EUROPEAN COLONIES IN
S. AMERICA
Ch. 15
BELLRINGER ACTIVIT Y
 Draw a diagram explaining the Encomienda System
CYCLE OF CONQUEST TO COLONIZATION
Explorers
Official
European
Colony!
EUROPEAN EMPIRES IN THE AMERICAS
CONTROL BY THE CROWN
 Spain tried to control from abroad
 Communication dif ficulty
 Creation of Viceroys
ENCOMIENDA SYSTEM
 1 . Spanish practice of securing an adequate and cheap labor
supply = FEUDALISM (But in reality was slaver y)
 “granted” to deserving subjects of the King
 2. Conquistador controlled Indian populations
 Required Indians to pay tribute from their land or employ as laborers
 Indians often rendered personal services as well.
 3. In return the conquistador was obligated to
 protect his wards
 instruct them in the Christian faith
 defend their right to use the to live off the land
 4. Encomienda system eventually decimated Indian
population.
 Fell victim to diseases of the Old World
 Died from exhaustion and malnutrition
REFORMS
 “To these quiet Lambs… came the Spaniards like most cruel
Tygres, Wolves and Lions, enrag’d with a sharp and tedious
hunger; for these for ty years past, minding nothing else but
the slaughter of these unfor tunate wretches.”
~Bartolome De Las Casas
 Las Casas and other missionaries asserted that the
Amerindians had human rights
 In 1531 , Charles V abolished the worst abuses of the
encomienda system.
SLAVERY
 Slavery was not new to the world at this time
 So how did African slavery take root in South and then North
America?
 As the Amerindians died of f, the Europeans needed to find an
alternative workforce
 In Africa, local leaders sold blacks from enemy states to the
Europeans
TRIANGULAR TRADE
MIDDLE PASSAGE
 Transporting Africans to slave markets in the Americas.
 Called the Middle Passage because it was the second of the
three-part Triangle Trade route.
 About twelve million Africans were transported between 1600
and 1800. About three million died.
CLOSING QUESTION & HOMEWORK
 Closing Question:
 Using support from the book and your notes, explain how the
colonization of South America af fected the global economy.
8+ lines
 Homework:
 Finish the explorer project
 Due Monday, September 22