IN THE BEGINNING – Geography
· Geography is the study of people, their environments, & their resources
· Geographers help historians understand the past by showing how people & land are related
· The main purpose of latitude & longitude is to show a region’s location on a map
· The US is border to the North by the nation of Canada & to the South by Mexico
· The US is border to the east by the Atlantic Ocean & to the West by the Pacific Ocean
· There are many important river systems in the US examples being the Mississippi River, the Missouri River, the Ohio River, the Colorado River, & the Hudson River
· The US also contains 5 Great Lakes, which received their name due to their large size. They include Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, & Ontario (last 2 in New York)
· The US also possesses 2 major mountain ranges the Appalachians in the east & the Rocky mountains in the West
· The US capital is located in Washington D.C. The Kentucky state capital city is located at Frankfort
· The major mountain ranges are located in the East including the Adirondacks, the Catskills, & the Allegheny Mountains – all are part of the Appalachian chain
NATIVE AMERICANS – America’s First Inhabitants
· Geographers study the interaction between people, their environments, and their resources
· Historians study what has happened in the lives of different people in our past
· The five themes of geography help to illustrate the relationship between geography and history
· Political science is a field in which researches study how people set up and maintain governments
· Archeologists are individuals who study the past by examining artifacts
· Some examples of artifacts which archeologists study are arrowheads, pottery, tools, and buried animal bones
· Longitude and latitude help to determine absolute or exact location of places on the earth.
· Latitude lines measure North and South distances from the equator
· The equator is an imaginary line at 0 degrees latitude
· Longitude lines measure East and West distances from the Prime Meridian
· The Prime Meridian lies at 0 degrees longitude
· A people’s way of life can be defined as their culture
· The Incan civilization was located high in the Andes Mountains in South America
· The Aztec people were located in central Mexico with their capital city of Tenochtitlan
· Many scientists believe that the first people arrived in the Americas by crossing a land bridge from Siberia in Asia
· Native Americans developed different cultures based upon where the settled in the Americas
· Native Americans kept their history alive by storytelling to future generations, this is known as an oral tradition
· The buffalo provided the food, shelter, and clothing for the plain’s hunters
· Native-Americans were polytheistic, which means that they believed in many gods
· The Iroquois of New York were perhaps the strongest of the Eastern Woodland tribes
· Native Americans had a strong respect for nature and for land, which they believed cold not be sold or owned
· The Iroquois formed a league, which they believed would end wars amongst its members and provide a defense against potential
· Many Native American societies were matriarchal, which meant that women were the head of the household, and participated in some important tribal decisions
· Examples of how Native Americans adapted to their environment include the foods they hate, the homes in which they lived, and the clothes they wore
THE AGE OF EXPLORATION – “The Americas, who put that there?”
· Europeans became interested in trade for many reasons including new inventions, spices, exotic goods, and earlier exploration voyages
· In order to increase trade profits Europeans looked for new sea routes to Asia
· Prince Henry the Navigator helped to increase European interest in exploration by establishing a school of navigation
· Vasco da Gama became the 1st Portuguese sailor to reach India/Asia by sailing around the tip of Africa
· Although Columbus is widely believed to be the first European to discover the Americas, it is now proven that the Vikings arrived centuries earlier
· The Columbian Exchange is the name given to the transfer of good, ideas, animals, and disease between the Old World and the New World
· Millions of Native Americans would die as a result of the disease brought to the New World by the Columbian Exchange
· Millions more Native Americans would die from being forced to labor for the Spanish in mines and on plantations. These plantations were called encomiendas.
· The Spanish came to the New World seeking the 3 G’s: Gold, God, and Glory
· Spanish Conquistadors conquered the Native-Americans of the New World, including the Incas (Pizarro) and the Aztecs (Cortes)
· Bartholome de Las Casas was called the “Protector of the Indians” for speaking on behalf of Indians and Indian rights in the New World
· The Spanish created the empire of New Spain which was locate predominantly in Central and Southern America
· The Middle Passage was the horrific journey where Africans were brought across the Atlantic to the Americas as slaves
· Samuel de Champlain explored the St. Lawrence River and set up Quebec as a fur trading post.
· The colony of New France was established along the St. Lawrence River in present day Canada (eh?) and focused on the trapping and trading of furs with Native Americans
· Coureurs de Bois (Runners of the Woods) was another name given to the French Fur Traders
· A Northwest Passage was important to Europeans because it would supposedly provided a quick all water route to Asia through the North American Continent