Spanish & Portuguese Colonies World Studies

I. Spain built an overseas empire Conquistadors (Spanish fortune hunters) want precious metals and stones Cortes conquered the Aztecs Pizarro conquered the Incas What factors contributed to Spanish success in the conquest of the Americas?

Cortez and Montezuma

Inca and Conquistadors

Others explored the southern part of the modern USA in search of wealth By mid-1500s controlled from California through South America Divided into 5 provinces to keep more strict control

The Catholic Church played a large role in the colonies Kept an eye on Spanish settlers Converted Americans Encouraged them to give up traditional culture Encouraged loyalty to the Spanish king

II. The Economy of Colonies Colonists could only sell raw goods to Spain and could only buy finished goods from Spain Sugar was grown on large farms, plantations It was hard to find enough workers Land owners were granted encomiendas, the right to demand labor from the Americans Any who refused to work were killed

Bartolome de las Casas was a priest who spoke against encomiendas Wrote reports to the king about how awful it was A law was passed making them illegal Americans were still treated very poorly Slaves were brought from Africa to fill the need for workers

Bartolome de las Casas

III. Social Structure Peninsulars – those born in Spain; held the highest positions Creoles – American-born Spaniards; owned most of the plantations Mestizos – mixed American and European Mulattoes – mixed African and European Full blooded Americans and Africans were at the bottom with the fewest rights

Colonial cities were very European

IV. Brazil The Portuguese controlled Brazil due to the Treaty of Tordesillas Brazil had very little silver or gold Used slave labor (American and African) to clear land for sugar Still weren’t able to profit nearly as much as Spain