second lecture :D

key words:
mesoamerica - present day mexico and guatemala
the Mayas - lived on Yucatan peninsula in mexico and guatemala, many olmec traditions, went into decline around 800AD
Incas
Aztecs - started as seminomadic warrior tribe, settled on an island in lake texcoco, built tenochtitlan which became mexico city, established a civilization,
mercantilism - when state subsidizes cost of trade to forge forward and discover new resources
capitalism
colonialism
conquistadors
The Columbian Exchange - exchange of ideas, goods, and diseases between cultures, cross-cultural exchange of goods and items

who discovered the americas? according to history as written by us, Columbus
were they really discovered? no

vikings discover NA
Erik the Red and Leif Eriksson around 1000
Chinese had a map in 1418
Muslims had maps of the americas in mid 1400's

Age of Discovery - intense period of travel, exploration, and curiosity, lots of different motivations
lots of traffic to india and china for spices, silk, and other exotic stuff
slave trade in africa
Columbus born in Genoa, Italy
never actually touched NA, just hit cuba, CA, and SA
found the jet stream/trade winds that allowed faster travel back to europe
found a rich culture built around ideas contrary to christian religion
had cities built around religious centers
columbus - hero or villain? probably both, did what he decided was need to get the job done, back then, hero definitely, now? monster to be jailed (but we would still use what he found)

Sir Walter Raleight founded roanoke, leaves for europe and comes back, colonists gone, second group goes, also gone
culture on NA, native americans in tribes, for security, near resources, etc, not stupid

by 1600's over 125K slaves
rapidly populating area
90% of native culture destroyed by smallpox, blight on native culture that could not be stopped
most europeans immunized by contact