The Discovery and Dissemination of
The Americas
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The first colonies: the
Atlantic Islands as staging
ground
The Horn of Africa:
source of gold and slaves
Tapping into existing
networks of exchange
A “trading post” empire:
response to extant local
powers
The caravel as essential
technological advance
The caravel
combined square
and triangular
sails, and could be
sailed by a small
crew in rough
waters. It was an
adaptation of
existing ship
forms, and was a
dominant design
for three centuries
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Besides the ship, four key technologies aided
exploration:
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Compass, astrolabe, portolanos, and gunpowder
Jose de Aguiar, Portolan Chart of 1492 showing coast lines and rhumb lines
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Vasco da Gama
(1497- 99): Rounded
Cape of Good Hope
and reached India
China as major
power: unconcerned
with expansion
Trade in luxury
goods – for bullion or
manufactured
materials
Advanced local
cultures, with limited
European impact
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Portugal’s “factory system”
The exportation of
Christianity
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Ferdinand of Aragon
and Isabella of Castile:
the parents of Spain in
1469
Creating a Christian
country: Inquisition
and episcopal support
1492: The conquest of
Granada, expulsion of
the Jews, and sending
of Columbus
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Born in Genoa, he was 41 when he reached the
Caribbean
Desired to reach both the Far East and Holy
Land by circling around the Ottomans
First turned to Portuguese crown, but was
turned down for his prophetic and biblical
approach to geography
Drastically underestimated circumference of
the globe, but accidentally reached the
Americas
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Four voyages: 1492, 1493,
1498, and 1502
Always believed that he
had reached India
Initially sailed with three
ships and only ninety men
A great explorer, but a
terrible administrator:
arrested after stint as
governor of Hispaniola in
1500
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The diffusion of new commodities: chocolate,
tobacco, tomatoes, etc…
The display of new world natives: living
ethnography
The quest for continued patronage and the
granting of royal privileges
The diffusion of new knowledge
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Pictorial – woodcuts and art
Literary – through the new vehicle of print
Oral – the stories sailors share
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The Role of the Popes
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Eximiae Devotionis (May, 1493) – Papal sovereignty
over the Americas?
Dudum Siquidem (Sept., 1493) – The Division of the
New World
Treaty of Tordesillas (June 1494) – Political
settlement of spheres of influence
The Role of the Spanish Junta (1504) –
Consultation and confirmation
Requerimiento (1513) – Legal declaration of
Spanish rites read to an unknowing audience
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The role of conquistadores: the quest for lands
and royal income drove the integration of
American lands into the Spanish empire
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The need for the “royal fifth”
Sham offers of peace: the requerimiento and an
expansive definition of just war
The encomienda system: agricultural
production, religious education, and the
formation of a landed Spanish elite
The limits of assimilation: syncretic religion
and the creation of a hybrid, mestizo culture
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1: The Indians are to be removed from their land and placed
into encomiendas
3: The citizen to whom the Indians are given must erect a
structure to be used as a church.
4: To make sure the Indians are learning Christianity
properly, they shall be tested every two weeks and taught
what they do not know by the Encomendero.
14: The Indians must be allowed to perform their sacred
dances.
23: Official inspectors must keep records of the activities
and also the treatment of the Indians in the encomiendas.
24: The Indians are not to be physically or verbally abused
for any reason.
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Aztecs: the
flowery war, a
militarized
society, and the
problem of
human sacrifice
Incas: intense
centralization,
infrastructure,
and a disastrous
dynastic war
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Parallels to
Ancient Sumeria:
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Irrigation and
agriculture
City States and
Patron Gods
Intensive regional
trade
Stratification: Noble
vs. commoner
Unrelenting focus
on hierarchy and
status
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Highly militarized, and
engaged in perpetual,
“flowery war”
The goal: providing
sacrifices for religious
ritual
The construction of a
central haven:
Tenochtitlan as the center
of empire
The contrast of
refinement and savagery
Arriving in Mexico in 1519, Hernán Cortés set out to conquer the Aztecs.
Despite having only 450 Spanish troops (and 15 horses), Cortés used
native alliances and the Aztecs’ belief that he might be a god to strike
decisively at Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs were totally defeated by 1522.
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Expansive and multi-ethnic:
aggressively imperialistic in
the 15th century
Infrastructure and
administration: intensive tax
gathering and local
governance
Ecologically adaptive:
terracing and corvee labor
for roads and agriculture
Too centralized? Pyramidal
social structure could lead to
total dependence on ruler
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A weakened empire:
smallpox and a
dynastic civil war
Francisco Pizarro and
the kidnapping of
Atahuallpa (1531)
The failure of ransom:
only whet the
Spaniards’ appetite for
more
1533: Pizarro executes
the emperor and seizes
the capital of Cuzco
All about silver, not
gold  Potosí as the
real El Dorado
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A transition from optimism to skepticism
The need to adjust to the imperatives of empire
A shift in exploitative strategies
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From easy money to agricultural development
Developing infrastructure for large scale extraction
The difficulty of coming to grips with human
diversity
State and Church at cross purposes?
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The calculus of souls vs. the calculus of economic
growth