1492 Spanish in America

Section 2 vocabulary Astrolabe, circumnavigate, caravel, conquistador, encomienda, Henry the Navigator, sugar cane, Columbus, Treaty of Tordesillias, Amerigo Vespucci, Ponce de Leon, Hernan Cortes, Francisco Pizzaro, Bartoleme de las Casas, Mestizos, peninsulares, creoles, St. Augustine, Fort Mose, Samuel de Champlain

1492 The Spanish were the first Europeans to settle in the Americas. The first voyages were led by Christopher Columbus. He sailed for Spain and their rulers.

1492 Ferdinand and Isabella Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella http://gurnicht.tripod.com/map_sp.gif

1492 1492 was an important year for Spain. This was the year that they completed The Reconquista, claimed the New World, and expelled all the Muslims and Jews from Spain in the Spanish Inquisition. Money gained in the Reconquista and Spanish Inquisition helped fund the voyages of Columbus.

1492 Spain wanted to pursue sea trading with Asia to gain power and wealth in Iberia and Europe. Before, trade routes had gone overland, and were in the control of the Ottoman Turks who very powerful and did not have positive relations with European Christians.

Portuguese Explorations

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus was an Italian* navigator who wanted the support of the Portuguese or Spanish governments for voyages he wanted to make to Asia. He began approaching the Portuguese with his plans in the 1480s. He was unable to get funding from them because they had just had success with voyages that navigated around the southern tip of Africa and had begun trading with India that way.

Christopher Columbus He approached the English and the Spanish and finally was given money and support from Spain. He had a problem however- he had grossly miscalculated the distance from Spain to the next land mass, which he thought was going to be Cathay or China.

European Map of the world circa 1492 http://www-scf. usc

Columbus Columbus negotiated a really great contract for himself, giving him a percentage of the profits, the title, “Admiral of the Seas” and the position of viceroy of the new lands and the right to appoint people to run the new lands. He set out in August of 1492.

Columbus He had three ships, one of which was owned by his friends, the Pinzon brothers, Martin, Francisco and Vincente. They helped his along the voyage, piloting the ships and helping him prevent mutiny. Martin and Vincente Pinzon

Columbus After a stop in the Canary Islands, they sailed for over five weeks, landing in the Bahamas on October 12. He met the Taino and Arawak and this is what he said about them in his journal-

"Many of the men I have seen have scars on their bodies, and when I made signs to them to find out how this happened, they indicated that people from other nearby islands come to San Salvador to capture them; they defend themselves the best they can. I believe that people from the mainland come here to take them as slaves. They ought to make good and skilled servants, for they repeat very quickly whatever we say to them. I think they can very easily be made Christians, for they seem to have no religion. If it pleases our Lord, I will take six of them to Your Highnesses when I depart, in order that they may learn our language."[19] He remarked that their lack of modern weaponry and even metal-forged swords or pikes was a tactical vulnerability, writing, "I could conquer the whole of them with 50 men, and govern them as I pleased."[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#Voyages

Columbus In this and his other voyages, he began the total conquest of South and Central America by the Spanish Empire. They would have control of these lands until the 19th century. During the conquest at least 90% of the native populations died from disease, violence and due to the destruction of their way of life. This led to the Europeans bringing millions of Africans to the New World to work the land for them because of the native labor deficit.

Columbus He began what would be later called the Columbian Exchange. This refers to the exchange of goods, diseases, customs and movement of peoples across the Atlantic Ocean. He was widely regarded as a hero until the 1990s, when the sesquicentennial of the voyages led many people to reevaluate the journeys and their effects on our world.

Columbian Exchange

Further voyages For the next 350 years Spain conquered and controlled most of South America, the Caribbean, and the American Southwest. Starting in 1519 they moved from the Caribbean to Mexico. (Hernan Cortes) By 1532 they were in South America. (Francisco Pizzaro)

Spanish Social classes