European Empires in the Americas

Western Europe's empires were unique among early modern empires in that the conquered lands were located across an ocean rather than contiguous to the imperial heartland. Following Columbus's groundbreaking expeditions, the Spanish concentrated their empire-building efforts in the Caribbean, before turning to the mainland in the early sixteenth century, with impressive conquests of the people.

The European Advantage

The origins of Europe's American empires may be traced back to geography. Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and France, all on Europe's Atlantic fringe, were simply closer to the Americas than any prospective Asian competitors. Furthermore, the Atlantic's fixed winds blew consistently in the same direction.
Europeans, on the other hand, were intensely motivated to do so. After about 1200, European elites became increasingly conscious of their region's marginal status in the vast world of Eurasian commerce, and they were anxious to obtain access to it.
The determined European invaders were aided by divisions within and between indigenous civilizations. Various Aztec subject peoples, for example, despised Mexica dominance and eagerly aided Hernán Cortés in the Spanish invasion of that kingdom.

Territories

The Columbian Exchange

The Great Dying and the consequences of the Little Ice Age reduced the population of the Americas dramatically, creating an acute labor shortage that undoubtedly made way for immigrants, both colonial Europeans, and enslaved Africans.
Food crops from the United States, such as maize, potatoes, and cassava, expanded rapidly throughout the Eastern Hemisphere, providing the nutritional foundation for the massive population boom that became a hallmark of the modern period worldwide.
The long-term advantages of the Atlantic network were distributed inequitably. Western Europeans were unquestionably the most powerful actors in the Atlantic realm, and their civilizations received the most benefits. Mountains of new material surged into Europe, upending traditional worldviews and leading to the Scientific Revolution, a revolutionary new way of thinking.

Comparing Colonial Societies in the Americas

The Europeans met another "old world" across the Atlantic, but their actions undoubtedly created a "new world" in the Americas. Their colonial empires, whether Spanish, Portuguese, British, or French, did not just seize and control existing cultures; they created whole new societies as a result of the annihilation of Native American people and the influx of Europeans.
But there were differences as well as commonalities across the vast colonial globe of the Western Hemisphere. Some distinctions arose from the colonial power's society, such as the contrast between a semi-feudal and Catholic Spain and a more quickly developing Protestant England.
Furthermore, colonial interference was typically experienced differently by men and women. In addition to the shared hardships of violent conquest, pandemic illness, and forced labor, Native American and enslaved African women had to deal with the extra obligations placed on them as women.
Many Spanish males married prominent local women soon after the conquest. It had been a long-standing habit in Amerindian communities, and both Spanish and indigenous male leaders promoted it as a way of solidifying their new connection. Some of the ladies engaged benefited from it as well.

Colonies of Sugar

In the Portuguese-ruled lowlands of Brazil, as well as the Spanish, British, French, and Dutch colonies in the Caribbean, a new and quite distinct form of colonial civilization arose.
Arabs were the first to introduce sugar manufacturing on a large scale to the Mediterranean. The method was mastered by Europeans, who subsequently spread it to their Atlantic island holdings and ultimately to the Americas.
Slaves were forced to work in deplorable circumstances on sugar farms. Many tourists compared the heat and flames from the cauldrons, which transformed raw sugarcane into crystallized sugar, to images from Hell.
In Brazil, like in Spanish America, a significant degree of racial mixing occurred. Although cross-racial marriages accounted for only approximately 10% of all weddings in Brazil, the usage of concubines and informal liaisons among Indians, Africans, and Portuguese resulted in a large population of mixed-race people.

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Chapter 13 - Political Transformation

European Empires in the Americas

Western Europe's empires were unique among early modern empires in that the conquered lands were located across an ocean rather than contiguous to the imperial heartland. Following Columbus's groundbreaking expeditions, the Spanish concentrated their empire-building efforts in the Caribbean, before turning to the mainland in the early sixteenth century, with impressive conquests of the people.

The European Advantage

The origins of Europe's American empires may be traced back to geography. Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and France, all on Europe's Atlantic fringe, were simply closer to the Americas than any prospective Asian competitors. Furthermore, the Atlantic's fixed winds blew consistently in the same direction.
Europeans, on the other hand, were intensely motivated to do so. After about 1200, European elites became increasingly conscious of their region's marginal status in the vast world of Eurasian commerce, and they were anxious to obtain access to it.
The determined European invaders were aided by divisions within and between indigenous civilizations. Various Aztec subject peoples, for example, despised Mexica dominance and eagerly aided Hernán Cortés in the Spanish invasion of that kingdom.

Territories

The Columbian Exchange

The Great Dying and the consequences of the Little Ice Age reduced the population of the Americas dramatically, creating an acute labor shortage that undoubtedly made way for immigrants, both colonial Europeans, and enslaved Africans.
Food crops from the United States, such as maize, potatoes, and cassava, expanded rapidly throughout the Eastern Hemisphere, providing the nutritional foundation for the massive population boom that became a hallmark of the modern period worldwide.
The long-term advantages of the Atlantic network were distributed inequitably. Western Europeans were unquestionably the most powerful actors in the Atlantic realm, and their civilizations received the most benefits. Mountains of new material surged into Europe, upending traditional worldviews and leading to the Scientific Revolution, a revolutionary new way of thinking.

Comparing Colonial Societies in the Americas

The Europeans met another "old world" across the Atlantic, but their actions undoubtedly created a "new world" in the Americas. Their colonial empires, whether Spanish, Portuguese, British, or French, did not just seize and control existing cultures; they created whole new societies as a result of the annihilation of Native American people and the influx of Europeans.
But there were differences as well as commonalities across the vast colonial globe of the Western Hemisphere. Some distinctions arose from the colonial power's society, such as the contrast between a semi-feudal and Catholic Spain and a more quickly developing Protestant England.
Furthermore, colonial interference was typically experienced differently by men and women. In addition to the shared hardships of violent conquest, pandemic illness, and forced labor, Native American and enslaved African women had to deal with the extra obligations placed on them as women.
Many Spanish males married prominent local women soon after the conquest. It had been a long-standing habit in Amerindian communities, and both Spanish and indigenous male leaders promoted it as a way of solidifying their new connection. Some of the ladies engaged benefited from it as well.

Colonies of Sugar

In the Portuguese-ruled lowlands of Brazil, as well as the Spanish, British, French, and Dutch colonies in the Caribbean, a new and quite distinct form of colonial civilization arose.
Arabs were the first to introduce sugar manufacturing on a large scale to the Mediterranean. The method was mastered by Europeans, who subsequently spread it to their Atlantic island holdings and ultimately to the Americas.
Slaves were forced to work in deplorable circumstances on sugar farms. Many tourists compared the heat and flames from the cauldrons, which transformed raw sugarcane into crystallized sugar, to images from Hell.
In Brazil, like in Spanish America, a significant degree of racial mixing occurred. Although cross-racial marriages accounted for only approximately 10% of all weddings in Brazil, the usage of concubines and informal liaisons among Indians, Africans, and Portuguese resulted in a large population of mixed-race people.