MODERN WORLD HISTORY: Chapter 4 - The Atlantic World
4-1: Spain Builds an Empire in the Americas
The voyages of Columbus prompt the Spanish to establish colonies in the Americas.
First Encounters
Genoese sea captain Christopher Columbus reaches Americas (1492)
Thinks he is in East Indies, calls natives “los indios”—Indians
Actually lands on an island, probably in the Bahamas
Unable to find gold, he claims many islands for Spain
In 1493, he sets out for the Americas again with a large fleet
Spain aims to set up colonies—lands controlled by a foreign nation
Ferdinand & Isabella: Entered Spain in the race for Asian riches by backing the expedition of an Italian navigator named Christopher Columbus.
Christopher Columbus: Italian navigator who had been asking monarchs to back a voyage for years. Everyone had turned him down because of his idea that one could reach India/Asia by sailing west.
He was very intelligent, aggressive, deeply religious an exceptional navigator (especially by dead reckoning), highly curious, and could be
very intolerant with people or ideas that didn’t match his.
- 1492: He asks Ferdinand and Isabella once again for money to launch a voyage west. Ferdinand was against it, but Isabella finally granted his request.
Most thought it would end in failure.
- his estimated distance around the world: He lied – he told them it was about 700 leagues or 2200 nautical miles. (Actually he knew he it was probably
more, but didn’t want to tell people the real distance because they would never go on a voyage that long.)
By deceiving them, he got exactly what he wanted.
* nautical mile: 1508 miles (6,076 feet)
- fears of his crew: After a month at sea, his crew was terrified and very near mutiny.
* mutiny: attempting to overthrow the captain of the ship.
- Columbus' reaction: He knows he’s in trouble. If they mutiny, he not only loses his ship, and probably his life, but also his dream of the westward water
route. To him that dream is of the utmost importance. So he showed them a log (captain’s journal) that vastly understated the
distance they had already sailed from home.
They are somewhat relived, but still very agitated. He asks them to give him 3 days to find land and if no land is found by then,
they’ll turn back. He also promises the first man who sights land, 20,000 maravedis - a bunch of money back then. The average
person would have never seen that much money in their lifetime!)
On October 12, 1492 they find land.
- his idea: He was sure that he had discovered a water route to Asia.
- Bahamas: Where Columbus first sees land. NOT THE USA! Columbus landed there thinking it was India, or islands west of India (West Indies).
No one knows the site of the exact landfall.
- "Indians": what Columbus called the native islanders - “los indios - because he thought he landed off the coast of India.
- Hispaniola: Present day Haiti and Dominican Republic. Columbus spent three months sailing around the Caribbean.
- San Salvador: island where the Santa Maria crashed on Christmas, 1492. There he had to build a colony because there was no way he could take everyone
back on the other two caravels.
* La Navidad: what Columbus named the colony.
- gold: Columbus, like other explorers, was interested in gold. Finding none on San Salvador, he explored other islands, staking his claim to each one.
* quote: “It was my wish to bypass no island without taking possession."
- titles granted to him: Admiral of the Ocean Sea, Viceroy and Governor of the Islands he discovered in the Indies.
*** Plus he received a monetary payment of 10% of every thing found.
- His 3 other trips: Columbus three more trips to the Caribbean area (all funded by Ferdinand and Isabella). Spain was anxious to colonize the area.
* Columbus' second voyage: He commanded a fleet of 17 ships that carried over 1,000 soldiers, crewmen, and colonists.
^ date: 1493
- colonies: lands controlled by a distant nation. (Remember... a colony=free money)
- Columbus' brothers: He set up colonies most which failed miserably because he put his brothers in charge of them – good brothers, but poor
governors.
- 1506: Columbus died (actually in disgrace because he had not been successful in ruling the colonies he established.) No one knows where his remains are…
lost because they have been dug up and moved so many times.
Other Explorers Take to the Seas
Pedro Álvares Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal (1500)
Amerigo Vespucci identifies South America as new continent (1501)
In 1507, German mapmaker names the continent America
Vasco Núñez de Balboa reaches the Pacific Ocean
Ferdinand Magellan leaves to sail around the world (1519)
Magellan is killed, but some of his men return to Spain in 1522
Pedro Alvares Cabral: Portuguese explorer who reached the shores of modern-day Brazil and claimed the land for his country-- after he regained control of the Asian
spice trade.
-1500: 13 ships were dispatched to Calicut led by Cabral, the Portuguese won a bloody trade war with Muslim merchants and defeated a large Arab fleet.
- his mission: To seize control of the Spice Trade.
Amerigo Vespucci: an Italian in the service of Portugal, who traveled along the eastern coast of South America. Upon his return to Europe, he claimed that the land
was not part of Asia, but a “new” world. In 1507, a German mapmaker named the new continent “America” in honor of Amerigo Vespucci.
Vasco Núñez de Balboa: Portuguese explorer who marched through modern-day Panama and became the first European to gaze upon the Pacific Ocean, which
he named the South Sea.
Ferdinand Magellan: A Portuguese mercenary who, in 1519, set sell from Seville, Spain under the Spanish Flag to find a western route to Asia. He had 234 men
(some criminals - given a special two year parole to go on the voyage... and get them OUT of Spain.) and five ships.
- 5 ships: Two 130 tons each, two of 90 tons each and one of 60tons.
1.) Trinidad: chief ship commanded by Magellan
2.) San Antonio: commanded by Juan de Cartagena
3.) Conception: commanded by Gaspar de Quesada,
4.) Victoria: commanded by Luis de Mendozs
5.) Santiago: commanded by Juan Serrano
- Antonio Pigafetta: sailor (of Vicenza, Italy) who paid a large sum of money to accompany and assist the Portuguese captain Ferdinand Magellan and
his Spanish crew on their trip around the world. During the trip, Pigafetta collected numerous data about geography, the climate,
the flora, the fauna, and the inhabitants of the places that the expedition visited; his meticulous notes were to serve as invaluable
documents to future explorers and cartographers, mainly due to his inclusion of nautical and linguistic data.
** in other words... His accurate journal is WHY we even know about the trip.
- occurrence that happened on the coast of Argentina: The crews of three ships attempted to mutiny because Magellan had decided to halt the expedition
until spring…. And the fact that there were people on the crews that wanted to be in control of the
voyage and the “gold.”
* mutiny: attempting to over throw the captain of the ship
* Magellan's 3 actions:
1.) Executed the captain (Quesada) who had instigated the mutiny, and marooned two others (Cartagena and a priest)
2.) Regained control of the fleet.
3.) Resumed the expedition toward the tip of South America.
- Straits of Magellan: the water passage immediately south of mainland South America. The strait is the biggest and most important natural passage
between the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean.
* 4 characteristics of: 373 miles long, strong current unpredictable gales, and a rocky coast.
* what happened to Magellan's ships there: His five ships were separated.
1.) The Santiago wrecked looking for the way into the strait.
2.) The San Antonio took off for Spain as soon as they started because the captain was scared by the looks of the place.
3.) The remaining three ships spent almost a month inching through the treacherous waters, and finally entered the South Pacific.
- Pacific Ocean: Named by Magellan for its calm appearance.
* Vasco Nunez de Balboa: had discovered and named the ocean, “South Sea”, six years earlier.
- After four months of sailing they finally reached the Philippines. Magellan had 150 crewmen left - most had died of starvation, dehydration and scurvy.
- Scurvy: is a disease that results from insufficient intake of vitamin C.
* Symptoms: spots on the skin, muscle pain, spongy gums (which makes the teeth fall out), weakness, joint pain, and bleeding from the
mucous membranes. A person with the ailment looks pale, feels depressed, and eventually is partially immobilized.
Scurvy was at one time common among sailors whose ships were out to sea longer than perishable fruits and vegetables could be stored. It
takes about three months of vitamin C deprivation to begin inducing the symptoms of scurvy. Untreated scurvy is always fatal, but since all
that is required for full recovery is the resumption of normal vitamin C intake, death by scurvy is rare in modern times.
- in the Philippines: A friendly tribe of natives befriended them, and nursed them back to health. A skirmish erupts between two native tribes, and Magellan,
wanted to help his newfound friends, gets himself killed in the fight.
* result: The surviving crew escaped and sailed for Spain.
- 1522: After three years at sea, one ship with 18 men arrived in Seville, Spain. They had accomplished the first circumnavigation.
- circumnavigation: circling the globe.
- value of voyage: The spices that they brought back barely covered the cost of the voyage, but the expedition had a value far beyond money.
- 4 things his voyage proved:
1. The world was round
2. It was much larger than believed to be.
3. The oceans of the world were connected.
4. The lands discovered by Columbus were not part of Asia.
Spanish Conquests in Mexico: Conquistadors
In 1519, Hernando Cortés—Spanish adventurer— lands in Mexico
He and others become known as conquistadors—Spanish conquerors.
Cortés and 600 men reach Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán
By 1521, they conquer Aztec empire
Conquest aided by superior weapons, Native American allies
European diseases wipe out large numbers of Aztecs
Spain: The Spanish were the first European settlers in the Americas.
- 2 things they were looking for: Gold and silver
Conquistadors: the Spanish soldiers, explorers, and fortune hunters who took part in the conquest of the Americas in the 16th century. Most of the conquistadores
cruelly mistreated the inhabitants of the regions they visited or conquered; killing, enslaving, raping and otherwise abusing them. The name
"Conquistador" is frequently used to mean any daring, ruthless adventurer.
-“Conquistador oath”: “To serve god and his majesty to give light to those who were in darkness, and to grow rich as all men desire to do.”
^AKA: "God, glory and gold.
Hernando Cortes: Conquered Mexico for Spain (1519-1521) by killing the Aztec ruler.
-1519: he left Cuba for Mexico with about 600 men.
- Aztecs: Group of natives in Mexico.
* Tenochtitlan: The Aztec capital.
* Montezuma II: The Aztec ruler.
* Ancient Aztec Prophecy: Montezuma thought the Spanish had come to fulfill a legendary prophecy - in which an ancient god - Quetzalcoatl - would
return. Of course Cortez immediately began to impersonate Quetzalcoatl. Montezuma offered them gifts of gold.
^ Quetzalcoatl: an ancient god who the Aztecs believed would eventually return.
* Quote: Cortés admitted that he and his comrades had a “disease of the heart that only gold can cure.”
*slaughter of the Aztecs: late spring of 1520, some of Cortés’s men killed many Aztec warriors and chiefs while they were celebrating a
religious festival.
^ June of 1520: the Aztecs rebelled against the Spanish intruders and drove out Cortés’s forces.
^ 1521: Despite being greatly outnumbered, Cortés and his men conquered the Aztecs
^ Total killed: The Spanish slaughtered 50,000 Aztecs.
^ 4 factors that played a key role in the victory:
1.) The Spanish had the advantage of superior weaponry. Aztec arrows were no match for the Spaniards’ muskets and cannons.
2.) Spanish had horses
3.) Cortés was able to enlist the help of various native groups.
- Malinche: native female translator who helped Cortés learn that some natives resented the Aztecs.
- Aztec practice the other natives hated: human sacrifice
4.) Spaniards brought disease with them to the Americas. Native Americans had never been exposed to these diseases. Thus,
they had developed no natural immunity - they died by the hundreds of thousands.
* Disease killed more people than the Spaniards did.*
- 4 diseases: Measles, mumps, smallpox, and typhus
* Typhus: The disease is transmitted to humans by mites, lice and fleas. Symptoms include fever and red
spots over arms, back and chest. Typhus mainly killed people living in places where sanitary
conditions were very bad. It was also a common disease in prisons, and on ships. Typhus can now
be successfully treated with antibiotics.
- Way the natives got "even": They gave the Spanish various sexually transmitted diseases.
* Montezuma II's demise: Montezuma was brought out to be "released", but his own people threw stones at him and he later died of his wounds.
Pizarro Subdues the Inca
Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro leads force to Peru in 1532
Pizarro kills Atahualpa—Inca ruler—and defeats the Inca
Francisco Pizarro: Another conquistador who marched a small force into South America, and conquered the Incan Empire by 1532.
- 1529: invaded Peru.
- Inca: the empire of Present day Peru
*Atahualpa: Incan ruler
- at Cajamarca: Pizarro and his army of about 200 met with Atahualpa near the city.
* Atahualpa's force: about 30,000. (Several thousand mostly unarmed men came along for the meeting)
- Pizarro's 6 actions:
1.) The Spaniards waited in ambush, and then crushed the Incan force.
2.) Kidnapped Atahualpa
3.) Slaughtered his 2,000 body guards
4.) Accepted a huge ransom in gold and silver.
*amount: 24 tons of gold and silver, the richest ransom in history)
5.) Killed Atahualpa
* method: As he was about to be burned at the stake, the Spanish offered him a more merciful death by strangulation if he agreed to convert
to Christianity, which he did... then they strangled him
6.) Pizarro then marched on to Cuzco, and captured it without a struggle in 1533.
* Cuzco: the Incan capital
Other conquistadors: conquered the Maya in Yucatan and Guatemala, and various other peoples in the Americas.
By mid-1500's: Spain had created an empire in the Americans.
- Spanish Empire: included New Spain (Mexico and parts of Guatemala), as well as other lands in Central and South America and the Caribbean.
* size of Spain’s territory and population: 375,000 square miles with over 7 million inhabitants
Spain’s Pattern of Conquest
Spanish men and Native American women have children
Result is large mestizo—mixed Spanish and native—population
Encomienda system—Spanish force Native Americans to work for them
Reconquista of Spain: was the military reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims by Christian rulers.
- dates: 718 to 1492
- method: When conquering the Muslims, the Spanish lived among them and imposed their Spanish culture upon them.
** Since that worked so well, they decided to use the same method in the Americas.
Peninsulares: The Spanish settlers to the Americas.
- problem: they were mostly men.
* result: relationships between Spanish settlers and native women were common.
* mestizo: a large—or mixed Spanish and Native America population.
Spanish oppression of natives:
1.) exploited the land for its precious resources.
2.) Spanish forced Native Americans to work within a system known as encomienda.
Encomienda: a grant of land made by Spain to a settler in the Americas, including the right to use Native Americans as laborers on it.
- 4 points:
1.) Under this system, natives farmed, ranched, or mined for Spanish landlords.
2.) These landlords had received the rights to the natives’ labor from Spanish authorities.
3.) The holders of encomiendas promised the Spanish rulers that they would act fairly and respect the workers.
4.) Many abused the natives and worked many laborers to death, especially inside dangerous mines.
The Portuguese in Brazil
* In 1530s, Portuguese settle in Brazil, begin growing sugar
Growth of Spanish Power
* Conquests in Americas bring great wealth to Spain
* Spain enlarges its navy to protect ships carrying treasure
Brazil: colonized by Portugal. Pedro Alvarez Cabral claimed this territory as he swung west across the Atlantic to India in 1500.
- the rest of South America: Was claimed by Spain.
- 1530s: Portuguese colonists began settling Brazil’s coastal region. Finding little gold or silver, the settlers began growing sugar. Clearing out huge swaths
of forest land, the Portuguese built giant sugar plantations.
- sugar: The demand for sugar in Europe was great, and the colony soon enriched Portugal. In time, the colonists continued to push farther west into Brazil.
They settled even more land for the production of sugar.
- the rest of South America: Was claimed by Spain.
- 4 income producing crops of Brazil:
1.) sugarcane
2.) coffee
3.) tobacco
4.) cotton
- labor intensive crops: needed a great deal of work to earn a profit.
- need for slavery: the local population didn’t supply enough labor so slaves were brought from Africa.
Conquistadors Push North
Juan Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain (1513)
In 1540s, Francisco Coronado explores the Southwest, finds littlegold
Catholic priests set up missions in Southwest... after the conquistadors leave
In early 1600s, Spanish establish capital of Santa Fe
Spain’s American colonies: helped make it the richest, most powerful nation in the world during much of the 16th century.
6 points on Spanish expansion:
1.) Ships filled with treasures from the Americas continually sailed into Spanish harbors.
2.) This newfound wealth helped usher in a golden age of art and culture in Spain.
3.) Throughout the 1500s, Spain also increased its military might.
4.) To protect its treasure-filled ships, Spain built a powerful navy.
5.) The Spanish also strengthened their other military forces, creating a skillful and determined army. For a century and a half, Spain’s army seldom lost
a battle.
6.) Spain enlarged its American empire by settling in parts of what is now the United States.
Juan Ponce de León: Spanish explorer who landed on the coast of modern-day Florida and claimed it for Spain in 1513. (He thought Florida was an island.)
- 1493: he accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World.
- characteristics: He was typical of the conquistadors of his age, believing that the spread of Christianity was such a great gift to the natives that their
losses of freedom and life were of little consequence.
- 2 things he was looking for:
1.) He was seeking a spiritual rebirth with new glory, honor, and personal enrichment, not a physical rebirth through the waters of a
"fountain of youth".
2.) He was searching for gold, slaves and lands to claim and govern for Spain, all of which he hoped to find at Bimini and other islands.
(The Tainos had told the Spanish of a large, rich island to the north named Bimini.)
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado: led an expedition throughout much of present-day Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
- dates: 1540–1541
- mission: He was searching for another wealthy empire to conquer. Coronado found little gold amidst the dry deserts of the Southwest.
- The Legend of the Seven Cities of Cibola: Quivira and Cíbola are two of the fantastic Seven Cities of Gold existing only in a myth that originated
around the year 1150 when the Moors conquered Mérida, Spain.
According to the legend, seven bishops fled the city, not only to save their own lives but also to prevent the Muslims from obtaining
sacred religious relics. Years later, a rumor circulated that in a far away land—a place unknown to the people of that time—the seven
bishops had founded the cities of Cíbola and Quivira. The legend says that these cities grew very rich, mainly from gold and precious
stones. This idea fueled many expeditions in search of the mythical cities during the following centuries.
Eventually, the legend behind these cities grew to such an extent that no one spoke solely of Quivira and Cíbola, but instead of seven
magnificent cities made of gold, one for each of the seven bishops who had left Mérida.
- Seven Cities of Cibola: There were numerous reports of people seeing golden cities, the smallest of which was larger than Mexico City.
* Coronado’s search: Coronado left with a small group of explorers (154) from Culiacán, Mexico on April 22, 1540. They went through the
state of Sonora and arrived in present day Arizona… and found nothing but a deserted pueblo village. Obviously, it
must be farther, so the continued... until they were in Kansas. Eventually he discovered that the guide’s stories
were lies and that there were in fact no treasures as had been described. Coronado promptly executed the guide.
- Result: As a result of numerous expeditions’ failures, the Spanish monarchy assigned mostly priests to explore and colonize the future United States.
Role of Religion: Catholic priests had accompanied conquistadors from the very beginning of American colonization.
Conquistadors vs. priests: The conquistadors had come in search of wealth. The priests who accompanied them had come in search of converts.
Pedro de Peralta: governor of Spain’s northern holdings, called New Mexico, led settlers to a tributary on the upper Rio Grande. They built a capital called
Santa Fe, or “Holy Faith.”
- date: 1609–1610
- 1620-30: a string of Christian missions arose among the Pueblo.
* Pueblo: the native inhabitants of the region.
* 3 things they set up: Scattered missions, forts, and small ranches dotted the lands of New Mexico.
^ as headquarters: These became the headquarters for advancing the Catholic religion.
Protests Against Mistreatment
* Catholic priests protest mistreatment of Native Americans
4 actions of the missionary Catholic priests:
1.) Spanish priests worked to spread Christianity in the Americas.
2.) They also pushed for better treatment of Native Americans.
3.) Priests spoke out against the cruel treatment of natives.
4.) They criticized the harsh pattern of labor that emerged under the encomienda system.
Bartolome de Las Casas: Dominican monk who was a scholar, historian and 16th century human rights advocate. He criticized the harsh pattern of labor that
emerged under the encomienda system.
** He was one of the very few that actually spoke out against what was being done to the natives in the Americas.
- quote: “There is nothing more detestable or more cruel, than the tyranny which the Spaniards use toward the Indians for the getting of pearl [riches].”
- His book: A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, published in 1552, gives a vivid description of the atrocities committed by the
conquistadors in the Americas – most particularly, in the Caribbean, Central America, and what is now modern Mexico – including many
events to which he was an eyewitness.
* influence: The book was widely read and widely translated. The English version was used to stir up English feeling against the Spanish as
a cruel race whom England ought to beware of, and whose colonies in the Americas would be better off in English hands.
- Names given:
1.) Father of anti-imperialism
2.) Father of anti-racism.
3.) Defender of the Oppressed
4.) Symbol of justice and human rights in Latin America.
African Slavery and Native Resistance
Spain abolishes encomienda system (1542)
Need for workers in mines and on farms met with enslaved Africans
Some Native Americans resist Spanish conquerors
In 1680, Popé leads rebellion against Spanish in modern New Mexico
Spanish driven out, but return 12 years later to stay
1542: The Spanish government abolished the encomienda system.
- result: Spain still needs people to work the land (for free).
- de Las Casas suggests: using Africans. “The labor of one . . . [African]. . . [is] more valuable than that of four Indians,” he said. (He later changed his view
and denounced African slavery.)
- Spain's solution: Slavery of both groups.
Opposition to the Spanish colonization: Many opposed the methods used by Spain to colonize the Americas.
6 ways Spain treated the native peoples:
1.) Forced the natives to work for them/enslaved them
2.) Took their lands
3.) Abused them physically, mentally, sexually, and emotionally
4.) Destroyed their temples
5.) Banned their religions
6.) Gave them diseases, many which killed them
2 main groups leading resistance movements:
1.) Spanish priests (like de Las Casas)
2.) Native Americans
- incidents of resistance: