The New World
• Spain
• Christopher Columbus
• Genoese – sailed for Spain, Ferdinand & Isabella
• Hero or villain
• Experienced in seafaring
• Trade and circumventing other countries
• Devote Christian
• Missionary vision
• Report to Spain
• Conversion of natives
• Gold & silver
• Believed he reached Asia (until dying day)
• Contribution had extraordinary impact on world history
• Conquest and colonization
• 2nd voyage
• Enslaved the people of Hispaniola
• Forerunner of Encomienda system
• Inept at governing – led to royal control of his conquered areas
• Spain cont.
• Spain VS Portugal
• Line of Demarcation
• Made by Pope Alexander VI
• divided the heathen world into two equal parts. The 1st line was drawn 100 leagues west of the Cape
Verde Island
• The Treaty of Tordesillas 1494
• Divided New World
• Spain – everything west
• Portugal – everything east
• Imaginary line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verdes Islands
• Ferdinand Magellan
• Commissioned by Charles V – further voyages when no gold/silver found in Caribbean
• Magellan 1st to circumnavigate the globe
• Route to Asia via the Atlantic
• Horrific 3 yr voyage
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Disasters at sea
Starvation
Mutinies
Death of Magellan in the Philippines
• Demonstrated the vastness of the Pacific
• Spain cont.
• Vasco Nunez de Balboa (1475-1517): Discovered the Pacific Ocean after
crossing the Isthmus of Panama in 1513.
• Spanish Conquistadores: began creating empires by conquering Indians
• Hernando Cortès (1485-1547): conquered the Aztecs in Mesoamerica by 1521.
• Francisco Pizarro (1478-1541): conquered the Inca Empire along the Andes
mountains in modern-day Peru in 1532
• Spain cont.
• Hernando Cortes’
• Conqueror - Mexico
• Few men – horses & cannons
• Fortuitous elements beyond his control
• Dissention w/n the Aztec empire
• Demoralized population
• Weakened leadership
• Aztec Empire – large/wealthy/sophisticated
• Montezuma & advisors made decisions logical for their culture –
paved the way for Spanish victory
• Francisco Pizarro
• Incan conquest – Peru 1531
• Incans known for engineering & construction
• Facing internal dissention
• Executed leader Atahualpa
• Took until 1570 to gain control
• Spain cont.
• New World colonies
• 200,000 Spaniards immigrated in the 16thC
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soldiers & drifters
Estab large agricultural/ranching estates
Sugar plantations
Silver mines – Bolivia & Mexico
• Encomienda system - forced labor
• Rapid decline of native pop
• Brutal exploitation
• Led to the death of 1000s
• Exposure to Eur disease
• Land converted from subsistence to cash crops
• Bartolome’ de Las Casas
• Empathized with natives – lamented cruelty
• Argued for the rights of natives
• Charles V responded by abolishing the worst abuses
Native Americans
• Basic political unit
• Clan
• Chiefs served as military leaders, supervisor
of political leaders and judges
• Land Ownership
• Belonged to tribe/clan
• Private ownership not known
Contributions to American Culture
1. Agruiculture
• Taught Europeans how to cultivate and use:
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Corn
Potatoes
Cotton
Tobacco
Tomatoes
Many varieties of beans and squash.
2. Geography
• Hunting
• Trapping
• Names of places/rivers/landforms
Early Exploration and Conquest
• Overthrow of Aztec and Incan Empire
• Cortez
• Small band of soldiers
• Overthrew Montezuma and conquered the Aztec
of Central America
• Pizarro
• Conquered the Incas of Peru
• Looted, exploited and murdered natives
• Wetted the appetite for more
Exploration into North America
• Ponce de Leon
• Florida
• First European to step foot in America
• “Fountain of Youth” (myth)
• de Soto
• Florida and then marched west (Oklahoma)
• Discovered the Mississippi River (de Soto buried)
• Coronado
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Crossed the Rio Grande
Explored high plains of New Mexico
Texas
Oklahoma
Kansas
Colonization by the Spanish
• Spain was not concerned with colonization
• Exploration gave the Spanish territorial claim
• No gold
• No riches
• No interest
• Forced to colonized
• Competition of France, England & Russia
• France occupied east coast of Florida
• Spain established St Augustine 1565
• 1st white/European settlement with the future United States
• New Mexico settled 1598
• Santa Fe founded 1609
• California
• San Diego 1769
• Texas
• San Antonio 1718
The Spanish Colonial System
• Encomiendas
• Conquistadors/Military leaders permission to establish political/economic control of natives
• Large landed estates
• Missions
• Military posts – Presidios
• Extension of Spanish rule
• Authority of Spanish king supreme
• Mercantilistic policy
• Colonies were developed for the benefit of Spain
• Foreigners were excluded from trade with the colonies
• Trade with Spain strictly controlled
• Government
• Council of the Indies
• Viceroys
• Crown appointed officials and governed autocratically
French Settlements in North America
• Fishing and Fur expeditions
• Canadian coast & Newfoundland 1504
• Northwest Passage
• Verazzano 1524
• Explored the Atlantic coast line
• Cartier
• 3 expeditions 1533-41
• St Lawrence River
• Gave France claim to Canada
• Quebec 1608
• Samuel de Champlain
• Aided some Algonquins in an attack on the Iroquois – 1609
• Iroquois became allies to Dutch & English
• Prevented further expansion south of Montreal
• Territory extended by missionaries and fur traders
• Mississippi Valley 1673 – Marquette, a missionary & Joliet, a fur trader
• La Salle – Gulf of Mexico, Texas
• Killed by his own men
• Biloxi, Mobile & New Orleans 1699-1718
Dutch Exploration and Settlement
• Northwest Passage
• Dutch West Indian Company
• Henry Hudson (hired Englishman)
• Explored the coast of Virginia to Newfoundland 1609
• Hudson River
• Fur trade
• New Amsterdam (New York)
• New Netherland
• Patroon System
• Patroons were grated large blocks of land in return for
settling families.
• Fur trade most important business
• Expansion
• East as far as the Connecticut River
• Captured Swedish settlements on the Delaware in the
south