Spanish Colonization of the Americas

Gold, Glory & God

Technology

• Caravels• Lateen Sails• Astrolabe

improvements• Compass

Portuguese

• Colonize the east primarily

• Also the Canaries and Madeiras– Sugarcane – plantation economy– African Slave Trade– Later taken over by the Spanish

Three Commonalities Between All Nations

• Mercantilism (see map)– Intra-colonial trading system

• The Columbian Exchange– Disease killed 90%

• African Slave Trade (see map)

Christopher Columbus – (1492 – 1504)

• Thought world was smaller than most believed – He was wrong

• Queen Isabella supported him

• Took four voyages

• Reason to believe he knew he reached the new world

Treaty of Tordesillas - 1494

Hernan Cortes & Francisco Pizarro

Conquers Aztecs – 1521

Established estates in New World

Dies a wealthy man

Conquers Incas - 1532

How was Cortes able to conquer so many with so few?

Economics of Spanish Colonies

• Established plantations on W. Indian islands

• Silver & gold mines of Central and South America

• Both required manual labor

Pirates• Spanish transported lots of wealth• Opened the door to privateers and eventually pirates• Channel between Florida and the Bahamas was the best place to go after

Spanish merchant ships– Spanish founded St. Augustine – 1565– Oldest city in US

Labor System - Encomienda

• Encomienda - The expedition commander would give trusteeship over parcels of land and that land’s inhabitants to his conquistadores.

– Encomiendero collected taxes from natives and force them to work

– Encomiendero would provide protection and Catholicism to the natives.

– Used on mainland

African Slavery• Used primarily on the islands of the

Caribbean– Sugar, coffee, tobacco plantations– Native had died from disease

Colonial Government under Crown Control

• Conquistador autonomy concerned the Spanish crown

– Created two provinces:• In Mexico - New Spain, • In Peru - New Castile

– Each governed by a viceroy. Voice of the king

• All important decisions on colonial management came from Spain.

Caste System

• Peninsulars

• Creoles

• Mestizo

• Mulattoes

Bartolome de las Casas

• Catholic Priest

• Came to the Americas shortly after Columbus

• Critic of the American conquest & encomienda system

• Fought to preserve rights of Native Americans

DeSoto & Coronado

• De Soto – unleashed violence through SE and Florida

• Coronado – Unleashed violence through the Great Plains

• The City of Cibola

Spanish in North America

• Why did they not conquer periphery Indians (North America)?

New Mexico Colony

• Santa Fe (1608) was founded as a religious colony– In the sticks– Little respect for

Natives

• Pueblo Indians were willing to add Christian beliefs

Pope’s Rebellion - 1680

• Pueblo Indians resent the Spanish– infringing on Pueblo culture – Disrespectful– Making natives second class citizens

• Pueblos attack New Mexico settlements– Kill priests & settlers– Burned settlements

• Set Spanish back in that area

Fall of the Spanish colonial Empire

• Defeat of the Armada 1588

• Centralized Control

• Increase in wealth caused inflation

• Exploitation colony

• Conversion efforts drew focus away from economic gains.