ch 1 reading Qs
1. Native Americans in North America used kinship to define their place in society as well as non-lethal wars. However, when people did die, their plans for revenge were cyclical. They also had matrilineal and patrilinial leaders. The Agricultural Revolution affected central and South America and helped them become sedentary, thus forming government bureaucracies, hieroglyphic writing, and accurate solar calendars. Unfortunately, the Northern Indians were merely hunter-gatherer groups which kept them from forming a stable civilization.
2. The Portuguese were purchasing about a thousand slaves a year on the West African Coast. Often, the slaves worked on the sugar plantations of Madeira and the Canaries, which were Atlantic islands that were used for the European’s experimentation with unfree labor that would later on be enforced in the American colonies. About 10.7 million Africans were taken as slaves.
3. Quite a few changes occurred in Europe prior to exploration and colonization of the new world. In the 15th century, Europe became more prosperous, political authority was a bit more centralized, and of course the Renaissance gave literate people a more thorough vision in the arts and sciences. It encouraged a new way of thinking which involved more boldness and creativity, and wasn’t as narrow. As for political authority, it became centralized under a group of rulers called the New Monarchs. Prior to this, Small districts in Europe were controlled by feudal nobles. The final prerequisite to exploration was reliable technical knowledge. Mapping, the invention of printing from movable type by Johann Gutenberg, etc. enhanced the European’s knowledge and pushed them towards exploration.
4. England had just been through a civil war and there were too many powerful subjects, yet Henry the 8th married Catherine of Aragon who was a devoted catholic. This caused plenty of social conflict with the population due to the fact that the Protestant reformation was already taking shape. The king became dissatisfied with his wife since she was unable to bear him a son. However, Catholicism did not allow him to have a divorce, but he divorced her anyway and formed his own Church of England, seceding from Roman Catholicism. He had a child named Queen Elizabeth who was able to end the conflicts between the Catholics and the Protestants. She was an avid ruler and she created an identity for the people of England: a good Englishman loves the queen, supports the church of England and hates Catholics. After uniting England they domesticated Ireland in order to practice before moving on to the New World.
5. The experiences of the French, Spanish, and English while colonizing the new world are tough to compare, due to the vast amount of differences they had. However, they all ended up stealing the land from the Native Americans, no matter how they treated them afterwards, and they were all exposed to the diseases of the Natives that they had never faced before and weren’t immune to them. Their relationships with the Native Americans were quite different. At first, the English were friendly. Early colonists relied on the Natives for trade and survival tips. However, as time passed by, the greed for land grew and it led to major disrespect towards the Natives and a lot of conflicts. The French, on the other hand, had more respect for the Natives and they figured out a polite way to trade fur, and so on. Spanish missionaries saw Native Americans as heathens to be converted to Christianity, and their soldiers viewed them as targets that were only suitable for killing or subjugation.
