THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 1492-1865

SEMINAR 1

WHAT IS HISTORY?

the analysis and interpretation of the human past

Reflecting continuity and change Investigation and imagination: how

people changed over time Historians examine, interpret, revise, re-

interpret the past

WHY SHOULD WE STUDY HISTORY? to understand the past and present investigate and interpret why society developed as it has provides insights to help cope with the problems and

possibilities of the present and future provides a sense of identity to understand the collective past

that has have made us what we are today History is magister vitae, "teacher of life." History prepares us

to live more humanely in the present and to meet the challenges of the future because it provides us with understanding of the human condition. History is a means of disseminating and comprehending the wisdom and folly of our forbears

History is fun. History fulfills our desire to know and understand ourselves and our ancestors. History allows one to vicariously experience countless situations and conditions, which stimulates the imagination and creativity. It also trains its students to read intelligently, think critically, and write effectively.

EARLY HISTORY

First passage from Asia to America—prehistoric glacial period 35,000 B.C.

Sea levels drop, formation of a land bridge, escape from icebound Siberia to icefree Alaska

Dispersal of tribes

INDIAN SOCIETIES

Matrilineal: Iroquois, property passes on the mother’s side, governing body: tribal council

Pacific Northwest: fishing for porpoise, salmon, cod, Haida, living in long houses

Meso-America: South Central Mexico, Maya, Aztec empire

NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL AREAS In general, hunter, gatherer cultures 5,000 B.C. American Indians diversify Agricultural revolution, Central American

Indians discover how to cultivate food crops

Division of labor, collective hunting practices

Women gather plants, seeds, cook meals, make baskets, men hunt

MAJOR NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL AREAS AT THE TIME OF THE COLUMBIAN LANDFALL

Southwest: (present day New Mexico, Arizona), Pueblo, Anasazi, main staple maize or Indian corn, other crops: squash, beans, peaceful, agricultural, settled tribes

Pueblo means village Anasazi: town dwelling Indians Intermediate cultural area: Central California,

Sierra Nevada Range, Hunting, gathering tribes Louis Leakey found some remains dated 40,000

B.C. Northwest Coast: Haida (lived in wooden

houses, main economic activity: fishing) Other tribes: Kwakiutl, Tlingit

MAJOR NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL AREAS AT THE TIME OF THE COLUMBIAN LANDFALL

Arctic Coast: Ancestors of Inuits, Aleuts Sub arctic region: nomadic hunter tribes

Carriers, Crees, Dogribs Plateau Region Valley of the Columbia

River, hunting, fishing, Percé, Spokane, Yakima

Great Basin: Paiute, Utes, Shoshones

MAJOR NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL AREAS AT THE TIME OF THE COLUMBIAN LANDFALL

The Plains: Cheyennes, Sioux, Comanche, buffalo hunting, warlike tribes

The Northeast: Three confederacies: Powhatan, Iroquois, Miami

The Southeast: Strong influence of Meso-American cultures, Five Civilized Tribes: Seminoles, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees

AZTECS

Warrior empire, yet no overseas colonization Tenochtitlán, Great Temple of the Sun built in

1325 Belief in chosenness: nourish the Earth,

sustain the Sun Society similar to Europe farmers lived in

villages, merchants craftsmen in cities, political power was held by nobility and clergy

Sophisticated irrigation, architecture, manufacturing pottery, jewellery, textiles

AZTECS

THE MAYA EMPIRE

Urban centers, palaces, bridges, aquaducts

Use of a written language, development of mathematics, discovery of the zero

Maya calendar, calculated the revolution of the moon, recurrence of solar eclipses

DIVISION OF LABOR

Northeastern tribes: Montagnais, Micmac, Penobscot: hunting for elk,moose, caribou

Northwestern tribes: Yellowknife, Haida, fishing

Women have more dominant role in Indian societies which relied more on agriculture such as the Pueblo, Hopi, Zuni.

Pueblo society: egalitarian, village was governed by a council of religious elders

EARLY VOYAGES TO AMERICA 459: Buddhist monk, named Hoe-Shin

sails from China to Mexico 551: Brendan, the Bold, Irish monk

landed in America 985: Eric the Red establishes two

colonies on Greenland 1000: Leif Erickson reaches New

Foundland, names it Vineland 1170: Prince Madoc, a Welsh explorer

reaches Mobile Bay, Alabama

THE VIKINGS IN AMERICA

Pillage, booty, hit and run tactics, Ruthless raiders: attack, pillage, demand

ransom for not returning again Conquests: Iceland, Ireland, Normandy

(Norsemen), Central Russia (Rothsmenn) Stories of conquests are preserved in sagas Eric the Red banished, established colonies

in Greenland Leif Erickson sails from Greendland to New

Foundland Tyrker, the German finds grapes, area is

named Vinland

THE VIKING LONGSHIP

Length: 76 ft. Cargo: 10 tons Width: 17 ft. Sail material: Wool Draft: 3 ft. Weight: 20 tons Interior Height: 6 ft. Crew: 35 was principally a sailboat, Its oars were used for landing and travel in narrow waterways, made from a single oak tree

relatively small cargo space (10 tons versus the 100 ton capacity of Columbus's ships) limited the amount of food and fresh water that could be carried, restricting voyages to approximately 500 miles.

THE VIKING LONGSHIP

PORTUGUESE EXPLORERS

1486: Bartholomew Diaz sailed around the Cape of Good Hope

1498 Vasco de Gama reaches India 1500 Pedro Cabral reaches Brazil

SPANISH COLONIZATION

1492: Columbian landfall, an encounter, a major cultural and biological exchange

1497: John Cabot reaches New Foundland, claims it for English Crown

1503: Martin Waldseemuller names America after Amerigo Vespucci

1513: Vasco de Balboa, first European to see the Isthmus of Panama

1519-22 Magellan circumnavigates South America

1539 Hernan de Soto reaches the Mississippi River

EUROPEAN VIEW OF THE INDIANS Montaigne: main features of Indians: no

trade, no knowledge of letters, no intelligence of numbers, no servants, no occupation, no apparel, natural appearance

Nakedness, either as an ”evidence of barbarism”, or a badge of innocence

Noble savage: innocent, honest, close to nature, yet cruel, ignorant First used by John Dryden, in America, Cadwallader Colden

THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS

THE GREAT BIOLOGICAL EXCHANGE Diffusion of two biological systems From America to Europe: maize, potatoes,

beans, peanuts, squash, pepper, tomatoes, pumpkins, pineapples

From Europe: rice, wheat, barley, oats Indian devices adopted by Europe: canoes,

hammock, moccasins, kayaks, dogsleds, rubber ball,

Vocabulary: wigwam, teepee,, tobacco, moose, skunk, chipmunk,

Europe passed on illnesses: measles, small pox, typhus

HISTORIOGRAPHY

No reliable descriptions of Amerindian history until 1930

Clark Wissler: Indians of the U.S. Four Centuries of their History and Culture

(this work combines anthropology and history)

Columbus in history Two schools: Hero of the western world: Samuel

Eliot Morison Villain, a person who caused genocide,

“a Hitler on a caravel” Kirkpatrick Sale