Objectives for UNIT 1

At the end of this Unit, students will be able to answer the following (AP Students all, regular students two): 

Identity – How did the identities of colonizing and indigenous American societies change as a result of contact in the Americas?

Work, Exchange, and Technology – How did the Columbian Exchange – the mutual transfer of material goods, commodities, animals, and diseases – affect interaction between Europeans and natives and among indigenous peoples in North America?

Peopling – Where did different groups settle in the Americas (before contact) and how and why did they move to and within the Americas (after contact)?

Politics and Power – How did Spain’s early entry into colonization in the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America shape European and American developments in this period?

America in the World – How did European attempts to dominate the Americas shape relations between Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans?

Environment and Geography – How did pre-contact populations of North America relate to their environments?  How did contact with Europeans and Africans change these relations in North America?

Ideas, Beliefs, and Cultures – How did cultural contact challenge the religious and other values systems of peoples from the Americas, Africa, and Europe?