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
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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
Conquers Incas - 1532
Established estates in
New World
Dies a wealthy man
How was Cortes able to conquer so many with so few?
Economics of Spanish Colonies
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Established
plantations on W.
Indian islands
Silver & gold mines
of Central and
South America
Both required
manual labor
Pirates
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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
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Encomienda - The expedition commander
would give trusteeship over parcels of land and
that land’s inhabitants to his conquistadores.
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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
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Conquistador autonomy concerned the
Spanish crown
–
Created two provinces:
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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
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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
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Defeat of the Armada 1588
Centralized Control
Increase in wealth caused inflation
Exploitation colony
Conversion efforts drew focus away from
economic gains.