APUSH Key Concept Outline -

Era 1: 1491-1607

Key Concept 1.1: As native populations migrated and settled across the vast expanse of North America over time, they developed
distinct and increasingly complex societies by adapting to and transforming their diverse environments.
Pre-Columbian Native Life: Different native societies adapted to and transformed their environments through innovations in
I
agriculture, resource use, and social structure.
The spread of maize cultivation from present-day 1. Explain where maize cultivation began in the Americas and how
Mexico northward into the present-day American it contributed to the development of civilization and permanent
Southwest and beyond supported economic settlements.
development, settlement, advanced irrigation, and 2. Describe the role agriculture (specifically the cultivation of
social diversification. Examples: Pueblo, Navajo maize) played in the American Southwest and other regions of
A
America. Give specific examples of how it affected the
following...
 economic development
 division of labor/social diversification
 advanced irrigation
Societies responded to the aridity of the Great Basin 3. Explain how the aridity of the Great Basin and the grasslands of
and the grasslands of the western Great Plains by the western Great Plains affected the lifestyle of American
B
developing largely mobile lifestyles. Examples: Sioux, Indians there. Give specific examples.
Apache
In the Northeast, the Mississippi River Valley, and 4. For each of the following regions, explain how each society
along the Atlantic seaboard some societies developed a mix of agricultural and hunter gatherer economies
developed mixed agricultural and hunter-gatherer that favored the development of permanent villages. Provide a
economies that favored the development of description of the key characteristics of their permanent
C
permanent villages. Examples: Iroquois, Creek, villages, with specific examples.
Choctaw, Cherokee  Northeast
 Mississippi River Valley
 Atlantic seaboard
Societies in the Northwest and present-day 5. Identify two specific American Indian societies in the Northwest
California supported themselves by hunting and and/or present-day California that supported themselves by
D gathering, and in some areas developed settled hunting and gathering, and give some specific examples of the
communities supported by the vast resources of the resources they gathered from the ocean. Provide specific
ocean. Examples: chinook, Nez Perce, Shoshone examples of life in these communities that reflect settlement.
THEMATIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Analyze causes of internal migration and patterns of settlement in what would become the United States, and explain how migration has affected American
MIG-2
life.
Explain how geographic and environmental factors shaped the development of various communities, and analyze how competition for and debates over
GEO-1
natural resources have affected both interactions among different groups and the development of government policies.
Key Concept 1.2: Contact among Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans resulted in the Columbian Exchange and significant
social, cultural, and political changes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Columbian Exchange – European Imperial Competition: European expansion into the Western Hemisphere generated intense
I
social, religious, political, and economic competition and changes within European societies.
European nations’ efforts to explore and conquer 1. Identify what motivated European nations to conquer and
the New World stemmed from a search for new explore the New World using the “3 G’s”; fully explain each “G”
sources of wealth, economic and military using specific examples.
A competition, and a desire to spread Christianity.
Examples: “3 G’s”: Gold, God, and Glory, founding
of St. Augustine (1565), Northwest Passage,
Roanoke Island
The Columbian Exchange brought new crops to 2. Explain how the Columbian Exchange transformed Europe’s
Europe from the Americas, stimulating European population growth and overall economy and helped Europe
population growth, and new sources of mineral shift from a feudal system to a system based on capitalism.
B
wealth, which facilitated the European shift from
feudalism to capitalism. Examples: introduction of
corn, potatoes, and tomatoes to Europe, growth of
 European nation-states
Improvements in maritime technology and more 3. Identify key improvements in maritime technology and
organized methods for conducting international international trade (like joint-stock companies) and explain how
trade, such as joint-stock companies, helped drive they helped drive change in European and American economies.
C
changes to economies in Europe and the Americas.
Examples: caravel, sextant, joint-stock trading
companies
THEMATIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Explain how patterns of exchange, markets, and private enterprise have developed, and analyze ways that governments have responded to economic
WXT-2
issues.
WXT-3 Analyze how technological innovation has affected economic development and society.
Explain how cultural interaction, cooperation, competition, and conflict between empires, nations, and peoples have influenced political, economic, and
WOR-1
social developments in North America.
Columbian Exchange – Atlantic World Demographic Changes: The Columbian Exchange and development of the Spanish
II
Empire in the Western Hemisphere resulted in extensive demographic, economic, and social changes.
Spanish exploration and conquest of the Americas 1. Explain the extent to which disease such as smallpox affected
were accompanied and furthered by widespread native populations.
deadly epidemics that devastated native 2. Identify new crops and animals introduced to the Americas and
populations and by the introduction of crops and explain how they furthered European conquest of native
A
animals not found in the Americas. Examples: populations.
spread of smallpox, European introduction of
horses, rice, wheat, and oxen to the New World,
bison hunting on the Great Plains
In the encomienda system, Spanish colonial 3. Describe the encomienda system and explain how it facilitated
economies marshaled Native American labor to Spanish conquest over Native Americans.
B support plantation-based agriculture and extract
precious metals and other resources. Examples:
sugar plantations, silver mines, Black Legend
European traders partnered with some West 4. Explain European relations with Africa, both cooperative and
African groups who practiced slavery to forcibly exploitive, and what kind of slave labor it produced in the
extract slave labor for the Americas. The Spanish Americas.
C
imported enslaved Africans to labor in plantation
agriculture and mining. Examples: the Line of
Demarcation, Middle Passage
The Spanish developed a caste system that 5. Describe Spanish colonial societies in America and how they
incorporated, and carefully defined the status of, were based on a caste system and explain why Spanish colonial
D the diverse population of Europeans, Africans, and caste systems included such a diverse population of Europeans,
Native Americans in their empire. Examples: Africans, Native Americans, mulattos, and mestizos.
Mestizo, Zambo, mulatto
THEMATIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES
MIG-1 Explain the causes of migration to colonial North America and, later, the United States, and analyze immigration’s effects on U.S. society.
WXT-1 Explain how different labor systems developed in North America and the United States, and explain their effects on workers’ lives and U.S. society.
Explain how geographic and environmental factors shaped the development of various communities, and analyze how competition for and debates over
GEO-1
natural resources have affected both interactions among different groups and the development of government policies.
Columbian Exchange – European vs. Native American Worldviews: In their interactions, Europeans and Native Americans
III
asserted divergent worldviews regarding issues such as religion, gender roles, family, land use, and power.
Mutual misunderstandings between Europeans and 1. Describe early relations with Native Americans and provide
Native Americans often defined the early years of evidence of misunderstandings/conflict and cooperation with
interaction and trade as each group sought to make each of the following European powers:
sense of the other. Over time, Europeans and
A Native Americans adopted some useful aspects of  Spanish
 French
each other’s culture. Examples: African religious
 English
traditions combined with Christian traditions,
Maroon communities  Dutch

As European encroachments on Native Americans’
lands and demands on their labor increased, native
B peoples sought to defend and maintain their
political sovereignty, economic prosperity, religious
beliefs, and concepts of gender relations through
2. Describe 2 specific examples of how Native Americans
attempted to protect their political sovereignty, economic
prosperity, religious beliefs, and concepts of gender relations
through diplomatic relations with European powers AND 2
 diplomatic negotiations and military resistance. specific examples through military resistance.
Examples: Spanish mission system, Juan de Onate,
Acoma War and defeat of the Pueblo (1599)
Extended contact with Native Americans and 3. Explain why people argued AGAINST the subjugation of native
Africans fostered a debate among European peoples and describe one specific example of an individual who
religious and political leaders about how non- supported this view.
Europeans should be treated, as well as evolving
4. Describe how Europeans used racial, religious, and cultural
C religious, cultural, and racial justifications for the
subjugation of Africans and Native Americans. arguments FOR the subjugation of native peoples.
Examples: Juan de Sepulveda, Bartolome de Las
Casas, communal nature of land, private vs. public
ownership of land, animism
THEMATIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES
CUL-1 Explain how religious groups and ideas have affected American society and political life.
CUL-3 Explain how ideas about women’s rights and gender roles have affected society and politics.
CUL-4 Explain how different group identities, including racial, ethnic, class, and regional identities, have emerged and changed over time.
Explain how cultural interaction, cooperation, competition, and conflict between empires, nations, and peoples have influenced political, economic, and
WOR-1
social developments in North America.