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" Coverage and scope To develop U.S. History , we solicited ideas from historians at all levels of higher education , from community colleges to PhD - granting universities . They told us about their courses , students , challenges , resources , and how a textbook can best meet the needs of them and their students . Th... |
other parts of the text , additions highlight the contributions of Black women to the Suffrage and the Civil Rights movements . Other additions deepen the descriptions of anti - LGBTQ discrimination and the struggle for LGBTQ rights . Finally , the sections discussing the 1980s have been expanded with additional aspect... |
- response format . The answers can be looked up in the text . • Critical Thinking Questions are higher - level , conceptual questions that ask students to demonstrate their understanding by applying what they have learned in each module to the whole of the chapter . They ask for outside - the - box thinking and reason... |
with our OpenStax titles at a low cost . To access the partner resources for your text , visit your book page on OpenStax.org . About the authors Senior contributing authors P. Scott Corbett , Ventura College Dr. Corbett ’s major fields of study are recent American history and American diplomatic history . He teaches a... |
history of technology . John M. Lund , Keene State College Dr. Lund ’s primary research focuses on early American history , with a special interest in oaths , Colonial New England , and Atlantic legal cultures . John has over 20 years of teaching experience . In addition to working with students at Keene State College ... |
, Alabama A&M University Tamm y Byron , Dalton State College Benjamin Carp , Brooklyn College , CUNY Sharon Deubreau , Rhodes State College Gene Fein , Fordham University Joel Franks , San Jose State University Raymond Frey , Centennial College Richard Gianni , Indiana University Northwest Larry Gregg , Missouri Univer... |
, Europeans developed an appetite for spices , silk , porcelain , sugar , and other luxury items from the East , for which they traded fur , timber , and Slavic people they captured and sold ( hence the word slave ) . But when the Silk Road , the long overland trading route from China to the Mediterranean , became cost... |
inhabitants of what would be named the Americas migrated across this bridge in search of food . When the glaciers melted , water engulfed Beringia , and the Bering Strait was formed . Later settlers came by boat across the narrow strait . ( The fact that Asians and Native Americans share genetic markers on a Y chromoso... |
formed the basis of their diet . They developed a mathematical system , built huge edifices , and devised a calendar that accurately predicted eclipses and solstices and that priest - astronomers used to direct the planting and harvesting of crops . Most important for our knowledge of these peoples , they created the o... |
called him Quetzalcoatl ) and the Maya ( to whom he was Kukulkan ) . The Olmec also developed a system of trade throughout Mesoamerica , giving rise to an elite class . The Y built the city - states of Copan , Tikal , and Chichen Itza along their major trade routes , as well as temples , statues of gods , pyramids , an... |
. THE AZTEC When the Spaniard Hernán Cortés arrived on the coast of Mexico in the sixteenth century , at the site of present - day Veracruz , he soon heard of a great city ruled by an emperor named Moctezuma . This city was tremendously wealthy — filled with gold — and took in tribute from surrounding tribes . The rich... |
• The Americas 11 FIGURE 1.6 This rendering of the Aztec island city of Tenochtitlán depicts the causeways that connected the central city to the surrounding land . Envoys from surrounding tribes brought tribute to the Emperor . Unlike the dirty , fetid cities of Europe at the time , Tenochtitlán was well planned , cle... |
throwing the body down from the temple . Aztec belief centered on supplying the gods with human blood — the ultimate sacrifice — to keep them strong and well . 12 1 • The Americas , Europe , and Africa Before 1492 Access for free at openstax.org . CLICK AND EXPLORE Explore Aztec-History.com ( http://openstax.org/l/azte... |
could not be extinguished with water , a water spout appeared in Lake Texcoco , and a woman could be heard wailing , “ O my children we are about to go forever . ” Moctezuma also had dreams and premonitions of impending disaster . These foretellings were recorded after the Aztecs ’ destruction . They do , however , giv... |
had no system of writing , however . They communicated and kept records using a system of colored strings and knots called the quipu ( Figure 1.8 ) . MY STORY 1.1 • The Americas 13 FIGURE 1.8 The Inca had no written language . Instead , they communicated and kept records by means of a system of knots and colored string... |
and called gold the “ sweat ” of the sun . Unlike the Maya and the Aztecs , they rarely practiced human sacrifice and usually offered the gods food , clothing , and coca leaves . In times of dire emergency , however , such as in the aftermath of earthquakes , volcanoes , or crop failure , they resorted to sacrificing p... |
cultures were much more widely dispersed than the Mayan , Aztec , and Incan societies , and did not have their population size or organized social structures . Although the cultivation of corn had made its way north , many Native people still practiced hunting and gathering . Horses , first introduced by the Spanish , ... |
of New Mexico , the Anasazi , whose name means “ ancient enemy ” or “ ancient ones , ” carved homes from steep cliffs accessed by ladders or ropes that could be pulled in at night or in case of enemy attack ( Figure 1.10 ) . FIGURE 1.10 To access their homes , the cliff - dwelling Anasazi used ropes or ladders that cou... |
, obsidian . With these materials , they created necklaces , woven mats , and exquisite carvings . What remains of their culture today are huge burial mounds and earthworks . Many of the mounds that were opened by archaeologists contained artworks and other goods that indicate their society was socially stratified . Pe... |
the large and complex societies of those to the west . Because they lived in small autonomous clans or tribal units , each group adapted to the specific environment in which it lived ( Figure 1.11 ) . These groups were by no means united , and warfare among tribes was common as they sought to increase their hunting and... |
— Native peoples did not practice , or in general even have the concept of , private ownership of land . The European Christian worldview , on the other hand , viewed land as the source of wealth . According to the Christian Bible , God created humanity in his own image with the command to use and subdue the rest of cr... |
arrived in the 1340s , however , when Genoese merchants returning from the Black Sea unwittingly brought with them a rat - borne and highly contagious disease , known as the bubonic plague . In a few short years , it had killed many millions , about one - third of Europe ’s population . A different strain , spread by a... |
city , into which they fled in times of danger from invaders . Much land was communally farmed at first , but as lords became more powerful , they extended their ownership and rented land to their subjects . Thus , although they were technically free , serfs were effectively bound to the land they worked , which suppor... |
began to thaw in early spring , peasants started tilling the soil with primitive wooden plows and crude rakes and hoes . Then they planted crops of wheat , rye , barley , and oats , reaping small yields that barely sustained the population . Bad weather , crop disease , or insect infestation could cause an entire villa... |
as the Roman Catholic Church and continuing to use Latin . Following this split , known as the Great Schism , each branch of Christianity maintained a strict organizational hierarchy . The pope in Rome , for example , oversaw a huge bureaucracy led by cardinals , known as “ princes of the church , ” who were followed b... |
lives of his parishioners . Ultimately , the pope decided all matters of theology , interpreting the will of God to the people , but he also had authority over temporal matters . Because the Church had the ability to excommunicate people , or send a soul to hell forever , even monarchs feared to challenge its power . I... |
Europe continued until 732 . Then , at the Battle of Tours ( in modern France ) , Charles Martel , nicknamed the Hammer , led a Christian force in defeating the army of Abdul Rahman al - Ghaqi . Muslims , however , retained control of much of Spain , where Córdoba , known for leather and wool production , became a majo... |
Lands , an area that extended from modern - day Turkey in the north along the Mediterranean coast to the Sinai Peninsula and that was also held by Muslims . The Crusades had begun . Religious zeal motivated the knights who participated in the four Crusades . Adventure , the chance to win land and a title , and the Chur... |
the negative side , the wide - scale persecution of Jews began . Christians classed them with the infidel Muslims and labeled them “ the killers of Christ . ” In the coming centuries , kings either expelled Jews from their kingdoms or forced them to pay heavy tributes for the privilege of remaining . Muslim - Christian... |
Florence also looked west . THE IBERIAN PENINSULA Although Norse explorers such as Leif Ericson , the son of Eric the Red who first settled Greenland , had reached Canada roughly five hundred years prior to Christopher Columbus ’ voyage , it was explorers sailing for Portugal and Spain who traversed the Atlantic throug... |
Henry VIII of England . Motives for European Exploration Historians generally recognize three motives for European exploration — God , glory , and gold . Particularly in the strongly Catholic nations of Spain and Portugal , religious zeal motivated the rulers to make converts and retake land from the Muslims . Prince H... |
staircase leading to the top of the marble wall , and forming the approach to the Palace . ] ” “ The hall of the Palace is so large that it could easily dine 6,000 people ; and it is quite a marvel to see how many rooms there are besides . The building is altogether so vast , so rich , and so beautiful , that no man on... |
prime motivating factor for Isabella , as she imagined her faith spreading to the East . Ferdinand , the more practical of the two , hoped to acquire wealth from trade . Most educated individuals at the time knew the Earth was round , so Columbus ’s plan to reach the East by sailing west was plausible . Though the calc... |
to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and encompasses lush rainforests along the equator , savannas on either side of the forest , and much drier land to the north . Until about 600 CE , most Africans were hunter - gatherers . Where water was too scarce for farming , herders maintained sheep , goats , cattle , or cam... |
the prophet Muhammad in 632 CE , Islam continued to spread quickly across North Africa , bringing not only a unifying faith but a political and legal structure as well . As lands fell under the control of Muslim armies , they instituted Islamic rule and legal structures as local chieftains converted , usually under pen... |
Africa . After Sundjata ’s rule , the court converted to Islam , and Muslim scribes played a large part in administration and government . Miners then discovered huge new deposits of gold east of the Niger River . By the fourteenth century , the empire was so wealthy that while on a hajj , or pilgrimage to the holy cit... |
sold , in the Nile Valley . It appears there was a slave - trade route through the Sahara that brought sub - Saharan Africans to Rome , which had enslaved people from all over the world . FIGURE 1.17 : Traders with a group of enslaved people connected at the neck . Muslim traders brought enslaved people to the North Af... |
of Africa , too , supplied enslaved people for the trade . In the New World , the institution of slavery assumed a new aspect when the mercantilist system demanded a permanent , identifiable , and plentiful labor supply . Enslaved Africans were both easily identified ( by their skin color ) and plentiful because of the... |
family farms were the norm . In the South , however , labor - intensive crops such as tobacco , rice , and indigo prevailed , and eventually the supply of indentured servants was insufficient to meet the demand . These workers served only for periods of three to seven years before being freed ; a more permanent labor s... |
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