European Settlement Patterns in the Caribbean cont.
Countries
Settlement Patterns
Motives


SPAIN
Get gold
Establish permanent
settlements
Settlement Locations
and Start Date



1492
Cuba
Hispaniola (island of
Dominican Republic
and Haiti – the latter
eventually lost to
France)
 Puerto Rico
 Jamaica (Eventually
lost to British)
 Trinidad (Eventually
lost to British)
Treatment of Natives

Encomienda System =
Like serfdom. Spaniards
didn’t want to work so
forced natives to work
in fields or gold mines
 Native population dies
off slowly due to
treatment and exposure
to disease
Ex. 1509 = 60,000 Natives
1518 = 11,000
Summary of Government Policies and
Economic Products and Practices
 In
theory King/Queen in homeland had ultimate power,
in reality it was held by local officials
 Monarchy considered themselves free of any
constitutional constraints that limited their power in
Europe
 To prevent pirating by other European countries, gov’t
ordered warships to protect merchant vessels – this
worked but protection of island cities was minimal.
 For 3 centuries Spanish treated their Caribbean islands
as stations along the route of their treasure ships heading
to Mexico rather than trying to develop economy of
islands
 Closed empire to foreign trade and repressed all
attempts by their Creole populations to trade with
foreign nations = also hindered economic growth
 These policies were meant to keep other nations out of
the Caribbean but actually facilitated their settlement
 Eventually with outside threats and losing some islands,
they began to invest in the islands they still controlled –
particularly Cuba and Puerto Rico
Result: created monopolies over tobacco production and
made a lot of money off of sugar.