HIS271Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Barter, John Cabot, Columbian Exchange
Document Summary
The antebellum refers to pre-civil war america. America is often referred to as the new world, which is incorrect. The continent did not come to be with european discovery. in fact, america"s history dates back centuries. It is overly simplistic to speak of the conquest of one world i. e. europe of another. What we sometimes refer to as discovery is actually an encounter of peoples. The rst people to come to america came from northern asia. They came from hunting cultures that were attracted to big-game. The separation of the hemispheres (where the bering straight is or beringia) was closed with the second ice age. Ergo, these hunters did not realize they were entering a new continent and leaving traditional territories. They entered an environment that was easily able to sustain large populations. After the third ice age, the straight melted and the continents were again separated.
