Spain Builds an Empire

1. Spain Builds an Empire Chapter 3, Section 2

2. Spanish Conquistadors • A conquistador was a Spanish conqueror of the Americas who attempted to get rich while serving God and the King. • Hernan Cortes: Heard rumor of a wealthy empire in Mexico. In 1519 he took 600 soldiers and 16 horses there in search of gold. • Upon hearing of the Spaniards’ arrival, Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor, welcomed the strangers. The Aztec had predicted that a powerful white skin god would come from the east to rule Tenochtitlan.

3. Cortez • Cortez cleverly formed alliances with the enemies and slaves of the Aztec. • As time went on the Aztec saw Cortez for what he really was and kicked him out of the city. • However, Cortez and his allies conquered and destroyed Tenochtitlan and killed Moctezuma. • The Aztec empire had fallen.

4. Pizarro • Francisco Pizarro set his sights on the Incan Empire in Peru. • He captured the Incan emperor Atahualpa in 1532 and executed him. • Without their Emperor, the Inca system collapsed and Pizarro claimed much of the empire.

5. How were the Spanish able to Conquer Empires? • Despite their small numbers the Spanish Conquistadors had several advantages: • First, they had guns and steel armor. • They also had horses, which scared the natives. • The Aztec and Inca feared fighting them because they thought the Spanish were Gods. • The empires were already weak from fighting within the empire. • Many Indians were dying from European diseases.

6. Exploring the Spanish Borderlands • The Spanish quest for treasure reached beyond the lands of the Aztecs and Incas. • Spain claimed the country further north as well. • This land, stretching from Florida to California, was called the borderlands. • Juan Ponce de Leon traveled across Florida in 1513 searching for the fountain of youth, but never found it.

7. Exploring the Spanish Borderlands • An expedition led by Narvaez crashed in a storm in 1528 near Texas. • The survivors, including Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, were enslaved by Indians but escaped five years later. • They walked over 1,000 miles along the borderlands until finally coming to a Spanish settlement three years later.

8. Exploring the Spanish Borderlands • Hernando De Soto explored Florida in search of gold, eventually reaching the Mississippi River, where he died in 1542. • Francisco Coronado led an expedition through the southwest in the 1540’s in search of the 7 Cities of Gold. • He made it all the way to the Grand Canyon but found no gold.

9. Settling New Spain • The Conquistadors were poor rulers. The King of Spain replaced them with a strong government in 1535. • Spanish land in America was divided into New Spain and Peru. • A code called the “Laws of the Indies” provided for three kinds of settlements in New Spain: pueblos, presidios and missions.

10. Settling New Spain • A pueblo, or town, was a center of farming and trade. The Spanish either built new pueblos or took control of existing Indian ones. • A presidio is a fort where soldiers lived. Inside its walls were stores, stables and food. Spanish soldiers protected the farmers who settled nearby. • A mission is a Catholic settlement run by priests. Indians were often forced to convert and work at the mission.

11. Society in New Spain • The Laws of the Indies set a strict social system, dividing people into four groups: • Peninsulares: At the top of society were people born in Spain. They held the most land, the best jobs and the most money. • Creoles: The next group down. These were people born in America to Spanish parents. Most were very well off. They just could not hold as good a job as a Peninsulare. • Mestizo: A person of mixed Spanish and Indian heritage. Most were of the middle class. • Indians: Law kept most Indians in poverty.

12. Harsh Life for Native Americans • Spanish settlers needed workers for their ranches, farms and mines. • To help them the government gave settlers encomiendas (land grants that included the right to demand labor or taxes from Native Americans. • The gold-hungry Spanish forced Native Americans to work in mines. Conditions were horrible and most died.

13. Bartolome de Las Casas • A priest, Las Casas witnessed the treatment of Indians in America and was horrified. • Las Casas journeyed back to Spain in the 1540’s and asked the King to protect the Indians. • The Crown did pass laws prohibiting the enslavement of Native Americans. • However, few officials enforced the new law.

14. The Atlantic Slave Trade • With Indian labor dying so quickly there was a severe work shortage. • Still wanting to protect Native Americans, de Las Casas suggested using Africans as slaves because they would not die from European diseases and were experienced farmers. • His advice was taken and African slavery became common in New Spain.

15. The Slave Trade Spreads • Demand for African Slaves spread everywhere in New Spain. • They were especially desired on sugar plantations in the Caribbean. Growing sugar required very much land and labor. • A plantation is a large estate farmed by many workers. • Between the 1500’s and 1800’s around 10 million African slaves were sent to the Americas, most of these to Brazil or the Caribbean.

16. Colonizing North America Chapter 3, Section 3

17. The Northwest Passage • Throughout the 1500’s Europeans wanted to find a northwest passage: a short waterway through North America to the riches of Asia. • England, France and the Netherlands all envied Spain’s new empire, and wanted colonies of their own. • In the 1530s Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River for France, hoping he may have found the passage. • In 1610 Henry Hudson searched the far north for the passage, but died in his search.

18. Rivalries Among European Nations • While European countries competed over the new world, religious differences increased rivalries between nations. • In 1517, a German monk named Marten Luther challenged the Catholic church, and caused a break in the religion. • He believed that people could only be saved by faith in God, not through good works.

19. The Protestant Reformation • Because Luther protested the church, his supporters were known as Protestants. • Protestantism spread, dividing Europe. • Even Protestants split into smaller groups. • Most European rulers supported established churches. Spanish and French rulers were Catholic, while English and Dutch rulers were Protestant

20. New France • Samuel Champlain founded the first two French settlements in America in 1605 and 1608: Port Royal and Quebec. • New France had no gold, its wealth lay in fishing, trapping and trading. • French colonists who lived in the woods were called coureurs de bois.

21. New France • The coureurs had good relations with the Native Americans because they did not try to conquer the Indians or take their land. • Catholic missionaries also traveled with fur traders, working to teach Native Americans about Christianity. • The French explored along the Mississippi and St. Lawrence Rivers, building forts as they went to protect their territory. They also imported African slaves to work plantations in Louisiana.

22. Government in New France • The French king, Louis XIV controlled the government directly, and people had little freedom. • Very few French people moved to New France, despite Louis’ efforts to populate the area. • Most of the French who moved there chose to be coureurs instead of farmers.

23. New Netherlands • The Dutch also hoped to profit in the new world, settling along the Hudson River. • In 1626 the Dutch bought Manhattan Island from local Indians for $26 worth of beads and named the settlement New Amsterdam. • The tiny port (now New York City) grew quickly and welcomed people of all kinds. • One witness said it was not odd to hear 18 different languages while walking the streets.

24. New Netherlands • The Dutch were great traders, building trading posts such as Albany. • The Dutch and French became rivals in the fur trade. Both sought alliances with Native Americans. • An alliance is an agreement between nations to aid and protect one another. The Dutch allied themselves with the Iroquois while the French allied with the Hurons.

25. New Netherlands Yaaaaa, Ik houd van koekjes! • The Dutch added to American culture; they introduced ice-skating and Santa Claus. The Dutch language also can be recognized in words like, “cookie.”

26. Impact on Native Americans • European colonization made a huge impact as many Indians died of disease. • Others were killed while helping in wars between Europeans. The fight over furs also led to over-trapping. • Missionaries converted many Native Americans and European trade goods like muskets and alcohol changed the way Indians lived. • Lastly, many Europeans forced Indians off their lands and onto the lands of other Indians, creating new conflicts.