AP US History AMSCO Guided Notes

1.1: Contextualizing Period 1

AP US History
AMSCO Guided Notes

AP US History Guided Notes

AMSCO 1.1 - Contextualizing Period 1

Learning Objectives

  1. Explain the context for European encounters in the Americas from 1491 to 1607
I. Cultural Diversity in the Americas

1. How did geography and climate influence the development of different Native American cultures?

2. What are examples of how Native Americans transformed their environments to support agriculture?

II. Motives for Exploration

1. What were the primary motivations that drove European explorers to the Americas?

2. How did European explorers typically gain control over Native American lands and resources?

III. Transatlantic Exchange

1. What was the Columbian Exchange and what types of goods and organisms were traded?

2. How did European crops and diseases affect Native American populations differently?

IV. Addition of Enslaved Africans

1. Why did Europeans bring enslaved Africans to the Americas and what work did they perform?

2. How did Native Americans and Africans respond to European domination?

V. European Colonies

1. What economic activities formed the foundation of Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Americas?

2. How did the extraction of precious metals from American colonies affect Spain's position in Europe?

Key Terms

synthesis

indigenous people

Christopher Columbus

transatlantic

cultural diversity

geography

climate

Native Americans

irrigation systems

European explorers

Christianity

Columbian Exchange

germs

epidemic

enslaved Africans

European colonies

plantations

precious metals

silver