GREAT EXPEDITIONS

COLONISATION AND

CONQUEST OF AMERICA

GREAT EXPEDITIONS:

CAUSES.

VIDEO

MAJOR PRE-COLUMBIAN

CIVILIZATIONS

AMERINDIANS GROUPS OF TAINOS AND CARIBES.

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The capital of the Aztec Empire: Tenochtitlan.

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They gained territory to the lake doing chinampas:

es un método mesoamericano antiguo de agricultura y expansión territorial que, a través de una especie de balsas cubiertas con tierra, sirvieron para cultivar flores y verduras, así como para ampliar el territorio en la superficie de lagos y lagunas del Valle de México;

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INCA EMPIRE

Map with the expansion of the Inca Empire, with capital in Cuzco

Recreation of an inca celebration in Cuzco.

When the Spanish conquered the Inca Empire. Some indigenous population created and took refugee in the Machu Pichu settlement.

The llamas were really important in the vertebration and connectivity of the different areas of the Inca Empire

Different Stages of the Conquest.

Concept map from your notebook. With the three main stages.

1. Antillan stage.
2. Occupation of the Mexican and Peruvian Plateau.
3. Expansion stage.

Occupation of the Mexican and Peruvian plateaus.

Creation of viceroyalties that depended from the Consejo de Indias

3.3. The colonisation of the Americas

3.3.1.Political organisation

Various organisms and institutions were established to govern the colonised territories:

❚ Casa de Contratación. This was established in 1503 and was based in Sevilla (well located from the connectivity with America and safety) in order to centralised the collect of taxes. It gave permission to exploit and trade with the Americas through the capitulations.

❚ El Consejo de Indias. This was established in 1524. It consisted of experts who advised the monarchs about matters related with their American possessions. One of its more important tasks was to name the new Viceroyalty, that most of the times was a person born in Castilla.

❚ Viceroyalties. The viceroys who ran them acted as the king’s representatives and held absolute political authority in the Americas. Initially, two viceroyalties were established, Nueva España (present-day Mexico), with its capital in Mexico City, and Peru, with its capital in Lima.

❚ Audiencias. These acted as courts of justice and also carried out government functions.

3.3.2. Economic exploitation and social transformations

The Europeans took their technological advances to the Americas (such as the wheel, iron and the plough) and introduced new types of livestock and crops (such as cereals, sugar cane and coffee). They also discovered new products there (such as potatoes, corn, tomatoes, chocolate and tobacco). Hardly any industry was developed, so manufactured products had to be imported from the mother country. The resources of the New World were exploited through two main systems:

❚ The encomienda. Groups of indigenous Americans and territories called encomiendas were assigned to the colonists. The natives had to work the land or do domestic labours for the encomendero, who promised to maintain them and instruct them in the Christian faith in return.

❚ The mita. This was forced labour that the natives had to do in the gold and silver mines. This practice already existed before the Spanish arrived. The high mortality rate among the natives meant they had to employ paid workers.

The conquest and colonisation of the Americas had a strong demographic impact. The wars, exploitation and disease caused a dramatic decline in the population. To compensate for the shortage of labour, African slaves were used.

The cultural impact of the conquest and colonisation

Due to the abuse the Amerindians were subjected to, some religious figures, such as Friar Antonio de Montesinos and Bartolomé de las Casas, protested and denounced the situation. The Crown intervened and enacted the Leyes de Burgos in 1512 and the Leyes Nuevas in 1542. These established that the Amerindians were not slaves and had rights that had to be respected, such as the right to a fair salary, a rest period during hard labour and their own dwellings. These laws had a limited effect. Similar treatment was given to the natives in Brazil by the Portuguese and in North America by the British.

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Bartolome de las Casas.

Many Spaniards emigrated to the territories of the Americas, resulting in an ethnically diverse society. The Europeans and their descendants, the Creole, were the dominant social group and the Amerindians worked for them. The Spaniards mixed with the Amerindians, resulting in mestizos (people of mixed ancestry).

The native American cultures were replaced by the culture of the conquistadores (acculturation). Universities were founded and the printing press was introduced. The native languages were marginalised and began to die out. The indigenous population abandoned their own religions for Christianity. Only a few of their traditions survived, which were adapted to Christianity

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4. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE EXPEDITIONS FOR EUROPEANS

• When new Atlantic trade routes were established, the Mediterranean became less important. The port cities along the Atlantic coast grew, such as Lisbon, Cádiz, Amsterdam, London and Antwerp, as well as Sevilla.
• Large quantities of precious metals arrived in Europe from the Americas. The Hispanic Monarchs used these riches to finance wars, so they ended in the hands of mercenaries and European bankers. As the metals were used to make coins, the amount of money in circulation increased and prices rose all over Europe, worsening the situation of the poorer.
• Long distance trade brought products to Europe (potatoes, tomatoes, corn, cocoa, tobacco, etc.). In exchange, manufactured products were exported (clothes, weapons, etc.)
• European powers occupied different regions of the Americas and Asia. This resulted in the expansion of the known world and the creation of European colonial empires. The first ones were those of Portugal and Spain, followed by those of France, England and Holland.
• European culture (languages, religion and laws) spread around the world.
• Development of other sciences like geography (the development of cartography), biology (the discovery of new species) and anthropology (contact with other people and cultures).

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Consequences for the Amerindians

• Most of them worsened their standard of living, because in the new social pyramide they were below the Spanish and his descendants, and they had to serve them.
• They suffered a strong demographic decline because of the wars, exploitation (encomienda, mita, etc.) and disease.
• They suffered acculturation, they generally lost their languages and religions, and incorporated the languages and religion of the colonisers. In the best of the cases, some cultures survived in isolated places or mixed with the European culture.
• They made contact with new technological advances (wheel, printing press, etc.) crops (wheat, coffee, sugar, etc.) and animals (horse, cow, pig, etc.) that they did not know.