Theme

       Illustrative Examples 

Migration and environmental adaptation prior to European arrival

Indigenous people who moved across the Atlantic and settled in regions of North America both adapted to and changed their environments, which led to the development of specialized, complex societies over time.

  • Maize-cultivating societies in modern-day American Southwest and Mexico—i.e., Pueblo, Hohokam, Aztec
  • Nomadic, buffalo-centered lifestyles of Great Plains tribes—i.e., Apache, Sioux, Shoshone
  • Settled, mixed agricultural and hunter-gatherer lifestyles of Northeastern tribes—i.e., Delaware/Lenape, Haudenosaunee/Iroquois and Mississippian and Southeastern tribes—i.e., Cahokia, Apalachee
  • Hunter-gatherer, sea-oriented lifestyles of Pacific Northwestern/Californian tribes—i.e., Aleuts, Chinook, Tlingit 

 

The Columbian Exchange

An increase in interactions among Europeans, Indigenous people, and Africans spearheaded by Christopher Columbus, Samuel de Champlain, Hernan de Cortes, and others led to the Columbian Exchange, a transatlantic swap of ideas, crops, animals, precious minerals, and diseases that brought changes to politics, society, and culture on both sides of the Atlantic.

 

  • Astrolabe, magnetic compass, caravel, portolan maps
  • Spanish colonies
  • ​​​Encomienda
  • Requerimiento  
  • Portuguese/African trade of enslaved people
  • Casta system  
  • Doctrine of Discovery
  • Gender roles, such as those in matriarchal or patriarchal societies
  • Nomadism
  • Mixtón War
  • Taino Rebellion

 

Debates over treatment of non-Europeans 

Increased interactions with Native Americans and Africans led to a dispute among European leaders over the treatment of non-Europeans and included shifting religious, cultural, and racial explanations for the oppression of Native Americans and Africans.

 

  • Valladolid Debate between Juan de Sepulveda and Bartolome de las Casas 

 

European motivations

Motives that led Europeans to participate in the exploration and conquest of the Western Hemisphere included seeking novel forms of wealth, military and economic competition with other European countries, and the hopes of converting non-Europeans to Christianity.  

 

  • “God, gold, and glory” 

Popular pages: AP® US History Period 1: 1491-1607

Take a Study Break