P1 | APUSH | Ms. Wiley | Spanish Colonization, D___
Name:
General Reasons for European Exploration & Colonization, ca. 1500
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Starting in the fifteenth century, Europeans embarked on an era of exploration and colonization unprecedented in human
history
Europeans were interested in circumventing the Italian city-states and finding new trade routes with the East
The Renaissance spirit of curiosity about the world inspired people to explore and map new areas
Universities and scholarly books spread such ideas to an increasingly literate Europe
Religious movements in the sixteenth century renewed many people’s religious zeal and their desire to spread their gospels
A series of technological developments, many inspired by renewed contact with the Muslim world (who had preserved
classical wisdom), encouraged exploration
o Printing press spread information and stimulated interest
 News of Columbus’s findings would travel across Europe much farther and faster than news of the
Vikings’ expeditions
o Compass, astrolabe, quadrant, hourglass aided navigation
o Development of the caravel
o Military advancements
 Guns mounted on ships
 Europe’s incessant wars gave rise to arms race
Spanish Exploration & Colonization:
Motives:
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Traditional interpretation:
o Trade
o Spread of Catholic faith through indigenous conversions
o Desire for new sources of wealth
o Increased power and status
Revisionist interpretation:
o Original motive for exploration may have been trade, spread of Catholicism, etc., but once contact was made, the
primary motive became conquest and exploitation, for which religion was used as a rationale
Locations in Spain’s American Empire (“New Spain”): (see page 2 for expanded, color-coded map)
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Throughout roughly the 1500s-1800s, the Spanish Empire would expand across:
o Half of South America
o Most of Central America
o Most of the Caribbean Islands
o Much of North America (including present day Mexico, Florida, and Southwestern and Pacific Coastal regions of
the U.S.)
End of the Spanish American Empire (“New Spain”):
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In the 19th century, the Spanish American wars of independence (1820s) resulted in the emancipation of most Spanish
colonies in the Americas, except for Cuba and Puerto Rico
o Ideas from the French and American Revolution influenced these efforts
Cuba and Puerto Rico were finally given up in 1898 following the Spanish-American War
o Loss of these last territories politically ended the Spanish colonization in the Americas
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The Beginning:
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Catholic monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand gave official approval to Italian mariner Christopher Columbus for a voyage to
reach India by sailing West
Columbus made several voyages to the West Indies, a region in the Caribbean Basin and North Atlantic Ocean that includes
many islands (see color-coded map of voyages on page 3)
o After 1492, European began to use the misnomer West Indies to differentiate that region from the Indies (South
Asia and Southeast Asia)
o Demanded food, gold (which couldn’t be found at first), spun cotton, sex with their women
 Rewarded his lieutenants with native women to rape
 To ensure cooperation he used harsh punishments for minor offenses to show the brutality the Spaniards
were capable of
o Natives resisted Columbus and his men in many ways:
 Some refused to plant, abandoned towns near Spanish settlements, or fought back with weapons
 Later, after the system of forced labor had been planted, there were mass suicides and some women
chose to shun conception and childbirth
 In 1519, Haiti became the site of the 1st large-scale slave revolt, when imported blacks and American
Indians banded together to fight the Spanish
 Revolt was unsuccessful (but a later fight in the 18th century against the French would bring
victory to the slaves)
Christopher Columbus introduced two phenomena that revolutionized race relations and transformed the modern world:
o The taking of land, wealth and labor from indigenous people in the Western Hemisphere, leading to their near
exterminations
o The transatlantic slave trade, which created a racial underclass
Mainland explorations began in Venezuela around 1500
o Due to successful attacks by the indigenous people, many settlements had to be refounded several times
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Settlement & Administration:
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About 350,000 Spaniards migrated to the Americas between 1500 and 1650
The Spanish system of colonization is referred to as the Encomienda System, which resembled Old World feudalism
o The monarchy would assign a Spaniard (typically a conqueror) a piece of land and its inhabitants
 The Spaniard operating the land and its people would often be referred to as an encomendero; the land
itself would often be referred to as an encomienda or hacienda
 Encomenderos acted as feudal lords and had a free hand to run their holdings as long as a percentage of
gold/silver went back to the monarchy
 Natives would extract resources and give tributes in the form of metals, maize, wheat, pork, or
any other agricultural product
 Encomenderos were to take responsibility for instruction in Catholicism, protection from warring tribes,
and development and maintenance of infrastructure
 Led to brutal exploitation and slavery
 Natives were subjected to extreme punishment and death if they resisted
 Many communities and family units were broken up
 System was formally abolished in 1730, but had lost effectiveness much earlier; in many areas it had been
abandoned for African slavery
The Spanish were, at times, inclusive in their colonization, intermarrying with Indians (offspring would be classified as
“mestizo”) and/or Africans (offspring would be classified as mulatto), creating a racially-mixed caste culture
o Since mixed-race individuals could not by law be subjected to the encomienda, many natives deliberately sought to
dilute their tribal identity and that of their descendants as a way for them to escape the service
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Impact on Europeans:
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Spain became the wealthiest country in Europe with the influx of New World precious metals
Once Columbus finally found gold in Haiti (1499), Spain became the envy of Europe
o Spanish (and Portuguese) expansion into the Western Hemisphere caused intense competition in Europe and the
promotion of empire building
o After 1500, Portugal, France, Holland, and England joined in conquering the Americas in an attempt to duplicate
Spain’s success in the New World
 These nations were at least as brutal as Spain
The system of slavery initiated by Columbus set a precedent for future European colonization
o John Smith used Columbus as a role model in proposing a get-tough policy for the Virginian Indians in 1624: “The
manner how to suppress them is so often related and approved: Any you have 20 examples of how the Spaniards
got the West Indies, and forced the treacherous and rebellious infidels to do all manner of drudgery work and
slavery for them...”
European benefits from the Columbian Exchange:
o Items brought to Europe were turkeys, maize (corn), potatoes, plants with medicinal advantages, and tomatoes
o Almost half of all major crops now grown throughout the world originally came from the Americas
 New crops from the Americas stimulated European population growth, which helped fuel European
emigration to the Americas
o Economically, exploiting the Americas soon transformed Europe, enriching first Spain, and later, many other
nations
 Gold in Haiti was soon dwarfed by discoveries of gold/silver in Mexico and elsewhere
 Some credit it with the rise of capitalism and eventually the Industrial Revolution
 New sources of mineral wealth facilitated the European shift from feudalism to capitalism
 Capitalism was surely under way already, but American riches played a major role in its
development
 Gold/silver from America replaced land as the basis for wealth and status, increasing the power
of the new merchant class that would soon dominate the world
Religious matters:
o American Indians were not mentioned in the Bible; they did not fit within orthodox Christianity’s explanation of
the moral universe
o Unlike the Muslims, who might be written off as “damned infidels,” American Indians had not rejected Christianity,
they just had never encountered it; Europeans wondered, were they doomed to hell?
Spanish (and subsequent European colonizers) developed a belief in white superiority to justify their subjugation of natives
and Africans
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Impact on Native Americans:
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Impact of Columbian Exchange:
o Europeans introduced horses, goats, chickens, coffee, lettuce, and wheat to the New World
 These crops and animals would have far-reaching effects on native settlement patterns
o By far, the most important organisms brought from Europe to the New World were germs
 The peoples of the New World, having evolved and adapted away from the peoples of the Old World, had
no immunities to many of these germs and the infectious diseases they caused
 These diseases included bubonic plague, cholera, scarlet fever, and most importantly, smallpox
 Historians disagree over what percentage of native peoples died as a result of these diseases;
roughly speaking, most agree that perhaps 50% of natives died due to this “unintended tragedy”
See evidence from las Casas, pages 5-6
Encomienda System (see page 3) led to brutal exploitation and slavery
Spaniards were committed, by Royal decree, to convert their New World indigenous subjects to Catholicism
o Indigenous people often added Catholicism into their longstanding traditional ceremonies and beliefs
o Many native expressions, forms, practices, and items of art could be considered idolatry and prohibited or
destroyed by Spanish missionaries, military and civilians
Although the Spanish did not force their language on the native peoples to the extent they did their religion, some
indigenous languages of the Americas did adopt Spanish
Impact on Africans:
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At first, Spanish settlers enslaved the local indigenous peoples
o During the first decades of colonization, widespread and abusive slavery resulted in the deaths of tens of
thousands of indigenous peoples
o Colonists needed a new source of labor and began importing African slaves
 Proponents argued that the rapid decline of the native population required a consistent supply of reliable
workers
 The Spanish population at the time was much too small to carry out all the labor needed to assure the
economic viability of the colonies
The Spanish (and Portuguese) traders reached West Africa and partnered with some African groups to recruit slave labor
for the Americas
o Overall, Spain would import fewer slaves to the New World than the Portuguese or British
o About 250,000-300,000 Africans arrived in New Spain between 1500 and 1650
In spite of slavery, Africans’ cultural and linguistic adaptations to the Western Hemisphere resulted in varying degrees of
cultural preservation and autonomy (more on this in Period 2)
The Spanish ended both Indian and African slavery in the mainland of the Americas in the 18th century, but in Cuba and
Puerto Rico, where sugar cane production was highly profitable based on slave labor, African slavery persisted until 1866
and 1873
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Bartolemé de las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies (1542)
Background: The controversy over the moral dimension of the European conquest is not altogether new.
It was initiated more than 400 years ago by a Spaniard, Bartolemé de las Casas, a Spanish historian, social
reformer, and priest. His extensive writings chronicle the first decades of colonization of the West Indies
and focus particularly on the atrocities committed by the colonizers against the indigenous peoples.
Interestingly enough, las Casas was originally a Spanish soldier and encomendero who owned Indian
slaves in the New World. He underwent a profound conversion after seeing the abuse of native peoples.
He later reformed his ways and documented the atrocities he first took part in, and later, sadly observed.
What follows is an excerpt from his Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies (1592), which became
an international best-seller. Outside of Spain, it generated an entire literature of indictment of Spain and
all things Spanish.
[F]orty-nine years have passed since the first settlers penetrated the land, the first so claimed being the . . . . isle called Hispaniola[,
which is] densely populated with native peoples called Indians . . . . And of all the infinite universe of humanity, these people are the
most guileless (frank, truthful), the most devoid of wickedness and duplicity (hypocrisy), the most obedient and faithful to their
native masters and to the Spanish Christians whom they serve. They are by nature the most humble, patient, and peaceable, holding
no grudges; neither excitable nor quarrelsome. These people are the most devoid of hatreds or desire for vengeance of any people
in the world. They are also poor people, for they not only possess little but have no desire to possess worldly goods. For this reason
they are not arrogant, embittered, or greedy. As to their dress, they are generally naked, with only their pudenda (genitals) covered
somewhat . . . . They are very clean in their persons, with alert, intelligent minds, docile (submissive, obedient) and open to doctrine,
very apt to receive our holy Catholic faith, to be endowed with virtuous customs, and to behave in a godly fashion.
Yet into this sheepfold, into this land of meek outcasts there came some Spaniards who immediately behaved like ravening wild
beasts, wolves, tigers, or lions that had been starved for many days; and they are still acting like ravening beasts, killing, terrorizing,
afflicting, torturing, and destroying the native peoples, doing all this with the strangest and most varied new methods of cruelty,
never seen or heard of before, and to such a degree that this Island of Hispaniola once so populous (having a population that I
estimated to be more than three million), has now a population of barely two hundred persons . . . . The island of Cuba is . . . . now
almost completely depopulated. San Juan [Puerto Rico] and Jamaica are two of the largest, most productive and attractive islands;
both are now deserted and devastated . . . . All the people were slain or died after being taken into captivity and brought to the
Island of Hispaniola to be sold as slaves. (Note: concrete evidence to support these numbers cited by de Las Casas does not exist, as
census reports were not conducted at this time.)
As for the vast mainland, which is ten times larger than all Spain, we are sure that our Spaniards, with their cruel and abominable
acts, have devastated the land and exterminated the rational people who fully inhabited it . . . . Their reason for killing and
destroying such an infinite number of souls is that the Christians have an ultimate aim, which is to acquire gold, and to swell
themselves with riches in a very brief time and thus rise to a high estate disproportionate to their merits. It should be kept in mind
that their insatiable greed and ambition, the greatest ever seen in the world, is the cause of their villainies. And also, those lands are
so rich, the native peoples so meek and patient, so easy to subject, that our Spaniards have no more consideration for them than
beasts. And never have the Indians in all the Indies committed any act against the Spanish Christians, until those Christians have first
and many times committed countless cruel aggressions against them or against neighboring nations. For in the beginning the Indians
regarded the Spaniards as angels from Heaven. Only after the Spaniards had used violence against them, killing, robbing, torturing,
did the Indians ever rise up against them.
On the Island Hispaniola . . . . those Christians perpetrated their first ravages and oppressions against the native peoples. This was
the first land in the New World to be destroyed and depopulated by the Christians, and here they began their subjection of the
women and children, taking them away from the Indians to use them, eating the food they provided with their sweat and toil. The
Spaniards did not content themselves with what the Indians gave them of their own free will, according to their ability, which was
always too little to satisfy enormous appetites, for a Christian eats and consumes in one day an amount of food that would suffice to
feed three houses inhabited by ten Indians for one month. And they committed other acts of force and violence and oppression
which made the Indians realize that these men had not come from Heaven.
From that time onward the Indians began to seek ways to throw the Christians out of their lands. They took up arms, but their
weapons were very weak and of little service in offense and still less in defense. (Because of this, the wars of the Indians against
each other are little more than games played by children.) And the Christians, with their horses and swords and pikes began to carry
out massacres and strange cruelties against them. They attacked the towns and spared neither the children nor the aged nor
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pregnant women nor women in childbed, not only stabbing them and dismembering them but cutting them to pieces as if dealing
with sheep in the slaughter house. They laid bets as to who, with one stroke of the sword, could split a man in two or could cut off
his head or spill out his entrails with a single stroke of the pike. They took infants from their mothers' breasts, snatching them by the
legs and pitching them headfirst against the crags or snatched them by the arms and threw them into the rivers, roaring with
laughter and saying as the babies fell into the water, "Boil there, you offspring of the devil!"
After the wars and the killings had ended, when usually there survived only some boys, some women, and children, these survivors
were distributed among the Christians to be slaves.
Questions:
1.
Las Casas’s report:
Note: We don’t always know all, or even any, of the answers to the questions below. Nonetheless, whenever we look at
historical documents it is important to brainstorm responses to these key prompts:
Author’s point of view: Why did the author feel this way? How might who they are impact that perspective? Is the author
reliable?
Author’s purpose: What was the author’s objective in writing the piece?
Intended audience: Who was the document written for?
Historical context: How does the document connect to a larger historical event or process?
2.
What areas made up “New Spain” ca. 1550?
3.
Describe the Encomienda System in your own words:
4.
In what ways did Europeans benefit from Spanish colonization?
5.
What is one thing you would like to learn more about that was mentioned in this document? Why?
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