TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
The Spanish and Portuguese
Americas
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Objectives
•
Explain how Spain ruled its empire in the
Americas.
•
Analyze the major features of Spanish colonial
society and culture.
•
Describe how Portugal and other European
nations challenged Spanish power.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Terms and People
viceroy – a representative of the king who
ruled in his name
• encomienda – the right given to American
colonists by the Spanish government to demand
labor or tribute from Native Americans
• Bartolomé de Las Casas – a Spanish priest
who spoke out against the evils of the
encomienda system and pleaded with the king
to end the abuse
• peon – a worker forced to labor for a landlord
to pay off a debt
•
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Terms and People (continued)
•
•
•
•
•
peninsular – member of the highest class in
Spain’s colonies in the Americas
creole – an American-born descendant of Spanish
settlers in Spain’s colonies in the Americas
mestizo – a person of Native American and
European descent in Spain’s colonies in the
Americas
mulatto – a person of African and European
descent in Spain’s colonies in the Americas
privateer – a pirate who operated with the
approval of European governments
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
How did Spain and Portugal build
colonies in the Americas?
Spanish settlers and missionaries followed the
conquistadors to the new empire in the Americas.
They established colonies and imposed their will
by force. A new culture merged European, Native
American, and African elements.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Spain controlled a huge
empire by the mid-1500s.
•
Spain divided its conquered
lands in the Americas into
four provinces.
•
The king appointed
viceroys to rule in the
provinces and established
the Council of the Indies to
monitor them.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
One of Spain’s main goals in the Americas
was to spread Christianity.
•
As a result, Church leaders shared authority
with royal officials.
•
Missionaries baptized thousands of Native
Americans and worked to turn new converts
into loyal subjects of Spain.
•
They also built churches, taught the Spanish
language, and introduced European clothing
and crafts.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Spain closely controlled trade
throughout its empire.
Colonists could
export raw material
only to Spain.
They could
buy only Spanish
manufactured goods.
Trade with other
European nations
was forbidden
by law.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Spanish planters introduced sugar cane to the
West Indies. The sugar industry soon became
highly profitable.
Sugar plantations required a large number of workers.
Under the encomienda system, the Spanish could
force Native Americans to work in mines and on
plantations.
Disease, starvation, and brutal conditions contributed
to a sharp decline in the Native American population.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
A Spanish priest named Bartolomé de Las Casas
condemned the encomienda system.
•
He urged the king to end mistreatment of Native
Americans.
•
In 1542, Spain passed the New Laws of the Indies,
which forbade enslavement of Native Americans.
•
However, many natives were still forced to become
peons, or workers forced to labor to pay off debts.
•
Las Casas suggested that Spain fill the labor shortage
by importing workers from Africa, who had needed
skills and were immune to tropical diseases.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
The Spanish first brought Africans to the
Americas in the 1530s.
Millions were forced to work as slaves in the fields,
in mines, and in the households of landowners.
European, African, and Native American cultures
eventually blended together to form a distinct
culture in the Spanish colonies.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Cultural blending changed people’s lives
in the Americas.
Food, religion, clothing,
dance, songs, styles of
building, and farming
methods were all part of
this exchange.
A Spanish official in Mexico,
his Native American wife,
and their daughter.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
In addition, the composition of the
population shifted.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Spanish colonial society was made up of
layered social classes.
peninsulares
•
People born in Spain
creoles
•
American-born descendants of
Spanish settlers
•
Those of Native American and
European descent and people of
African and European descent,
respectively
•
Those whose heritage did not
include Europeans
mestizos and
mulattoes
Native American
and African
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Spanish
settlers lived
in towns and
cities and
established
universities.
•
The cities were lively
centers of government,
commerce, and cultural
expression.
•
Mexico City became the
largest Spanish-speaking
city in the world by 1550.
•
The University of Mexico
was established by 1551.
It was the first university
in the Americas.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Portugal claimed an empire in the east part
of South America. They named this land Brazil.
•
Portugal’s claim was based
on the 1494 Treaty of
Tordesillas.
•
In the 1530s, Portugal
began issuing grants of
land in Brazil to nobles.
•
In return, nobles agreed to
develop the land and share
profits with the crown.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Unlike the Spanish colonies, Brazil had no rich
supplies of silver and gold.
•
Early settlers cut down and exported brazilwood,
which was used to produce a valuable dye.
•
Landowners then turned to plantation agriculture
and cattle ranching.
•
Brazil depended on forced labor, first from Native
Americans and then from enslaved Africans.
•
In time, a Brazilian culture emerged that blended
Portuguese, Native American, and African elements.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Other nations grew jealous of Spain and
Portugal’s wealth and power in the Americas.
• Smugglers traded illegally with Spanish and
Portuguese colonists.
• English, French, and Dutch pirates called
privateers plundered treasure ships. Some
operated with the approval of their governments.
• European explorers continued to sail the coasts of
the Americas, hunting for riches and a northwest
passage to Asia.