Brinkley, Chapter 1, pages 1-11

I.         1492 in Context

            A.        Before Columbus

            B.        Factors, Motives, and Means

II.        Portuguese

            A.        Prince Henry

            B.        Bartholomew Diaz

                        1.         Cape of Good Hope - 1487

            C.        Vasco de Gama

                        1.         India - 1497-1502

III.       Christopher Columbus - 1492

IV.      Conquest and Colonization

            A.        Explorers and Conquistadors

                        1.         Ponce de Leon - Florida- 1513

                        2.         Hernando Cortes - Aztecs- 1519

                        3.         Hernando de Soto - Southeast- 1539-42

                        4.         Francisco de Coronado - Southwest- 1539-42

            B.        Empire

                        1.         Ecnomiendas

            C.        Critics

                        1.         Bartolome de las Casas

V.        Other European Exploration

VI.      Economy, Exchange, and Exploitation

VII.     Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade

Questions to Consider:

It has often been said that European colonization of America was motivated by “gold, God, and glory.” Is this an accurate interpretation?

What in western Europe contributed to the increasingly widespread interest in colonization?

In what ways did the peoples of the New and Old Worlds affect each other?

How did European knowledge of the New World change as a result of Columbus’s first voyage?

Beyond his “discovery” of the New World, what contributions (positive or negative) did Columbus make?

What did the Indian cultures contribute to the Europeans? Despite these contributions, why did the Europeans still think of the Native Americans as inferior?

What criticism did some Europeans level at the new world empires?