US History: Europeans Set Sail

US History
Chapter 2
Europeans Set Sail

The Big Idea
Europeans explored the world, searching for new lands and new trade routes
Main Ideas
• Vikings were skilled sailors, and they were the first Europeans to reach North America.
• Prince Henry the Navigator established a school for sailors and provided financial support
that enabled the Portuguese to start exploring the oceans.
• Portuguese sailors sailed around Africa and found a sea route to Asia.
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Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 1: Vikings were skilled sailors, and they were the first Europeans to reach
North America.
• Vikings came from Scandinavia.
• They raided countries throughout Europe and developed large trading networks.
• In 1000 Leif Eriksson sailed from Norway to the North American coast after having been
blown off course by a storm.
— Landed on the Labrador Peninsula in present-day Canada
— Sailed further south to Newfoundland and perhaps even into New England
• Created a North American settlement, but attacks by Native Americans and the area’s
isolation prompted the Vikings to return to Europe
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 2: Prince Henry the Navigator established a school for sailors and
provided financial support that enabled the Portuguese to start exploring the
oceans.
Henry the Navigator
• Made great advances in exploration in the 1400s:
— Built an observatory
— Founded a school of navigation
— Financed research by mapmakers and shipbuilders
— Paid for expeditions to explore the coast of Africa
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US History
Chapter 2
Advancement of Exploration
Motivations for Exploration
• To find sea routes to develop additional trade with Asia
• To spread Christianity and convert more people
• Many Europeans wanted to learn more about Asia and its culture.
Technological Advances
• Better instruments made it possible for sailors to travel the open seas.
— The astrolabe enabled navigators to use the stars to chart location.
• The Portuguese began designing ships that were smaller, lighter, and easier to steer.
— Caravels used triangular sails that allowed ships to sail against the wind.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 3: Portuguese sailors sailed around Africa and found a sea route to Asia.
• In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias led an exploration from Portugal southward along African coast,
discovering the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope.
• In 1497 Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and landed in India, winning
the European race for a sea route to Asia
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US History
Chapter 2
Results of Exploration
• As Portuguese sailors explored the west coast of Africa, they negotiated for gold, ivory, and
slaves.
— Devastated African communities
— Broke up many families
— Led to increased warfare among kingdoms
• Slaves were sent to Europe and to islands in the Atlantic where they endured brutal living
conditions.
• New trade increased Portuguese wealth and power.
• Other European countries launched their own voyages of exploration
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US History
Chapter 2
Europeans Reach the Americas

The Big Idea
Christopher Columbus’s voyages led to new exchanges between Europe, Africa, and
the Americas.
Main Ideas
• Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and reached a continent that was
previously unknown to him.
• After Columbus’s voyages, other explorers sailed to the Americas.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 1: Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and reached a
continent that was previously unknown to him.
• Christopher Columbus, a sailor from Genoa, Italy, heard stories of great wealth in Asia.
• He persuaded King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to pay for an expedition across
the Atlantic.
• On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail across the Atlantic with three ships.
• On October 12, 1492, he reached the Americas.
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US History
Chapter 2
Columbus in the Americas

• Columbus and his crew landed in the Bahamas, on an island he named San Salvador.
• He called the native people Indians because he thought he was in the Indies.
• Columbus was interested in gold, not the culture of the native people.
• He made three more voyages to the Americas.
• The impact of Columbus’s voyages on the world was not realized until years after his death.
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US History
Chapter 2
Impact of Columbus
• Changed the way Europeans thought of the world and their place in it.
• Began a new era of interaction between Europe and the Americas.
• Created conflict as countries vied to add lands to their empires.
— In 1493 Pope Alexander VI, from Spain, decreed the Line of Demarcation
through the Atlantic Ocean that allowed Spain to claim all lands west of
the line.
— Portugal and Spain then signed an agreement, the Treaty of Tordesillas,
Portugal awhich moved the Line of Demarcation 800 miles further west.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 2: After Columbus’s voyages, other explorers sailed to the Americas.
Vespucci
• America was named for Amerigo Vespucci, who sailed to South America in 1501.
Balboa
• Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed Central America to discover the Pacific Ocean.
Magellan
• Ferdinand Magellan headed an expedition in 1519 that eventually circumnavigated, or
sailed around, the world.
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US History
Chapter 2
The Columbian Exchange

• Explorers brought plants, animals, and diseases to the “New World” of the Americas and
brought back plants and animals to the “Old World”—Europe, Asia, and Africa.
• The Columbian Exchange is the name given to this transfer of plants, animals, and diseases
between Europe and the Americas.
• Explorers brought horses, cattle, pigs, and grains such as barley and wheat to the Americas.
• Europeans took back such American plants as corn, tomatoes, tobacco, and cocoa.
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US History
Chapter 2
Spain Builds an Empire

The Big Idea
Spain established a large empire in the Americas.
Main Ideas
• Spanish conquistadors conquered the Aztec and the Inca empires.
• Spanish explorers traveled through the borderlands of New Spain, claiming more land.
• Spanish settlers treated Native Americans harshly, forcing them to work on plantations and
in mines.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 1: Spanish conquistadors conquered the Aztec and the Inca empires.
• Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers who led military expeditions in the Americas.
• Hernán Cortés led a military expedition to Mexico in 1519.
• Cortés heard of a wealthy land ruled by a king named Moctezuma II.
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US History
Chapter 2
Conquest of the Aztec Empire

• Moctezuma II ruled the Aztec Empire from his capital city of Tenochtitlán.
• The Aztecs had thousands of warriors.
• Cortés had several hundred soldiers and sailors, as well as horses and guns.
• Moctezuma welcomed Cortés but was seized by the Spanish and later killed during fighting.
• The Spanish overthrew the Aztec Empire with the aid of the Aztec’s enemies.
• The Aztecs had also been weakened by smallpox and other diseases brought by the
Spanish.
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US History
Chapter 2
Pizarro’s Conquest of the Inca

• Francisco Pizarro, another conquistador, led a military expedition to the Inca Empire in the
Andes Mountains of South America.
• The Inca ruled over territory that stretched from present-day Chile to Colombia.
• Pizarro’s forces killed the Inca ruler.
• Pizarro, with the aid of Native American allies, had conquered the Inca by 1534.
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US History
Chapter 2
Spanish Settlements
• The Spanish called their vast empire New Spain.
• Jews, Muslims, and non-Christians were forbidden to settle there.
• Royal officials ruled the empire through viceroys, or royal governors.
• Three types of settlements were established:
— Pueblos served as trading posts and centers of government.
— Missions were founded by priests to convert local Native Americans
to Catholicism.
— Presidios, or military bases, protected towns and missions.
• Settlers built El Camino Real, an extensive road system, to link the empire.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 2: Spanish explorers traveled through the borderlands of New Spain,
claiming more land.
• Many other Spanish explorers came to North America in the 1500s to find treasure.
• Juan Ponce de León explored present-day Florida in 1513.
• Hernando de Soto traveled through Florida and North Carolina in 1539.
• Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, accompanied by a slave named Estevanico and a few others,
journeyed on foot throughout the North American Southwest.
• De Vaca’s account of their journey inspired Francisco Vásquez de Coronado to continue
exploration, leading to the discovery of the Grand Canyon.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 2: Spanish explorers traveled through the borderlands of New Spain,
claiming more land.
• Spain’s American colonies helped make it wealthy.
• Tons of gold and silver were brought to Spain from the Aztec and Inca empires.
• Food was also grown in Mexico and Peru to support Spain’s expanding empire.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 3: Spanish settlers treated Native Americans harshly, forcing them to
work on plantations and in mines.
• The encomienda system gave settlers the right to tax local Native Americans or make them
work.
• Most Spanish treated Native Americans like slaves.
• Native Americans were forced to work on plantations, or large farms, to work in mines, and
to herd cattle.
• Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Spanish priest, defended Native American rights.
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US History
Chapter 2
The Race for Empires

The Big Idea
Other European nations challenged Spain in the Americas.
Main Ideas
• Events in Europe affected settlement of North America.
• Several explorers searched for a Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean.
• European nations raced to establish empires in North America.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 1: Events in Europe affected settlement of North America.

• Martin Luther, a German priest, protested the practices of the Catholic Church in 1517
leading to a religious reform movement called the Protestant Reformation.
• Reformers became known as Protestants.
• The printing press, a machine that produces printed copies, helped spread the ideas of the
Reformation.
• Conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Europe often led to civil war.
• King Henry VIII defied the pope and founded the Church of England, or Anglican Church, in
1534.
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US History
Chapter 2
Spain and England Go to War

• King Philip II used Spain’s wealth to lead a Counter-Reformation against the Protestants.
• Philip sent the Spanish Armada to England to overthrow Queen Elizabeth and the Anglican
Church.
• The smaller English fleet defeated the Armada.
• Spain was also weakened by economic problems, including inflation, a rise in the price of
goods caused by an increase in the amount of money in use.
• England, France, and the Netherlands challenged Spanish power in the Americas.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 2: Several explorers searched for a Northwest Passage to the Pacific
Ocean.
Cabot
Italian sailor John Cabot, sailing for the English, searched for a passage to the Pacific Ocean
along the coast of Canada and Newfoundland. This became the basis of England’s claim to
North America.
Cartier
Frenchman Jacques Cartier sailed down the Saint Lawrence river all the way to present-day
Montreal, claiming lands for France.
Hudson
The English captain Henry Hudson led a Dutch expedition to present-day New York in 1609.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 3: European nations raced to establish empires in North America.

• Spanish and Portuguese were the early leaders in exploration and colonization of Central
America, the Caribbean, and South America.
• English, French and Dutch then focused on North America for expansion of their empires.
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US History
Chapter 2
English Settlement
• The English decided to found a colony in North America in the late 1500s.
• Sir Walter Raleigh received a charter, a document giving him permission to start a colony.
• He sent an expedition that landed in present-day North Carolina and Virginia.
• The colony established at Roanoke by John White in 1587, in what is now Virginia,
mysteriously disappeared.
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US History
Chapter 2
French Empire in North America

First settlements were in Florida, but they were soon destroyed and the settlers driven out by
the Spanish
The explorations of Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain gave France a claim in the north, in
present-day Canada along the Saint Lawrence River.
The North American territory that spread out from the St. Lawrence River in the late 1600s was
called New France.
Fur traders, explorers, and missionaries populated the region
René-Robert de La Salle claimed lands along the Mississippi River and in the Mississippi Valley.
French settlers developed close trading relationship with the Native Americans.
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US History
Chapter 2
Dutch and Swedish Presence

New Netherland New Sweden
• The Dutch came to America for trade. • Colonists settled along the Delaware River.
• They settled land between the Delaware • New Christina, the first Swedish
and Hudson rivers. settlement, was founded in 1638.
• Manhattan Island was purchased from local • The Dutch conquered New Sweden in 1655.
Native Americans and called New
Amsterdam
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US History
Chapter 2
Beginnings of Slavery in the Americas

The Big Idea
Europeans forced millions of African slaves to work in their colonies
Main Ideas
• European diseases wiped out much of the Native American population, causing colonists to
look for a new labor force.
• Europeans enslaved millions of Africans and sent them to work in their colonies.
• Slaves in the Americas created a distinct culture.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 1: European diseases wiped out much of the Native American
Population, causing colonists to look for a new labor force.
• Europeans were immune, or had a natural resistance, to diseases common in Europe like
measles, smallpox, and typhus.
• Native Americans had no resistance to these diseases, and millions died in the years after
the Europeans arrived.
• With a shortage of Native American workers, Spanish and Portuguese plantation owners
had to find other sources of cheap labor.
• Slaves from West Africa were brought to America and the African slave trade flourished.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 2: Europeans enslaved millions of Africans and sent them to work in
their colonies.
• In 1510 Spanish government legalized the sale of slaves in the colonies.
• Most slaves came from the interior of Africa.
• One out of every six slaves died along the Middle Passage, the voyage across the Atlantic
Ocean to reach the Americas, because of horrible living conditions.
• Slave trade led to the African Diaspora, as enslaved Africans were sent all across the world.
• Colonial leaders worked to regulate slave treatment and behavior, but treatment of
enslaved Africans varied.
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US History
Chapter 2
Main Idea 3: Slaves in the Americas created a distinct culture.

• Slaves in the Americas came from diverse backgrounds, but shared many customs and
viewpoints.
• They built upon what they had in common to create a new African American culture.
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US History
Chapter 2
Slave Culture
Family Religion Art and Dance
• Vital part of slave culture • Christianity blended with • Form of expression
traditional African
• Provided a refuge, a elements • Dances were important
place not fully under the social events in slave
• Gave sense of self-worth
slaveholders’ control and hope communities.
• Faced many challenges, • Spirituals were a • Heavily influenced by
including being broken common form of African traditions.
apart religious expression.
• Used songs and folktales
to tell their stories of
hope, sorrow, agony, and
joy
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US History: Europeans Set Sail

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US History

Europeans Set Sail

Europeans Reach the Americas

Columbus in the Americas

The Columbian Exchange

Spain Builds an Empire

Conquest of the Aztec Empire

Pizarro’s Conquest of the Inca

The Race for Empires

Main Idea 1: Events in Europe affected settlement of North America.

Spain and England Go to War

Main Idea 3: European nations raced to establish empires in North America.

French Empire in North America

Fur traders, explorers, and missionaries populated the region

Dutch and Swedish Presence

Beginnings of Slavery in the Americas

Main Idea 3: Slaves in the Americas created a distinct culture.

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