Native Americans, Columbian Exchange, Spanish Explorations and Conquest in the New World

1. The Collision of Cultures

3. • Native Americans in 1500
• Population of North America: 10,000,000 (estimate)
• Three distinct civilization trends emerged in North
America
• Adena-Hopwell culture
• Mississippian culture
• Hohokam-Anasazi culture

4. • The voyages of Christopher Columbus

5. • Spain and Portugal
• Conquest for glory, gold and God

6. • http://www.bl.uk/magnificentmaps/map3.html
Diego Gutierrez, 1562
Library of Congress
How does this map reflect
European perspectives on
The New World?

7. • On the part of the King, Don Fernando, and of Doña Juana, his daughter, Queen of Castile and León, subduers of
the barbarous nations, we their servants notify and make known to you, as best we can, that the Lord our God,
living and eternal, created the heaven and the earth, and one man and one woman, of whom you and we, and all
the men of the world, were and are all descendants, and all those who come after us.
• Of all these nations God our Lord gave charge to one man, called St. Peter, that he should be lord and superior of
all the men in the world, that all should obey him, and that he should be the head of the whole human race,
wherever men should live, and under whatever law, sect, or belief they should be; and he gave him the world for his
kingdom and jurisdiction.
• One of these pontiffs, who succeeded St. Peter as lord of the world in the dignity and seat which I have before
mentioned, made donation of these isles and Terra-firma to the aforesaid King and Queen and to their successors,
our lords, with all that there are in these territories,
• Wherefore, as best we can, we ask and require you that you consider what we have said to you, and that you take
the time that shall be necessary to understand and deliberate upon it, and that you acknowledge the Church as the
ruler and superior of the whole world,
• But if you do not do this, and maliciously make delay in it, I certify to you that, with the help of God, we shall
powerfully enter into your country, and shall make war against you in all ways and manners that we can, and shall
subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and of their highnesses; we shall take you, and your wives,
and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them as their highnesses
may command; and we shall take away your goods, and shall do you all the mischief and damage that we can, as
to vassals who do not obey, and refuse to receive their lord, and resist and contradict him: and we protest that the
deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your fault, and not that of their highnesses, or ours, nor of these
cavaliers who come with us .

9. • Diseases carried by Europeans to New World
• Smallpox
• Bubonic Plague
• Typhus
• Diphtheria
• Malaria
• Yellow Fever
• Cholera
• Estimates are hard to assess but may number in the tens
of millions across the New World
• What might be the effects of epidemics on religious,
social, political institutions in Native American
civilizations?

10. • Spanish exploration
• 16th Century Spain: a superpower in Europe and the New
World
• England, France, Central Europe entangled in religious wars
between Christians
• Glorious Revolution in England
• 30 Years War
• Spain united as Roman Catholic imperial power
• Colonies in the New World & economic wealth from trade and
silver
• Powerful navy, iron weapons; horses

11. • Cortes’ conquest
• Hernain Cortes
• Conquistadores: unpaid, soldier/entrepreneurs fought for share of
plunder and slaves
• Native American kingdoms in Mexico assisted Cortes in
overcoming Aztecs
• Pizarro conquered Peru and the Inca Empire by 1538
• Encomienda system
• Favored officers became privileged landowners in control of
indigenous villages
• Encomenderos provided for villages and supported priests
• Indigenous peoples provided labor and goods

12. • Spanish America
• In 16th Century most of North America was claimed by Spain
• Mexico as center of imperial administration
• All details of colonial administration controlled by Spain
• Frontiers of New Spain: Florida Keys to Alaska
• Focus on extraction of gold and silver
• Introduction of slavery
• Importation of African slaves to supplement decimated Native
American laborers
• The role of the Catholic church
• Spread Roman Catholic Christianity
• Christianity imposed on Native Americans by force-- using military
• Mission system: within 10 years of founding, missions become
secularized.
• Lands divided among converts (former elite)
• Converts became Spanish citizens & required to pay taxes

13. • The Spanish Southwest
• New Mexico: first center of mission activity
• Juan Onate
• Local peoples called “Pueblos”
• Pueblo Revolt
• Horses and the Great Plains
• How did the arrival of horses change the ecology of the Great
Plains?

14. • Early causes and spread of the Reformation
• Protestant Reformation
• Theological—Martin Luther; John Calvin
• Political—King Henry VIII; German Princes
• Counter-Reformation
• Centered in Spain
• Conflicts in France
• Religious Wars
• English Religious Unrest 1642-1689
• Civil War (1642- 1651), Glorious Revolution (1688-1689)
• Thirty Years War 1618-1648
• Eighty Years War (Dutch rebellion against Spanish rule) 1568-1648
• The role of Catholicism in Spanish settlements
• Spread Roman Catholic Christianity to the New World
• Support Roman Catholic Kings/Emperors; avoid war between rival Catholic
nations; Spain and Portugal
• Provide legitimacy to European claims of ownership of territory in the New
World

15. America, 8th Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
English, French, and Dutch Explorations

16. • British efforts to subvert Spanish control
• Elizabeth’s Sea Dogges: John Hawkins and Francis Drake

17. • French Explorers
• Verrazano
• Cartier