European Explorations The Age of Early European Explorations & Conquests

Motives for European Exploration Trade/unique goods  need to get to Asian markets (and not get killed with middleman charges) Monarchs seeking new sources of revenue. Renaissance  curiosity about other lands and peoples. Reformation  refugees & missionaries. Technological advances. Fame and fortune.

New Maritime Technologies Better Maps [Portulan] Hartman Astrolabe (1532) Mariner’s Compass Sextant

New Maritimes Technology

Christofo Colon [1451-1506]

The First Spanish Conquests: The Aztecs vs. Fernando Cortez Montezuma II

Mexico Surrenders to Cortez

The First Spanish Conquests: The Incas vs. Francisco Pizarro Atahualpa

The “Columbian Exchange” Squash Avocado Peppers Sweet Potatoes Turkey Pumpkin Tobacco Quinine Cocoa Pineapple Cassava POTATO Peanut TOMATO Vanilla MAIZE Syphilis Trinkets Liquor GUNS Olive COFFEE BEAN Banana Rice Onion Turnip Honeybee Barley Grape Peach SUGAR CANE Oats Citrus Fruits Pear Wheat HORSE Cattle Sheep Pigs Smallpox Flu Typhus Measles Malaria Diptheria Whooping Cough

Treasures from the Americas!

European Misunderstandings of Native Americans Europeans saw Native Americans as: Underutilizing the land Men as lazy because women would plant Not as technologically advanced (no iron tools, no functional use of the wheel; primitive weapons) Less educated because a lack of written language Thus, Europeans saw Native Americans as savages, inferior, and child-like

The Colonial Class System Peninsulares Creoles Mestizos Mulattos Native Indians Black Slaves

Administration of the Spanish Empire in the New World Encomienda legal system by which the Spanish crown attempted to define the status of the Indian population in its American colonies. Legally defined in 1503, an encomienda (from encomendar, “to entrust”) consisted of a grant by the crown to a conquistador, soldier, official, or others of a specified number of Indians living in a particular area.

The Encomienda System in Law vs Practice The receiver of the grant, the encomendero, could exact tribute from the Indians in gold, in kind, or in labor and was required to protect them and instruct them in the Christian faith. The encomienda did not include a grant of land, but in practice the encomenderos gained control of the Indians’ lands and failed to fulfil their obligations to the Indian population Designed to meet the needs of the colonies’ early mining economy. With the catastrophic decline in the Indian population and the replacement of mining activities by agriculture, the system lost its effectiveness and was gradually replaced by the hacienda system of landed estates. not officially abolished until the late 18th century. 

New Colonial Rivals

Native Response to Spanish Conquest Resistance Noche Triste (1520) Battle of Acoma (1599) and Pope’s Rebellion (1680) Blending Language Laws Culture Intermarriage