APUSH Unit 1 REVIEW (Period 1: 1491-1607)—Everything You NEED to Know

Summary

This video script offers an in-depth look at Unit 1 of the AP US History curriculum, focusing on the societal makeup of pre-Columbian America and the impact of European arrival. It highlights the diversity of Native American cultures, from agricultural pueblos to nomadic tribes, and the significant changes brought by the Columbian Exchange. The script delves into the societal and economic shifts in Europe, the Spanish colonization and encomienda system, and the complex racial hierarchy of the casta system. It also touches on the justifications Europeans used for exploitation and the role of religion in shaping colonial attitudes.

Takeaways

• 🌍 The script provides an overview of Unit 1 of the AP US History curriculum, focusing on the societal makeup of the Americas before and after European arrival.
• 🏞️ Native American societies were incredibly diverse, with various lifestyles including farming, nomadic hunter-gatherers, and complex urban civilizations.
• 🌱 The Pueblo people of Utah and Colorado were farmers with advanced irrigation systems and famous cliff dwellings.
• 🐃 The Great Basin and Great Plains regions were home to nomadic hunter-gatherers, such as the Ute people, who relied on buffalo hunting and gathering.
• 🏡 The Pacific Northwest had permanent settlements due to abundant resources, with tribes like the Chumash and Chinook building large villages and trade networks.
• 🌾 The Iroquois in the Northeast and the Cahokia in the Mississippi River Valley were farmers with communal living in long houses and a centralized government, respectively.
• 🛶 European exploration was driven by political unification, a wealthy upper class seeking luxury goods, and the need for alternative trade routes due to Muslim control of land routes.
• 🚢 The Portuguese and Spanish utilized new maritime technologies and adapted old ones for navigation and trade, leading to the Age of Discovery.
• 🌐 The Columbian Exchange refers to the widespread transfer of people, animals, plants, and diseases between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres after Columbus's voyage.
• 💰 The influx of wealth from the Americas, especially gold and silver, led to a shift from feudalism to capitalism in Europe, with the rise of joint-stock companies.
• 📜 Spain introduced the encomienda system in the Americas, which was a form of forced labor that later evolved into the importation of African slaves due to native populations' decline.
• 🏛️ The Spanish also implemented the casta system, a racial hierarchy in the Americas, with peninsulares at the top and native Americans at the bottom.

Q & A

What is the main focus of Unit 1 of the AP US History curriculum?

The main focus of Unit 1 is to understand the societal makeup of the Americas before the arrival of Europeans and the impact of European arrival on these societies.

What is the 'AP US History Ultimate Review Pack' mentioned in the video?

The 'AP US History Ultimate Review Pack' is a set of review materials created to help students get an A in their class and a five on their exam, including note guides, full AP practice exams, and multiple choice questions for practice.

How did Native American societies differ based on their environment?

Native American societies were diverse, with some being farmers, like the Pueblo people, others being hunter-gatherers in the Great Basin and Great Plains regions, and some constructing fishing villages or massive empires in coastal areas.

What is the significance of the Pueblo people's agricultural practices?

The Pueblo people were significant for their advanced irrigation systems and the cultivation of crops like beans, squash, and maize, which indicates a settled population and agricultural sophistication.

Why did European kingdoms seek new sea-based trade routes?

European kingdoms sought new sea-based trade routes due to the control of land-based trading routes by Muslims, which prevented Europeans from establishing trade with Asian regions on their own terms.

What was the impact of the Colombian Exchange on the world?

The Colombian Exchange led to the transfer of people, animals, plants, and diseases between the East and the West, causing massive ecological changes and significantly altering societies and cultures worldwide.

What were some of the food items transferred from the Americas to Europe during the Colombian Exchange?

Food items like potatoes, tomatoes, and maize were transferred from the Americas to Europe, enriching European diets and agriculture.

How did the influx of wealth from the Americas affect European society and economy?

The influx of wealth from the Americas induced a shift from feudalism to a more capitalistic system, with the rise of joint-stock companies funding exploration and trade ventures.

What was the 'encomienda system' and why was it introduced by the Spanish?

The 'encomienda system' was an economic system where Spaniards forced natives to work on their plantations and extract gold and silver. It was introduced to harness agricultural wealth and exploit the native population for labor.

What is the 'casta system' and how did it categorize people in the Americas?

The 'casta system' was a social hierarchy introduced by the Spanish that categorized people based on their racial ancestry, with Spaniards born in Spain (peninsulares) at the top, and Native Americans at the bottom.

How did the relationship between Europeans and Native Americans evolve during colonization?

The relationship was largely difficult and brutal, with Europeans exploiting Native Americans for labor, military alliances, and conversion to Christianity. However, there was also cultural exchange, with each group adopting practices and customs useful to them.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to AP US History Unit 1

This paragraph introduces the video's focus on Unit 1 of the AP US History curriculum, aiming to provide comprehensive knowledge for students. The presenter mentions the AP US History Ultimate Review Pack, a resource designed to assist students in achieving high grades and exam scores. The big picture of the unit is to understand the pre-European societal makeup of the Americas and the subsequent impact of European arrival. The paragraph emphasizes the diversity of Native American societies, which were not monolithic but varied based on their environments, from farming communities like the Pueblo to coastal villagers such as the Chumash, and from hunter-gatherers in the Great Plains to the urban civilizations of the Iroquois and the Mississippi River Valley's Cahokia.

05:01

🛶 The Maritime Technologies and European Exploration

The second paragraph delves into the maritime technology that facilitated European exploration and expansion. It discusses the Portuguese advancements in ship design and navigational tools like the astrolabe and the use of astronomical charts. Spain's entry into maritime activities is highlighted, with Christopher Columbus's westward voyage in search of a new route to Asia, which led to the discovery of the Americas. The paragraph also covers the profound impact of the Columbian Exchange, which involved the transfer of food, animals, plants, and diseases between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, leading to significant ecological and societal changes in both Europe and the Americas.

10:02

🏛 The Casta System and Social Reordering in the Americas

This paragraph examines the Spanish colonization of the Americas, focusing on the economic and social systems implemented, such as the encomienda system, which forced Native Americans into labor. It discusses the challenges faced by the Spanish, including maintaining control over the native population and the devastating effects of smallpox. The introduction of African slave labor is mentioned as a solution to these issues. The paragraph also explains the casta system, which established a social hierarchy based on racial ancestry, and touches on the cultural exchanges and conflicts between Europeans and Native Americans. It concludes with a discussion of the justifications used by Europeans for their treatment of both Native Americans and African laborers, referencing religious and philosophical beliefs of the time.

Keywords

💡Societal Makeup

Societal makeup refers to the composition of a society in terms of its cultural, ethnic, and social structures. In the video, it is used to describe the diverse native cultures in the Americas before European arrival, emphasizing the variety of lifestyles from farming communities to hunter-gatherers and urban civilizations. The script mentions the pueblo people, coastal villagers, and the Iroquois to illustrate the complexity and diversity of pre-Columbian societies.

💡European Colonization

European colonization is the process by which European powers established control over territories and peoples outside of Europe. The video discusses how the arrival of Europeans, starting with Christopher Columbus, led to significant changes in the Americas, including the spread of new diseases, the introduction of new species, and the exploitation of resources. This keyword is central to understanding the video's theme of the impact of European contact on the Americas.

💡Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange refers to the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, and diseases between the Americas and the Old World following the voyage of Christopher Columbus. The video uses this term to describe the bi-directional exchange that transformed both continents, including the introduction of potatoes, tomatoes, and maize to Europe, and the introduction of wheat, rice, and livestock to the Americas.

💡Encomienda System

The encomienda system was a Spanish labor system that, while technically not slavery, functioned similarly by requiring indigenous people to work for Spanish landowners. The video explains that this system was used to exploit native labor for agricultural production and mining, and it led to significant native population decline due to harsh conditions and the spread of diseases like smallpox.

💡Casta System

The casta system was a complex social hierarchy in the Spanish colonies that categorized individuals based on their racial ancestry. The video script describes how this system stratified society, with peninsulares (Spaniards born in Spain) at the top and indigenous peoples at the bottom, reflecting the racial and social prejudices of the colonial era.

💡Feudalism

Feudalism is a historical social, political, and economic system characterized by the exchange of labor or goods for protection and land rights. The video mentions feudalism to contrast the pre-Columbian European societal structure with the emerging capitalistic system that was influenced by the influx of wealth from the Americas.

💡Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production and the exchange of goods and services for profit. The script explains how the wealth from the Americas contributed to the shift from feudalism to capitalism in Europe, with the rise of joint-stock companies and the pursuit of profit through exploration and trade.

💡Joint-Stock Companies

Joint-stock companies are businesses where ownership is divided into transferable shares, which can be bought and sold. The video script uses this term to illustrate the shift towards capitalistic funding models for exploration and trade, as opposed to state-sponsored ventures like those of Spain during the time of Columbus.

💡Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous peoples are the first inhabitants of a particular region prior to the arrival of other populations. The video discusses the diverse cultures and lifestyles of indigenous peoples in the Americas, who were affected by European colonization, diseases, and the exploitation of their labor and resources.

💡Disease Exchange

Disease exchange refers to the transmission of diseases between populations that previously had no contact with each other. The video script highlights the devastating impact of European diseases like smallpox on indigenous populations, who had no immunity to these new illnesses, leading to significant population declines.

💡Cultural Exchange

Cultural exchange is the sharing of ideas, knowledge, and practices between different cultures. The video touches on how both Europeans and indigenous peoples adopted practices from each other, such as the English learning to cultivate maize from the natives and the natives adopting iron tools from the English, reflecting the mutual, albeit often unequal, influence of these encounters.

Highlights

Introduction to Unit 1 of the AP US History curriculum focusing on the societal makeup of the Americas before European arrival.

The diversity of Native American cultures, debunking the monolithic group stereotype.

The Pueblo people's advanced farming and irrigation techniques in what is now Utah and Colorado.

Great Basin and Plains region's nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle and the Ute people.

Coastal and Pacific Northwest native settlements with abundant fish, game, and trade networks, such as the Chumash and Chinook peoples.

The Iroquois people's communal living in long houses and their farming practices.

Cahokia civilization in the Mississippi River Valley with a centralized government and large population.

The impact of the Columbian Exchange, including the transfer of food, animals, plants, and diseases between the Americas and Europe.

European kingdoms' political unification and the wealthy upper class's demand for luxury goods from Asia.

Portugal's maritime innovations and establishment of trading posts around Africa, leading to the Indian Ocean trade network.

Spain's entry into maritime exploration and the Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula influencing their colonial ambitions.

Christopher Columbus's voyage to find new wealth in Asian markets and the discovery of the Americas.

The profound societal and economic shift in Europe due to the influx of wealth from the Americas.

The transition from feudalism to capitalism in Europe, influenced by joint stock companies funding exploration.

Spain's colonization and the introduction of the encomienda system, leading to forced labor of natives.

The Casta system categorizing people based on racial ancestry in the Americas under Spanish rule.

Europeans' cultural exchange and adoption of practices useful to them from the natives and vice versa.

The development of belief systems by Europeans to justify the exploitation of natives and African laborers.

The debate among priests about the humanity of Native Americans and the laws passed to end their slavery.

Transcripts

hey there and welcome back to heimlich's

history in this video i'm going to teach

you everything you need to know about

unit 1 of the ap us history curriculum

so if you're ready to get the brain cows

milked let's get to it now you should

know that this video is part of a larger

set of review materials called the ap us

history ultimate review pack it's a

resource i made to help you get an a in

your class and a five on your exam it's

got note guides it's got two full ap

practice exams it's got multiple choice

questions for you to practice it's got

everything you need to feel confident in

this class and on your exam so if you

want it link in description below let's

go so the big picture of unit wanted to

understand the societal makeup of the

americas before the europeans arrived

and then once the europeans did arrive

how did that affect them so let's begin

in the beginning and talk about how the

native societies existed before the

arrival of the europeans and the big

idea you need to get situated inside

your brain fold for this section is this

that the natives of the american

continent were a diverse people that had

diverse societies based on the kinds of

environments in which they lived now we

tend to think that the native americans

were sort of a monolithic group that

sort of roamed the plains hunting

buffaloes and then returned at night to

sleep in their teepees now the truth is

some of them lived that way but the

native american cultures were much more

diverse than native americans in coastal

regions constructed fishing villages

there were other groups who lived more

hunter gatherer nomadic type lifestyles

and still others congregated in

magnificent cities and built massive

empires so let's do our best to come to

terms with the diversity of the native

american cultures that existed on the

american continent before the europeans

arrived and will do so by looking at

them each in turn let's begin in what is

today utah and colorado and let me

introduce you to the pueblo people the

pueblo were farmers which is to say a

settled population who spent their time

planting and harvesting crops like beans

and squash in a corn-like crop called

maize and frankly their maze was amazing

don't act like that's not funny and

within these farms there's evidence of

advanced irrigation systems which just

means they were able to take river water

and divert it so that it watered their

crops and they also built small urban

centers made out of hardened clay bricks

and perhaps they're most famous for the

magnificent cliff dwellings they left

behind okay now let's go a little to the

north and what is now colorado all the

way up to canada this is known as the

great basin region in the great plains

region of the continent and the folks

who lived here were nomadic and they

were more hunter-gatherers than their

neighbors to the south they wandered the

great plains hunting buffalo and

gathering enough food to live now these

groups didn't build cities and towns but

they did organize themselves into small

egalitarian kinship bands and if you

want a name for one of these groups a

good example is the ute people over in

the northwest and on down the pacific

coast you had native peoples who develop

permanent settlements because of the

abundance of fish and small game and a

diversity of plant life for example in

present day california you had the

chumash people they built villages that

were capable of sustaining nearly a

thousand people and they participated in

regional trade networks up and down the

coast up in the pacific northwest you've

got the chinook peoples who lived in

similar ways to the chumash except they

built extensive plank houses and which

housed whole families in kinship groups

and now if we fly across the continent

to the north east i can introduce you to

the iroquois people like the pueblo they

were farmers who planted some amazing

crops second time still funny they lived

communally in what are called long

houses which i maintain is a pretty good

name because they were long and they

were houses which would be very

confusing if they were actually short in

tents

i was cracking myself up over here

it was great anyway the point is they

lived in long houses that were

constructed from the abundant timber

that was available in the area let's

move westward a little and meet the

folks who lived in the mississippi river

valley the groups who lived here were

again farmers because of the rich soil

found in the region they also

participated in trade up and down the

main waterways found in that region and

probably the most famous and certainly

the largest of these groups was the

cahokia which was a civilization

boasting somewhere between 10 000 and 30

000 people and this civilization had a

centralized government led by powerful

chieftains now the point of this survey

of all these different peoples is to get

you to understand one thing the natives

of america developed distinct and

increasingly complex societies and those

societies were affected and shaped by

the environment in which they lived and

not only that they utilized vast trading

networks that stretched all the way from

south america all the way through north

america and hark what doth my eyes

behold upon yonder shore

white people but wait let's back up and

try to understand why europeans were

arriving on the american shores at all

first of all it's going to be very

important for you to know that from the

1300s to the 1400s european kingdoms

were changing significantly they were

going through a process of political

unification and were developing stronger

more centralized states that were

governed by monarchs one of the

consequences of all this was a growing

wealthy upper class who developed a

taste for luxury goods from asia but

there was a problem muslims controlled

many of the land-based trading routes

that stretched from europe to asia and

that means that europeans in general

were unable to establish trade with

those regions on their own terms and

that led them to seek out sea-based

routes for trade now the first european

mover in this respect was portugal and

they established a series of trading

posts around africa historians call this

a trading post empire and eventually

gained a strong foothold in the indian

ocean trade network now one of the chief

ways they were able to do this was by

deploying new maritime technology and

adapting old technology and stop for a

second if you don't know what the word

maritime means it just means having to

do with the sea so let's get some

examples of these new and old

technologies that the portuguese used

they made use of updated astronomical

charts which helped them with their

reckoning as did their use of the

astrolabe they also experimented with

new ship designs which were smaller and

faster and more nimble upon the rivers

in the seas and they were devoted only

to trade and on those ships they used

borrowed technology like the latin sail

and the stern post rudder all of which

helped the ships navigate more

accurately now after seeing the success

that portugal had spain went ahead and

jumped into the maritime game too during

this time spain had just finished the

reconquest of the iberian peninsula from

the north african muslim moors and this

had a couple of important consequences

first the reconquest led a fire in their

bellies to spread catholic christianity

far and wide second the new power which

the victory brought led them to seek new

economic opportunities in the east and

now enter christopher columbus he was an

italian sailor who showed up to the

spanish court of ferdinand and isabella

seeking sponsorship in order to sail

west in order to find new wealth in

asian markets when he proposed this plan

to ferdinand and isabella and showed

them the kind of massive wealth that

they could gain as a result of it their

response which when being translated was

uh duh and so columbus set off from

spain and sailed west across the

atlantic ocean in 1492. and a few months

later he and his men ran into a giant

continent that no european knew was

there um what about the vikings okay yes

the vikings but you know

now columbus landed in what we know as

the caribbean and found great wealth

among the inhabitants of several of the

islands and upon his return to spain

tales began to spread far and wide of

the hidden wealth of the new world and

this created a fierce competition among

european nations like portugal and

france and england to explore these

lands now i kind of breezed over a

little quickly but columbus's landing on

san salvador in the bahamas was like a

major turning point in world history and

us history massive ecological changes

occurred throughout the world because of

the bringing together of these two

hemispheres now the general term for

this exchange is the colombian exchange

by definition the columbian exchange is

the transfer of people animals plants

and diseases from the east to the west

and from the west to the east now it's

going to be important for you to know

some of the specific items that were

transferred between these two

hemispheres and just for poops and

giggles let's start with food from the

americas food like potatoes and tomatoes

and maize cross the atlantic into europe

and needless to say when the europeans

tasted this maze they were like this is

amazing

all right three times too much now from

europe to the americas came things like

wheat and rice and soybeans in terms of

animals the americas sent over turkeys

for example europeans introduces cattle

and pigs and horses to the americas of

great importance was the gold and silver

found in the americas and transferred to

europe and not to be forgotten people

were the subjects of this transfer as

well europeans made permanent homes in

the americas and also introduced

enslaved africans to the continents and

finally maybe most significant was the

exchange of disease among the two

hemispheres when the europeans arrived

in the americas they brought smallpox

with them and that disease was entirely

novel to the native populations of

america and therefore they had no

immunity to it whatsoever and as a

result huge portions of their

populations were decimated by the new

disease on some islands whole

populations were nearly extinguished now

it's arguable whether the native

americans introduced any diseases to the

europeans but the europeans during their

travels picked up syphilis and at least

the story they told themselves was that

they got it from the natives now let's

get back to the wealth that came from

the americas into europe because that

had profound consequences namely it

induced a profound societal and economic

shift in european states you see in the

centuries prior to this the societal and

economic makeup of european states was

largely organized by a system called

feudalism under this system peasants

lived and worked on a noble's land in

exchange for that noble's protection but

this influx of wealth had the effect of

shifting feudalism into a more

capitalistic system now capitalism is an

economic system based on private

ownership and free exchange and part of

the impetus for this shift was the rise

of joint stock companies to fund

exploration now a joint stock company is

just a limited liability organization in

which a plurality of investors pooled

their money to fund a venture and the

limited liability piece means that if

the venture failed then no one suffered

the consequences entirely but if it

succeeded everyone shared in the profits

this is a much different model for

funding exploration than the

state-sponsored exploration like you saw

in spain okay now with all of those

generalities established we need to take

a moment to look at the first major

european player in the americas when it

comes to colonization and that would be

spain now upon gaining a foothold in the

americas the spanish quickly realized

that it was not the extraction of

precious metals like silver and gold

that was going to make them extremely

wealthy although they did pursue that

they found that it was going to be

agriculture that was going to make the

boom boom rain so in order to harness

all that agricultural ambition they

introduced something called the

encomienda system this was an economic

system whereby spaniards forced natives

to work on their sprawling plantations

and extract gold and silver in other

locations and the spaniards found that

this system benefited them for a while

but they did start having problems the

first problem is that they started

having trouble keeping the natives

subservient and enslaved because the

natives were native and the spaniards

were not the natives found many ways in

order to escape the brutality of their

enslavement and their subservience the

second problem encountered by the

spaniards was that the natives were rude

enough to continue dying in massive

numbers because of the spread of

smallpox so the solution to both of

these problems was the importation of

african and slave laborers to work the

plantations this was a good solution in

the spanish perspective because the

africans didn't know the american

geography and were less likely to escape

and bonus africans have been mingling

with europeans for centuries as part of

vast trade networks in afro-eurasia and

so they had developed more immunity to

european diseases now it's going to be

important for you to know that as spain

came to dominate central and south

america they fundamentally reordered the

society that was there they introduced a

new system of social classes called the

casta system and it categorized people

in the americas based on their racial

ancestry on top of the heap were the

peninsulares who were spaniards born in

spain which is to say on the iberian

peninsula hence peninsulares under them

were the cryoyos or the creoles which

were spaniards born in the americas and

on the next level down were the casters

which had several subdivisions mestizos

were those born of spanish and native

american blood mulattos were those of

spanish and african blood and still

lower you had the africans themselves

and least of all were the native

americans now as i just explained for

the most part europeans look down on the

natives to the europeans the native

americans were basically just good for

exploitation military alliances forced

labor and subjects of christian

conversion and even though these two

groups were often in contention with one

another each adopted practices and

customs from the other's culture which

was useful to them for example shift to

north america for a moment and talk

about english colonization and you see

that the natives taught the english how

to hunt in the forest and how to

cultivate maize and the natives adopted

iron tools and weapons introduced by the

english even so the relationship between

the europeans and the natives was

largely difficult and very brutal and

the europeans developed elaborate

systems of belief that helped them

justify their treatment of the natives

many spaniards believe that native

americans were ontologically less than

human and that enabled them to dole out

the harsh punishments and the harsh

treatment that they gave them in their

colonial venture for example priests

like juan guiness de sepulveda argued

that native americans were indeed less

than human and they actually benefited

from the harsh labor conditions but

there were priests who oppose this kind

of thinking chief among them was

bartolome de las casas las casas had

actually spent time among the natives

and came to see their humanity as worthy

of defense and he actually persuaded the

king to pass laws ending the slavery of

the natives but don't worry the wealthy

nobles who saw their hopes of wealth

disappearing with the abolishment of

slavery went ahead and got the king to

repeal those laws europeans also

developed belief systems that enabled

them to justify the exploitation of

african laborers as well and this they

got from the bible in the book of

genesis noah's son ham sins against his

father and as a result noah curses ham's

son kanan and all his descendants to be

slaves for the rest of their lives but

europeans during this period of

exploration and colonization came to the

conclusion that black's skin must have

been the mark of ham because africans

were destined to be slaves from the

beginning now to be clear that is not

what the bible says but that is how they

read it all right that's what you need

to know about unit one of ap u.s history

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