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US History Unit 1: Period 1: 1491–1607

Before Europeans arrived, diverse Native societies adapted to their environments, and contact transformed both hemispheres.

Covers: Native American societies, Columbian Exchange, Spanish colonization, encomienda and caste systems, European exploration

Study guide

Before 1492, North America held millions of people in hundreds of societies shaped by their environments. In the Southwest, the Pueblo built irrigation systems and adobe towns around maize. In the Great Plains and Great Basin, many groups were mobile hunters and gatherers. In the Northeast and Mississippi Valley, groups mixed agriculture with hunting and fishing and built permanent villages; the Mississippian city of Cahokia was among the largest. The spread of maize cultivation from Mexico supported population growth and more complex societies.

European exploration grew out of new ship technology, the desire for wealth and trade routes to Asia, religious motives, and competition among emerging nation-states. After Columbus reached the Caribbean in 1492, the Columbian Exchange moved plants, animals, people and diseases between continents. Europeans brought horses, cattle, wheat and devastating diseases like smallpox; the Americas sent maize, potatoes and tobacco to Europe, fueling population growth there.

Spain built the first large empire. Conquistadors conquered the Aztec and Inca, and the encomienda system forced Native people to labor for Spanish colonists. As the Native population collapsed, the Spanish turned to enslaved Africans, beginning the Atlantic slave trade's growth. Spain created a caste system based on ancestry, and debates such as Las Casas versus Sepúlveda questioned how Native people should be treated. Native peoples resisted, adapted and sometimes allied with Europeans, as later shown in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

In the Pacific Northwest, peoples such as the Chinook relied on abundant salmon and forests to support permanent villages, dense populations and social ranking without farming. California peoples also lived in dense settlements by fishing, hunting and gathering acorns. Plains peoples followed bison herds and used portable housing such as tipis. After the Spanish brought horses, many groups, like the Lakota and Comanche, became mounted hunters, which reshaped their warfare, trade and mobility.

Spanish missionaries tried to convert Native peoples to Catholicism and suppress their religions. In 1680 Popé led the Pueblo in driving the Spanish out of New Mexico. When Spain returned, it tolerated more of Pueblo religion and culture. Spain's American wealth came mainly from silver mines such as Potosí and Zacatecas, worked by forced Native labor. Because few Spanish women came, Spanish men often had families with Native and African women, creating a large mixed-ancestry population.

Native peoples gave Europeans food, guides and geographic knowledge, and traded furs for metal tools, guns and cloth. European livestock trampled Native crops and caused land disputes, and access to guns could shift the balance of power among rival Native groups.

Key ideas

• Native societies varied widely based on their environments.
• Maize cultivation supported larger, settled societies.
• The Columbian Exchange reshaped populations and diets on both sides of the Atlantic.
• Disease, not just conquest, caused the collapse of Native populations.
• Spain relied on forced labor through the encomienda system, then enslaved Africans.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Treating Native Americans as one uniform culture.
• Saying Europeans conquered mainly through weapons; disease was the biggest factor.

Words to know

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, people and diseases between the Americas and Europe/Africa after 1492.

Encomienda system

Spanish system granting colonists the labor and tribute of Native people.

Maize cultivation

Corn farming that spread north from Mexico and supported settled societies.

Pueblo

Southwestern Native people who farmed maize with irrigation and built adobe towns.

Cahokia

A large Mississippian city near present-day St. Louis.

Conquistadors

Spanish soldiers who conquered the Aztec and Inca empires.

Smallpox

The disease that killed huge numbers of Native Americans after contact.

Casta system

Spain's racial hierarchy based on ancestry.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Spanish priest who condemned the abuse of Native people.

Mercantilism (early)

The idea that colonies exist to enrich the home country.

Atlantic slave trade

Forced transport of Africans to the Americas, which grew as Native populations collapsed.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 treaty dividing newly found lands between Spain and Portugal.

Sample practice questions

5 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.