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Mr. Temple's AP US History Page
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The European colonization of the Americas nearly obliterated the populations and cultures of the Native Americans. During
the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries, their populations were ravaged by conflicts with European explorers and colonists,
disease, displacement, enslavement as well as internal warfare. Scholars now believe that, among the various contributing
factors, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the American natives.[3][4][5]
The first Native American group encountered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, were the Island Arawaks (more properly called
the Taino) of Boriquen (Puerto Rico), the (Quisqueya) of the Dominican Republic, the Cubanacan (Cuba). It is said that of
the 250 thousand to 1 million Island Arawaks, only about 500 survived by the year 1550, and the group was considered extinct
before 1650. Yet DNA studies show that the genetic contribution of the Taino to that region continues, and the mitochondrial
DNA studies of the Taino are said to show relationships to the Northern Indigenous Nations, such as Inuit (Eskimo) and others.[6]
In the sixteenth century, Spaniards and other Europeans brought horses to the Americas. Some of these animals escaped
and began to breed and increase their numbers in the wild. Ironically, the horse had originally evolved in the Americas, but
the early American horse became game for the earliest humans and became extinct about 7,000 BC, just after the end of the
last ice age. The re-introduction of the horse had a profound impact on Native American culture in the Great Plains of North
America. As a new mode of travel the horse made it possible for some tribes to greatly expand their territories, exchange
goods with neighboring tribes, and more easily capture game.
European settlers sometimes brought diseases, against which the Native Americans had no natural immunity. Chicken pox
and measles, though common and rarely fatal among Europeans, often proved deadly to Native Americans. Smallpox, always a terrible
disease, proved particularly deadly to Native American populations.[7] Epidemics often immediately followed European exploration,
sometimes destroying entire villages. While precise figures are difficult to arrive at, some historians estimate that up to
80% of some Native populations died due to European diseases.[8]
In 1617-1619 smallpox wiped out 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Indians. As it had done elsewhere, the virus wiped out entire
population groups of Native Americans. It reached Lake Ontario in 1636, and the lands of the Iroquois by 1679, killing millions.
During the 1770's, smallpox killed at least 30% of the West Coast Native Americans.[9][10]
More...
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In Colonial times children had to follow some very strict rules such as, not moving their mouth with any noise and the same
for all their other body parts.
Children couldn't even sit down. When a meal was good they couldn't say that it was good.
There was not much milk in the winter. Instead the colonists used sweetened cider thined with water. Sometimes they soaked
bread in it.
If you were not as wealthy as your neighbors, you would hide your fish in the cupboard when they came to visit. This is
because you wouldnot want them to know that you eat cheap fish.
Once an English gentleman wrote to his family: They sell a fine fresh cod that will weigh a dozen pounds or more for about
two pence sterling. He thought the fish was very cheap!
Getting food wasn't as easy as going to the super market. Most of the food was hunted, grown in the family garden, fished
for or came from the animals on the farm.
The prople thought water made you sick. There weren't as many cows as there are now, so people did not drink very much
milk. You probably wonder what people did drink. Well they drank peach and apple cider. Beer was also a main drink for children
and adults!
On Sunday Colonial families ate baked beans. The mother of the family would start baking the beans on Saturday night.
She would put molasses and a piece of salt pork, along with the beans into a pot called a bake kettle. She would leave the
beans in the fireplace all night. In the morning they were ready to eat.
The Colonial people saved lots of their vegtables by pickling them. This means they put the vegtables in vinegar for a
while. The meat was saved by puting it in the smoke house. It would get dry and the smoke made a safe coating.
What's New?
Here I might add an entry whenever I make an update to my web site. Where appropriate, I'll include a link to the change.
For example:
11/1/01 - Added new photos to Vacation Album page.
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Children did not have Nintendo, TV, or many books to read, so they often created their own games. They spent so much time
in the schoolroom and doing chores that outdoor games were most appealing to them.
One popular outdoor game was rolling the hoop. Taking a big wooden hoop, the children would race each other from one point
to another on the lawn. The object of the game was to see who could get to the finishing point fastest. It sounds like an
easy game, but the hoop was difficult to roll.
Another fun game was nine pins, which is similar to bowling. Nine pins would be placed three in a row on the lawn and
th eobject was to knock down all nine pins with a ball. The slope of the lawn made the game tricky.
Children had sack races and played tag, quoits, marbles, hopscotch, leapfrog, and Blindman?s Buff. They flew kites and
went fishing and swimming. Even simple activities like swinging or taking a walk were enjoyed if they had friend to accompany
them. If the weather was bad, children often played with simple wooden toys like spinning tops and whirligigs, read, and embroidered
samplers.
The primary education of upper class children in colonial days included reading, writing, simple math, poems, and prayers.
Paper and textbooks were scarce so boys and girls recited their lesssons until they memorized them. The three most commonly
used books were the Bible, a primer, and a hornbook. As children grew older their schooling prepared them for their eventual
roles in plantation life. While boys studied more advanced, academic subjects, the girls learned to assume the duties of the
mistress of a plantation.
The sons of a planter typically would be taught the basics at home. The boys? school day started around 7 a.m. in the
school room with their male tutor. They had several breaks during the day. Around 9 a.m. they had breakfast, and dinner was
served from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The boys studied higher math, Greek, Latin, science, celestial navigation (navigatin ships by
the stars), geography, history, fencing, social etiquette, and plantation management. At this point, the sons of wealthy planters
often were sent to boarding schools in England for a higher education. They sometimes stayed over in England to study law
or medicine. Otherwise, they would return home to help their fathers run the plantation.
The school days for girls were somewhat different. Girls learned enough reading, writing, and arthimetic to read their
Bibles and be able to record household expenses. They were taught by a governess, who was usually from England and somewhat
educated. They studied art, music, French, social etiquette, needlework, spinning, weaving, cooking, and nursing. The girls
did not have the opportunity to go to England for higher education because this was not considered important for them.
The tutor or governess had more authority over their students than teachers do today. They could spank or whip the students
or sit them in the corner if they misbehaved. When a student talked too much, the tutor placed a whispering stick in the talkative
student?s mouth. This stick, held in place with a band of cloth, prevented any further talking. Tutors sometimes used dunce
caps and nose pinchers to keep students in line. Students often rebelled against these strict disciplinary practices. Pranks
such as locking the tutor out of the schoolhouse were common especially near holiday break
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