Civilisation Américaine du 19.09.2011

Avant de commencer le cours, Mme Canel a présenté le trvail que nous aurions à faire pour le 7 NOVEMBRE ! DON'T FORGET !


What does it mean to be American ? ==> Pride, freedom, way of life.

Despite many people's differencies, America is quite united. For instance, after 2001, New Yorkers showed they could be as one and they buried their reputation of fast and selfish people. Many people see America as a refuge, they were looking for richness or freedom. Some found what they were looking for. In spite of the crisis, America is still a land of dreams ( Example : Obama comes from a middle class family). If you work hard enough, you can get what you want ( That is one of the Alerican value). Thomas Jefferson said that men were created equal. To understand modern America, we have to look back on history.

Pre-columbian America

Who are the real native Americans ? ( sheet)

Today there are over 2 million of native Americans. There 769 tribes but there are actually many more but government doesn't recognize all of them, Why ? Some want to be recognized federally, it's a political question, a money question because if they're independant they'll be taxes exempt. There is a difference between the native Americans and the Eskimos ( sheet), they're the ancestors.

All the bones that have been found are from homo sapiens, so those bones come also from people who migrated. There are several propositions : They may come from Asia ( India) because of geographical evidence ( There was a land bridge that allowed the American ancestors to come to the American continent, They were maybe looking for food or were trying to reach a warmer climate). This land bridge is called Beringia.

Then, they migrated to south America. According to many prehistoric archeologists, the first people coming to North America arrived ca 15 000 and 8000 bc. During the archaic period, men change themselves into farmers. They were not behaving as " beasts" anymore. Men learnt how to conserve food and a kind of society was born ( sheet).

After, there was the woodland period ( sheet).

Mississippian period in southeast only ( sheet) ( cultivation of tobacco and sunflowers especially). The Indians only brought with them the domesticated dogs. They raised turkeys but to a very limited extent, they didn't thing about raising animals.

Central and South American Indian Developement ( sheet).

• Mayan society ( guatemala) : They lived into the forests and built temples especially. They invented their own writing system and they were well-known astronomers even though they didn't have telescops. They were given credit to cultivate corn
• Inca Society ( Peru) : They built high walls and they also had very fast runners and very good irrigation canals to feed the crops. There were given credit for cultivation of tomato and potato, they had no writing system but their society was strongly developed.
• Aztec Society ( Mexico) : They were extraodinary architects, they also built temples and pyramids. They were also good at astronomy.

Those communities lived in isolation from the world. When Europeans arrived, small pox was the disease that wiped out. Many researches based on archeological evidence showed that 95% of the indian americans died after the european settlement. By 1800, there were about 600 000 native Americans. By 1900, due to political reasons, there were also 250 000 of them left. Today, every two weeks, a language is lost. It was a huge loss.

European exploration ( sheet) : There were land routes, the spice route for example through the land. But, in 1492, Columbus reached caribbean lands, he had read Marco Polo's books about reoutes and he was sure he sould find a shorter route to Orient. That's how he found the islands ( Today it is the Island of Samana Cay). Columbus never reached North America contrary to what we can think. It was a beginning of a new history : for Europeans because there was a new land and it was the end of the aboroginal history because they were colonized after ( sheet). Spanish and Portuguese gain money thanks to exploration. They were competing and there was a fear of war betweek spain and Portugal. Pope Alexander decided to settle the situation in 1494 with the Treaty of Tordesillas, He divided the Atlantic ocaen into two halfs ( sheet). This traty made spain the richest country in Europe ( sheet). Ponce de Leon was the one to be interested in North America, he was looking for the fountain of youth and he thought he could find it in a place named florida. Hernando de Soo introduces horses and pigs to Mississippi.

There were also some italian and portuguese navigators sailing for Spain : Vespucci wrote in detail everything.

Magellan : We have learnt a lot from his voyages, more than from all the other voyages. One of the oldest and famous settlement was in Saint Aougustine in 1565 ( Florida). Spain colognized some lands and tried to christinize the natives ( christian missions thanks to the sending of many priests). (aboriginal people : slaves to find gold). New Mexico : Santa fe : The oldest working capital , founded in 1609.

British exploration : (sheet) The Cabots tried to find a new route to Orient via north america. British used spain's navigation habits to explore north america. There was a competition between Spain and Britain. Elizabet the 1^st sent trading ships, called then Elizabeth" sea dogs". They had a good navy. Philip second of spain wanted to attack this powerful navy. He damaged the spanish armada and became known as the spanish invicible armada. ( british beat the spanish armada). Spain's defeat marked the opening of the door for the english power.

French exploration : fur, fishing inductries ( sheet). ( coureurs : trappeurs). Years after, France hired several explorers Verrazzano and Cartier. Those posts of Canada florished ( new france , huronia).

To sum up, we can say that French aim to trade whereas British wanted to make bigger their power in the world.