British colonization of the Americas

Lope de Aguirre, a Spanish conquistador of the Basque region of Spain, wrote what is known as the “Letter to King Philip of Spain.” It was a letter written in July 1561 in Spanish America to King Philip (presumably private because it was addressed to the King himself from Aguirre.) At this time historically Lope de Aguirre had joined the expedition in search of El Dorado. Pedro de Ursúa had accompanied him on this voyage to the city of gold. However, not even a year after, Aguirre assisted in…

The Spanish, led by Francisco Pizzaro, conquered the Inca in Peru in 1532 (Chapter 13, Slide #4). The video describes that the Spanish used the Jacobus musket as part of its weaponry, which was slow firing and inaccurate, but nevertheless deadly (GGS 17:06-18:14). Another critical weapon in the Spanish arsenal was the Toledo sword. It was a long, hard, and pliable sword that was characteristic of rapiers (GGS 20:00-21:00). In the film, Jared Diamond explains that Europeans inherited metal…

Bailyn, Bernard. The Peopling of British North America: An Introduction. New York: Vintage Books, 1988. Thesis: In his preface, Bailyn describes his texts as a "preliminary effort to open up the questions and identify major themes of a very large area of history which we still only vaguely understand (xii). In chapter one he goes onto define the actual idea behind the title: " It brings together the major aspects of life in the American colonies- social structure and settlement patterns,…

become an established, respectable land. Starting in the early 1600’s, the Virginia Company wanted a settlement in America. The Chesapeake colonies, including Virginia and Maryland first established the town of Jamestown. “Jamestown was intended to become the core of a long-term settlement effort, creating new wealth for the London investors and recreating English society in North America” (Grymes). As for the New England colonies, including Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island…

Sharman Pope wanted them to convert back from Christianity, with reverse baptism. This causes a rebellion, which destroys eight decades of colonial work making this revolt the greatest setback natives ever inflicted on European expansion in North America (Taylor, 89). The rebellion left an impact on Spanish settlers and the Pueblo Indians, teaching both groups to compromise. They ended up living as a sustained colony depending on each…

Throughout these four chapters many things stood out to me. I found it interesting that Native Americans were welcoming of the new comers to their land, but for their European counterparts they did not welcome them into their new home in the New World. In history the white man has always had more power over the people who were not the same color. It has stayed a constant theme within history, when white men arrive to a certain location they either take everything and go or take everything and…

He uses paintings like An Allegory of America Nursing Foreigners by an anonymous artist, Virgin of Guadalupe by Sebstián Salcedo, Del Español, y la Yndia nace el Mestizo, or lo común, humilde, quieto, y sensillo by José Joaquín Magón, The Preaching of Saint Thomas in Tlaxcala and the Introduction…

The Myth of the Vanishing Indian has served a vital function in U.S. history. The removal of the Cherokees indeed illustrates the pervasiveness of this myth. After the arrival of the Europeans to the Americas, the indigenous population dwindled significantly. This myth attempts to explain this phenomena by claiming that the disappearance of Native Americans after their contact with the European settlers was inevitable unless they assimilate because they were “culturally and genetically weaker”.…

Both the two ancient civilization had their own written language. Both the Mayan and the Aztec were located in central america they had very little eye contacts with each other and built palaces for their ruler. They also had great technologies and strong religions. One of the things Mayan and the Aztec had in common was the class structure. In conclusion all two civilizations…

Lastly, trade was impacted negatively because all the populations but one, collectively channeled their energy towards and only towards religion. while trade remained only local, killing their economy off and depriving them from new resources and domestic animals. Aztecs were maybe the only civilization to develop the most in trade than others their Emperor conquered other civilizations, and expanded upon trade. Tenochtitlan was made a Mesoamerican trade center, most likely because he wanted to…