Transcript Unit 2: Early Modern Europe

Exploration and Empires
EQ 2:
Which nations were involved, who were
the explorers, where did they explore,
and how did they deal with the native
peoples?
Spain Builds a New Empire
The Caribbean
 Encomienda System develops
 Planters given large amount of land & number of Indian slaves
 Attempts to Christianize Indians
 Disastrous results
 Overwork
 Infanticide
 Disease (smallpox)
Mexico
 Hernan Cortes (conquistador)
 Conquers the Aztec Empire in 1519
 Allies with other enemy tribes
 Advanced weaponry & armor
 Disease
 Fortune and timing
Spain’s New World Empire
Peru
 Francisco Pizarro conquered Inca Empire of the Andes

Atahualpa held for ransom, Incas come up with 2 rooms full of
silver & one of gold

Pizarro kills him in spite of ransom being met
Life in Spanish Empire
Government
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Run by Viceroy system – King’s representative in New World
Economy
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Mining (gold/silver)
Agriculture – enslaved Indians for labor
Portuguese in New World
Cabral’s voyage in 1520,
gave Portugal claim to
Brazil
 Followed Spanish
patterns of settlement
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
Large coastal plantations
Enslavement of natives
 Treaty of Tordesillas
(1494) divided world in
2 halves btwn Portugal
& Spain
Other Nations Get Involved
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France
Established empire in
Canada (New France)
Economy based on fur
Failed to attract many
colonists
Treated Indians much
more humanely than other
nations
Eventually extended
empire into America along
the Great Lakes & Miss.
River
Holland
 Only 1 major colony in
America  New
Netherland (NY)
 Purchased from
Wampanoags in 1626
 More interested in trade
colonies in Indian Ocean
(spices) & Caribbean
(sugar)
Other Nations (cont…)
England
 1607 – Jamestown (VA)
 Settled for gold/silver
 Lost 80% in 1st year but saved by dev. of tobacco
 1620 – Plymouth (MA)
 Settled for religious reasons by Pilgrims (Calvinists)
 English colonization characterized by:
 Colonists’ eagerness to settle (land was theirs)
 poor relations with Indians; resulting in years of conflict
French and Indian War, 1754-1763
 Cause = dispute btwn
French & British over
upper Ohio Valley
 Results =French lost
and forced to leave
North America (Treaty of
Paris, 1763)
 English controlled
everything from Atlantic
to Miss. River after 1763