ORIGINS -- THE WORLD BEFORE COLUMBUS
I.Western Hemisphere
A. Geographically
1. Changes in temperature created dramatic risings and lowerings of the sea level,
placing large portions of the North American South and Midwest under water
many times.
2. Large glaciers existed in the northern half of North America
a. New England's top soil was swept away, leaving a rocky, infertile land.
b. A shelf off New England's coast made possible the later development of
commercial fishing.
c. The Great Lakes were carved out.
d. Two northward flowing rivers (Missouri and Ohio) were diverted and
redirected as tributaries of the Mississippi River.
e. Sea level around 20,000 years before Columbus left a possible land bridge
between Siberia and Alaska.
B. Early Migration into the Americas
1. Introduction
a. The American continent was isolated from the rest of the world for centuries.
b. While man was supposedly evolving in East Africa and spreading out to inhabit the three
continents of the Old World, no such neanderthal or other pre-homo sapiens apparently existed in
the Western hemisphere.
2. Earliest Migration - 50,000 - 8,000 B.C.
a. The first migrants to North America were Asiatics from Eastern Siberia, migrating across the
land bridge, eventually making their way to the southernmost tip of South America.
(1) They were physically kin to modern Chinese, Japanese and KoreanS.
(2) The brown-skinned, thin-lipped, high-cheeked, broad-faced, straight black-haired ancestors of
Native Americans developed some remarkable civilizations.
b. Over 75 million strong, these great civilizations were diverse, technologially advanced, artistic,
politically complex and were equal to the civilizations in Asia, Africa and Europe.
3. From 9,000 - 1,500 B.C.
a. Early known hunting and gathering cultures migrated into the heart regions of native American
culture (Mexico South to Peru).
b. This culture slowly gave way to another mode of life
(1) 3000 B.C. - Earliest American Farmers
(a) Seafood, simple farming, gathering
(b) Grew and twined or wove cotton and bast
(c) Cultivated beans and gourds (but not maize)
(d) Did not manufacture pottery, but practiced a rudimentary stone industry.
(2) 1000 B.C. - Formative Era in Andean and Meso-American Region
(a) Expanded horticulture - cultivated maize, squash, beans.
(b) Large settlements with irrigation systems.
(c) Practiced metallurgy based on gold and copper, but not iron.
(d) Had few domesticated animals and no potter's wheel.
4. Development of Native Empire
a. AD 1 - 900 - Classic Era in Mexico and Peru
(1) Age of elaborate sculptor and art, temple and pyramid building (Mayas)
(2) Great populations, tremendous building and wide trade.
(3) Adobe-brick structures, unsurpassed pictorial (modeled) pottery, metallurgy.
(4) Dominated by a priestly class and later warrior class.
b. AD 1300 - The major centers of cultural progress, and military and political activity remained in
the Meso-America and central Andean regions.
C. General Introdution to the Indian Civilizations Encountered by the Spaniards
1.
Spanish explorers and missionaries encountered many groups of peoples in their journeys through
Central and South America
2. The conquistadores quickly discovered two centers of agricultural development:
a. Central America (Mesoamerica)
b. The Andean region of modern Peru.
3. The major Indian societies all shared certain societal characteristics:
a. They were all agrarian economies based chiefly on the cultivation of maize (corn)
b. They had polytheistic religions based on nature worship, including the building of elaborate
temples and large ceremonial centers.
(1) Religion was a constant influence in daily life
(2) It could often be violent in terms of sacrifice.
c. They had highly authoritarian, hierarchical societies
4. Aztecs and Incas established large empires, dominating many neighboring peoples.
D. Three Great Civilizations in South and Central America
1. In 1492 the Western Hemisphere had a total population of 50 - 75 million, most of whom were
clustered most densely in Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean Islands and Peru.
2. Mayas of Central America and Mexico.
a. This group of peoples established a complex civilization in Central America first, peaking
between 317-900 AD, centering in what is now northern Guatemala.
b. Politically their influence was minimal
(1) Their small population lived in scattered communities in a harsh jungle environment
(2) No central leader -- each city was ruled by a priestly class in a stratified society.
c. Their religious worship included animal and human sacrifice - how much is debated currently
by historians and anthropologists.
d. The most notable achievements of the Mayas were in intellectual pursuits
(1) Advanced astronomy
(a) A superior calendar to that used by Europeans (until Europe changed in AD 1752).
(b) Accurate calculations of the seasons and eclipses.
(2) Advanced mathematics and architecture
(a) Mathematically, they understood zero as a number place.
(b) They built impressive temples, elaborate palaces and numerous pyramids and produced
beautiful art.
(3) The only Indian people in the Western Hemisphere to develop a system of writing and books.
e. After 900 AD, however, the Mayas suffered a rapid decline although the reasons are not clear
(agricultural exhaustion, civil war?).
3. Aztecs (AD 1325-1521)
a. Introduction
(1) These peoples were located in what is now central Mexico, entering the same area that is now
Mexico City in 1168 AD.
(2) Their capital, called Tenochtitlan , founded in 1325, became the center of an expanding
empire by AD 1450.
(3) When the Spaniards arrived in Central America, the Aztec empire covered about 125,000
square miles (about the size of present day Arizona) and numbered between 5-6 million.
b. The aggressive Aztecs were a powerful military force, subjugating nearby peoples.
(1) They consolidated their hold over a wide central area by 1500, controlling all trade routes in
the region and demanding tribute from many other peoples.
(2) They treated conquered areas as colonies, whose responsibility was to supply food and raw
materials to the Aztec capital -- whatever the Aztecs demanded
(3) The Aztecs developed something akin to European mercantile empires, except there were no
overseas colonies.
c. Aztecs were also a violent society, as best seen in their religious rites.
(1) A stratified society, centralized in Mexico City, ruled by a high priest.
(2) Priests performed rituals to ensure the well-being of the Aztec people and also to guard their
world against collapse into chaos and destruction
(3) According to Aztec beliefs, the world had already passed through four ages when civilization
had flourished and then been totally destroyed
(a) The second age, for example, had been ruled over by Quetzalcoatl
(b) He destroyed cities with hurricanes and changed all people into monkeys.
(4) By 1500, the Aztecs believed they were in the Fifth Age which also was doomed to destruction
(a) Priests could postpone this day of reckoning through religious sacrifices to please the gods
(b) What most pleased the gods was human sacrifices which could only be carried out by
capturing many prisoners in warfare.
d. Hence religion, war and expansionism were all interlinked for the Aztecs.
4. Chechuas , or Incas
a. Introduction
(1) The Incas achieved the height of their empire in what is now Peru, about 1500 AD, shortly
before the arrival of Spanish soldiers
(2) Their empire of 7 million, reached over 1000 miles along the Andes Mountains from present
day Ecuador to Chile.
b. The Incas had a very efficient centralized, authoritarian state, controlling agriculture and
commerce, with a more sophisticated administrative structure than the Aztecs
(1) Good road builders, good communication system, skilled metallurgists.
(2) The monarch had absolute power and his administration was financed by a complex system of
taxation that included labor service (corvee labor) for state-run projects in mining, road-building
and working in special fields set aside for the royal family.
(3) In exchange for their obligations to the state, the Inca people had access to government
granaries in times of bad harvest, a type of modern welfare state.
c. Like the Aztecs, the Incas were aggressive and expansionist with violent religious rites and a
powerful military force
d. Unlike the Aztecs, the Incas tried to assimilate conquered peoples rather than treating them
simply as tribute states.
(1) All prior history among conquered peoples was suppressed as fully as possible, so that the
people would adopt and identify only with Inca customs and culture.
(2) Loyal Inca families were settled in border areas to solidify central control.
e. One major weakness
(1) They had no fixed procedure for succession
(2) The monarch typically picked his heir from the most competent of his sons, which made sense,
but established no clear line of succession in a time of crisis
5. Other Indian groups in Mesoamerica
a. Mochicas along the Northern coast of Peru
(1) Adobe-brick structures, pictorial or modeled pottery.
(2) Rigid priestly, stratified society.
b. Toltecs (12th-13th centuries) later withdrew from the area for unknown reasons.
E. North American Indian groups
1. Introduction:
a. Native population in North America was extremely dense, had little effect in the land and were
no more than 10-12 million when Columbus arrived (recent data suggests between 4 and 5
million)
b. Indian life in North America was not as culturally advanced as their Southern counterparts
although some diversity existed among twelve different language groups (some 55 distinct
linguistic stocks)
c. Few links between Old and New world language stocks have been found.
2. Adena-Hopwell culture of the lower Mississippi Valley were mound builders who used some
tools and wove fabrics.
3. Pueblos (Hopi and Zuni Sheshonean-speaking, and the Keresan-speaking) of the Rio Grande
Valley and Arizona.
a. Town-dwelling farmers (corn, beans, squash) with an irrigation-based culture.
b. Although building no temples, they practiced elaborate rituals to insure summer rains.
c. Theocratic society of only a priestly class and no large tribal confederations.
d. The supposed riches of the Zuni Pueblos attracted Coronado with the legends of the "Seven
Cities of Cibola ."
4.
Apaches (Southwest) were nomadic and warlike whose territory already had been greatly reduced
before the Europeans arrived.
5. Navahos (Southwest) were essentially nomadic who adopted farming from the Pueblos and
shepherding after the arrival of the white man.
6. Creeks in the Southeast practiced a democratic form of government.
7. Iroquois Confederation of the Northeast (Upper New York state)
a. Six warlike-nations (Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora) joined about
AD 1600 after initial contact with the French.
b. Lodge builders who traced their lineage through the females.
c. Female clan heads were elected by the males (Hiawatha was a legendary leader).
8. Algonkians -- Northeast and Great Lakes region
a. They practiced hunting and fishing and some farming
b. Crude methods of farming and warfare limited populations
9. Delaware or Leni-Lenape ("real person") were peaceful.
F. New World Culture on the eve of European Contact
1. Native Americans were mistakenly named Indians by Columbus, who thought he had discovered
India and China by a shorter water route.
2. They were grouped in several hundred nations and nomadic tribes with many different dialects.
3. To these native Americans, the family, village and clan were the most important social group
a. Kinship such as cousins, aunts and uncles was the cement which held the Indian societies
together creating complex social obligations.
(1) These kinship bonds of the community were more binding than the nuclear family itself and
Indians did not normally think of being bound to a spouse for their entire life, but maintained a
kinship which lasted for life and so divorce did not upset the social order.
(a) In most Indian cultures, young people married during their teens, while some male leaders took
more than one wife, strong ties of residence bound each couple to one or both sets of parents.
(b) Kinship provided the basis for armed conflict, whereby Indians considered homicide a matter
to be resolved between the families of victim and perpetrator.
(c) Many times the perpetrator's family would offer a gift to end the conflict, but otherwise armed
military retaliation might result.
(2) When disputes arose between groups, this could escalate into wars
(a) War among Indians, however, was described more as a pastime than the conquering and
subduing of enemies.
(b) It has even been suggested that in some cases war between the Indian might continue for as
long as seven years with hardly anyone getting killed.
b. The Indians of the Great Basin were non-aggressive.
4. Indian Beliefs, Religion and Social Values
a. Indian religion ranged from belief in a supreme deity to pure shamanism.
b. Tribal Culture
(1) Most Indians, somewhat stoic in personality, displayed little or no emotion.
(2) Chiefs advised the tribes, rather than gave orders.
(3) Ritualistic dancing, accompanied by drums and flutes, was common.
(4) Medicine men aided the tribes with their "supernatural" powers
c. Most Indians explained the origin and destiny of the human race through myths passed down by
storytellers during religious ceremonies.
(1) Iroquois believed the sky world was unchanging perfection and from it fell a beautiful
pregnant woman from whom sprang the human race.
(2) Native American religions revolved around the assumption that all nature was alive and all of
nature pulsated with a kind of spiritual power (Pantheism).
(a) A mysterious awe-inspiring force emanated out from all nature which affected human life for
both good and evil, and this force united all nature in an unbroken web.
(b) Indians pursued access to the power of spirits mostly through dreams and visions.
(c) They also used various forms of tobacco as a ceremonial drug symbolizing the union
between heaven and earth to gain insight into the spiritual world (alcohol eventually was used for
the same reason).
(d) Shamans or healers used medicinal plants and magical chants to contact the spiritual world
and to interpret dreams.
d. This pantheistic belief system led Indians to constantly seek to conciliate all spiritual forces in
nature.
e. They even took this to the extreme form of praying to the spirits of animals they hunted to
justify the killing of just enough of them to sustain themselves.
5. Indian Concept of Trade and Commerce
a. Indians did not have any real concept of making a "profit" off trade and commerce.
(1) They rather gave gifts with the idea of reciprocity rather than profit.
(a) Gifts were more of a contract in which they expected to get some type of gift in return.
(b) This form of trade was to help establish goodwill and prestige.
(2) Since trade and barter enhanced the chance to gain prestige and status, native Americans were
eager to barter.
(3) Indians did not encumber themselves with many possessions.
(a) Normally possessions were acquired only so they could be given away to help build and
establish their prestige.
(b) In some cultures the concept of who gave away the most earned the most prestige
(c) Essentially the Indian culture can be described as one of "reciprocity" involving a mutual give
and take, as a way to maintain equilibrium and interdependence.
b. Nature was a web of interdependent power entities into which humans fit.
c. Trade and gifts among tribes help to establish this interaction.
6. Indian Concept of Land Ownership and Usage
a. Individual ownership of land (as understood in Europe) did not exist among the Indians.
b. Land existed for its usefulness rather than as a commodity to be owned.
c. Agriculture was done by the females, and was communal in nature.
d. Indians owned land in common among its people but were willing at times to give the right for
other groups to use for different purposes (hunting, gathering, farming, trapping)
e. The notion that emerged in Europe -- property ownership conferred perpetual and exclusive
control of land -- was alien to Indians.
f. Indians just did not view land and nature as something to be conquered but more of the idea of
becoming one with nature and the land.
II. Cultural Exchange
A. Crossing While the Land Bridge was In Tact
1. The horse and the camel migrated to the Old World while becoming extinct in the
New.
2. The deer and the elephant migrated to the New World from the Old although the
North American mammoth became extinct.
B. Items in New World Unknown to Europe
1. Animals included the buffalo, iguanas, "snakes with castenets" (rattlesnakes).
2. Plants included tobacco, maize (corn), beans, tomatoes, and potatoes.
C. Items Brought to the New World from the Old
1. Animals included cattle, pigs, goats and the reintroduced horse.
2. Kentucky bluegrass seed, dandelions and daisies were inadvertently brought.
3. Unfortunately germs for small pox, yellow fever, malaria and other diseases were brought from
Europe, against which native Americans had no immunities.
a. Within 100 years after Columbus, fifty percent of the indigenous population were killed by
these European diseases.
(1) Example: Arawaks of Hispanola, who numbered 2.5 - 5 million, was reduced to 250 by
disease, and aggressive Spanish actions, including enslavement.
(2) Explorers allegedly contracted syphilis from the Indians, importing it to Europe.
b. Records show that Indian populations were still dying from small pox in North America in the
1830s.
c. Approximately ninety percent of the Indian populations were eradicated.
D. Collision of Cultures -- Old World Meets the New World
1.
European Culture
a. Medieval and Renaissance European culture had be built on the idea that God had made the
heavens and the earth and that man was made in the image of God.
(1) God had given man dominion over the earth to subdue it and conquer it.
(2) Man was also given dominion over all the creatures of the earth.
b. The Roman Empire left the concept of Christianity which stated that Jesus Christ, God's Son,
had redeemed sinners by his suffering crucifixion and then rising from the dead.
(1) Christianity also taught belief in Satan and demons, in which the devil lured people to
damnation by tempting them to do evil.
(a) All minor religions in Europe which included the Jewish and Muslim religions differed in
doctrine but all European religions believed in a single supreme Being, based on events and
aspects from the Old Testament.
(b) Europeans feared witches and believed some individuals could manipulate nature by invoking
unseen spiritual powers by the use of magic.
(c) The alternative to magic was astrology which insisted that a person's fate depended on the
alignment of the various planets. (Superstitions)
(2) Europeans envisioned nature as a "chain of being" infused by God with life and tingling with
spiritual forces.
III. Europe on the Eve of Columbus
A. Background
1. Origins of the voyages of exploration
a. Collapse of the Roman Empire was a catastrophic, colossal event in world
history
(1) Education was lost
(2) Legal system was lost
(3) Money system lost
(4) Transportation and road system with the safety to walk free of fear broke
down
b. What replaced the Roman Empire--Feudal System (Middle or Dark Ages )
(1) Lord and vassal with localized control and decentralized government
(2) It was a time of no national or international law
(3) Germans who overcame the Roman Empire broke it up into hundreds of little
states, so every thing was local from its own culture and economy
(4) Catholic Church was the only unifying force after Rome's fall
(a) The Church preserved learning, education and art
(b) Europe looked to the Church for unity and stability
c. Under Feudalism you looked to the one who protected you, an armed, trained
man and in return for his protection you paid him a part of everything produced -a type of tax.
d. Middle Ages was a relatively stable era because of no one strong national
government
(1) No one state was supreme.
(2) All were tied to the land
(a) Feudalism, a land oriented system based on the idea that there is no more land
and so there were more people than land and whoever controls the land controls
the people.
(b) Land to Old World Europeans was a finite commodity to be competed for.
(3) Nobles or lords only permitted the pursuit of agriculture because that was all
they taxed.
(a) Trade is restricted because there was no gold supply -- barter was the trade
system so you must produce something that someone else wants so you can trade.
(b) Therefore trade is modest, confined and dangerous
(4) The concept of the medieval just price was established by the church to
forbid usury or the charging of high interest.
(5) There was a state economy in which everyone pretty much produced the same
amount every year for a slow growing population and this stability lasted from
408-1100 AD
2. A new religion emerged in the 7th century -- Islam or Muslims
a. By 730 AD it spread across Africa into Spain and stopped in Central France.
(1) Islam began as tolerant and sophisticated.
(2) It was very adept at absorbing peoples and cultures.
b. By 1080 within the Muslim religion, an internal crisis with the Egyptians took
place and the Turks swept across the Holy Land and the Turkish Empire emerged
(1) Turks closed the Holy Land to Christian pilgrims
(2) In 1095 Urban II at the Council of Claremont issues a proclamation for the
first Crusade to free the Holy Land from Turkish control.
(a) The first crusade consisted of three French armies all acting independently
(b) It was the only successful crusade (kill them all, God will know his own).
(c) Crusaders called on Italian city states like Venice to help for a piece of the
action
(3) After the Crusade of 1100 two thirds walked back home
(4) The Church recruited Christian Knights to defend the Holy Land
(5) An explosion of trade resulted, beginning the idea of "making money"
(Temple of Trade)
(6) The acquisition of gold and silver began to buy things of the East, esp. pepper,
but Europe did not have anything anybody wanted.
3. Jerusalem was reconquered by Muslims in 1187 and not taken back as the next 7
crusades failed
a. However the Muslims struck a deal with the Europeans to let them visit the
Holy Land if they would leave their swords at home
b. They also allowed Europe to begin trading with them.
4. From then on the rate of trade exploded, esp. in the Italian city states like Venice
and Florence
a. Venice had more ships than any one else and big slave galleys.
b. These big warships of Venice dominated trade but created jealousy .
5. This set off much competition for others in Europe to seek to find another way to
reach the Indies so they too could get the goods of the East.
6. Portugal was first and Spain was second in this endeavor.
a. Portugal first successfully got rid of the Muslims by reconquering the Iberian
Peninsula.
b. Portuguese knew more about shipbuilding and navigation than anyone at this
time.
(1) They were the first to develop deep water ships (galleon ships) that were extra
long so you could deck the sides with guns and get gunpowder from Arabia.
(2) Portuguese could go long distances with few people.
B. 4 major European developments stimulated the wave of new exploration in the late 1400s.
1. Political changes in Europe resulted in consolidation of powerful monarchies which could
mobilize national resources for the development of empire with Spain leading the way;
a. Earlier European states were smaller fiefdoms, ruled over by individual noblemen
(1) Eventually these gave way to larger kingdoms ruled over by stronger noblemen, a king and
sometimes a queen.
(2) Such combination of kingdoms was always at the expense of the nobility.
b. Examples of Early National States
(1) Portugal
(2) Spain, as the result of the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille
(3) England - House of Tudor - the result of the marriage of Elizabeth of York and Henry (VII) of
Lancaster.
(4) France - House of Valois replaced by the Bourbons
(5) Holland - 17 Northern Provinces declared independence (officially recognized by Spain in
1648).
c. Where national states emerged, successful exploration and colonization were possible.
d. Where such national development was latent (Germany and Italy), exploration and colonization
were also latent.
2. Refinement of shipbuilding and navigational instruments allowed more accurate sea travel, and
inspired greater confidence in contemplating and financing long voyages
a. Improved shipbuilding (such as the Portuguese fast caravel)
b. Better navigational aids (mariner's compass, a magnetic compass, astrolabe to determine
latitude, and the portolani or first practical hydrographic charts) enabled the seafarer to travel
greater distances before returning to home base.
3. Religious motive -- to convert foreign peoples to Christianity (more important to Catholics than
Protestants)
a. Medieval Catholicism taught that the gospel must be preached to all the world before the
blessed reign of peace and prosperity could occur.
b. Moslems constantly interrupted the trade routes across Europe to the East, and kept the gospel
from being taken to the Oriental peoples.
c. One motivation of Columbus was to Christianize Orientals so the Church could advance.
4. Desire to increase national and personal wealth through discovering more profitable trade routes
to the Far East, especially regarding the dream of a Northwest Passage .
C. Shift from Medieval to Early Modern Europe
1. Medieval Europe gave way to a rebirth of ideas and culture, a rediscovery of the ancient classics
and a resurgence of old ideas.
a. Crusades (10th-12th Centuries) opened the eyes of many to a different culture and different
products and laid the foundation for a reawakening.
b. Rennaisance (14th - 16th centuries), a series of intellectual revivals, elevated man's dignity,
optimistically suggesting that man could improve life on earth, especially if he could learn to
harness nature.
2. Fuedal Society crumbled as new structures of society developed, resulting in exploration,
discovery and immigration.
a. Growth of Commerce
(1) The discovery of new goods from the Far East (Orient) such as beautiful tapestries, spices for
preserving food and flavoring of monotonous foods, drugs for healing, silks, and new foods, that
returning crusaders either brought back or told about, created demands for such products
(2) New trade routes developed to meet this demand and to lower the costs of the goods.
(3) As trade and expanded, new sources of gold were sought to pay for goods.
b. Growth of Cities
(1) The concentration of capital produced urban centers and strong emerging banking families
(like the Medicis in Italy) to control the money flow into an area.
(2) New alliances resulted between the wealthy banking and ruling families.
c. Growth of Capitalism : The rise of commerce and the resultant collection of capital created an
excess of capital which ruling families made available increasingly for exploration and possible
colonization.
3. Fragmentation of Religious Unity
a. For centuries, Europe had been unified somewhat under the Roman Catholics.
b. As the feudal system and the chivalrous reign of knighthood broke down, this religious unity
also crumbled with the advent of the Protestant Reformation .
4. In their folklore Europeans had some things in common with Indian and African mind sets such as
a belief in supernaturalism and spirits.
a. Medieval priests contended that Christ had founded the Church to save sinners from hell and
lead them to heaven, that Christ's sacrifice was repeated every time a priest said Mass and that
divine Grace flowed to sinners through sacraments that only consecrated priests of the Institutional
Church could administer (you could not "bypass" the Church to be saved).
(1) These priests conducted sacraments of infant baptism, confession and the Eucharist
(communion).
(2) The Church was a hierarchical network of clergy set apart from lay people by the fact that they
did not marry.
(3) At the top was the pope, the vicar or God's representative on earth.
b. Indulgences
(1) The pope's immense authority reached throughout Europe except for Russia, Greece and the
Balkan Peninsula (Greek Orthodox).
(2) Popes claimed the authority to dispense extra blessings such as "indulgences" to repentant
sinners in return for such "good works" as donating money to the Church, so it could build
elaborate cathedrals (Castles were for the nobles and Cathedrals for Clergy).
(3) Indulgences were a weapon against the faithful by promising time off from future punishment
in purgatory where souls atoned for previously -confessed sins.
(4) Hell from which there was no escape, awaited those who died unforgiven.
(5) Priests such as John Tetzel used the phrase "as soon as the coins in the cash box rings, the soul
from purgatory springs."
(6) The sale of indulgences brought Church corruption causing Martin Luther to verbally attack
the practice which caused the papacy to try and silence him.
D. Protestant Reformation
1. Martin Luther (1483-1546) and John Calvin
a. As Spain built an empire in the New World and Europe, religious dissent and turmoil
threatened the Catholic Church which was intolerant to new religious ideas.
b. The Church was locked into its rituals (Mass, Baptism, Last Rites, Marriage Vows,
Confession), believing that salvation was possible only through the Church, seeing all dissent as
heretical and a threat to their power.
d. The monk Martin Luther in AD 1517 challenged some practices of the Catholic church which
resulted in a permanent "rupture" within Christendom
e. The German monk Martin Luther preached about the Priesthood of all believers (the believer
was a priest within himself and could receive salvation directly from God.
(1) Luther's teaching implied that believers could bypass the Church to find salvation and have
direct communion with God.
(2) Luther believed in Predestination -- only God's grace determined who would be saved, not
good works or the Church (God alone chose who would be saved from damnation and believers
could only trust in the love and mercy of God to be saved)
i) This teaching threatened the authority of the Catholic Church and it spower over the masses and
they tried to silence Luther.
ii) Luther, however, got the backing of the German princes which helped him to succeed where
others (John Wyclife , John Hus ) had failed.
(3) The printing press of Gutenberg enabled followers of Luther to spread his message through
pamphlets and letters more easily which contributed to his success
(4) Luther's assault on the Church won a wide following among the German public and princes
and their city states
f. Luther taught that the Scriptures were the sole authority for salvation, not Church traditions,
the Bible was the only true guide to salvation.
(1) Luther attacked the sale of indulgences, the ways the priests conducted Mass, purgatory and
papal authority in the Church.
(2) Luther began his attack by nailing 95 theses to be debated on the bulletin board of his college
in Wittenburg.
(3) Luther charged that the Church was giving false confidences to the masses by telling them they
could "earn" salvation by doing good works.
(4) After Luther read in the New Testament that "the just shall live (be saved) by faith" he felt
himself "reborn" or born again.
E. Luther's Revolution Fragments the Church and European Unity
1. Protestant reformers could not agree on what God's Word really meant and this opened the door to
new religious factions like John Calvin (1509-1564 ).
a. Calvin agreed with Luther's concept of Predestination but disagreed on his concept of the Mass,
placing most of his emphasis on the "election" of God and the demonstration of that election by
adherence to your "calling"
(1) If a believer was one of God's elect he should have some visible evidence of God's blessing in
his life which usually was demonstrated through materialism and hard work, along with a sober,
stoic lifestyle.
(2) Luther called Calvinists "work saints" believing that salvation was purely the "grace" of God.
b. But both Luther and Calvin strongly opposed the Anabaptists who emphasized baptism for
adults only and inclusion of women in services, were "pacifists" who renounced private property
and lived communally, and were seen as a major threat to the social order and severely persecuted.
2. The French reformer John Calvin taught that all men were damned by God due to Adam's
original sin, but Christ's sacrifice made redemption possible through faith
a. This gift of salvation was offered however only to those who had been elected by God and
predestined for salvation from the beginning of time.
b. Calvinism required outward signs of election and enforced a rigid, highly-legalistic moral
code.
c. Literacy was demanded of all believers to read the Bible to see if they were part of the elect
d. Calvinism spread to many parts of Europe being called Presbyterians in Scotland, English
Puritanism, and French Huguenots.
Into the vacuum created by the breakup of Christian unity emerged nation-states , first on the Iberian peninsula
(Spain, Portugal) and then the Continent of Europe (France, Netherlands) and in England.
IV. Pre-Colombian Exploration
A. Viking Settlement and Exploration
1. Earliest occupation of the Shetlands, Faroes and Orkneys occurred by AD 800.
2. Iceland was settled by AD 874.
3. Erik the Red explored the coasts of Greenland in AD 982-5, after which the first
Norse settlement was made in AD 986.
4. Bjarni Herjulfson sighted the coast of North America in AD 986 when blown off
course seeking the Greenland colony.
5. Leif Erikson - about AD 1000 - (Eric the Red's son) - explored the North
American coast naming the regions Helluland, Markland, and Vinland.
6. Thorfinn Karlsevni from Iceland with three ships and 160 men from Greenland
sailed to explore the North American mainland (AD 1010-13).
7. Freydis , Eric's daughter, made a final trip to the mainland (AD 1014-15).
8. The Norse settlement ceased as an active colony in AD 1367.
B. Portuguese Exploration - AD 1447-98
1. Under Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), third son of John I, explorations were made,
using the newly invented magnetic compass, astrolabe and improved ship design down the West
African coast, and the islands of the Azores, the Canaries and Madeira were occupied.
2. Bartolomeu Dias (1487-97) by 1488, discovered the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa that
triggered further exploration
3. Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape to India and returned in AD 1498.
4. Diogo de Teive and Pedro Vasquez were allegedly blown northward and reached Grand Bank of
Newfoundland in AD 1452.
5. Before AD 1460 a Portuguese ship reached Antillia.
6. Joao Vas Corte-Real and Alvaro Martins Homem are credited with discovering Tiera de los
Bacalfaos (Newfoundland) in AD 1472.
7. Did the Portuguese want to keep their discoveries secret, or did they fabricate evidence after
Columbus in order to strengthen their claims in the new world?
C. Other Exploratory Contacts before AD 1492
1. Two German mariners, Diderik Pining and Hnas Pothorst, sailed on an exploratory trip toward
Greenland for King Christian of Denmark in AD 1472.
2. Thomas Lloyd searched for Antillia in AD 1480 for the English.
3. The English from Bristol made exploratory trips between 1491-98.
4. Claims exist that some Western Frenchmen fished off the coast of Newfoundland
5. . It has been alleged that some Africans were present in pre-Columbian America, and therefore
some Africans had to have contact with the New World before Columbus, but these preColumbian contacts failed to have significance for the Europeans.
D. Improvements That Aided Exploration
1. Inventions like the Printing Press - ca. AD 1450 - knowledge of explorations spread rapidly and
increased with the widespread use of the press by the early 1500s.
2. Increased Knowledge - The rediscovery of the ancients, brought a renewed interest in geography,
and the mapping of the world.
a. The ancient Greeks had designated the degree as a unit of measurement of a sphere, as 1/36th of
a circle (Third century B.C.).
b. Aristosthenes determined that a degree = 59 and 1/2 nautical miles (actually 60 nautical miles).
c. Other Greeks (second century AD)
(1) Marinus of Tyre - estimated that the continent of EuroAsia = 225 nautical miles.
(2) Claudius Ptolemy from Alexandria Egypt, Roman mathematician, astronomer and geographer,
taught the earth was the center of the universe, a belief that lasted until the 1700s.
(a) His inaccurate maps were the best authoritative sources of the known world at the time
(b) Latin translations of his works in the 1400s were called Ptolemies .
(c) His scaled-down nautical degree made the earth smaller than it was.
(d) He made EuroAsia equal to 177 degrees (when it was actually 131).
(e) Sailors thought the ocean was smaller, continents were larger, and therefore were less fearful
of crossing the ocean.
3. Rumors of Riches and Tales of Travel
a. Prestor John - a wealthy Christian king who lived somewhere in Asia allegedly ruled a
kingdom filled with riches.
b. Marco Polo wrote of his expeditions in China when he returned after 20 years.
(1) He returned from the Orient (1271) telling of sparkling sands glittering with gems and precious
ores, from a ruler named Kubla Khan.
(2) He was nicknamed millione because he was thought to exaggerate.
(3) On his deathbed, a priest exhorted him to confess that he had made most of the things up, to
which he replied, "The half has yet to be told."
c. Sir John Manville 's Travels widely circulated on the eve of Columbus' voyages.
(1) The hundreds of strange things which he reported to have seen raised the interest in exploration
throughout Europe
(2) He told of thousands of unchartered islands off the coast of China.
(3) Columbus read his accounts prior to searching for a water route to the Orient.
d. Such reports of persons who had been there sharply increased the interest of ruling monarchs to
provide sufficient capital for expeditions into previously unknown areas.
V. Cristobal Colon
A. Introduction
1. Expansion into the New World coincided nicely with the modern era in European
history, with its revival of learning, explosion in trade and commerce, towns,
modern corporations, decline of feudalism, the rise of the nation state, religious
zeal from the Protestant and Catholic Reformations and the emergence of an
inquisitive spirit.
2. Europeans were obsessed by the lure of Asia, mythical land of paradise filled with
spices (pepper, nutmeg, cloves) to preserve food, silks, jewels and millions of
"heathens" to be Christianized.
B. Before His Voyages To The New World
1. Born in 1451 near Genoa to a family of wool weavers he was possibly at sea by the 1470s
2. Early Interest in Exploration
a. He arrived in Lisbon Portugal in 1476.
b. He married Dona Felipa de Perestrello e Moniz, the daughter of the Captain of Porto Santo, to
which he moved in 1480.
c. His firstborn son, Diego was born in 1480.
d. Columbus requested funding from King Joao II of Portugal for a western voyage to Cipangu
(Japan) in 1484.
e. Columbus corresponded with the Italian geographer, Toscanelli , while in Lisbon.
3. Attempts to Arrange Funding for a Westward Voyage
a. In 1485-86, Columbus went to Palos, Spain with Diego and befriended Don Luis de la Cerda,
Count of Medina Celi, who arranged a meeting with him and Queen Isabella in May 1486.
b. Columbus began receiving a small annual stipend from the Castilian Crown.
c. While in Lisbon (1488) to reopen negotiations with the Portuguese Crown, Dias returned with
news that he had rounded the Cape of Good Hope, news that put India within Portugal's grasp,
which again had no need of a voyage by Columbus.
d. 1490-92 - Columbus was rejected twice by the Castilian government, but following the fall of
Granada (2 Jan 1492), the treasurer of Aragon Luis de Sant-angel , approved funding for
Columbus who also received some private backing.
e. Columbus was appointed Admiral of the Ocean Sea, Viceroy, and governor of any territory that
he might discover.
C. Voyages of Columbus
1. First Voyage - AD 1492 (3 Aug) to 1493 (15 March)
a. Columbus sailed from Palos with 90 crew members and three ships: Nina , Pinta , and flagship
Santa Maria .
b. After stopping at the Canaries, they sailed westward on 6 Sept.
c. After a period of unfavorable winds and calms, and two days of near-mutiny, land was sighted
on 12 Oct, the island of Guanahani in the Bahamas which Columbus named San Salvador .
d. He explored the Bahamas before discovering and exploring Cuba .
e. After exploring Hispaniola (Santo Domingo), the flagship was wrecked and a post was
established at La Navidad .
f. He returned home by 15 March after stopping in the Azores and Lisbon.
2. Second Voyage - 1493 (25 Sept) to 1496 (11 June)
a. Sailing from Cadiz with 17 ships and 1,200 men (including his brother Diego), he explored the
Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico, before discovering the destruction of his original post.
b. A second post was established at Isabela (2 Jan 1494) on Santo Domingo.
c. Additional exploration occurred on Santo Domingo, Jamaica and Hispaniola.
d. Isabela was abandoned and the city of Santo Domingo was established in 1496.
e. Columbus left a second brother, Bartholomew, in charge of the island before returning to Spain
on 10 March 1496, arriving at Cadiz on 11 June.
3. Third Voyage - 1498 (30 May) to 1500 (25 Nov)
a. With seven ships, Columbus left for Santo Domingo, dividing his fleet at the Canaries.
b. He sighted South America before arriving at Santo Domingo on 31 Aug.
c. The colony was in a state of rebellion
(1) Spain's new governor Francisco de Bobadilla arrived on 23 Aug and sent three brothers
Columbus to Spain in chains in Oct.
(2) Although restored to their honors, they never regained their authority, which was retained by
the Spanish Crown.
4. Fourth Voyage - 1502 (11 May) to 1504 (7 Nov)
a. With 4 ships, Columbus left Cadiz and landed at Martinique on 15 June.
b. Columbus sailed to the Honduran coast and explored to the South as far as central Panama (July
1502 - Apr 1503).
c. He was shipwrecked and marooned in Jamaica for 12 months (June 1503-04).
D. Final Days of Columbus
1. His Death -- 20 May 1506
a. He died in Valladolid, after struggling to regain his privileges in the New World.
b. He remains were sent to Santo Domingo in 1540 with his son's, Diego (died AD 1526).
c. His bones were later transfered to Havana when the Spanish part of Santo Domingo was ceded
to France in 1795, and then moved to Seville in 1898.
2. His Legacy
a. Columbus died believing that he had found a westward route to Asia.
b. Having landed on unknown islands, he was convinced that the islands spoken of by Sir John
Manville had been reached, and therefore he named the inhabitants which he had met Indians .
E. Consequences of His Discovery
1. Knowledge of His Discovery
a. It was soon apparent that something entirely different from Asia had been found
b. Others soon made the same discovery -- Pedro Cabral in 1500 sailed out to far west and hit the
coast of Brazil.
c. Amerigo Vespucci - Italian Banker from Lisbon Portugal
(1) Having become interested in exploration, and having sailed into European and African areas,
he described his discoveries in a series of very popular letters, which were printed, translated into
several languages and circulated.
(2) Following an excursion to South America, he returned to Spain by mid-1500.
(3) As a result of his printed work, in which he referred to this discovery as a New World , not
India, a German geographer, Martin Waldseemuller , in 1507 suggested that the lands be named
after Amerigo, referring to it as his discovery
(4) In the 1540s Geraldis Mercutor labeled his map with America over the new world, which
gradually became the New World's designation instead of India.
2. Diplomatic Disputes Between Spain and Portugal Who Both Claimed the New World
a. The Spanish monarchs asked the Pope to intervene in the dispute.
b. Pope Alexander VI issued to papal bulls (3-4 May 1493)
(1) Inter Caetera gave Spain all lands not under Christian rule.
(2) Inter Caetera II set a demarcation line at 100 leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde
Islands beyond which any future discoveries not held by a Christian king on Christmas 1492
would belong to Spain.
c. Treaty of Tordesillas (7 June 1494) -- Portugal and Spain moved the line of demarcation to
370 leagues west of the Cape Verdes -- Portugal received lands to its east.
F. Significance of Columbus
1. He led Spain into colonizing and exploring a whole new hemisphere
2. Treaty of Tordesillas 1494, ordained by the Pope and signed by Isabella and John II, divided the
New World between Portugal and Spain.
3. His discovery more than doubled the amount of aerable land to be colonized, spelling the end of
feudalism because there would now be more land than people , the opposite of the Old World
4.
This discovery changed forever the social structure of the Old World because no one nation can
control this vast landmass.
5. By 1521, Cortes had opened the coiffures of gold and silver of the Aztecs but this destabilized
Europe in the long run due to the inflation it caused.
G. Discovery of Gold in Mexico
1. The discovery of gold produced the greatest land rush in world history as all headed to the New
World in search of riches.
2. Men like Pizarro gathered 1500 followers and went into the Andes Mountains to the Inca
civilization which had more riches than the Aztecs of Mexico City.
3. The huge influx of gold to Spain made them even richer than Portugal and enabled Spain to
become the first Superpower of Europe .
4. This led to many wars that took place almost solely out of fear of Spanish power.
VI. Early Exploration
A. Major explorers were Spanish with Hispaniola as the initial base and a second temporary trading post established
in Venezuela and Colombia.
1. Sebastian de Ocampo (1508) circumnavigated Cuba, proving it was an island.
2. The subjugation of the Caribbean islands was the first military problem - Puerto
Rico (1508-09), Jamaica (1510) and Cuba (1511).
3. Vasco Nunez de Balboa (1513) crossed the Isthmus of Panama to discover the
Pacific Ocean.
4. The ships of Fernando Magellan (a Portuguese) under Spanish flags left in 1519.
a. Although killed in the Philippines (Apr 1521), one ship completed the first
European circumnavigation of the world, returning to Spain in Sept 1522, led by
Sebastiano del Cano .
b. The Philippines were occupied by Spain under Miguel Lopez de Legaspi 1564
5. The conqueror of Puerto Rico, Juan Ponce de Leon , when searching for the
mythical Fountain of Youth , discovered and explored Florida in 1513 and
visited Florida's Keys and Bahamas before returning to Puerto Rico.
6. The governor of Cuba, Hernando de Soto , led an expedition to Florida,
discovered the Mississippi River near Memphis and went as far north as the Blue
Ridge Mts and as far west as Eastern Oklahoma (1539-42) before dying of a fever
in 1542 with his party returning under the leadership of Luis Moscoso de
Alvarado (after exploring the upper Brazoa River).
7. Hernando Cortes (1518-21) conquered the Aztecs under Montezuma , landing
at Vera Cruz and traveling 200 miles inland.
8. Francisco Pizzaro defeated the Incas by 1532.
9. Panfilo de Narvaez (1528) landed with 400 colonists in Florida but was
unsuccessful before sailing for Mexico. Only two survivers reached Mexico City
in April 1536, including Cabeza de Vaca , who told of riches in New Mexico.
10. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado led an expedition into New Mexico, Arizona,
the Texas panhandle, and as far north as Kansas, in search of the Seven Cities of
Cibola , discovering the Grand Canyon (Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas ) and
buffalo instead (1540-42).
11. West coast exploration into the Guld of California (1539-43) was led by Juan
Rodriguez Cabrillo (d. 1543) and his successor Bartolome Ferrelo who went as
far north as the Oregon-California border, although permanent Spanish settlement
did not occur until 1769 at San Diego, 1770 at Monterey and 1776 at San
Francisco.
12. Juan de Onate dispatched an expedition which explored from Kansas to the Gulf
of California, dounding Santa Fe in 1609-10.
13. Results
a. The work of Cortes and Pizarro established Spanish America.
(1) The Spanish ruled over Indian villages requiring tribute in goods and services.
(2) By the 1550s however, so many Indians died from diseases that the Spanish
imported African slaves to labor in the colonies.
b. Catholic Missionaries differed from the conquistadors in that they pursued
"souls" of the Indians rather than gold and silver.
(1) Missionaries were determined to rid the heathens (non Christians) of their
native religions and culture by "Christianizing" them.
(2) Although missionaries were elitist and Eurocentric toward the Indians, they
did nevertheless wholeheartedly try to protect them.
B. Other Explorers
1. English
a. Italian merchant/mariner John Cabot (b. 1455) migrated to Bristol in the late 1480s, and was
given a patent by Henry VII (March 1497) to discover for England regions to the east, west and
north (to avoid Portuguese claims).
(1) It included a trade monopoly and customs exemptions in exchange for 20% of all profits.
(2) First Voyage - 1497 (2 May - 6 Aug) - Sailing from Bristol with his son Sebastian , he sighted
land near Newfoundland which he claimed for England, and sailed to the Southwest as far as
Maine before returning to Bristol.
(3) Second Voyage - (May 1498) - With a new patent, Cabot left Bristol enroute to Japan and the
Spice Islands via Newfoundland.
(4) He probably explored North America's coast south to the Delaware or Chesapeake Bay.
b. English-Portuguese transatlantic voyages between 1501-04 with the Anglo-Portuguese
Company of Adventureres to the New Found Lands made annual trips as far south as the MidAtlantic States through 1505.
c. Sebastian Cabot - In 1509 he sailed northwest, later claiming to have reached Hudson Bay
before returning to England.
d. In 1527, the Crown sent two ships from Plymouth, (Samson and Mary Guildford which
explored the North Atlantic Coast before arriving in the West Indies
e. Sir Francis Drake (13 Dec 1577 - 26 Sept 1580).
(1) Allegedly sailing for Alexandria, he secretly preyed on Spanish shipping in the Pacific
(2) After anchoring in San Francisco Bay, territory of which he claimed for England, he continued
northward in search for the west end of the Northwest passage before sailing eastward, completing
a circumnavigation (1580)
f. Later English exploration for the Northwest Passage (1576-1606)
(1) Martin Frobisher (1576) at 62 degrees north reached Baffin Land and entered Frobisher Bay,
believed to be a strait between America and Asia.
(a) He established the Company of Cathay to exploit his discovery and later reached Hudson
Strait, thought to be a morely likely passage to Asia.
(b) He returned with worthless ore from his three trips to the new world.
(2) John Davis made three trips in search of the Northwest Passage in 1585-87, traveling as far
north as 73 degrees in Baffin Bay.
(3) George Weymouth (1602) under the auspices of the East India Company was forced by a
mutiny to return to England.
(4) John Knight explored the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador.
2. Portuguese
a. With patents from King Manoel
(1) Joao Fernandes (1499) sailed to Greenland.
(2) Gaspar Corte-Real explored the east and part of the west coast of Greenland in 1500, again in
1501, but disappeared southward on a third voyage.
(a) Miguel, his brother, also disappeared in search of him.
(b) Later search parties visited Newfoundland looking for the brothers.
b. Pedro Alvarez Cabral (1500) reached the coast of Brazil.
c. Amerigo Vespucci switched flags (1502) and sailed the coast of Argentina.
(1) A letter written to his former employer and patron, Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici,
stated his conviction that this was a Mundus Novus (new world)
(2) Other letters, now believed to be forgeries, claim four voyages for Vespucci to the Gulf of
Mexico and the Atlantic coast of North America.
3. French
a. French fishing vessels proceeded as far as Newfoundland in 1504.
b. Francis I King of France in 1524 accepted the challenge of finding a Northwest Passage to
Asia, by dispatching the Italian navigator Giovanni de Verrazano to explore the North American
coast from the Carolinas to Newfoundland.
(1) He reached the North Carolina coast in 1524
(2) He then proceeded northward to New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay and as far as Nova
Scotia before returning to Dieppe, France.
c. Jacques Cartier (b. 1491) in 1534 explored the west coast of Newfoundland and in a second
voyage he sailed up the St. Lawrence River to Quebec and as far as Montreal .
d. Samuel de Champlain made 11 trips to eastern Canada between 1603-35 and established furtrading posts and friendly relations with local Indian groups.
4. Dutch
a. Henry Hudson searched for the Northwest Passage (1608) reaching the Kara Sea
b. On a later westward voyage in 1609 he sailed to the Carolina coast before entering the Delaware
Bay and Hudson River, sailing as far as Albany.
c. Sailing later for the English in 1610, Hudson coasted along the eastern shore of Hudson Bay to
James Bay but was eventually set adrift by his own men in 1611.
VII. Spain's Colonization
A. Introduction
1. Prerequisites for Colonization
a. Growing population
b. Willingness to colonize
c. Location - on the tip of Europe bordering on the Atlantic Ocean
d. Wealth to colonize - Following the conquest of the Moors in Jan 1492 with the
fall of Grenada, the expulsion of conversos (converted Jews) and moriscos
(moors who did not convert to Catholicism), resources for a new Holy War were
used in the New World to conquer and Christianize the Indians.
e. Effective civil government - Spanish monarchs promoted exploration and
colonization
2. Spanish Approach to Colonization
a. Medieval approach
c. Catholic Institutions - Thomist world model
c. Governed by an absolute monarchy from Spain, not from the New World
3. Problems in Colonization
a. Larger land area to control
b. Climate varied throughout Spanish empire to a greater degree than used to in
Europe.
B. Spanish Subjugation of Indigenous Peoples
1. Individual Conquistadors
a. Hernando Cortes conquered the Aztecs in Mexico - landing on the coast on Easter 1519 he
conquered within two years an empire which embraced millions with only 580 soldiers (32 with
crossbows), 16 horses, 14 pieces of artillery, 11 ships, 100 sailors.
b. Pizarro in Peru led an expedition which consisted of 62 horsemen and 106 infantrymen
2. Why did the Spanish defeat the Indians so quickly?
a. Disease - Indians had no immunities for many European diseases, such as measles, smallpox,
chickenpox, cholera and other respiratory diseases.
(1) These took their toll on Indian populations, often at inopportune times (i.e., as Indians in
Mexico City coordinated a possible attack against the Spanish, their leaders died of smallpox).
(2) Cortes appointed new leaders who were loyal to him and to the Spanish.
b. Political instability and division - The Spaniards took advantage of strife and civil wars to
"divide and conquer"
(1) Pizarro took advantage of a civil war among the Incas.
(2) Indian allies - Aztecs were a small ruling group that ruled over many other dissatisfied tribes
who joined with Spain in revolt against the Aztecs.
c. Military purpose and tactics -- Much of native warfare was ceremonial in nature
(1) Indians did not have professional standing armies as European nations did.
(2) Indian warfare was typically based on short military campaigns.
(3) Indian warfare had to accommodate itself to the rhythms of an agrarian society.
d. European technology --better weapons, better military planners, horsemen.
(1) Indians had no iron or steel weaponry although the Incas did use brass.
(2) More important from a psychological standpoint were firearms .
e. By 1580 Latin America was relatively peaceful, well integrated into the global Spanish and
Portuguese mercantilist systems -- later models for the British and French.
3. Spanish colonial policies regarding the Indigenous peoples
a. Council of the Indies - Ruled the Spanish new world empire from 1524 until Spain recognized
Mexico's independence in 1821.
(1) Answered to the monarch who appointed it
(2) Made the rules to govern the new world, although the council lived in Spain.
(3) Established a precedent for Latin America: No experience in representative or selfgovernment .
b. System for Tapping the Mineral Wealth of the New World
(1) Repartimiendo - forced labor from the Indian villages for public labor.
(2) Encomiendo - land grant given to military conquerors as payment for services (the size of
which depended upon rank) and it included the indigenous labor living on the land who paid
tribute either in service or products.
C. Origins of Slavery in the New World
1. Columbus was America's first slave trader and the first of the Spanish conquistadors , whereby he
and his followers began exporting Indians as slaves and created encomiendas , grants for the right
to extract labor and other tribute from the Indians.
2. Other conquistadors after Columbus transplanted this practice to the American mainland.
a. Encomiendas severely exploited the native people, who died in droves from overwork,
malnutrition, and disease.
b. As Indians began to die out, Portuguese slave-traders stepped in to fill the gap, supplying
boatloads of Africans to replace the perishing Indians.
3.
4.
5.
6.
c. Spanish priests in Hispaniola complained of the exploitation to King Ferdinand who attempted
to forbid the practices against Indians but no one worried about the fate of African slaves.
Conversion of the Indians
a. First conquest, then conversion, by force if necessary.
b. A missionary effort to convert the natives to Christianity was a stated objective of Spain.
c. Indians were organized into the Catholic church rapidly. Why?
(1) Military defeat - because the destruction of their gods did not result in the wrath of the gods
upon the Spanish, they viewed their gods as less powerful and were willing to give them up.
(2) Similarities Between their Religion and Medieval Spanish Catholicism
(a) Belief in a structured supernatural world - Spanish prayed to patron saints; indians prayed to
clay idols for the same benefits.
(b) Sense of omens or signs, and a belief in the reality of witches
(c) A kind of baptism, confession, communion
(d) Use of incense in worship, practice of fasting, making of pilgrimmages
(e) Many indigenous groups also had a virgin birth related to their deity.
(3) Many Spanish clerics thought that Christianity had no doubt reached the new world earlier
because in their opinion the Indians were not sharp enough intellectually to arrive at such religious
concepts by themselves.
(4) Methods of Incorporation
(a) Convert village leaders to Christianity and the remainder will come in mass (in some cases
14,000 in a single day).
(b) Integration - Spanish Church accepted Indians as an integral part.
Early Spanish Colonization
a. Columbus attempted to establish a colony at Hispaniola in 1493 while his brother,
Bartholomew, attempted one later at Santo Domingo.
b. Successful colonies were established in Puerto Rico in 1508 and on Cuba in 1511-14.
c. Early Attempts in Florida and the Carolinas
(1) Ponce de Leon (1521) attempted to settle the islands of Bimini and Florida but was forced to
withdraw to Cuba, where he died in June.
(2) Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon (1526-7) made a similar attempt but died in Oct, leaving 150
survivors, who returned to Hispaniola after a difficult winter.
(3) Panfilo de Narvaez (1528) sailed from Spain with 400 colonists, who landed near Tampa Bay,
before sailing to Mexico (only two survivors).
(4) Hernando de Soto (1539) with a grant to settle the region north of the Gulf of Mexico, landed
at Tampa Bay, but established no permanent settlement there.
(5) The Dominican, Fray Luis Cancer de Babastro, sailed from Vera Cruz in 1549 to convert
Florida's Indians, but was killed by them in June.
(6) Settlement Failures 1558-61
(a) Don Tristan de Luna y Arellano (June 1559) with 1,500 colonists entered Pensacola Bay in
Aug, but failed to establish a permanent settlement
(b) Angel de Villafane, searched for suitable areas (May - July 1561), abandoning the project that
same year.
(c) Philip II of Spain banned further colonizing efforts in FL (Sept 1561)
Early French Efforts at Colonization in Florida
a. Jean Ribaut of Dieppe was dispatched in Feb 1562 by Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France,
to settle a Huguenot colony.
b. Landing in South Carolina in April, they established Port Royal at Santa Elena, although, after
failing to receive any supplies, the effort was abandoned in 1564.
c. A second Huguenot expedition under Rene' de Laudonniere, established at Ft. Caroline in 1564
was reinforced by settlers and supplies in early Spring 1565.
Founding of Spanish St. Sugustine and the Ouster of the French 1565-67
a. Because of this French and Protestant threat, Spain reversed its ban and sent Pedro Menendes de
Aviles in Mar 1565 to settle Florida and remove the French.
b. A party of 1,500 landed at St. Augustine in Aug 1565.
c. Attempts by the French colony to destroy this colony were thwarted by storms.
d. Menendez countered with a march against Ft. Caroline in Sept which he captured, killing as
7.
8.
many of the French defenders as possible, before establishing a garrison, hunting down survivors,
and setting up forts throughout the area.
e. The French retaliated (Aug 1567 - Jun 1568), capturing some Spanish forts, before taking
similar revenge upon all captured Spaniards.
f. Sir Francis Drake destroyed St. Augustine's fort, looted Santa Elena (Jun-Jul 1586)
Jesuit Activities 1566-72
a. Serious missionary activity began in 1566 under Fray Batista Segura , although all Jesuits
were murdered by the Indians.
b. All remaining Jesuits were removed from Florida in the summer of 1572.
Other conflicts with Florida's Natives 1576-81
a. Several Spanish garrisons along the western coast of Florida were abandoned after 1574
because of Indian unrest.
b. Acting Governor, Pedro Menendez Marques , retaliated against some local Indian villages,
and rebuilt some forts.
c. A serious Indian uprising was quelled in 1581.