New Worlds: The Americas and Oceania Chapter 24
Intro: Colliding Worlds European advantages: technology, divisions among indigenous peoples, epidemic diseases Spanish conquer Aztec and Inca Empires Portugal’s sugar plantations in Brazil French, English, and Dutch settler colonies
The Spanish Caribbean Taino: manioc farmers, small villages with chiefs, met Columbus (trade, little resistance) Spanish arrival: Hispaniola (Santo Domingo) as base, nothing to trade, wanted gold Encomienda system: gold mines Small pox ravaged Taino population By mid-1500s, focus shifted to Mexico and Peru for silver English pirates, then (1640s), French, English, Dutch plantations (enslaved Africans)
The Conquest of Mexico and Peru Early 1500s: conquistadors in Mexico, then Central and South America 1519-21: Cortes defeated Aztecs (invasion, then siege of Tenochtitlan) 1532-33: Pizarro defeated Incas Advantages: weapons and horses, support of imperial enemies, epidemic disease Looted, gave land and labor rights to their men
Iberian Empires in the Americas By 1570: formal Spanish rule (bureaucrats) Mexico City, New Spain (Mexico) and Lima, New Castile (Peru) Each had a viceroy responsible to the king (little control) and audiencias to keep them in check Difficult to govern without communication and transportation systems -> local areas governed by audiencias or town councils New cities: as migrants increased, bureaucracy and territory increased
Iberian Empires (cont.) Portuguese Brazil: 1494 – Treaty of Tordesillas (divided Atlantic between Spain and Portugal) Early, land grants to nobles to develop and colonize -> sugar plantations Later, governor to oversee and implement royal policy Iberian Empires: European-style cities, indigenous lifeways persisted in rural areas Spain and Portugal: focus on exploitation and administration (not settlement and colonization – but there were many migrants)
Settler Colonies in North America 1500s: Spain sought opportunities in north (towns, forts, missions) Mid-1500s: Dutch, French, and English in mid-Atlantic (fish and NW passage) Early 1600s: colonies (difficult life), funded by private investors, subject to royal authority, governed by local assemblies Natives didn’t “own” land, so they cleared it and used it (legitimized with treaties, and progress) Some clashes with natives; pop decreased due to diseases and conflict
Intro: Colonial Societies in the Americas Relations between Natives, Europeans, and Africans -> mixed societies and ethnic groups But, Europeans dominated political and economic affairs (mining, cash crop farming, trapping)
Formation of Multicultural Societies Lots of mixing between European men and native women -> mestizo population Europeans + Africans = mulattoes Natives + Africans = zambas (Brazil = more diverse than Spanish areas) Social Hierarchy: Euro. migrants = peninsulares, American-born = criollos, mestizos, mulattoes and zambas, slaves Sexual hierarchy: men dominated women, but depended on ratio of men to women, local economy, life stage, race and class
North American Societies French and English colonies: more women (-> less ethnic mixing) But, French men sometimes mixed with native women around trading posts Very little in English colonies (due to racism); did not accept or acknowledge people of mixed parentage
Mining and Agriculture in the Spanish Empire Silver: northern Mexico (Zacatecas): used indigenous, voluntary labor Central Andes (Potosi): voluntary labor and mita (each native village had to send 1/7 of male pop. To work for 4 months in the mines) – low wages, bad conditions Supported Spanish American economy and stimulated global economy (European markets, traded to Asia for luxury goods, Manila galleons)
The Hacienda Site of agriculture and craft production in New Spain Labor: first – encomienda, after 1550s – less labor, more tribute required, later – debt peonage Resistance: rebellion, feet-dragging, retreat
Sugar and Slavery in Portuguese Brazil Portugal focused on sugar production and export Instead of indigenous labor (resisted/retreated/ died), 1530s - enslaved Africans Poor conditions -> high disease and mortality rate -> constant demand Sugar requires lots of work to make (agri/indust)
Fur Traders in N. America Fur was very lucrative – high demand in Europe Made way into interior and set up trading posts (natives trapped, Europeans traded wool blankets, iron pots, guns, alcohol) Competition, demand, declining beaver pop. -> conflict (between native groups and between Europeans)
Settlers in North America Bigger threat to native lifeways – displaced populations, took hunting grounds Cash crops (tobacco; later – rice, indigo, cotton) plantations Labor: at first - indentured servants from Europe, early 1600s – African indentured servants, late 1600s – slaves (esp. in South, but the north was involved in slave trade)
Christianity and Native Religions in the Americas Spanish missionaries: Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits represented the crown Tried to convert: learned languages, history, etc. Some resistance, but many converted, but incorporated their own interests and needs In Mexico, Virgin of Guadalupe became popular national symbol French and English missionaries: difficult (nomadic) and English Prot weren’t really interested (French Cath – some success)
Intro: Europeans in the Pacific Later than in Americas, but similar transformations (esp. epidemic disease) 16th-18th centuries: exploration Late 18th century: permanent settlements 19th-20th centuries: intense interaction
Australia and the Larger World Early 1600s: Dutch VOC authorized exploration but found nothing of interest Mid-1600s: scouted coasts -> New Holland Brief landfalls and encounters with locals 1770: Cook visited and determined Botany Bay was suitable for settlement 1778: British penal colony at Sydney, plus free settlers; little contact with aboriginal people
The Pacific Islands and the Larger World Mostly, no big changes until 19th and 20th centuries: limited visiting and trading (French – Tahiti, English – Cook in Hawaii) Exceptions: Guam and Mariana Islands Marianas: 1521, Magellan and 1565, Manila galleons -> contact, brief visits Guam: 16th century, galleons took on provisions and traded with Chamorro ; 1670s-80s, Spain consolidated power, under viceroy of New Spain; 1700, Spanish garrisons and relocation of natives