Clash of Cultures The European Invasion of the Americas

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Clash of Cultures

• The European Invasion of the Americas,
  1492-1680

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Questions for Today

• Why were Europeans the first to make contact
  with the Americas?
• What were some of the major consequences of
  European exploration?
• How did a few hundred Spaniards manage to defeat
  one of the strongest empires in the Americas?
• How did these invaders treat the natives they
  encountered?

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Why Europe?

• Nationalist pride

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Why Europe?

• Nationalist pride
• Commerce

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Why Europe?

• Nationalist pride
• Commerce
• Technology

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Location of Portugal
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Portuguese Voyages
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Spain Before Unification
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Christopher Columbus
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Early Spanish Explorations
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The Columbian Exchange

• The ongoing trans-Atlantic exchange of goods,
  people, disease, and ideas

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The Columbian Exchange
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The Columbian Exchange

• The ongoing trans-Atlantic exchange of goods,
  people, disease, and ideas
• Animals

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The Columbian Exchange

• The ongoing trans-Atlantic exchange of goods,
  people, disease, and ideas
• Animals
• Technology

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The Columbian Exchange

• The ongoing trans-Atlantic exchange of goods,
  people, disease, and ideas
• Animals
• Technology
• Religion

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The Columbian Exchange

• The ongoing trans-Atlantic exchange of goods,
  people, disease, and ideas
• Animals
• Technology
• Religion
• Crops

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Mayan Smoking Tobacco
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The Columbian Exchange

• The ongoing trans-Atlantic exchange of goods,
  people, disease, and ideas
• Animals
• Technology
• Religion
• Crops
• Disease

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Smallpox Victims
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Native Description of Smallpox

• Large bumps spread on people, some were
  entirely covered. They spread everywhere, on the
  face, the head, the chest, etc. The pustules
  that covered people caused great desolation very
  many people died of them, and many just starved
  to death starvation reigned, and no one took
  care of others any longer. On some people, the
  pustules appeared only far apart, and they did
  not suffer greatly, nor did many of them die of
  it. But many people's faces were spoiled by it,
  their faces and noses were made rough.
• c. 1555

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Todays Focus

• Cortés's Conquest of the Aztec (Mexica) Empire
• The American Southwest, or Nuevo Mexico

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Todays Focus

• Cortés's Conquest of the Aztec (Mexica) Empire

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Early Depiction of Tenochtitlan
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Cortéss Route (in green)
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Hernan Cortés and Malinche
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Aztec Human Sacrifice
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Native Drawing of the Spanish Conquest
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Todays Focus

• Cortés's Conquest of the Aztec (Mexica) Empire
• The American Southwest, or Nuevo Mexico

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European Explorations
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A Franciscan Missionary
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Remains of Mission at Pecos Pueblo
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Summary and Conclusions

• Europeans had the advantage in conflicts with the
  indigenous peoples of the Americas, thanks to
  more effective technology and disease
• The Columbian Exchange dramatically altered life
  not only in the Americas, but also in Europe
• By the 1600s, European powers like the Spanish
  (but also the French and Dutch) had established
  successful colonies in what they called the New
  World

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THE END