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1618 BCE
Colonial America
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1491
America Prior to Columbus and the other Europeans
Europeans "dsicovered" an America that had as many as 7 million inhabitants. Many had walked from Asia and filled the entire Western Hemisphere. They were organized into tribes, many of which were hunters and gatherers. There was little connection among the tribes, and much infighting over territory. This lack of confederacy became one of the challeneges native peoples faced as they came to understand the goals of the Europeans in America. -
Period: 1491 to
European Arrival/Invasion
The largest of the AP time periods, this era reflects the beginning of the Becoming a Nation chapter of APUSH. This time period includes the relationship between Europeans and native people. Keep in mind that the English settled the East Coast, the French traded in the Mississippi River Valley and the Spanish invaded the West. -
Period: 1491 to
Becoming a Nation
This chapter covers what the College Board calls Periods 1,2 and 3 or the arrival of the Europeans through the Jefferson presidency, or what we call the New Nation. -
1500
Mercantilism
The idea that resources are finite and the duty of the nation to maximize resources by exporting more and importing less drove Europeans to seek new markets in the world. -
1500
God, Gold and Glory
Closely alligned to the Spanish approach to exploration, the prime motivations for staking claims in the "new world" were spreading Christianity, expanding economic power and gaining political power on the world stage by seizing more territories. -
Columbian Exchange
Europeans brought items (horses), ideas (Christianity) and diseases (small pox) that they directly and indirectly exchanged with native people and greatly affected the lives of the native people. As well, native people sent items like corn, and sweet potatoes, fur and lumber that the Europeans were able to use to stablize population-related issues in Europe.