UNITED STATES HISTORY NOTES: GRADE 5

 

CHAPTER 4

 

LESSON 1: THE VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS

 

I.           YOU ARE THERE (page 134)

 

-They call their island Guanahani. As the people prepare their meal over an open fire—which they call a “barbeque”—the chief watches his people. He thinks about tomorrow’s fishing trip.

 

-The chief’s thoughts of the fishing trip are interrupted by a loud cry. One of the villagers is pointing out to the bright blue sea. The chief turns and squints in the same direction, and he sees what the villager sees.

 

-There, in the distance, is a large and strange ship. It looks nothing like a canoe. In fact, it looks like nothing he has ever seen before.   

 

II.        COLUMBUS AND THE TAINO (page 135)

 

-The island you have just read about lies southeast of Florida. The village belonged to a group of people called the Taino. The ship they saw that day in 1492 meant big changes were coming to their way of life.

 

-On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Europeans were continuing their drive to explore the world. One of them, an Italian named Christopher Columbus, had a bold idea.

 

-He wanted to find a better way to reach the Indies, a part of Asia rich with gold, spices, and other goods. At the time, Europeans had only one way to reach the Indies—the difficult land journey over the Silk Road.

 

 

-Columbus suggested sailing west, across the Atlantic Ocean. He needed money to pay for his expedition. Columbus took his plans to Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. They did not agree right away, but finally he convinced them that he could find a cheaper way to the Indies.

 

-On August 3, 1492. Columbus left Spain with three ships the Nina, Pinto, and Santa Maria. After about one month at sea, the men feared they would never see their homes again. They had traveled farther west than they thought possible, and they wanted to turn back. Columbus pushed on.

 

-Finally, on October 12, land was sighted from the Pinta. Columbus wrote, “At two hours after midnight, the Pinta fired a cannon, my prearranged signal for the sighting of land.”

 

-He claimed the island for the Spanish king and queen. Soon after, some of the Taino came to greet the Europeans.

 

-Historians believe that Columbus may have reached one of the Bahama Islands. Because he believed that he had reached the Indies, he called the Taino “Indians.” This name later referred to the native people of the Americas.

 

-The Bahama Islands and other islands of the region became known as the West Indies.

 

  

III.     THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE (page 136)

 

-Columbus led three more expeditions to the Americas. On the second trip in 1493, he took 17 ships loaded with settlers, animals, and other supplies. In addition to finding riches, Spain had a new goal for this trip. This goal was to start a colony that would bring profits to Spain.

 

-Before long, thousands of Europeans were living in colonies throughout the West Indies.

-The Columbian Exchange had begun. This was a movement of people, animals, plants, diseases, and ways of life between the Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere.

 

-Europeans brought horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs with them to the Western Hemisphere. In the Eastern Hemisphere, people enjoyed new foods from the Americas such as corn, potatoes, cocoa, and beans.

 

-These changes helped the people of Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. But not all of the effects of the Columbian Exchange were positive. Without knowing it, Europeans also brought disease germs to the Americas. Many Native Americans died because they had no defense against smallpox and measles.

 

-As European colonies took hold in the West Indies, the native people’s way of life changed. Many were forced to work on large farms growing sugarcane and other crops. Sugarcane is used to make sugar. Sugarcane growers made huge profits.

 

-The Spanish also wanted to bring Christianity to the native peoples. They forced many to give up their own beliefs. As a result, the way of life of the Taino, and other native groups of the Caribbean, disappeared.

 

 

IV.       FACT FILE: EXPLORERS FOR SPAIN (page 137)

 

-By the early 1500s, the Spanish realized that the islands of the Caribbean were not part of Asia, but the edge of a new continent. To them it was a “new world,” one that was waiting to be explored and settled.

 

-In fact, the Western Hemisphere was home to millions of people of many cultures.

 

-Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was born in Italy and led four voyages between 1492 and 1504.

-Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) was born in Italy and sailed to the eastern coast of South America in 1501.

 

-Vasco Nunez de Balboa (1475-1519) was born in Spain and in 1513 crossed the Isthmus of Panama and reached the Pacific Ocean.

 

-Ferdinand Magellan (about 1480-1521) was born in Portugal and led the first expedition around the world, which began in 1519 and ended without him in 1522. He was killed during the voyage.

 

 

 

V.          THE IMPACT OF COLUMBUS (page 138)

 

-Christopher Columbus showed Europeans the way to the Americas. The name America itself comes from the explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who in 1502 became the first to call the Americas a “new world.”

 

-After Columbus and Vespucci, many more Europeans followed. Some came in search of land and riches and conquered mighty empires of native peoples to find them.

 

-By the early 1600s, explorers and settlers from Spain, Portugal, England, France, Sweden, and the Netherlands had come to the Americas. For hundreds of years, some of these countries fought among themselves, and against Native peoples, for control of the lands in the Western Hemisphere. 

 

 

LESSON 2: DIFFERENT WORLDS COLLIDE

 

I.           YOU ARE THERE (page 142)

 

-The scene is Tenochtitlan, grand capital of the Aztec Empire. The time is November 1519. On a wide avenue leading to the center of the city, two powerful men approach each other. Each leader is surrounded by his soldiers.

 

-One leader is Moctezuma, the ruler of the Aztecs. He sits in a splendid carriage decorated with gold, silver, jewels, and bright green feathers.

 

-The other man is Hernando Cortes. He has come to conquer these lands for Spain. His iron helmet shows that he is a soldier ready to do battle for the Spanish king.

 

-The mood is tense. The two men offer each other gifts and talk peace. But before long, the army of one will conquer the other.

 

 

II.        THE AZTECS ARE CONQUERED (page 143)

 

-Even before they met in 1519, Moctezuma and Hernando Cortes knew of each other. Cortes had arrived in Mexico nine months earlier from Cuba. The Spanish had begun establishing colonies on the islands of the Caribbean Sea. Stories of great riches in Mexico encouraged Cortes and other Spaniards to gain some of the Aztecs’ wealth.

 

-Cortes was one of a group of Spanish soldiers who would later be called conquistadors, or conquerors. But Cortes faced a major challenge in defeating the Aztecs. His force of about 500 men was greatly outnumbered.

 

-However, Cortes did have a few advantages. Metal armor protected the Spanish from the Aztecs’ stone weapons. Spanish soldiers had muskets, a kind of rifle. Spanish bullets could easily pierce the cloth suits the Aztecs wore.

 

-The conquistadors also had horses. The Aztecs had not seen horses before, and the animals frightened them. One native person said the horses, “ran like deer and could catch anyone (the Spanish) told them to.”

 

-Cortes had allies too. The people that Cortes met on his way to Tenochtitlan did not want to live under Aztec rule. Many of them decided to help Cortes defeat the Aztecs.

 

-One ally of Cortes was an Aztec woman called Dona Marina, a name she took after becoming a Christian. Dona Marina spoke several Indian languages and spoke to the native peoples of Mexico for Cortes.

 

-Dona Marina helped Cortes persuade thousands to join him.

 

-An important ally the Spanish did not know they had was the germ that causes smallpox. Some historians think thousands of Aztecs caught smallpox after Cortes arrived.

 

-At their first meeting in 1519, Moctezuma agreed to let Cortes stay in Tenochtitlan. Almost a year later, the Aztecs rose up and threw the Spanish out of their city.

 

-Moctezuma was killed, perhaps by his own people. Cortes escaped. But he returned late in 1520 with many more native peoples as allies. In 1521, the mightiest empire of the Americas fell to the conquistadors.  

 

III.     FOUNDING NEW SPAIN (page 144)

-After the conquest of the Aztecs, the Spanish destroyed Tenochtitlan. The conquistadors were helped once again by disease. Smallpox continued to take the lives of many throughout Mexico.

 

-In 1535, Spain established the colony of New Spain. The capital of New Spain was Mexico City. Today, Mexico City is the capital of Mexico. Spanish officials came to set up a government, make laws, and build schools and universities.

 

-Roman Catholic priests came to convert, or change, native peoples from their own religion to Christianity.

 

-Spanish leaders such as Cortes discouraged native peoples from continuing to sacrifice people to their gods. Colonists also came from Spain. Spanish colonists hoped to gain wealth by starting farms, businesses, and gold and silver mines in New Spain.

 

 

IV.       THE CONQUESTS CONTINUE (page 145)

 

-One more powerful and wealthy native peoples’ empire lay to the south. This was the empire of the Incas, who controlled a huge area of land in western South America.

 

-Ten years after the conquest of Mexico began, Spain sent Francisco Pizarro to South America to conquer the Incan empire. Pizarro captured the Incan ruler Atahualpa in 1532.

 

-The following year, Pizarro’s forces captured Cuzco, the Incan capital city. By 1535 Pizarro had founded a new capital called Lima, in a colony called Peru. Today, Lima is the capital of the country of Peru.

 

-Conflict between the Spanish and native peoples continued. Like the Aztecs, some native peoples fought back. But most of them faced defeat. A new culture—part Indian, part Spanish—was born.  

 

 

 

 

LESSON 3: LIFE IN NEW SPAIN

 

I.           YOU ARE THERE (page 146)

 

-It is 1540. Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and about 700 men are traveling through what is now Georgia. They are searching for Cofitachiqui, a rich American Indian city they have heard about.

 

-De Soto and his soldiers meet a young Native American woman. They call her “the lady of Cofitachiqui.” De Soto asks her about the freshwater pearls she has with her. The young woman takes the men to a building that contains many more pearls.

 

-De Soto is interested in more than pearls. He hopes that this land may hold as much gold as Cortes found in Mexico. The Spaniards demand that the woman help them find gold. But “the lady of Cofitachiqui” escapes, and de Soto continues his explorations without finding the treasure he seeks.     

 

 

 

II.        THE SEARCH FOR GOLD (page 147)

 

-The story you just read was told by a member of Hernando de Soto‘s expedition. It was one of many stories told about gold and other riches in the Americas.

 

-One story was about a rich kingdom called Cibola, located far to the north of Mexico. It was told by Esteban, an African sailor who had been enslaved. Esteban had survived a shipwreck off the coast of Texas with the conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca in 1528.

They traveled together for eight years through what is now the Southwest region of the United States.

 

-Three years later, Esteban joined another expedition to find Cibola. But he did not find the kingdom. Esteban was killed by the Zuni people in what is now New Mexico.

 

-The legend of Cibola did not fade. The governor of New Spain decided to send Francisco Vasquez de Coronado to find the cities. He did not find the cities of Cibola either, because they did not exist.

 

 

 

 

III.     FACT FILE (page 147)

-By the middle 1500s, Spain had sent several expeditions to explore the lands that would one day become the United States.

 

-Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explored the American southwest in 1540.

 

-Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca explored what is now Texas in 1528.

 

-Hernando de Soto became the first European to reach the Mississippi River in 1540.

 

-Juan Ponce de Leon landed on the Florida peninsula in 1513.

 

 

 

IV.       SOCIETY IN NEW SPAIN (page 148)

 

-By the end of the 1500s, most of the fighting between native peoples and conquistadors north and south of Mexico City had ended. The Spanish gained enough control to move colonists into these lands.

 

-A new way of life, and a new society, was developing in New Spain. At the top of colonial society were the peninsulares. These people were born in Spain. The name was based on the geography of Spain, which is located on a peninsula.

 

-Next were creoles, people of Spanish background who were born in the Americas. Under the creoles were the mestizos, the largest group in New Spain society. A mestizo is a person with Indian and Spanish background. People who had no Spanish ancestors, such as Indians and Africans, held the lowest position in this society.

 

-The peninsulares were wealthy and powerful. Some owned plantations, or large farms with many workers who lived on the land they worked. Other peninsulares received grants called encomiendas.

 

-An encomienda granted a peninsulare control of all the native peoples who lived on an area of land. The encomienda owners could put the native peoples to work.  

-They were supposed to care for the native peoples and convert them to Christianity. In return, the native peoples had to give the encomienda owners crops that they grew and other goods.

 

-In the cities, colonists became merchants and shopkeepers or worked for the colonial government. Others had small businesses, such as making furniture or clothing.

 

 

 

 

V.          MORE CHANGES FOR NATIVE PEOPLE (page 149)

 

-Many encomienda owners put native peoples to work as farm workers, miners, and servants. The native peoples had to work without pay and did not always have enough to eat. They could be beaten and forced to work long hours.

 

-One type of encomienda was run by Roman Catholic missionaries. The priests built missions throughout New Spain. The purpose of these missions was to teach native peoples about Christianity.

 

-Missionaries also taught them some European farming practices, such as raising cattle and sheep. The native peoples had to give up their traditional ways of life and become Christians. On some missions, they were treated cruelly.

 

-A priest named Bartolome de Las Casas spoke out against the mistreatment of native peoples under the care of the church. In 1527, Las Casas wrote angrily about what he had seen in the encomiendas.

 

-“The native peoples die or lead lives harsher than death. They have been split into shares as if they were herds of cattle or sheep; that is, divided among the Spaniards and assigned by a specific number to each to become their slaves.”

 

-The efforts of Las Casas had some success. He persuaded Spain to pass laws in 1542 saying that native peoples must be paid for their work. These laws were not enforced, however, and later were cancelled.

 

 

VI.       SLAVERY IN THE AMERICAS (page 150)

 

-Despite the efforts of Las Casas, slavery did not end in the Americas. The Spanish first brought enslaved Africans to the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola in 1512. The Spanish enslaved Africans to replace the native peoples who were dying in large numbers from disease and overwork.

 

-At first, Las Casas supported bringing Africans to New Spain to work in place of native peoples. Later, he wrote that Africans should not be enslaved either. But gradually, the enslavement of captured Africans became an important part of the colonial economy. 

 

-On Hispaniola alone, there were 12,000 enslaved Africans by 1574. Like the native peoples, African slaves on the encomiendas and plantations died from overwork and mistreatment.

 

-The profits from colonial plantations and mines created great wealth for Spain. In the 1600s these riches helped make Spain one of the most powerful countries in the world.