Chapter 1
- Due to the gold and silver deposits found in the New World, the European economy was transformed.
- On June 30, 1520, the Aztecs attacked the Spanish because of the Spaniards' lust for riches. The Spanish countered, though, and took over the capital and the rest of the Aztec empire on August 13, 1521.
- In the 1500's, Spain became the dominant exploring and colonizing power. The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the Americas between the Spanish and the Portuguese.
- Some of the conquistadores wed Indian women and had children. These offspring were known as mestizos and formed a cultural and biological bridge between Latin America's European and Indian races.
- People of Europe were able to reach sub-Saharan Africa around 1450 when the Portuguese invented the caravel, a ship that could sail into the wind. This ship allowed sailors to sail back up the western coast of Africa and back to Europe.
## New World Beginnings
33,000 B.C. - A.D. 1769
225 Million Years Ago - Pangaea started to break apart.
10 Million Years Ago - North Amer…