1. European Explorations
The Age of Early
European Explorations
& Conquests

2. 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.

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

4. New Maritimes Technology

5. Christofo Colon [ ]

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

7. Mexico Surrenders to Cortez

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

9. 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

10. Treasures from the Americas!

11. 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

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

13. 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.

14. 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. 

15. New Colonial Rivals

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