Columbian Exchange

• Exchange of people, livestock, food, and diseases

• There were social, cultural, and political changes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean

• The most impactful was the diseases introduced to the New World

  • These diseases will decimate the Native American population, 90% of them falling victim to these illnesses

  • They had no natural resistance

  • Diseases included influenza, measles, chicken pox, mumps, typhus, and smallpox

• Europeans introduce new food crops and domestic livestock

  • Sugar and bananas

  • Cattle, sheep, pigs, and horses

• Columbus took maize back to Spain on his first trip

• Later, other American foods were brought to the Old World

  • Squash, pumpkins, beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes

Gold, Glory, and Gold

• These three desires are typically what the Spanish and other European powers wanted out of America

  • It was, of course, more complex than this, and some countries differed

• The Spanish, having claimed the New World save for whats the Portuguese had, tried to enslave Native Americans and find gold

  • Gold was the basis for European economies

• Hernando Cortes leads a military expedition of 600 men into Mexico

  • He had been a Spanish official for a long time with little success

  • Instead of finding gold, he was met with resistance from the Aztecs

• Francisco Pizarro conquers Peru from 1532-1538

  • His exploration reveals the wealth of the Inca

  • He opens a way to advance into South America

• Hernando de Soto also has a futile search for gold, silver, and jewels

  • Leads several expeditions through Florida

  • First European to cross the Mississippi

• Francisco Coronado

  • Traveled north from Mexico to midern-day New Mexico, also searching for wealth

  • Opened Southwest to Spanish settlement

Brutality and Greed

• Spanish settlers used brute force and avarice to motivate them

• This trend of brutality would repeat throughout the centuries

Lasting Effects of Warfare and Disease

• Conquistadores subjugated or even almost eradicated native populations through warfare and disease

• By the 1570s, Spanish laws called the ordinances of Discovery bammed the most brutal military conquests, but colonization continued

• Conquistadores got rich through taking gold and silver from mines over 300 years

• These riches made Spain the wealthiest and most powerful nation at the time

Spanish Agriculutral Economy

• Spanish settlers also aimed to create a profitable agricultural economy

• They established elements of European civilization in the Americas

• This permanently altered both the landscape and social structure

The Catholic Church and Their Missions

• The Church was another force of colonization

• Catholocism was the only religion allowed from Mexico south into new territories

• By the seventeenth century, their goal was to convert natives

• Presidios, military bases, were often near missions

• After the era of Conquistadores came to an end, preists and friars accompanies most colonizing adventures

• The gospel of the Catholic Church extended throughout the South and Central Americas

• The religion spread alongside the languages of Spanish and Portuguese

  • Today, these languages are still the most spoken in Mexico, Central America, and Southern America

A New Racial Heirarchy

• New settlers from the Spanish empire outnumbered European women ten to one

• Spanish immigrants had substantial sexual contact with native women

• Intermarriage became frequent and a new mixed race, mestizos, became common

Labor Systems Created by the Europeans

• Natives in the Spanish Empire were principal labor source

• Commercial, agricultural, and mining enterprises depended on native workers

• Natives were sold into slavery and later disappeared or died due to illness, diseases and war

  • Families were separated, cultures decimated, and many histories were forgotten due to this practice

Lasting Effects

• Spanish invaders killed, invaded, enslaved, and infected countless natives from California and Florida to Tierra del Fuego in South America

• The Spanish forced their culture, laws, religion, and language onto the native societies

• The Spanish invasions would eventually lead to the birth of new nations in the Caribbean, Central, and South America

• The SPanish intermarried and incorporated indigenous cultures into their own