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1300
Marco Polo's Adventures
1st model of a published book; so abt traveling ~+ new science dev: geography -
Period: 1330 to 1482
Portugal
1330: Port consolidate power by going South (to Afr)
1434: Port has direct contact with Emp of Mali
Post-1450: slave trade took classic form
1482: 1st trading post and supply base for Port navigators (Fortrss of Sao Jorge da Mina on the Gold Coast in Ghana)
Port navigators= masters at navigating high seas (collecting info on winds and currents + info on geo to mk maps (of Afr coast) + improving ship design + mounting cannons on ship
Port exploited rivalries btw small tribes to conquest -
Period: 1347 to 1351
Bubonic Plague
Center of plague=Western Erp.
Farmlands got abdnd
Plague made Westrn Erp mr urban (since evrn went to cities + cities grew by maritime commerce); and Eastern Erp mr agricltrl
Capitalism took off -
1492
Discovery of continent
Colombus discovers (Bahamas) Am continent while searching for new way to Asia.
Settlements:
16th= Spn + Portgl
17th= Eng, Fr, Dutch Republic, Denmark, Sweden
18th= Emp -
Period: 1492 to 1532
Spain
Want gold, at 1st enslaved natives to search it (but they died quickly cuz of Erp diseases lk smallpox) 1492: beginning of exploration of continent
1519: encountered Aztec Emp in Mexico full of gold
1520: destroyed 2 of most strong natives Emp
1532: found Peru and its silver mines
(1898: Sp lost last territory) -
Period: 1524 to
France
"Commerce and not plunder". French wr mostly fur traders and fishermen. Mostly in West and North (=/= Eng who on East Coast whr sea) 1524:Giovanni da Verrazzano explored region btw Florida and Newfoundland for a route to the Pacific Ocean
1608: Samuel de Champlain founded the city of Quebec
1682: René-Robert La Salle canoed down Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico
1710: peak -
1551
Utopia (imaginery perfect place)
Thomas More (1478-1535)
Features absolute equality btw all people (except prisoners who r slaves); System of elected people; No concept of superiority or property
~= America viewed like that Eden's place -
Principale Navigations (?)
Richard Hakluyt (1552-1616): geographer and propagandist
Wanted: Eng to be the most powerful; forcfly send ppl over Am to get rid of overppltion prblm
Tries project idea of Eng as humanitarian country helping freeing poor Indians slaughtered by Spain. (1589= 1 year after Spanish Armada) -
1st successful settlement of Eng
1st try: 1585
2nd: 1587
3rd: 1588 Named settlement after Ez 1st= Virgin Queen= Virginia [Chesapeake Bay]. Succeeded thx to romanticized view of Rebecca Rolfe (~Pocahontas) -
Afr slaves in Virginia
1st time brought Afr slaves (most slaves wr still Creoles from Crbbn)
At 1st did less important labor force than indentured servants [1680: less indtrd servants, status of slaves got mr rigid] -
Plymouth
Eng sttlment.Settlers (William Bradford:chief) wr religs noncomformists (/extremists) who suffered repression under Charles I (1625-1642) [1/3: puritans; 2/3: regular settlers]
At beginning only tried to survive, that's why needed good relationship with natvs. 1st Winter half died.
By 1630: prosperous farming colony with ~300 ppl -
Massachusetts Bay Colony
Non-separatist Puritans: congergationalists
Very biblical (/extremists): multiplied lk rats, intensively patrichl, tight communities, healthy way of living (no alcohol...)
~= became template of how New World is wonderful -
Maryland
Another religious refuge but now for catholics [Variety of settlements, it was experimentalism. 2/3 came as indentured workers, majority didn't survive] -
Period: to
Moove of big growth
1680: Virginia and Maryland
1700: South Carolina
1730: North Carolina
1760-1770: Georgia
Went mr South cuz of intensive productions whr needed mr slaves (in Chesapeake are and North Carolina: 40~50% of pplt wr slaves) -
The Caribbean
Until 1700, Eng settlers mr in Crbn than in Am
Land dedicated to sugar plantation (food imported from N-Am).
It was a killing mill (intensive labor system with a 40% death rate). Tried to use indians but they died quickly and/or escaped (thx to knwing lands). So used Af slaves -
Virginia Slave Codes
Defines who can be and who can't be slaves. -
Period: to
Seven Years War
War btw Fr and Brit in N-Am along their respective Indian allies.
Fr got dftd and with the Treaty of Paris (1763) Brit took most lands (almost doubled their lands) -
Royal Proclamation
Settlements West of the Appalachian Mountains r forbidden by Eng Parl
Eng wr concerned they're going too far West and wld be dissipated (wanted to maintain ctrl)
=/= colonists intended on expanding westward -
Sugar Act + Stamp Act
Brit believed Am shld help finance their own defenses, for this used coercive methods: acts passed by Parl and imposed on Amrcns (-> "No taxation without representation in Parl"). Colonists alrdy paid txes to local colonial authorities.
Sugar Act: custom duties on molasses from the Fr West Indies
Stamp Act: tax on all public doc and publication -
Boston Massacre
Brit troops wr sent; they fired into crowd of angry and violent Am clnsts. 5 Am wr killed
-> fueled the outrage and spurred the Rvltion -
Boston Tea Party
Patriots threw 342 chests of tea into the sea at harbour.
Did it cuz: Tea Act (1773), which was md to help East India Co (on verge of bankruptcy)
Severe response from Brit: 1774, Coercive Acts (port of Boston closed+assembly of Masschsts md appointive) -
Quebec Act
This and the Proclamation establshd an Ind trritry in West to avoid Ind wars and keep settlers on East coast -
1st Continental Congress
In Philadelphia
Created a militia to resist Brit troops. Demanded Coercive Act, Quebec Act, and all revenue acts to be repealed. Adrssd petition to the King rather than Parl
Agreed to meet again in May 1775 if Brit's response unsatsfctry -
Battle of Lexington (/beginning of War of Indpdc)
Brit troops sent to Concord to destroy arms stocks and arrest patriot leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams.
But militia was warned and ready (thx to Paul Revers) -
2nd Continental Congrss
Already at war
Created Continental Army under Washington's command (but at 1st didn't hv troops, discipline, weapons...)
June 1775: invasion of Province of Quebec (failed) -
Olive Branch Petition
Sent to George III, to affirm the Am's loyalty to Crown and ask King for reconciliation
May 1776: representatives renounced loyalty to Crown -
Period: to
War of Independance
War against Brit but also civil war: loyalists wr committed to Brit Emp (1/6 of pplt)
Many pro-Brit left Am
Crbbn islands: loyal to Crown; nearly all natives sided with Brit -
Declaration of Independance
Written by T.Jefferson
Independed themselves. Sorta doc of Human's right (idea that all men wr created equal)
Based on philosophy of John Lock: "Life, Liberty and Property". Idea of: "pursuit of happiness", "consent of the governed" (social contract), right to rvlt, self-determination (depended only on themslves) -
Treaty of Amity and Commerce
Fr helped the insurgents financially and became official allies -
Bill of Rights
-
Notes on the Sate of Virginia
Thomas Jefferson
Beliefs that Am shld produce for itself and in agrarian republic full of farmers (labors=chosen ppl of God) with no industrlztion
"every State shld endvr to manufctr for itself" - "let our workshop remain in Erp" -
Letters from an American farmer
Crèvecoeur: Fr-Am writer, was a farmer (=/=peasant)
Purpose of txt: describe Amns (diversity, "regenerated ppl", modern ppl who r free from old prejudice). They're "new men" and self-made men
Idea of racialized Am alrdy there (+ slaves as idle workers)
Glorifies that: lg patriotism, Am as a meritocracy, self-interest. Am's prosperous: "rewards of his industry/progress of his labour" and u keep what u hv
~Revltnry society, anti-Erp -
2nd Treaty of Paris
End of War of Indpdc
Signed by US and Brit representatives
Agreement recognzd US indpdcy and granted them significant West terrtry