Lecture notes
Culture & Literature 3.1 (American history)
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Providing in-class notes from the subject Culture & Literature. Summarizes the full course plus important years
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CULTURE & LITERATUREAmerican History
ENSC3A01X
YEAR 3
ADR
,Culture & literature
Lesson 1: American history up to 1700
15000 years ago people moved to Alaska and more parts of North-America. The Americas were one
of the last places to be settled. By the end of the ice age, a large piece of land called the Beringia
gradually disappeared. As these people spread out, they started tribes.
The Plain Indians were nomadic.
The East Coast Indians were seminomadic. (Wampanoags)
The natives built cities bigger than London way before the Europeans. They had impressive
architecture named Adobe houses. The Native Americans smoked tobacco during ceremonies but the
Europeans became addicted to it. They were also very good at farming, especially using corn. Some
tribes also had cliff dwellings, they built their houses in cliffs.
Leif Erikson was the first European to set foot on North-America.
American history is a product of English history, English colonisation had the most impact.
In 1492 Columbus discovered the Caribbean islands (Sails the Ocean Blue). He gave the Arawak
people diseases and killed a lot of them. He brought slavery and violence. The Europeans wanted to
find a route to Asia because the other road became very dangerous. Columbus made 4 voyages but
never set foot on America.
Gold was also a major factor for the colonisation of America.
The Great Dying: 56 Million Native Americans died, which dropped the earth’s temperature and
caused a mini ice-age. This happened because of Columbus.
They call the Native-Americans Indians because Columbus thought he had reached India.
Spanish Colonization: The citizens gave the Spanish a lot of gold but when he threw a bible on the
ground they still killed him (ruler of the native city). The Spanish were the biggest colonizers. They
spend all their gold on the war.
St. Augustine was the first official colony and was founded by the Spanish.
British Colonization: 1607 the first British colonizers arrived. They left because religious reasons and
also wanted gold and a passage to Asia (counts for every colonizer). Queen Elizabeth sees all the gold
the Spanish bring home and becomes jealous. She asks her presumed lover (Sir Walter Raleigh) to do
something about this and he sends boys to Roanoke (lost colony). They went back to get some ladies
because they could not grow their colony without them. They went back 3 years later, where they
disappeared. The only thing written on the wall was Croatoan.
Jamestown(1607) is the first official colony, it was set up in Virginia. They used indentured servants
to flourish.
The Pilgrims: They wanted to set up a new church with the ideas of Calvinism. The English were very
motivated to leave because the English tortured you if you had a different religion than the Anglo-
Saxon religion. They came across a nice tribe but the Pilgrims killed them. They arrived on the
Mayflower boat.
The Pilgrims wanted their own independent religion (Oliver Cromwell was one).
1
, What effect has Puritanism had on American society today? They are still to be found in the culture
of some Americans. For example the abortion ban in Texas. Christianity is extremely important in
today’s American society.
Thanksgiving: Squanto is an Indian who was abducted, learned English and got back to America. He
helped the English how to crop and farm because the environment was different. They held a
thanksgiving dinner. Eventually more colonizers came and they said the Native Americans did not
subdue their land, according to them.
Salem Witch Trials: (1692) It started with two girls, Abigail and Anne. They played but these plays
became worse (perhaps of the fungus on corn). These girls got blamed for being witches. Everyone
started blaming each other and 20 people got killed. The woman blamed each other but the men did
not.
Colonisation of the Dutch: At first they had no motivation to go to the New World. They gave some
Dutchmen Patroonships, so they were the boss of a piece of land (looks like feudalism). They did not
have the military power to conquer, so they had to think outside the box. They are still some signs of
the Dutch colonisation, like Harlem. Henry Hudson set sail for Holland and eventually started the
East India Company.
Between 1652-1674 the Dutch and English fought. The Dutch traded their piece of land for Suriname,
eventually.
Colonisation of the French: They stole as many furs as they could, this was their main reason to go to
America. The French loved the local population in Canada. They had children with the Native
Americans and had children called Metis people. The Metis were French citizens by birth.
Jacque Cartier was their first explorer.
Inmates and prostitutes were send to Louisiana by King Louis XIV.
Which practice did France employ sufficient people to its colonies? Promise of furs and interbreeding
with the native people.
Test Question: Why is Christopher Columbus seen by as some as an evil man? Explain with 3
examples: He killed many natives, gave them diseases, did not even set foot on what is now the USA,
thought he had arrived in India, he paved the way for other colonizers and set the tone.
Lesson 2: English wars and the New American Republic
The Eighteenth century America
The French and the English had major religious clashes. The French were Catholic while the English
were a mix between Protestants and Pilgrims, that had fled the country because they thought it was
too Catholic and for religious freedom .Also the political climate had changed drastically in England.
There was more religious freedom and this had influence on the 13 colonies.
The Benjamin Franklin Cartoon: Join or die
Unity is needed to build a nation. Nation building is
always a bloody business, it has always been.
2
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