KS+Chapter+1+Notes

Chapter 1 · Earth was created several billion years ago, and six thousand years ago is when the Western World began. · Dry land started out as a single supercontinent, and when it broke apart it created all of the oceans and separate continents. · When the Great Ice Age began thick ice sheets took place over parts of Asia, Europe, and the Americas. About 10,000 years ago when the glaciers finally retreated, they transformed North America. · The natives of Eurasia probably followed migratory herds of game over the path between current Alaska and Siberia today. · They kept on moving through wilderness, until some of them reached South America. These people are known as the Incas in Peru, Mayans in Central America, and Aztecs in Mexico. · Many of these Native Americans turned to agriculture, such as growing corn using well constructed irrigation systems. · The rich diet of the provided by the clever farming techniques lead to some of the highest density populations on the continent. Including the Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee Tribes. · The Iroquois were in the Northeast Woodlands, and developed political and organizational skills to sustain a massive military alliance. · Unlike these huge alliances and tribes, most of the Native Americans were living in small scattered tribes across the North America. · The Europeans were very unaware of the Americas, but they wanted to expand and drive toward Africa and Asia. · When the Europeans started to trade with Asian countries they brought back many spices, silk, perfumes, and drugs. These luxuries were very expensive since they were transported enormous distances from Indonesia, China, and India. · Portuguese mariners were the first to sail to Africa. They promptly set up trading posts along the African shore for the purchase of gold and slaves. · The Portuguese built up their own systematic trafficking of the slaves to work on sugar plantations, and their appetite for slaves was enormous. · On October 12, 1492 Christopher Columbus landed on the Bahamas, and might have been one of the most successful failures. · When the Europeans came over to the Americas, they didn’t just bring sugar cane, but along with them they brought the diseases smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria. These diseases killed off many Native Americans. · Spain became the dominant exploring and colonizing power in the 1500’s. The Spanish Conquistadores fanned out across the Caribbean, and eventually into the main lands. · Spain ventured into North America in search of gold, and the fountain of youth. · As the Spaniards entered the Valley of Mexico, the sight of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan amazed them by the 300,000 people living within the ten square mile city. · On the “noche triste” (sad night), the Aztecs drove the Spanish out of Tenochtitlan. · The smallpox epidemic and conquest of Spain gave way to three centuries of Spanish rule. · The Spanish killed the Native Americans, stole their gold, and infected them with smallpox. 