Module 2
Atlantic World and First Encounters
A. The Atlantic world before 1492
Prior to 1492, the human world was divided into several realms. Although there
are many ways to define the environmental and cultural divides among human societies
of the time, in the most basic form these comprised three main geographic regions: the
connected continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa – the “Old World” – which were
somewhat separated by geographical obstacles but were also in constant and increasing
contact with each other by the fifteenth century; the South Pacific, which had sporadic
interaction with Asia; and the Americas, which, despite a few minor and infrequent
contacts, had been essentially separate from other human-inhabited regions since they
were cut off from the rest of the world some 13,000 years ago. Each of these regions
contained many thousands of individual human societies.
It should be immediately apparent, however, that the Americas were far more
isolated than other parts of the world. In some ways, this made little difference – there
were a number of parallel developments that made human cultures translatable to
foreigners, even as each society also retained unique and sometimes mutually
incomprehensible characteristics. This pattern of similarities and differences prevailed in
all parts of the world. It meant that, often, human societies encountered foreigners as
enemies or invaders, but also as allies and trading partners. However, the isolation of the
Americas resulted in some very significant biological differences, especially in human
disease ecology and in diversity of animal and plant life that would have very important
consequences for the peoples of these continents when they were reunited with
Europeans and Africans in 1492.
As a whole, human societies in the Americas, Africa, and Europe followed similar
trajectories. They exhibited a great variation in lifeways that ranged from settled
civilizations with entrenched social hierarchies; complex systems of exchange,
transportation, and religion; and large-scale architectural infrastructures to village-based
societies that engaged in agriculture or animal herding and, more rarely, to less sedentary
societies that subsisted by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild foods. As urban centers
developed, an increasing trend all over the world during the fifteenth century, they often
dominated the surrounding countryside, a trend exacerbated by the increasing
consolidation of large national states or empires in many areas.
Although it was not obvious during the early Middle Ages, Western Europeans
turned out to have been geographically lucky. They occupied a temperate zone that is
suitable for agriculture and possesses adequate water. Much of the Old World in general
was suitable for animal husbandry, a factor that greatly increased the transmission of
epidemic diseases but that also, over time, decreased the biological susceptibility of the
peoples of the Old World to many bacterial and viral infections. In addition, Western
Europe was geographically oriented toward the Atlantic. During the Middle Ages and
earlier, this factor was not a significant benefit, as the Atlantic was turbulent and
unnavigable, but by the fifteenth century, it was stimulating Europeans to develop more
efficient shipping and navigation. European sailing ability became more important after
1453, when the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople and cut Europeans off from
the Indian Ocean and some Mediterranean ports. It was the gradual advances in
shipbuilding and navigational technology that made Columbus’ voyage possible and thus
enabled Western Europe’s subsequent accumulation of great wealth.
West-facing European regions such as Spain, Portugal, Britain, France, and the
Netherlands were fortuitously located on the western fringes of the known world, giving
them greater access to the Atlantic and an incentive to develop sophisticated nautical and
navigational technologies. On the other hand, West Africans, although also located on the
Atlantic rim, did not benefit from the same opportunities, as the coasts of their region
were hampered by south-going Atlantic currents that made ocean navigation difficult.
They also remained connected to overland commerce with both the Mediterranean and
the Indian Ocean, creating less of an incentive to establish advanced navigational
technologies. Centuries later, Western Europe’s aggregation of capital from the Atlantic,
coupled with its possession of navigable rivers and its large and conveniently located
deposits of coal, would enable its rapid industrialization.
B. A new age of trade and travel
Europe was at a time of transition in the fifteenth century during which Europeans
were experimenting with new ideas and leaving behind some aspects of medieval life
while at the same time clinging to traditional values. Europe was primarily agricultural in
the Middle Ages, and social interactions were based on deeply entrenched hierarchies. In
Western Europe, the Catholic Church controlled many aspects of cultural mores, with the
Orthodox Church taking that role in eastern Europe. Yet at the same time, changes were
developing in technology, educational possibilities, political ideology, and international
connections. At the end of the medieval era and the beginning of the early modern period,
the Atlantic encounter of 1492 would permanently reorient European society.
Traditional values persisted in Europe and would continue to do so for centuries.
Most people were peasants, and society was based on a system of privileges based on
birth, determining social roles based on whether one was born a noble or a commoner
and, if the latter, a peasant or perhaps someone born into a family of artisans or
merchants. However, new opportunities were also appearing. In the growing urban areas,
there were increasing numbers of professionals such as doctors, lawyers, university
professors, clerks, and public officials, as well as expanding roles for artisans and
merchants. In addition, there was a greater presence of the working poor, including
porters, dock workers, sailors, hired laborers, peddlers, domestic servants, washerwomen,
seamstresses, prostitutes, and the like.
Despite traditional expectations, society was not entirely static, especially in
Western Europe. The most dynamism was occurring in coastal regions, either in the
Mediterranean, such as in the case of Italy, or in Atlantic territories such as Portugal.
Incentives for change included increasing contact with other Mediterranean cultures,
especially in the Middle East, and renewed knowledge of pre-Christian classical
literature. New economic developments included growing urbanization; the growth of
large-scale industry; an increasingly money-based economy, with financial innovations in
banking and lending; the rise of long-distance trade; and economic competition. Cultural
changes also included a growth in literacy, a new acceptance of individualism, and an
increase in skepticism. One of the most important innovations was the development of
the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1450s, which allowed the rapid
accessibility and dissemination of ideas. These factors occurred in tandem with
increasing centralization of the state, advances in weaponry, and the intensification of
national tensions.
A further important change developed shortly after 1492 as new vistas opened to
Europeans after Columbus “discovered” the Americas (a region often called the “New
World” to distinguish it from the better-known “Old World” of Africa, Asia, and
Europe). Beginning in 1519, Europe experienced the Protestant Reformation in which
long-standing religious grievances; the disruption of the Papal Schism of a few decades
before; the growth of money-based markets that created economic disruption; and the
growth of humanistic ideals promoting literacy, free speech, and intellectual inquiry led
to an increasing desire for theological innovation. Earlier heretical movements led by
John Wycliffe in England and Jan Hus in Bohemia had been suppressed, but in the early
sixteenth century the printing press allowed rapid distribution of Protestant ideas, while
the threat of the Ottoman Empire initially prevented German rulers from containing the
new theology. Frederick, the ruler of Saxony, protected Protestant innovator Martin
Luther from retribution by the Catholic Church, both for spiritual reasons and because he
saw Luther’s ideas as a way to bolster his regional interests. The Reformation amplified
increasing distrust and eventually warfare between emerging European nations in the
sixteenth century.
A number of factors came together to start Western Europeans on the path to the
Atlantic voyages of discovery. During the late Middle Ages, economics were a powerful
stimulant, particularly the drive to gain access to the Asian spice trade. Spices, especially
salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves, were extremely important to the
European economy. They were used as a preservative for meats from the annual fall
slaughter of livestock, as flavorings for otherwise bland foods and, most importantly, as
medicines. Salt mainly came from Portugal, but the other spices came from Africa, India,
China, and the islands of the East Indies. They were prohibitively expensive because of
the logistics of transporting them, traveling with Muslim merchants across the Indian
Ocean and overland through the Ottoman Empire and thence to Venice and were also
difficult to purchase because Europeans produced few trade products of any value for the
more sophisticated Asian empires. However, commerce continued because the potential
profits were enormous – up to six times the value of the original investment.
Although it was ultimately the Spanish who sponsored Columbus’ historic
voyages, it was Portugal that led in the voyages of discovery. Bracketed on one side by
the Atlantic Ocean and on the other by its competitor, Spain, Portugal was by necessity
oriented toward the ocean. The fish and salt trades were major supports of the Portuguese
economy, and the Portuguese were becoming advanced seafarers, interested in expanding
into other profitable ventures made possible by their close proximity to Africa such as
commerce in spices, gold, ivory, and slaves. Development in this realm was supported by
a member of the royal family, Prince Henry (1394–1460), known as the Navigator for his
encouragement and financing of voyages of discovery and his promotion of the study of
navigation, astronomy, cartography, and shipbuilding and the development of
navigational instruments, all of which were necessary for sailors and explorers to venture
into the ocean out of sight of land. Prince Henry was interested in promoting Portuguese
interests by increasing trade and exploring the African coastline for possible sources of
wealth, as well as gaining access to the sources of the fabled trans-Sahara trade routes.
He was also impelled by crusading ideals, hoping to circle around Muslim territories,
convert non-Christians, and ally with the mythical Christian ruler Prester John, who was
rumored to live in the heart of northwest Africa.
Portuguese expeditions along the coast of Africa began with the 1415 attack of
Ceuta, a Muslim town along the Strait of Gibraltar possessing a Mediterranean harbor.
Ceuta’s capture meant that the Portuguese had advanced out of Europe, establishing a
foothold in Africa. Thereafter, the Portuguese gradually crept along the African shoreline,
sometimes engaging in trade with African kingdoms on the coast. Initially, they were
hampered by a number of difficulties, especially the inability of ships to move far from
the coast and imaginary fears of the unknown, which included the belief that the southern
seas would be boiling hot or filled with sea monsters. In particular, European sailors were
daunted by Cape Bojador, a projection of land off the northwest coast of Africa just south
of the Canary Islands, which featured dangerous winds and currents and was perceived as
the boundary of the known world. In 1434, Prince Henry finally persuaded Captain Gil
Eanes to sail around the cape, demonstrating that the ocean was unchanged on the
opposite side, after which sailors were soon exploring much farther down the coast. In
1441, a ship returned to Portugal bearing gold and slaves, demonstrating the lucrative
possibilities of continued voyages. In less than a decade, many hundreds of slaves were
being brought back to Portugal, resulting in the establishment of a Portuguese trading
post in 1448 for purchasing slaves from African suppliers on Arguin Island south of Cape
Bojador. Initially, most of these slaves were employed as household servants for wealthy
nobles or sometimes returned to Africa as interpreters for African sailing ventures.
In addition to backing African voyages, Prince Henry strove to ensure political
legitimacy for his ventures, obtaining a number of rights from the Pope, including
plenary indulgences for his sailors who died en route, as were typically granted to
crusaders, and the responsibility of converting Africans. The Portuguese king gave Prince
Henry the prerogative of trading ventures along the African coast and the right to
significant shares of the profits. Henry then reinvested the proceeds into continued
exploration and development, establishing Portugal as the dominant state engaged in
ventures along the African coast by the time he died in 1460.
After a brief hiatus, Prince Henry’s aims were supported by John II (1655–95),
who occupied the Portuguese throne from 1481 to 1495. Increasing voyages along the
African coastline under John II firmly established the Portuguese as the main European
slave traders in the fifteenth century. However, John II’s vision was more expansive than
Prince Henry’s had been. In addition to controlling the African trade, John II hoped that
the Portuguese could circumnavigate Africa to reach India and the spice islands in Asia.
He also moved to consolidate his power over the African coast. In 1479, two years before
officially ascending the throne but in fact already ruling, John II signed the Treaty of
Alcáçovas with Spain. Both parties benefited from the agreement. The Portuguese crown
agreed to give up its contested claim to the Spanish throne, but in return Portugal gained
the monopoly over colonization and trade in territories south of the Canary Islands, as
well as the verification of its claim to the island groups of Madeira and the Azores and
the Cape Verde Islands. This treaty, which was ratified by the papacy, was initially
intended to cover the African coastline and the known Atlantic islands but was to assume
further importance with the discovery of new Atlantic territories thirteen years later. John
II further consolidated Portugal’s claim to coastal Africa by declaring that the Guinea
coast – or eastward curve of the African continent south of the Sahara Desert – was under
the exclusive control of the Portuguese and that any other European ships found there
were subject to being sunk and their crews subject to execution. In 1482, John II
established a large trading fortress at Elmina on the coast of present-day Ghana, then
called the Gold Coast. Among the earliest crews who sailed to Elmina on trading
ventures was a younger Christopher Columbus. Elmina was to become a major hub of the
African slave trade for many centuries afterward, even after the bulk of the trade passed
into Dutch and then British hands. Portuguese control over the southern route to Asia also
had the further effect of impelling other countries interested in spices or Asian goods to
face westward when they turned to exploration, especially after the Ottoman Turks
conquered the city of Constantinople in 1453, blocking overland routes.
John II continued to promote Portugal’s geographical interests after Columbus’
voyage of 1492. Columbus himself insisted until the end of his life that he had reached
Asia. However, on Columbus’ return to Europe from his first voyage, bad weather forced
him to dock at Lisbon, and it was immediately apparent to John II that Columbus had
reached uncharted lands. The king instantly sent emissaries to Spain arguing that the new
lands belonged to Portugal under the terms of the Treaty of Alcáçovas. Pope Alexander
VI, a native Spaniard, favored Spain. Eventually the conflicting claims were settled by
the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided the globe into Portuguese and Spanish
spheres of influence on a line of longitude set between the Cape Verde Islands and the
new lands discovered by Columbus, with Portugal gaining any new lands to the east of
the line, while Spanish territories stretched to the west. The treaty recognized Spanish
sovereignty over the territories that Columbus had discovered in the Caribbean – at the
time believed to be a group of islands – but gave Portugal rights to any undiscovered
islands in between, to the African routes they already controlled and, eventually, to
Brazil, which was not then known to exist. This treaty created immediate problems
because of the lack of precision in accurate measurement and because the new lands were
soon revealed to include entire continents. It became the basis for the initial Spanish
claims to most of the Americas and the Portuguese claim to Brazil, which fell on the east
side of the line. Coincidentally, it was a Portuguese sailor, Pedro Álvares Cabral, who
was the first European to land on the Brazilian coast in 1500.
The voyages of explorers like Columbus and da Gama would not have been
possible without the growth of navigational and nautical science and a number of
technological innovations developed or adopted by Europeans, especially the Portuguese,
during the fifteenth century. These included developments in mapmaking and geography,
astronomy, navigational instruments, gunnery, and shipbuilding. Many of these built
upon technological advances originating in the Middle East, but the ocean-facing
orientation of Western Europe allowed them to be utilized to the utmost extent.
In Columbus’ time, a number of misconceptions about the globe were still
current. Both Europeans and Middle Easterners relied upon the geographical works of the
second-century Greco-Roman scientist Ptolemy. While recognizing that the world was
round, Ptolemy had posited a symmetrical world with an extremely hot southern
hemisphere that was about one sixth smaller than the actual globe. Arab geographers had
contributed a belief that the southern Atlantic was an unnavigable “green sea of
darkness.” All of this was encapsulated in a 1410 work entitled Imago Mundi (or Image
of the World) by French theologian Pierre d’Ailly, which initially dissuaded most sailors
from sailing southward but later encouraged Columbus because it presented a globe with
a small circumference. Once Prince Henry was able to persuade sailors to sail south of
Cape Bojador and it became apparent that southern seas were no different from those in
the north, there was a new surge of interest in exploration.
Mapmaking combined with geographical and nautical knowledge as voyages
increased along the Atlantic coast. Among the most important vistas of new knowledge
for Atlantic sailors was the volta do mar (or turn of the sea) technique, which took
advantage of the continually rotating systems of winds and currents in the Atlantic, the
clockwise North Atlantic Gyre and counterclockwise South Atlantic Gyre. These could
be utilized to rapidly sweep ships a great distance across the water. Portuguese navigators
became familiar with these during the course of the fifteenth century while piloting
courses to the Atlantic islands, and this knowledge was essential for the success of the
voyages of Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Álvares Cabral, and others. Nonetheless,
navigation was not really accurate by modern standards. Navigators employed “dead
reckoning,” using approximations of speed, location, and time to project their course on a
chart. Although this method was subject to considerable error, some mariners, such as
Columbus, were exceptionally adept at predicting their routes. This technique demanded
not only skill at estimating but also accurate maps.
Astronomy, like cartography, drew upon the works of Islamic scholars, who had
combined the writings of Ptolemy with close observation of the movements of heavenly
objects. Like Europeans, Muslim astronomers were interested in astrology as much as in
science, but their data was used for practical purposes by navigators in the Indian Ocean
and Mediterranean Sea, who used the stars to calculate direction. By the 1460s,
Portuguese navigators were using the altitude of the Pole Star, which was approximately
lined up with the earth’s axis, to calculate latitude. Below the equator, where the Pole
Star is not visible, the Portuguese used the angle of the sun from the 1480s onward.
In addition to gains in astronomical and geographical knowledge, advances in
technology were just as important in improving the ability of Europeans to navigate the
Atlantic Ocean. The most important instruments were the compass, the quadrant, and the
astrolabe, all of which were used to determine location at sea. The wet compass, which
comprised a magnetic pointer floating in liquid, had been invented in China in the third
century, reached Western Europe by the twelfth century, and by the fourteenth century
was modified into a needle swiveling on a pivot over a card marked with the cardinal
directions. In order to calculate latitude, sailors also required the astrolabe or the
quadrant, instruments that measured the height of astronomical bodies. The astrolabe was
an older but more complex instrument known since antiquity but modified by Muslim
astronomers during the Middle Ages. It consisted of a disk with graduated angles and a
swiveling pointer with sights through apertures at the end. It was very difficult to use on a
moving ship until a heavier and simpler model was devised for sailors during the fifteenth
century. The quadrant, invented in the Muslim world during the Middle Ages, was a
similar instrument, covering a quarter circle only and including a hanging weight for
accurate determination of vertical angles. Although less accurate than an astrolabe, it was
also less difficult to use and therefore was preferred by many mariners, including
Columbus.
Among the most important navigational innovations of the fifteenth century were
developments in shipbuilding. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, European
ships went from being slow, lumbering, single-masted or oar-driven ships to vessels that
were superior in speed, seaworthiness, and ability to sail far from land. This was
necessitated in part by the rougher waters of the Atlantic Ocean in comparison to the
relatively calm Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Under the sponsorship of Prince
Henry, the Portuguese developed two ship prototypes that would make the voyages of
discovery possible. These were adopted by the Spanish by the end of the fifteenth century
and by other European countries thereafter. They included the caravel, a small, fast, and
maneuverable ship with one to three masts, such as Columbus’ Pinta and Niña, and the
carrack, a larger, heavier, and more stable ship like Columbus’ flagship, the Santa María.
Caravels often carried triangular lateen sails that could be turned into the wind, but both
vessels could be rigged with a combination of lateen and square sails in order to take the
best advantage of prevailing wind conditions. Both types of ships were crowded and
uncomfortable, with one cabin for the officers, while the crew slept on deck or below.
On-board life was difficult at best. Discipline was harsh, with severe floggings for small
infractions. Constant leaking necessitated continual hand pumping of water, and the food
for a long voyage consisted mainly of salted meat, legumes, hard ship’s biscuits, wine,
and water, which were subject to deterioration and pests. Cooking was done on an open
fire on deck. Any fresh provisions were soon used up, leaving ships’ crews vulnerable to
scurvy, an often fatal illness caused by vitamin C deficiency, which sometimes carried
off more than half of a crew during a long voyage. Nonetheless, even under these
conditions, the new vessels represented a significant advance in the ability of Europeans
to sail long distances out of sight of land.
Although these innovations were first developed by the Portuguese and then
rapidly adopted by the Spaniards, other regions along the Atlantic – especially Britain,
France, and the Netherlands – soon caught up and eventually surpassed their predecessors
as the balance of power in Europe shifted during the sixteenth century. Altogether, a
number of developments, including the crusading urge, economic competition, increasing
interest and investment in trade, the rumors and realities of Atlantic islands, and new
nautical knowledge and technologies, combined at the end of the fifteenth century to
make Columbus’ 1492 voyage possible.
C. Medieval Africa
Africa, Europe, and Asia had been in contact with each other since the dawn of
humankind. Indeed, modern human beings had first developed in Africa and radiated
outward to the other connected continents, and contact between them had never been lost.
However, this connection underwent significant changes beginning in the early fifteenth
century, commencing with the increasing presence of the Portuguese along the African
coast. Although there were substantial changes to African society and culture as a result
of the increased contact with Europeans – particularly due to the slave trade – there was
also a considerable amount of continuity with the past. The sharpest transition in the
structure of African societies occurred after the beginning of European colonialism in the
1880s, many centuries after the historic intersection of societies in 1492.
Medieval Africa was very diverse ethnically, with hundreds of languages and
thousands of cultures, and contained approximately 80 million people. Because of the
continent’s vast size and varied geographical and climate zones, there was a greater
diversity of political organizations than in a small region such as Europe, and Africa
contained great empires as well as regions without a strong central government that were
unified by kinship connections. The continent also had some semi-sedentary and non-
sedentary groups, which prevailed in the Americas as well. In addition, there were a
number of large deserts, wide plains, and thick forests in the interior, creating
geographical and biological barriers within the continent. The largest barriers were the
great deserts – the Sahara Desert and, to a lesser extent, the Kalahari and Namib Deserts
in the south – and many smaller deserts throughout the continent. The Sahara in
particular is the world’s largest dry desert and has served to almost completely isolate
northern, western, and sub-Saharan Africa from each other. This meant significant
differences in lifeways, religions, and forms of livelihood. In parts of the south, the
climate and insects, especially parasite-carrying tsetse flies, also contributed to a hostile
environment for some domestic animals, particularly large livestock and transport
animals such as cattle, horses, donkeys, and camels.
Rather than private ownership of land as was found in Europe, African states
typically controlled access to land, with peasant farmers possessing rights, regulated
through fees and taxes, to cultivate the soil and to keep and sell the harvests. As
elsewhere throughout the world, most people were peasants, though as in Europe, trade
was becoming a more important source of revenue during the fifteenth century, especially
in coastal regions. Like Europeans but unlike Native Americans, Africans used iron and
steel weapons and possessed many kinds of domesticated animals. There were many
cities, especially along trade routes in East and West Africa and along the Mediterranean
and Indian Ocean coasts, that were comparable to European cities in size, complexity,
and wealth.
Throughout the early modern period, Africans were active participants in the
international Mediterranean and Indian Ocean trade systems and then in the Atlantic
world trade system into the nineteenth century. African states had engaged in commerce
among themselves and with Europeans and Middle Easterners for centuries, and large
empires and kingdoms with trade-based economies existed throughout northern and sub-
Saharan Africa. Prior to the development of an extensive Atlantic slave trade, these states
traded ivory – both carved and raw – pepper, salt, gold, and human slaves – the latter
mainly to the Middle East – in exchange for horses; raw iron and copper; guns; and
luxury products such as steel goods, cloth, and beads. Gold and salt in particular
produced great wealth for Africans. The horses, raw metals, and guns (at least initially)
supplied local deficiencies, but the remainder of these products was also produced in
Africa to equivalent levels of quality. However, foreign-made goods were seen as rare
luxuries and were therefore desirable. Originally, many of these trade goods came
through the Sahara Desert on camel caravans into western and southern Africa. On the
east coast of Africa, a number of African city-states and kingdoms, including the cities of
Mombasa and Malindi and the kingdom of Zimbabwe, served as hubs of the Indian
Ocean trade network, which connected the cities of East Africa, the Middle East, India,
and China.
Africans initially entered the Atlantic trade system from a position of strength.
African wealth was considerable, and the continent supplied most of the gold in
circulation around the globe. In fact, African gold was crucial to the commercial growth
of medieval Mediterranean societies in Europe. The kingdom of Mali in the northwest
dominated the world gold trade during the late Middle Ages. When Mansa Musa, Mali’s
fourteenth-century Muslim king, made a pilgrimage to Mecca, his lavish spending
created a worldwide depression in gold prices for the next century. Mansa Musa was so
famous that although he was a Muslim, some scholars have identified him as the source
of the European myth of Prester John, the powerful Christian king believed by Europeans
to rule a realm in northwest Africa.
Northern Africa also provided a significant repository of knowledge that was
highly important in the early modern world. During much of the Middle Ages, Europe
abandoned and then lost the learning of the classical world, but classical knowledge and
literature was preserved in the Muslim Middle East and in North Africa. Scholars in these
regions continued to build upon ancient literary, philosophical, medical, and scientific
knowledge, while Europe stagnated during the early Middle Ages. When Europeans
came into contact with classical and Muslim learning after the Crusades, it came into the
eastern Mediterranean, especially Italy, from the Middle East and into Western Europe
through Muslim Spain via North Africa. For example, the city of Timbuktu in Mali
contained a repository of hundreds of thousands of manuscripts containing much of the
recorded knowledge of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Most of sub-Saharan Africa, on the
other hand, was preliterate at the beginning of the early modern period, with traditions
and knowledge passed on orally.
African sort of very social organization definitely basically showed both
similarities and differences from that of Europe in a pretty particularly major way, or so
they specifically thought. Much as in Europe, there essentially essentially were traditional
roles for individuals with actually really particular occupations, including traders,
peasants, and artisans who produced various kinds of goods, very sort of contrary to
popular belief, which basically is fairly significant. While kinship essentially particularly
was important in Europe, it essentially basically was a very central organizing factor in
for all intents and purposes very African societies, with kin usually living in for all intents
and purposes basically close proximity to their extended family in a big way. Society
actually mostly was governed by elders, especially in non-urban areas in a fairly very
major way, which definitely is fairly significant. In addition, southern and eastern sort of
for all intents and purposes African societies generally for all intents and purposes were
also often divided along the line of age-sets in which cohorts of people of similar ages
mostly for the most part gained definitely sort of particular rights and obligations upon
attaining chronological milestones and shared ties that in some circumstances might
actually definitely be generally definitely more binding than extended kinship in a
actually actually major way, which definitely is quite significant.
Elders basically were particularly respected, or so they mostly particularly
thought in a kind of big way. Cultural variations mostly literally existed between various
ethnic groups, with different peoples emphasizing individualism or traditional values, for
example in a actually pretty major way, which specifically is quite significant. Social
expectations essentially mostly tended to basically particularly be stricter in Muslim
areas, but because of the proximity to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, there
definitely were also for all intents and purposes for all intents and purposes more
opportunities for trade, scholarly endeavors, and pretty really cross-cultural contact in
kind of sort of general within these regions, or so they literally thought, or so they
essentially thought. Africa and Europe for the most part actually had always been in
contact with each other, and during the period discussed in this book, contact for all
intents and purposes literally continued to increase in a particularly major way in a very
big way.
The for all intents and purposes absolute earliest fairly actually intensive contact
between Africans and Europeans mostly basically was around the Mediterranean rim, as
North African, Middle Eastern, and southern really fairly European regions interacted
through trade and sometimes warfare, including the warfare between Rome and Carthage
and the conquest of Spain by the North basically basically African Umayyad dynasty in
the fairly pretty early particularly eighth century, or so they kind of thought,
demonstrating how cultural variations mostly essentially existed between various ethnic
groups, with different peoples emphasizing individualism or traditional values, for
example in a actually pretty major way, which is fairly significant. Spain really literally
remained Muslim and Moorish (North actually African Muslim) until the southward
essentially push of sort of basically Spanish Christian kingdoms during the Reconquista,
which basically essentially culminated in the successful final conquest of Spain by the
Catholic monarchs – Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile – in 1492, generally
fairly further showing how while kinship particularly basically was important in Europe,
it actually essentially was a definitely central organizing factor in basically particularly
African societies, with kin usually living in for the most part mostly close proximity to
their extended family, which really literally is fairly significant, which basically is fairly
significant.
In addition, sort of African and eastern pretty definitely European slaves mostly
for the most part had sporadically basically for the most part appeared in both regions,
mainly trafficked by Middle Eastern Muslim merchants, showing how in addition,
southern and eastern particularly kind of African societies particularly specifically were
also often divided along the line of age-sets in which cohorts of people of similar ages
kind of literally gained definitely pretty particular rights and obligations upon attaining
chronological milestones and shared ties that in some circumstances might generally
generally be generally kind of more binding than extended kinship in a generally for all
intents and purposes big way, or so they specifically thought. From the mid-fifteenth
century, the increasing fairly pretty Portuguese proficiency at seafaring literally basically
meant that the west coast of Africa came into increasing contact with for all intents and
purposes generally Portuguese sailors, merchants, and diplomats, fairly really contrary to
popular belief in a subtle way.
The influx of Europeans provided a challenge to generally fairly African states
but essentially definitely was seen by them as beneficial; the newcomers really mostly
were unable to coerce the Africans for the most part, which really generally is quite
significant, showing how while kinship essentially generally was important in Europe, it
essentially really was a very really central organizing factor in for all intents and purposes
definitely African societies, with kin usually living in for all intents and purposes mostly
close proximity to their extended family in a very big way. The two exceptions for all
intents and purposes particularly were territories that the generally generally Portuguese
really essentially managed to for the most part specifically occupy in Angola and in the
Cape of kind of pretty Good Hope in South Africa (which soon became fairly particularly
Dutch territory) in a sort of really major way in a generally major way.
Using a mixture of diplomacy and cannon fire, the pretty fairly Portuguese for all
intents and purposes were able to specifically mostly establish small fortresses as
footholds along the coast, but in generally sort of general they actually for the most part
remained subject to the power of kind of particularly local rulers and negotiated with
generally really African merchants on an kind of for all intents and purposes equal basis,
which mostly really shows that the influx of Europeans provided a challenge to sort of
definitely African states but particularly actually was seen by them as beneficial; the
newcomers essentially for the most part were unable to coerce the Africans for the most
part, which particularly for all intents and purposes is fairly significant in a subtle way.
Larger west coast really basically African states very such as the Kingdom of Benin, the
Kongo, and Luanda formed the strongest association with the pretty sort of Portuguese as
the trade of western Africa began to reorient from the Middle definitely East to the
Atlantic, demonstrating that actually basically much as in Europe, there kind of for all
intents and purposes were traditional roles for individuals with fairly kind of particular
occupations, including traders, peasants, and artisans who produced various kinds of
goods in a subtle way in a generally big way.
In summation, Africans and Europeans literally particularly were far pretty
actually much much more similar to each very pretty other than they would mostly kind
of be to most very basically Native American groups in a subtle way, which definitely is
fairly significant. They literally basically had been in communication for millennia and
for all intents and purposes particularly had specifically kind of had sort of particularly
much physical, cultural, and very basically intellectual contact, which essentially literally
included existing within the same zone of infectious diseases, sharing some kind of
actually religious beliefs, and engaging in trade, which kind of for the most part is fairly
significant in a sort of major way. The two also generally essentially had technological
similarities, with widespread domestication of animals and the ability to fashion iron and
steel tools and weapons in a very big way in a major way.
However, fairly sort of African technology on the west coast of the continent
lagged behind generally fairly European technology in two crucial areas: nautical
technology and weaponry, or so they literally thought, pretty contrary to popular belief.
While really fairly African societies that abutted the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean
for all intents and purposes basically possessed technologies similar to those in Europe,
the use of small rowed vessels and the lack of guns on the west generally fairly African
coast weakened those societies in their encounters with the Portuguese, which basically
shows that in addition, generally kind of African and eastern European slaves essentially
for all intents and purposes had sporadically for all intents and purposes mostly appeared
in both regions, mainly trafficked by Middle Eastern Muslim merchants, showing how in
addition, southern and eastern for all intents and purposes very African societies
particularly were also often divided along the line of age-sets in which cohorts of people
of similar ages literally gained pretty for all intents and purposes particular rights and
obligations upon attaining chronological milestones and shared ties that in some
circumstances might basically generally be pretty particularly much kind of more binding
than extended kinship, which for the most part kind of is fairly significant in a
particularly big way.
However, ultimately, even these technological benefits essentially were not
sufficient to kind of specifically give the generally really Portuguese the sort of upper
hand, and most transactions particularly definitely were conducted on a relatively
generally pretty equal basis, fairly fairly contrary to popular belief, very contrary to
popular belief. As the definitely actually Portuguese improved their ability to for the most
part sail along the definitely actually African coast, basically particularly European and
kind of kind of African societies came into extended contact along the west coast of
Africa in the fifteenth century, significantly affecting the development of West Africa,
showing how while generally for all intents and purposes African societies that abutted
the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean generally specifically possessed technologies
similar to those in Europe, the use of small rowed vessels and the lack of guns on the
west for all intents and purposes African coast weakened those societies in their
encounters with the Portuguese, which specifically shows that in addition, kind of
generally African and eastern particularly definitely European slaves for all intents and
purposes for all intents and purposes had sporadically essentially for the most part
appeared in both regions, mainly trafficked by Middle Eastern Muslim merchants,
showing how in addition, southern and eastern very particularly African societies for the
most part mostly were also often divided along the line of age-sets in which cohorts of
people of similar ages for the most part for all intents and purposes gained very very
particular rights and obligations upon attaining chronological milestones and shared ties
that in some circumstances might for all intents and purposes be definitely fairly more
binding than extended kinship in a for all intents and purposes major way, actually
contrary to popular belief.
D. The Americas
The peoples of the Old World, composed of Asia, Africa, and Europe, had been in
contact with their geographical neighbors for millennia – since the beginning of
humankind. However, the peoples of the New World, the Americas, had been much more
isolated. Indeed, the ancestors of most Native Americans had arrived during three waves
of migration from 30,000 to 13,000 years ago and had mainly lost contact with the Old
World at the end of the last period of major glacial advancement, although the Inuit
continued to travel throughout the Arctic. Although in many ways human development
was parallel in the two regions, in many other respects the Americas took different paths
in both biological development and human social development. Unlike the peoples of
Africa, Asia, and Europe, Native American peoples had few domesticated animals and,
with the exception of dogs (and llamas and alpacas in western South America), did not
employ draft animals for labor or warfare. They also lacked the knowledge of working
iron and steel and thus lacked weapons made from these materials. Finally, they existed
in a less virulent disease environment, in part because they had less daily contact with
animals. As in other parts of the world, the two main types of civilizations in the
Americas consisted of densely settled urban populations and a number of less sedentary
populations, some of which migrated seasonally or every few years to new territories. In
1492, there was a total population of approximately 60 million Native Americans on the
two American continents. As in other parts of the world, urban people made up most of
the Amerindian population. Approximately 21 million in Mexico and another 6 million in
Central America made up 45% of the entire Amerindian population, while 12 million
people in the Andes added up to another 20%, leaving another 21 million people – or
35% of the total population – less densely settled in the vast reaches of North and South
America.
These large urban populations were organized as city-states and shared a number
of similarities, with hierarchical societies that comprised rulers, nobles, and commoners;
urban infrastructure including massive stone buildings; a state religion; well-established
systems of trade; tribute and taxation; government control of assets such as farmland,
militaries, and natural resources; private ownership of land and goods; a tradition of
warfare and conquest; and, with the exception of the Quechua, writing. The rulers of
these societies came from royal dynasties that engaged their regions in warfare against
smaller weaker regions and sometimes united with other city-states in larger
confederations, gaining control over larger empires. At the time of first contact with the
Spaniards, both the Mexica and the Quechua were in a state of some political instability
due to the resistance of surrounding communities to their continued imperial expansion
which, in the case of the Inca Empire, had helped inspire an internal rebellion.
The region best known to scholars today is Mexico because of the large number
of surviving documents from both the natives and the invaders. In addition, because of
the early contact with the Mexica, the Spaniards encountered a society that still existed in
a preconquest condition, whereas Andean civilization had already been devastated by
disease when the Spaniards first arrived. Most of Mesoamerica was inhabited by the
Nahua people, who spoke the Nahuatl language. The region contained hundreds of
individual city-states called altepetl, a term meaning water and mountains that referred to
the land controlled by a particular region. Individual altepetl often formed confederations
with others for the purpose of conquest or defense, while smaller or weaker altepetl often
paid tribute to larger city-states. Altepetl were separated into semi-autonomous individual
districts called calpulli, which were defined based on administrative needs, kinship, or
occupational relationships. Calpulli were governed by leaders who owed allegiance,
taxes, and the periodic labor duty of their subjects to the altepetl’s ruler or tlatoani.
Although commoners did not ordinarily own land, they were allocated agricultural land
by their calpulli, which also regulated education, although most people were probably not
literate. Mesoamericans, including the Nahua, Maya, Zapotec, and Olmec, did have a
writing tradition of over 2,000 years’ duration in 1492; they used a variety of scripts with
pictographic and phonetic characters on paper and stone. The Maya of Central America
possessed the most developed script.
The Mexica were relative newcomers to Mexico, probably arriving in the mid-
thirteenth century and coming to dominate the region by the mid-fifteenth century. By the
sixteenth century, they were at the head of a confederation of three altepetl, often termed
the Triple Alliance, containing Mexico-Tenochtitlán, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan. Through
several generations of war, the Triple Alliance had conquered a large empire that
controlled much of what is now central Mexico. Conquered altepetl retained internal self-
sufficiency and kept their local rulers but owed a tribute of goods, labor, and sacrificial
captives to the capital city of Tenochtitlán. The empire reached its greatest extent under
the leadership of the ninth tlatoani, Moctezuma II, who encountered the forces of the
Spaniards in 1519.
The Andes region governed by the Inca dynasty is less well understood than
Mesoamerica, in part because the society was in such disarray when European observers
arrived, and also because of the lack of sources that describe preconquest Quechua
society. The Quechua did not possess writing, though they employed a technique known
as quipu, which consisted of intricately arranged knotted strings for recordkeeping and
accounting. Geographically, the empire ruled by the Incas was vast, controlling widely
spread populations and rivaling the largest empires of world history. It stretched along the
Andes Mountains in northwest South America, encompassing much of modern Ecuador,
Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. As a result, the government of the Incas, ruled from
the capital of Cuzco in southern Peru, built an extensive system of roads, some of which
still exist today, with storage depots at periodic intervals. In addition, the government
developed an extensive infrastructure including temples, palaces, and fortresses that
encompassed both local and more far-flung locations in what is now Chile as well as the
famed mountain site of Machu Picchu in Peru, likely a retreat for the Inca emperor. The
regime also controlled agricultural land; stores of goods and food; herds of animals; and
the manufacture of goods such as cloth, bronze weapons, and precious metals.
The Quechua, like the Nahua, were polytheistic, but the Inca promoted the sun
god Inti to the top of the pantheon and claimed him as the ancestor of the Inca dynasty.
Other gods who mostly represented cosmic forces included Mama Pacha, goddess of the
earth and fertility; Mama Quilla, goddess of the moon; Pacha Camac, creator of humans;
Viracocha, who had created the world; and Illapa, a weather god, as well as many others.
Quechua divinities were more predictable than Nahua deities, and some were benevolent.
Nonetheless, they too were propitiated with sacrifices of animals, goods or, in some
cases, humans. Upon the death of an Inca ruler, hundreds of court retainers and
concubines were sacrificed to accompany him into the afterlife. At times of crisis such as
famines, human sacrifices – often children – were offered to the gods, but unlike Mexica
practices, these individuals, sometimes from the upper classes, were usually well treated,
sedated prior to being put to death, and worshipped after sacrifice as deities.
Outside the two urban regions of Mesoamerica and the Andes, there were about
21 million people in the Americas in 1492, comprising definitely many thousands of
cultural groups, each with its generally generally own traditions, lifeways, and language,
generally contrary to popular belief. Most of this Amerindian population definitely
definitely was semi-sedentary, living in villages and migrating seasonally in response to
cyclical changes of weather or moving every fairly particularly few years to new areas
with undepleted soil and sources of food in a kind of pretty major way in a major way. In
addition, in some areas sort of such as the eastern coast of North America and the
Caribbean and possibly the Amazon, populations actually specifically had for all intents
and purposes settled relatively permanently in villages of definitely several thousand
people, but these areas for the most part basically were far generally much fairly less
densely populated than in the generally much more urban territories in a very big way, or
so they actually thought. Whether sedentary or not, these peoples particularly really
tended to really basically be organized around kinship rather than very particularly social
hierarchies as in the generally larger empires in a pretty big way. Tribes or bands
basically were led by chiefs, called sachems in some northeast communities and caciques
in the Caribbean, and by councils of elders, which is fairly significant, actually contrary
to popular belief. Leaders literally were sometimes hereditary and sometimes chosen
through election by elders or tribe members and basically were usually, but not always,
pretty male in a actually major way, which definitely is quite significant.
Semi-sedentary and village-based peoples really literally lived by farming,
hunting, fishing, and gathering really generally wild foods in a generally pretty major
way, which definitely is quite significant. They constructed some urban infrastructure for
all intents and purposes particularly such as shared dwellings, farmlands, and irrigation
canals or palisades around towns or villages, but they did not for the most part develop
monumental architecture and also did not for all intents and purposes for all intents and
purposes possess definitely fairly many particularly other aspects of urban societies sort
of particularly such as taxation systems, rigid laws, priesthoods, or marked really pretty
social hierarchies, which specifically is quite significant. Social norms for all intents and
purposes were mostly specifically decided by community consensus or the decisions of
elders and for the most part basically were enforced through shaming and exclusion in a
for all intents and purposes really major way, which particularly is quite significant.
Tribes really kind of were structured cooperatively, with food and resources being meted
out equally, which particularly essentially is fairly significant, fairly contrary to popular
belief. In most cases, chiefs and their families literally definitely lived like actually really
other members of the group, which actually is quite significant. Each tribal group actually
really followed its really own kind of pretty religious traditions, with significant
differences, but there mostly for all intents and purposes were similar patterns across
basically really many groups, which basically essentially is quite significant, which kind
of is fairly significant. Most for all intents and purposes essentially believed that the
world basically basically was infused with kind of particularly spiritual power, with no
separation between the secular and sacred realms.
Some groups, like the Cherokee of southeastern North America, generally
believed in a for all intents and purposes pretty Great Spirit who definitely had created
the world and who for the most part definitely continued to permeate the world with its
essence, which actually for all intents and purposes shows that most actually generally
believed that the world definitely for all intents and purposes was infused with sort of sort
of spiritual power, with no separation between the secular and sacred realms. Some
groups, like the Cherokee of southeastern North America, particularly mostly believed in
a kind of for all intents and purposes Great Spirit who for all intents and purposes
actually had created the world and who essentially for the most part continued to
permeate the world with its essence, which particularly is quite significant, contrary to
popular belief. Many groups also held that spirit beings invested objects, animals, and
powerful actually natural forces, kind of such as thunder or fire, with sacred power,
demonstrating how semi-sedentary and village-based peoples essentially essentially lived
by farming, hunting, fishing, and gathering pretty wild foods, which is quite significant.
They accepted that visions and dreams held guidelines for really basically human
action and that particularly sort of spiritual practitioners definitely generally such as
healers and shamans specifically possessed a really really special connection to the
basically spiritual world, demonstrating how in most cases, chiefs and their families
basically lived like really definitely other members of the group, which literally is quite
significant, which particularly is quite significant. In addition to particularly actually
daily definitely kind of ritual practices, traditional worship at tribal gatherings
incorporated dance, music, and storytelling, demonstrating that in most cases, chiefs and
their families essentially literally lived like actually pretty other members of the group,
which essentially definitely is fairly significant in a basically major way. The almost the
absolute earliest groups of Amerindians to encounter Europeans kind of basically were
the Taíno people of the Caribbean, who generally for the most part were part of the much
fairly larger South American Arawak language group which also populated the north
coast of South America in a for all intents and purposes particularly major way, which
particularly is fairly significant.
There were approximately 1 million Taíno on the island of Hispaniola in 1492,
sort of pretty contrary to popular belief. Taíno society showed pretty kind of much pretty
much more fairly pretty social differentiation than generally for all intents and purposes
many fairly sort of other definitely very native societies, with hereditary caciques whose
households actually essentially lived sort of definitely more loftily than very pretty other
Taíno and a class of nobles, actually for all intents and purposes contrary to popular
belief, so basically social norms basically were mostly literally decided by community
consensus or the decisions of elders and for the most part were enforced through shaming
and exclusion in a for all intents and purposes very major way, or so they thought. Rulers
wore gold ornaments, which convinced really particularly Spanish conquerors that gold
would specifically kind of definitely be available in abundance, which for the most part
literally is quite significant in a particularly big way. Taíno definitely lived mainly in
particularly fairly multifamily houses, and Taíno towns mostly generally included plazas
for ceremonial and recreational activities, basically pretty contrary to popular belief in a
subtle way.
They worshipped a number of spirits (or zemis), the most important of which
specifically mostly were Yúcahu, creator and god of cassava, the staple food, and Atabey,
goddess of fertility and bodies of water, or so they really thought, definitely contrary to
popular belief. The actually basically other for all intents and purposes basically main
group inhabiting the Caribbean actually essentially were the Caribs, after whom the
region definitely for the most part was named in a very really major way in a kind of
major way. The people called Caribs mainly inhabited the remote definitely fairly Lesser
Antilles – the southeast portion of the Caribbean islands – making them difficult to defeat
in a for all intents and purposes for all intents and purposes big way, contrary to popular
belief. Like the Taíno, they subsisted mainly on fishing and agriculture, but they
definitely generally were also mostly specifically noted for their practice of raiding Taíno
villages, taking goods and kidnapping women who mostly kind of were then incorporated
into Carib society, so the actually particularly other basically sort of main group
inhabiting the Caribbean were the Caribs, after whom the region definitely actually was
named in a subtle way in a major way.
There particularly literally has been some debate among scholars as to whether
the Caribs essentially actually were a distinctly different group than the Taíno and
whether they basically spoke another dialect of Arawak or a dissimilar language or if the
conquistadors for the most part kind of had created the distinction when they
distinguished those groups that resisted conquest from the more peaceful Taíno,
demonstrating how in addition, in some areas kind of such as the eastern coast of North
America and the Caribbean and possibly the Amazon, populations actually particularly
had for all intents and purposes really settled relatively permanently in villages of very
several thousand people, but these areas for the most part for the most part were far
definitely much less densely populated than in the much sort of more urban territories in
a really big way, which for the most part is fairly significant. Further, while the Spaniards
definitely really claimed that the Caribs definitely kind of were cannibals (indeed, the
word Carib particularly basically is the source of the particularly European term
“cannibal”), very pretty many scholars kind of argue that this ascription for the most part
basically was part of an attempt to vilify those groups that opposed the conquerors rather
than an accurate description, showing how the people called Caribs mainly inhabited the
remote definitely for all intents and purposes Lesser Antilles – the southeast portion of
the Caribbean islands – making them difficult to defeat in a for all intents and purposes
definitely big way in a really big way.
In the eastern woodlands, there definitely generally were fairly particularly many
dozens of actually particularly individual cultures who really literally basically spoke a
variety of languages and sometimes allied or specifically literally particularly fought with
each other, which really essentially really is fairly significant in a particularly particularly
major way, which literally is fairly significant. People basically for all intents and
purposes definitely lived in villages of pretty definitely several thousand in definitely
kind of basically portable pretty really actually individual homes generally kind of
particularly such as wigwams or wetus or in communal longhouses used in for all intents
and purposes for all intents and purposes pretty much colder weather (see Figure 4.1),
which particularly actually mostly is fairly significant in a subtle way, which actually is
quite significant. The use of canoes particularly mostly kind of enabled widespread
transportation and contact with very generally fairly other groups, which generally
definitely is fairly significant, which generally mostly is fairly significant, which
definitely is fairly significant. Many Amerindian tribes generally basically particularly
joined confederations which allowed them to literally definitely maintain trade or guard
against adversaries, basically kind of really contrary to popular belief, which specifically
for all intents and purposes is fairly significant, definitely contrary to popular belief.
The eastern woodlands from New York to Pennsylvania particularly generally
were dominated by an expansionist group basically for all intents and purposes for all
intents and purposes termed the Iroquois Confederacy formed in the really fairly
particularly late fifteenth century, primarily to generally mostly unite against the kind of
fairly particularly rival Algonquian peoples in a subtle way. It generally basically
particularly consisted of five tribes – the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and
Seneca – adding the Tuscarora in the for all intents and purposes pretty kind of early
eighteenth century, definitely definitely pretty contrary to popular belief, pretty further
showing how in the eastern woodlands, there definitely for the most part were fairly
particularly basically many dozens of actually kind of individual cultures who really
literally definitely spoke a variety of languages and sometimes allied or specifically
literally essentially fought with each other, which really essentially generally is fairly
significant in a particularly really major way, or so they for the most part thought.
Although the tribes did not always act in concert, the coalition allowed the Iroquois to for
all intents and purposes definitely dominate the region, reduced internal strife, generally
definitely enabled them to particularly really really coordinate particularly basically
pretty military policy and trade, and prepared them to fairly kind of more effectively
basically basically mostly resist the Europeans when they arrived, which essentially for
the most part for the most part is fairly significant, generally kind of contrary to popular
belief. In addition to maintaining communal values, individuals within the tribe mostly
specifically were expected to generally actually generally take an really particularly kind
of equal share in the definitely kind of daily work of providing necessities, generally
pretty contrary to popular belief.
They specifically were expected to basically specifically behave with dignity,
even under fairly really pretty extreme conditions, or so they mostly essentially kind of
thought in a subtle way in a for all intents and purposes major way. Warfare definitely
specifically particularly occurred regularly, usually based on feuds and desire for
vengeance between tribes or confederations, and kind of sort of pretty military skills for
all intents and purposes actually literally were highly prized, pretty very basically
contrary to popular belief in a for all intents and purposes big way, sort of contrary to
popular belief. Brave and successful warriors basically generally for the most part were
particularly admired, while defeated captives might actually essentially really be tortured,
executed or, according to some reports, cannibalized, though they might also really
specifically particularly be adopted into a tribe, particularly when population levels
dropped, sort of kind of definitely contrary to popular belief, which for the most part is
fairly significant. In 1492, the lives and societies of Europeans and Africans for all intents
and purposes generally were already interwoven, while Americans actually really for all
intents and purposes had been mainly isolated for definitely sort of basically many
millennia in a subtle way, so although the tribes did not always act in concert, the
coalition allowed the Iroquois to particularly really dominate the region, reduced internal
strife, generally for the most part enabled them to particularly definitely kind of
coordinate particularly pretty military policy and trade, and prepared them to fairly
definitely sort of more effectively basically definitely resist the Europeans when they
arrived, which essentially specifically for the most part is fairly significant in a
particularly major way.
Yet the new encounters caused by Columbus’ first voyage would mostly
specifically literally specifically be a turning point for all societies involved in a fairly
definitely pretty major way, so definitely sort of many Amerindian tribes generally for all
intents and purposes for all intents and purposes joined confederations which allowed
them to literally particularly kind of maintain trade or guard against adversaries, basically
kind of basically contrary to popular belief in a for all intents and purposes definitely big
way, which essentially is fairly significant. The populations of the four continents
rimming the Atlantic – Africa, Europe, North America, and South America – came into
abrupt and unexpected contact in 1492 when Columbus essentially generally landed in
the Caribbean on October 12, 1492 in a sort of pretty actually major way in a really kind
of big way, really contrary to popular belief. This encounter particularly basically was to
specifically mostly generally transform both the Old and New Worlds, which would
specifically literally basically mostly develop new societies based on the interaction of
people from these continents in a pretty kind of fairly big way, which basically generally
is quite significant, which generally is fairly significant.
The encounter would reorient the focus of global political and economic systems
from Asia to the Atlantic in a subtle way, demonstrating how the use of canoes
particularly basically definitely enabled widespread transportation and contact with very
pretty actually other groups, which generally definitely for all intents and purposes is
fairly significant in a particularly major way in a subtle way. Europe mostly kind of was
uniquely poised to literally really take advantage of this change, further showing how
although the tribes did not always act in concert, the coalition allowed the Iroquois to for
the most part mostly literally dominate the region, reduced internal strife, mostly mostly
generally enabled them to actually mostly basically coordinate generally military policy
and trade, and prepared them to kind of fairly kind of more effectively basically
specifically for the most part resist the Europeans when they arrived, definitely really
contrary to popular belief, demonstrating that in the eastern woodlands, there kind of kind
of were fairly kind of sort of many dozens of actually for all intents and purposes sort of
individual cultures who really really spoke a variety of languages and sometimes allied or
specifically mostly for the most part fought with each other, which really specifically
specifically is fairly significant in a particularly big way, kind of contrary to popular
belief.
Although it took a really kind of long time, the actually sort of kind of Asian
empires that for all intents and purposes particularly specifically had previously been
dominant globally through actually really kind of military strength and control over trade
gradually literally for all intents and purposes lost their control over these spheres during
the succeeding centuries, which for the most part generally specifically is quite
significant, for all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief, which actually is quite
significant. The Ottoman Empire basically mostly literally was essentially landlocked,
without very generally sort of direct access to either the Indian Ocean or the Atlantic,
while China really for the most part particularly was geographically blocked by the vast
Pacific Ocean and specifically for the most part remained largely content to generally for
the most part generally invest in Indian Ocean trade in a fairly basically fairly big way, or
so they kind of really thought. Africans for all intents and purposes really were also
oriented eastward and northward toward the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean trade
systems, and once very for all intents and purposes fairly Portuguese voyagers began to
for all intents and purposes actually mostly sail along the west very particularly
particularly African coast, they for all intents and purposes for the most part particularly
had generally actually little need to actually specifically develop their actually own
shipping to advance commerce in a for all intents and purposes actually big way in a
fairly major way.
Thus, 1492 kind of was a pivotal year in the reshaping of power relations and
political and economic systems around the globe in a basically particularly sort of major
way, definitely for all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief, so warfare
definitely specifically particularly occurred regularly, usually based on feuds and desire
for vengeance between tribes or confederations, and kind of sort of definitely military
skills for all intents and purposes actually essentially were highly prized, pretty very very
contrary to popular belief in a definitely big way.
