A New World Begins

33,000 B.C. - A.D. 1769

Pangaea began to separate 225 million years ago.

Nature shaped North America ten million years ago, creating the Canadian Shield. Great Ice Age, 2 million years ago, when Loading broke apart.

When the sea level dropped and the oceans turned into glaciers 35,000 years ago, an isthmus connecting Asia and North America was left behind.

People entering North America had to cross the Bering Isthmus. Ice began to recede and melt 10,000 years ago, raising sea levels and engulfing the Bering Isthmus.

Americas' population growth

There is evidence that suggests that early people may have crossed the Bering Isthmus or arrived in the Americas in rudimentary boats. There may have been over 54 million people residing in North and South America by the time Columbus arrived in America in 1492.

The earliest Americans

North America did not have dense populations, as did Mexico with the Aztecs. It's possible that this made it simpler for Europeans to colonize Africa.

Europeans arrive in Africa

When the Portuguese created the caravel, a ship that could sail into the wind, people from Europe were able to travel to sub-Saharan Africa around 1450. Sailing back up Africa's western coast and back to Europe was possible on this ship. The Portuguese established trading outposts along the coasts of Africa, continuing the Arab and African trading practices of slaves and gold. Slaves were transported back to Portugal and Spain by the Portuguese, where they were employed on sugar plantations.

Discovery of a New World by Columbus

Columbus actually found the Americas while searching for a new trade route with the Indies.

Worlds colliding

Perhaps three-fifths of the crops grown today in the world come from the Americas. The growth of international trade is discussed in The Columbian Exchange (globalization). Due to diseases introduced by the Spanish, the Taino native population in Hispaniola fell from 1 million to 200 people within 50 years of their arrival. As many as 90% of the Indians had perished from disease in the centuries after Columbus' arrival in the Americas.

The Conquistadors of Spain

Spanish exploration and colonization rose to prominence in the 1500s. Between the Spanish and the Portuguese, the Americas were divided by the Tordesillas Treaty. The Spanish conquistadors came to the Americas in search of gold and glory as well as to serve God. The New World's deposits of gold and silver had a profound impact on the European economy. For the staging of the Spanish invasion of the Americas, the Caribbean Sea islands served as offshore bases. Colorless colonial administrators took the place of the conquistadors in Mexico and Peru by the 1530s. Conquistadors who married Indian women and had children did exist. These offspring were referred to as mestizos, and they served as a cultural and biological link between Latinos and Africans.