“The Spanish Encounter”
A profound ‘event’
• “The biggest population shift of modern times
has been the colonization of the New World
by the Europeans, and the resulting conquest,
numerical reduction, or complete
disappearance of most of Native Americans…”
-Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel
Peoples of the Americas ~1492 C.E.
1491: Europeans v. Americans
Europe: about 60 million people (80 million before
the Black Plague)
Americas: population estimates range from 10
million to over 100 million. Many scholars take a
mid-point of about 50-60 million people
• Aztec Empire 6-10 million
• Inca Empire: 10 million
• Caribbean 225,000-6 million (probably on the higher end)
REASONS FOR COLONIZATION AND EXPLORING
THE NEW WORLD
• Europeans are searching for a
trade route to Asia for spices
and silk
• Christopher Columbus reaches
the West Indies, a chain of
islands near the Americas on
October 12, 1492
Voyages of Columbus
THE SPANISH:GOD
• Spanish fought for hundreds of
years against the Moors, Islamic
rulers of Spain since 711 AD
• For the Spanish it is a “Holy War”
against non-Christians
• The Spanish believe that it is
their duty to spread Christianity
to the world
• When the Spanish conquer
Native Americans they must be
converted
THE SPANISH: GOLD
• Both the Incas and Aztecs have
gold
• The Spanish want gold in a big
way to enrich themselves and
pay for expansion of their
empire
• Spain is competing with other
European countries
THE SPANISH:GLORY
• The Spanish come from a
warlike tradition (hundreds of
years of warfare against the
Moors)
• Spain is not a wealthy country
and Spanish conquistadors are
willing to take great risks to
make a name and fortune for
themselves in the New World
• Many conquistadors are lower
level nobles without an
inheritance
The Fall of Aztec & Inca Empires
Spanish advantages
– Superior and intimidating weapons
• horses, guns, ships, steel
– Divide and conquer; conflict in both Aztec and
Inca empires
• Subjects who were taxed heavily, treated badly
– Fought to kill vs. to capture (particularly Aztecs)
– Germs--Incas already reduced by smallpox and
civil war, Aztec resistance is undermined by
smallpox and other diseases.
HERNANDO CORTES
• In 1519, Hernando Cortes lands
at Vera Cruz, Mexico with 600
soldiers
• Cortes destroys the Aztec
empire in 1521
The Incan Empire
What do we know?
Peoples of the Americas ~1492 C.E.
The Incan Empire
Theocratic Empire:
• The ruler could only come
from a family believed to be
descended from the sun god.
• Ruled over the largest empire
in the Americas: 16 million
people.
The Incan Empire
• Master builders and
engineers.
• Didn’t use the wheel
• Llamas don’t pull plows.
– Built by hand.
Incan Labor system
The Mita System:
• All able bodied people had to work for
the state for a certain number of days
every year.
• In exchange, the state supported old
and sick people.
• The state would send potatoes to areas
that had poor harvests.
Incan road system
14,000 miles of roads.
Atahualpa v. Francisco Pizzaro
Spanish defeat the Incas
• In 1532 Francisco Pizarro at the head of fewer
than 200 Spaniards entered the Inca Empire,
ambushes the Incas at Carjamarca and kidnapped
the Inca emperor Atahualpa.
• Atahualpa offered to fill a room once with gold
and twice with silver in exchange for his release.
• After the Spaniards received the ransom, they
strangled Atahualpa.
• The Spanish then took control of the Inca capital,
Cuzco, and ultimately the defeated the Incas in a
series of battles
Atahualpa captured
Indians were not conquered
immediately
• Resistance to Spanish
continued for 40 years,
until 1572. Incas
defeated Spanish several
times in battle.
• Incas adapted tactics to
counter Spanish military
advantages
• Some Indians (Argentina
and Chile) were not
defeated until the late
1800s
• After the death of the Inca, several of Atahualpa's generals took
matters into their own hands. Quizquiz was especially notable for
resisting the Spaniards at Cuzco, and Ruminahui burned Quito
rather than let it fall into enemy hands. Nevertheless, the Spaniards
were irrepressible, and within two years were seemingly in firm
control. However, one of the "puppet" Incas that the Spaniards had
enthroned was plotting against them. In 1536 Manco Inca
Yupanqui, one of the many brothers of Atahualpa and Huascar, led
over 100,000 Incan warriors in a revolt against the Spanish
overlords. He besieged the city of Cuzco for over six months and
killed one of the Pizarro brothers before being driven away by
Spanish reinforcements. Manco Inca escaped and formed a rebel
colony deep in the mountains which was not conquered by the
Spanish for almost forty years.
The Great Dying
By 1650, only 5-8 million
indigenous people remained
A 90-95% reduction in population of
the Americas in 150 years
Population of
Mexico
after Spanish
Encounter
Treasure
• Spain soon became the richest, most powerful
nation in the world due to the American colonies.
• 2 main areas of silver production-Mexico
(Zacatecas) and Potosi (Peru)
• In the 1500s, Spain extracted the equivalent of
about $1.5 trillion (in 1990s $) in gold and silver
from the Americas.
• This new found wealth helped usher in the
‘Golden Age’ of Spain and made Spain the
wealthiest nation in Europe
Silver: The first truly global commodity
Potosi-Cerro Rico “Rich Hill”
8 million dead
Mercantilism
Economic nationalism to build a wealthy and
powerful state, especially in Europe 1600-1800.
1.Maintain strict government control of trade
2.Get as much gold, silver and other resources as
you can
3.Establish a favorable balance of trade at the
expense of other nations
4.Get colonies and exploit them.
5.Build a big navy
The Columbian
Exchange
In your opinion, what
are the two most
important organisms
that were involved in
the Columbian
Exchange?
Birth of Spanish America
Spanish POV
• Spanish forced Indians to become Christians
• Indians also forced to work the fields, clear
forests, and work in the gold and silver mines
• If the Indians did not submit they were punished
and killed
• Some Spaniards took Indian women as wives,
their children known as mestizos (“mixed”)
•
Birth of Spanish America
Indios POV
• Indigenous people who
survived adapted to
Spanish rule:
– Spanish language
– Adopted Christianity
(but with local
influences)
– Women intermarried
with Spanish (mestizos)
Encomienda
• Labor system—Indians “awarded “ to Spanish
landowners
• indigenous labor for construction, servants,
agricultural work, mining
• Harsh working conditions, contributed to
decline in Indian populations.
• System fostered concentrated ownership of
land. Cortes awarded 7,700 square miles of
land in Mexico = almost 5 million acres.
Opposition to Spanish rule
• Spanish priests accompanied Spanish
conquistadors and worked to spread
Christianity in the Americas.
• Many of they also pushed for a better
treatment of Native Americans, speaking out
against the cruelty towards the natives.
• They criticized the encomienda system.
Bartolome de las Casas
• “There is nothing more detestable or cruel
than the tyranny which the Spaniards use
toward the Indians for getting of riches.”
• Las Casas suggested the use of African labor.
– “The labor of one is more valuable than that of
four Indians.”
– The Spaniards soon began to import Africa slaves
to meet their growing labor needs.
De las Casas
The Colonial Class System
Peninsulares
Mestizos
Native Indians
Creoles
Mulattos
Black Slaves
Coiote
Casta system
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade