I know all those ancient civilizations matter, but this is really where history gets important. During the Middle Ages, Europeans did not really trade. But West African Kingdoms (like Ghana, Mali, and Songhai) were trading with Middle Eastern empires (like the Ottoman Empire) who were trading with India and with China. This trade expanded wealth, jobs, and cultural diffusion. This cultural diffusion helped Muslims develop new mathematical and scientific ideas by blending African, Arabic, Indian, and Chinese ideas. And Europeans had no idea this was happening until the Crusades (1100-1300).
After the Crusades, Europeans wanted to trade with India and China, because they saw that the best goods and spices came from Asia. And Spain and Portugal were right on the Atlantic Ocean, so they were in the best position to sail south around Africa and get to India and China. Why did they sail this long-ass route? Because the Ottoman Empire controlled all the trade through the Middle East, and you could not pass through without paying them huge taxes along the way.
Portugal slowly established good relationships with African kingdoms along the coast of Africa so their boats could stop off and get food and water on their trip to India. Vasco da Gama was the first Portuguese explorer to get to India. Spain tried a different idea - Queen Isabella paid Christopher Columbus to sail west across the Atlantic Ocean to get to India and China (Europeans did not know about North or South America). Columbus landed in North America, but he THOUGHT it was India, so he called the people there "Indians". But they were Native Americans.
After a few years, Spain realized they had found a new place (not India). The people in the Caribbean Islands (Arawak and Taino) were not as strong as them. Even huge empires like the Aztecs in Mexico or the Inca in South America were not strong enough to defeat the Spanish. The Spanish were impressed with the Aztecs (they had huge cities, floating gardens, canals) and the Inca (they built terrace farms, thousands of miles of roads, and long rope bridges in the Andes mountains). But the Spanish still destroyed them because they had natural resources that Spain wanted - gold and silver. The Spanish enslaved Native Americans and forced them to work at digging up the gold and silver so the Spanish could buy things from China and India. This system of slavery was called the encomienda. The Spanish also forced the natives to speak Spanish, convert to Catholicism, and give up their traditional way of life. This worked in some places, but there are still many areas of North and South America where native Americans practice their traditional cultures.
The Spanish (and soon Portugal, England, and France) turned North And South America into colonies. A colony means an area of land that a different country controls. For example, the U.S. controls Puerto Rico today, so you can consider Puerto Rico a colony of the U.S. In the 1500s and 1600s, Spain, France, Great Britain (England), and Portugal took control of different parts of North and South America and made them colonies. These European countries now called themselves mother countries since they were like the mother who controlled the colonies like her children. The purpose of having colonies is to get natural resources from the colony, bring the resources back to the mother country, turn those natural resources into manufactured goods, and then use the colony as a market for those goods. This system of trade was called mercantilism and it made mother countries rich and kept colonies poor. But it did create a system of exchanging plants, animals, ideas, and even diseases across the Atlantic Ocean. This exchange is known as the Columbia Exchange.
One of the problems was that Spain accidentally brought diseases with them to North and South America (the New World). The worst disease was called small pox and it killed 90% of the natives who came in contact with it (because they had never been exposed to this disease before, so their immune systems were unprepared for it). This was a real problem for the Spanish, French, British, and Portuguese - they needed these Native Americans to work for them! So the mother countries decided to buy slaves from Africa to fix this. The journey for enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean was called the middle passage and it caused the deaths of over 10,000,000 Africans.
So your task today is to find 1 websites and 1 video that will help students learn the Regents facts about Spanish Exploration and Colonization. When you have found a video and a website, start a GoogleDoc AND SHARE IT WITH FEINBERG to draft your comment where you explain how the website and video will help students to learn the facts and vocabulary about the Spanish Exploration and Colonization from the multiple choice questions. The last part of your comment should be about how the Spanish Exploration and Colonization relates to TWO of these 5 essential questions for learning history:
1.How can geography help or hinder the development of a specific society?
2.How/why do governments change society in social, political, economic ways?
3.How do social, political, or economic ideas impact society?
4.How does trade limit or develop a society?
5.How does technology impact societies in both positive and negative ways?
Feinberg will be giving you comments and feedback as you draft your comment, that way he can make sure you're being as detailed in your analysis as you can.
After the Crusades, Europeans wanted to trade with India and China, because they saw that the best goods and spices came from Asia. And Spain and Portugal were right on the Atlantic Ocean, so they were in the best position to sail south around Africa and get to India and China. Why did they sail this long-ass route? Because the Ottoman Empire controlled all the trade through the Middle East, and you could not pass through without paying them huge taxes along the way.
Portugal slowly established good relationships with African kingdoms along the coast of Africa so their boats could stop off and get food and water on their trip to India. Vasco da Gama was the first Portuguese explorer to get to India. Spain tried a different idea - Queen Isabella paid Christopher Columbus to sail west across the Atlantic Ocean to get to India and China (Europeans did not know about North or South America). Columbus landed in North America, but he THOUGHT it was India, so he called the people there "Indians". But they were Native Americans.
After a few years, Spain realized they had found a new place (not India). The people in the Caribbean Islands (Arawak and Taino) were not as strong as them. Even huge empires like the Aztecs in Mexico or the Inca in South America were not strong enough to defeat the Spanish. The Spanish were impressed with the Aztecs (they had huge cities, floating gardens, canals) and the Inca (they built terrace farms, thousands of miles of roads, and long rope bridges in the Andes mountains). But the Spanish still destroyed them because they had natural resources that Spain wanted - gold and silver. The Spanish enslaved Native Americans and forced them to work at digging up the gold and silver so the Spanish could buy things from China and India. This system of slavery was called the encomienda. The Spanish also forced the natives to speak Spanish, convert to Catholicism, and give up their traditional way of life. This worked in some places, but there are still many areas of North and South America where native Americans practice their traditional cultures.
The Spanish (and soon Portugal, England, and France) turned North And South America into colonies. A colony means an area of land that a different country controls. For example, the U.S. controls Puerto Rico today, so you can consider Puerto Rico a colony of the U.S. In the 1500s and 1600s, Spain, France, Great Britain (England), and Portugal took control of different parts of North and South America and made them colonies. These European countries now called themselves mother countries since they were like the mother who controlled the colonies like her children. The purpose of having colonies is to get natural resources from the colony, bring the resources back to the mother country, turn those natural resources into manufactured goods, and then use the colony as a market for those goods. This system of trade was called mercantilism and it made mother countries rich and kept colonies poor. But it did create a system of exchanging plants, animals, ideas, and even diseases across the Atlantic Ocean. This exchange is known as the Columbia Exchange.
One of the problems was that Spain accidentally brought diseases with them to North and South America (the New World). The worst disease was called small pox and it killed 90% of the natives who came in contact with it (because they had never been exposed to this disease before, so their immune systems were unprepared for it). This was a real problem for the Spanish, French, British, and Portuguese - they needed these Native Americans to work for them! So the mother countries decided to buy slaves from Africa to fix this. The journey for enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean was called the middle passage and it caused the deaths of over 10,000,000 Africans.
So your task today is to find 1 websites and 1 video that will help students learn the Regents facts about Spanish Exploration and Colonization. When you have found a video and a website, start a GoogleDoc AND SHARE IT WITH FEINBERG to draft your comment where you explain how the website and video will help students to learn the facts and vocabulary about the Spanish Exploration and Colonization from the multiple choice questions. The last part of your comment should be about how the Spanish Exploration and Colonization relates to TWO of these 5 essential questions for learning history:
1.How can geography help or hinder the development of a specific society?
2.How/why do governments change society in social, political, economic ways?
3.How do social, political, or economic ideas impact society?
4.How does trade limit or develop a society?
5.How does technology impact societies in both positive and negative ways?
Feinberg will be giving you comments and feedback as you draft your comment, that way he can make sure you're being as detailed in your analysis as you can.