Columbus (2005).
2. Depending on the size of your class, divide students up into groups and as-
sign each group a European country that established colonies in the West-
ern Hemisphere (Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Russia,
and so forth). Have them research each country’s motivation, destination,
and successes or failures. Each group can also assess the long-term impact
each country had on America. Use Samuel Eliot Morison’s The European
Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages (1993) and The Southern Voy-
ages (1974), and John H. Parry’s The Age of Reconnaissance: Discovery, Ex-
ploration, and Settlement 1450–1650 (1988).
3. Convey to your students the difficulty and danger of planting New World
colonies by giving a lecture on two of the more important failures: Vinland
01Tindall_Full_ch1.indd 4 10/21/2009 10:32:43 AM
The Collision
of Cultures
This chapter covers the origins of Indian civilizations in the New World, the
motivations for European exploration and colonization, the Spanish conquest,
and developments in other European countries prior to the first permanent
British settlements.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Pre-Columbian Indian civilizations
A. Possible origins of the American Indian
1. Siberia
2. Southwestern Europe
B. Basic stages of development in Middle America
1. Early stages
2. Permanent towns emerged about 2000 b.c. in Mexico
3. Farming of classical Middle American culture (Mayans) from
a.d. 300 to 900
4. Aztecs followed and developed the culture that was present
when the Spanish arrived
5. South American cultures: Chibchas and Incas
C. Indians in the present United States reached three minor cultural
climaxes
1. Adena-Hopewell peoples of the Ohio Valley (800 b.c.–a.d. 600)
had great earthworks
2. Mississippian culture of the Mississippi Valley (a.d. 600–1500)
climaxed about the time of the European discovery and
influenced many tribes
1
01Tindall_Full_ch1.indd 1 10/21/2009 10:32:38 AM
, 2 ◆ Chapter 1 The Collision of Cultures
3. Pueblo-Hohokam-Anasazi cultures of the Southwest (400
b.c.–present) had looser class structure
D. Native Americans in 1500
1. Shared attributes and assumptions
2. Eastern Woodlands peoples
a. Algonquain
b. Iroquoian
c. Muskogean
3. Plains nomads
4. Pacific coast tribes
5. Trauma and resilience when Europeans arrive
II. Viking arrival
A. Greenland settlement
B. Brief settlement of Newfoundland
III. Expansion of Europe
A. The Renaissance brought an intense interest in knowledge of the
world
1. Knowledge that the earth was round
2. Improved navigational aids: compass and astrolabe
3. Development of urban commerce and global trade
a. Merchant class
b. Corporations that shared risk
4. Barriers to trade with the Orient
5. Rise of the nation-states
6. Contributions of the merchant class, professionals, gunpowder,
and Crusades
IV. Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America
A. Explorations of the Portuguese
B. Early life and efforts to gain support for a voyage west
C. First voyage
D. Later voyages
E. America named for Amerigo Vespucci
V. The great biological exchange
A. Animals
B. Plants
C. Worldwide population boom
D. Native American devices and place names adopted
E. Diseases unleashed
01Tindall_Full_ch1.indd 2 10/21/2009 10:32:42 AM
, Chapter 1 The Collision of Cultures ◆ 3
VI. Other early professional explorers
A. John Cabot
B. Ferdinand Magellan
VII. Spanish conquest and settlement of the new lands
A. Initial Caribbean settlements
B. Motives of the Spaniards
C. European advantages
1. Division and disease among Indians
2. Superior Spanish weapons
3. Animals for food and battle
D. Hernán Cortés and conquest of the Aztecs
E. Patterns of Spanish conquest
1. Encomienda system
2. Introduction of African slavery
3. Catholic missionary efforts
F. Development of New Spain
1. Governance by the Council of the Indies
2. Advantages over European rivals
3. Lasting imprint of Spanish culture
4. Interchanges with the native culture
G. Spanish exploration of North America
1. Ponce de León
2. Narváez and Cabeza de Vaca
3. de Soto
4. Coronado
H. Early Spanish settlements
1. Nature of Spanish settlements
2. St. Augustine, first European town in United States
3. The Spanish Southwest
a. Importance of Catholic missions
b. Oñate’s founding of New Mexico
c. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680
d. Spain regained control of New Mexico
4. Horses and the Great Plains
VIII. Impact of Protestant Reformation in Europe
A. Early causes and spread of the movement
B. Martin Luther
C. Impact of Calvin
D. Reformation in England
01Tindall_Full_ch1.indd 3 10/21/2009 10:32:42 AM
, 4 ◆ Chapter 1 The Collision of Cultures
1. An initial political revolt
2. Periods of conflict
3. Elizabethan settlement
IX. Challenge to the Spanish Empire
A. French efforts
1. Verrazano explored coast in 1524
2. Cartier led three voyages
B. Dutch opposition to Spain
1. Rebellion of the Netherlands against Spanish rule, 1567–1648
2. Dutch “Sea Beggars” plunder Spanish ships
C. British effort
1. Elizabethan “sea dogges”: John Hawkins and Francis Drake
2. Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588
3. Promotion of British colonization
4. Sir Humphrey Gilbert lost at sea
5. Sir Walter Raleigh and the Roanoke “lost colonists”
LECTURE IDEAS
1. A lecture on Pre-Columbian America is very appropriate. Give a general
overview of the Western Hemisphere, including the Inca, Maya, and Aztec
cultures. Then focus in on the rest of North America, especially the contig-
uous forty-eight states. Describe the wide variety of cultures that existed as
well as the various philosophies concerning shared land, governance, and
so forth. Good sources would be Alvin M. Josephy and Frederick E. Hoxie’s
(eds.) America in 1492 (1993), Thomas D. Dillehay’s The Settlement of the
Americas (2001), and Charles Mann’s 1491: New Revelations of the Ameri-
cas Before Columbus (2005).
2. Depending on the size of your class, divide students up into groups and as-
sign each group a European country that established colonies in the West-
ern Hemisphere (Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Russia,
and so forth). Have them research each country’s motivation, destination,
and successes or failures. Each group can also assess the long-term impact
each country had on America. Use Samuel Eliot Morison’s The European
Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages (1993) and The Southern Voy-
ages (1974), and John H. Parry’s The Age of Reconnaissance: Discovery, Ex-
ploration, and Settlement 1450–1650 (1988).
3. Convey to your students the difficulty and danger of planting New World
colonies by giving a lecture on two of the more important failures: Vinland
01Tindall_Full_ch1.indd 4 10/21/2009 10:32:43 AM
