United States History
New Empires in the Americas
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
How did Europeans change life in the Americas?
LESSON 1 Europeans Set Sail
LESSON 2 Europeans Reach the Americas
LESSON 3 Spain Builds an Empire
LESSON 4 The Race for Empires
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United States History
LESSON 1 Europeans Set Sail
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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United States History
Lesson 1
Viking Sailors Reach North America
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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United States History
Lesson 1
Looking toward the Sea
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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Lesson 1
Main Idea 2 (continued)
Advancement of Exploration
Motivations for Exploration Technological Advances
• To find sea routes to develop additional • Better instruments made it possible for
trade with Asia sailors to travel the open seas.
• To spread Christianity and convert more - The astrolabe enabled navigators to use
people the stars to chart location.
• Many Europeans wanted to learn more • The Portuguese began designing ships that
about Asia and its culture. were smaller, lighter, and easier to steer.
- Caravels used triangular sails that allowed
ships to sail against the wind.
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Lesson 1
A Sea Route to Asia
Main Idea 3
Portuguese sailors sailed around Africa and found a sea route to Asia.
Rounding Africa
• 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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Lesson 1
Main Idea 3 (continued)
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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LESSON 2 Europeans Reach the Americas
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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Lesson 2
Columbus Sails across the Atlantic
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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Lesson 2
Main Idea 1 (continued)
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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Lesson 2
Main Idea 1 (continued)
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, which moved the Line
of Demarcation 800 miles further west.
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Lesson 2
Other Explorers Sail to the Americas
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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Lesson 2
Main Idea 2 (continued)
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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LESSON 3 Spain Builds an Empire
Big Idea
Spain established a large empire in the Americas.
Main Ideas
• Spanish conquistadors conquered the Aztec and 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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United States History
Lesson 3
Spanish Conquistadors
Main Idea 1
Spanish conquistadors conquered the Aztec and 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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Lesson 3
Main Idea 1 (continued)
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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Lesson 3
Main Idea 1 (continued)
Conquest of the Inca Empire
• 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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Lesson 3
Main Idea 1 (continued)
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:
- 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.
- 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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Lesson 3
Exploring the Borderlands of New Spain
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.
• 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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Lesson 3
Spanish Treatment of Native Americans
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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LESSON 4 The Race for Empires
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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Lesson 4
Events in Europe
Main Idea 1
Events in Europe affected settlement of North America.
The Protestant Reformation
• 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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Lesson 4
Main Idea 1 (continued)
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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Lesson 4
Events in Europe
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 had a Dutch expedition to present-day New York in 1609.
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Lesson 4
European Presence in North America
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.
English Presence in the New World
• 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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Lesson 4
Main Idea 3 (continued)
French Presence in the New World
• 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 relationships with the Native Americans.
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Lesson 4
Main Idea 3 (continued)
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 and • New Christina, the first Swedish settlement,
Hudson rivers. 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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