Conquest of the Americas

1
Conquest of the Americas

• Contact and Conflict
• 1450- 1700

2
Introduction

• Between 1450- 1700 European civilization spread
  through trade, imperialism, and colonialism
• Guiding Questions
• Was this inevitable?
• Was the spread of European culture a result of
  Western Superiority?

3
Agenda

• Factors of Exploration and Conquest
• Aztec Society Spanish Conquest
• Inca Society Spanish Conquest
• The Slave Trade
• Results in Europe

4
Factors of Exploration and Conquest

• Capitalism- pre-capitalist society to capitalist
  society
• Searching for Wealth
• Geography
• Technology
• The Search for Souls- The Mission

5
Why Explore?

• Since the time of the Crusades, Europeans had
  known about the riches (spices, silks, and
  Jewels) of the East
• Getting to the East by land was dangerous and
  risky due to control by varying nations, in
  particular the Ottomans
• To find sea routes, Europeans needed better maps,
  navigation instruments, and new technology

6
Mapmaking

• Mapmaking improved during the Renaissance because
  of Europeans growing interest in ancient
  geographers
• During the Renaissance info. about Africa and
  Asia, previously unknown to Ptolemy was added to
  his maps
• Explorers believed they could reach Asia more
  easily by sailing West, primarily because they
  had no idea about the Americas nor about the true
  size of the world! It also meant sailing away
  from known enemies!

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Ptolemys Map
8
Navigation

• New navigation technology enabled ships to sail
  beyond sight of land without getting lost
• One of the most important instruments to be
  discovered was the compass (originally an
  Oriental device)

9
New Types of Ships

• Until the 1400s long ships, known as Galleys,
  were used
• The sails were fixed and long, heavy oars were
  used by sailors (slaves) to drive a galley
  through the winds
• Spanish and Portuguese designers allowed sails to
  move and moved the rudder to the back of the
  boat, making travel faster, easier and safer

10
Economic Conditions

• Exploration and a change in economy went hand in
  hand
• Some Historians call the period of the late 1400s
  to the 1700s the Commercial Revolution
• Previous to this era, the value of coins (money)
  changed depending on the amount of precious metal
  they contained, thus making trade difficult and
  uncertain as merchants need a standard system of
  money to buy and sell products

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Bling, Bling Continued

• Italian cities began to create fixed values of
  money called ducats
• This allowed banks to store money that they could
  lend governments or businesses to explore
  overseasthus banks began to become more common
  as an industry

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How could exploration be afforded?

• Individual merchants joined together to form
  joint-stock companies
• Merchants raised money by selling shares (stock),
  in companies that wanted to make money from
  exploration. Those buying stock would share in
  the profits.
• Monarchs also began to fund exploration as
  gaining new lands began to be seen as a source of
  pride

13
Social Factors Leading to Exploration

• The Renaissance and Sc. Rev. (which well get
  to!) created a desire to learn more about the
  world
• Increased population, pollution, and lack of
  opportunity caused many to seek a better life a
  Utopia
• People saw a chance to get rich
• The Reformations led to persecution, which caused
  many groups to flee in hope of freedom, and
  nations to seek out new lands to convert

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Mercantilism

• Mercantilism stated that a countrys government
  should do all it could to increase that nations
  wealth, which was measured by the amount of gold
  and silver that country possessed (gold standard)
• Since the world has a fixed amount of wealth, you
  had to compete, and find unfound wealth or take
  away wealth from another nation
• Based on this theory, wealth could increase via 2
  methods
• A. Find wealth at home or in colonies
• B. Sell more goods than it bought from foreign
  nations, thus creating a positive balance of
  trade
• This naturally led to nations placing tariffs on
  other nations goods and promoted a race for new
  lands that could be exploited

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Christopher Columbus

• Contrary to popular myth, Columbus never found
  America
• Funded by Spain, his fleet landed on Oct. 12,
  1492 in what he named San Salvador, in what we
  refer to as the West Indies today.
• He would also discover the Bahamas
• Regardless of what he found, what did matter was
  the fact that the West had found a new source of
  wealth
• The Columbian Exchange had begun Gold and
  Silver found in South America would develop Spain
  into a world powerbut at what expense?

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Aztec Empire
17
Aztec Society

• First Encounter- 1519 Hernan Cortes
• Great Cities- Tenochtitlán (Huge Temple, Numerous
  Canals, Royal Palace)
• Highly Structured Society- Based on Agriculture
  and Religion

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Spanish Conquest

• Radical Depopulation
• Disease
• Forced Labour
• Slavery- The Mission
• Demoralization
• Introduction of Cattle, Sheep and Goats

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Inca Empire
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Inca Society

• Extremely Wealthy
• Complex Political Organization
• Accomplished Feats of Engineering

21
Spanish Conquest

• Series of Attacks (1525- 1572)
• Encomienda System
• Disease

22
Splitting the Wealth

• Spain and Portugal began to claim the same lands
  as their own
• Since they were both Catholic, Pope Alexander VI
  issued a Papal Bull in 1493, which drew an
  imaginary line through the Atlantic
• Spain got all new lands discovered to the West,
  and Portugal to the East, and they had to respect
  the lands of any other Catholic nation
• The Treaty of Tordesillas moved the line further
  West, allowing Portugal to discover Brazil
• Over time, Spain would take control of much of S.
  Am., while Portugal would focus on Africa and the
  W. Indies

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The Start of the Slave Trade

• When the Portuguese first went to Afr. They were
  friendly with the natives
• This changed for 3 reasons
• Missionaries wanted to save the Africans
• The natives were dying in the Americas, meaning
  new labour was needed
• They wanted to exploit the new lands

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Triangular Trade and the Middle Passage
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Tools of the Trade
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Decline of Portugal

• Portugal declined as rapidly as it had grown
• It did not have the resources to support such a
  large empire
• By 1580 Spain annexed Portugal until 1640 when it
  regained its freedom
• The Slave Trade would not end until the late
  1800s
• Spain would too decline, this time due to the
  rise of other nations, in particular Great
  Britain (Elizabeth)

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The Far East

• Around 1514 the Portuguese reached China
• Over time they began to gain the trust of the
  Chinese
• Jesuits in particular were effective, although
  too much effort resulted in the Emperors
  denouncing Christianity
• Britain would reach the East in the late 1600s
  hoping to buy silk and tea, which the Dutch had
  previously introduced to them
• The East India Company paid the Chinese with
  Opium, thus causing an addiction
• This would eventually lead to the Opium Wars of
  1839-1842
• While Britain, and eventually the USA would
  become influential in the East, it was not as
  decisive as other nationsWhy?
• The East was completely independent. It did not
  need the West. Furthermore, the West needed it.
  Lastly, the East was much more developed than the
  N.A. cultures, and were adept at fighting back.
  Well return to the East later on.

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Works Cited

• Legacy The West and the World, Garfield Newman
• Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2003