Latin America Under European Control

From the 10th to the 19th centuries, European countries colonized most of the non-white world. Thus began the age of imperialism and expansion. Vocabulary imperialism: When one country tries to be the boss of another country politically, militarily, culturally, and/or economically empire: a group of territories controlled by one leader Discuss: Where have we seen these terms before this semester?

People and Places in General Cortez led the expedition that took control of the Aztecs in Mexico 1518 discovery of Mexico During the battle with native people when he arrived, he took many prisoners including a young Aztec princess. She became his interpreter and advisor As he continued on conquering, he wanted to prevent his men from even thinking about retreating. He burned the ships.

In 1519, Cortez reached Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) and was graciously received by Montezuma, the Aztec emperor. Soon after Cortez established headquarters in the capital, he learned that the Aztecs had plundered Veracruz. He seized Montezuma and forced him to surrender the attackers. Then he had them executed. Montezuma was later stoned by his own people when he tried to convince them not to attack Cortez the Aztecs finally surrendered Fun (Sad) Fact: The Aztec thought the arrival of Cortez was the coming of their god, Quatzequatel, who was described as a pale faced serpent with great white wings (think sails) arriving from across the Eastern sea.

Pizarro takes on the Inca Pizarro led the expedition that colonized the Inca in Peru 1531 Pizarro starts his conquest of Peru. He had 300 men and 100 horses By 1533 Pizzaro completed his conquest of the Incas. His conquest was greatly helped by dissention within the Incas (they didn’t agree on what to do about the Europeans). The Incan leader was taken prisoner while coming to dinner with Pizzaro. His 40,000 men did not attack believing he would be ransomed. A ransom was collected, but he was executed and the Incan Empire ended.

European Colonization Spain colonized most of Latin America, except for Brazil which was colonized by Portugal. Haiti and French Guiana were colonized by the French (the Dutch and British also had some colonies). Latin American people today are a mix of native and European and African ancestry Discuss: Why African?

Encomienda System Purposes: evangelizing native people (Catholicism) and providing a stable society (military) How it worked… Spanish conquered and put their people in charge of the native peoples Indigenous lands were to stay under the control of the indigenous people Encomenderos (Spanish people in charge in the area; they were also land owners in the area) could tax the people under their care and call them to labor. Landowners lived on huge parcels of land called haciendas

What really happened… The encomenderos didn’t respect the indigenous people at all They increased taxes, seized lands from the natives (their plantations were next to native people’s lands) and forced many natives people into a type of slavery Land was passed on to descendants, so Spanish descendants received increasingly more land The forced labor of native people by the Spanish in places like silver mines led to deaths by cave-ins, malnutrition, overwork and disease

How it ended… Spanish and native people intermarried, so it was hard to tell who would be taxed and forced into labor People with no clear Amerindian lineage could not be forced into labor Epidemic diseases that the Europeans brought to America - such as the plague and smallpox - killed a large percentage of the indigenous population, which had no natural defenses against them.Americaplaguesmallpox

Long term effects… Land passed down from generation to generation. Land = money from crops etc. Discuss: Who had the land to pass on? Who didn’t? Effects today?

Other fun facts… Bartoleme de las Casas, a Dominican priest, stood up for the right of native peoples. He made a suggestion to ease the burden of indigenous people and he later regretted it. He suggested bringing over slaves from Africa Spanish missionaries converted the native people to Catholicism with the help of the legend Our Lady of Guadalupe To which Estate during the French Revolution can the landowners (encomenderos) be compared?