Transcript Chapter 1, Section 2

Spain Builds an Empire
Chapter 3, Section 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Colonizing North America
Chapter 3, Section 3
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
New Netherlands
Yaaaaa, Ik houd van
koekjes!
• The Dutch added to American
culture; they introduced iceskating and Santa Claus. The
Dutch language also can be
recognized in words like,
“cookie.”
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 overtrapping.
• 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.