New Worlds: The Americas and Oceania

Chapter 24

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Intro: Colliding Worlds

European advantages: technology, divisions among indigenous peoples, epidemic diseases Spanish conquer Aztec and Inca Empires Portugal’s sugar plantations in Brazil French, English, and Dutch settler colonies

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The Spanish Caribbean

Taino: manioc farmers, small villages with chiefs, met Columbus (trade, little resistance) Spanish arrival: Hispaniola (Santo Domingo) as base, nothing to trade , wanted gold – Encomienda system: gold mines – Small pox ravaged Taino population By mid-1500s, focus shifted to Mexico and Peru for silver English pirates, then (1640s), French, English, Dutch plantations (enslaved Africans)

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The Conquest of Mexico and Peru

Early 1500s: conquistadors in Mexico, then Central and South America 1519-21: Cortes defeated Aztecs (invasion, then siege of Tenochtitlan) 1532-33: Pizarro defeated Incas Advantages: weapons and horses, support of imperial enemies, epidemic disease Looted, gave land and labor rights to their men

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Iberian Empires in the Americas

By 1570: formal Spanish rule (bureaucrats) Mexico City, New Spain (Mexico) and Lima, New Castile (Peru) – Each had a viceroy responsible to the king (little control) and audiencias to keep them in check – Difficult to govern without communication and transportation systems -> local areas governed by audiencias or town councils New cities: as migrants increased, bureaucracy and territory increased

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Iberian Empires (cont.)

Portuguese Brazil: 1494 – Treaty of Tordesillas (divided Atlantic between Spain and Portugal) – Early, land grants to nobles to develop and colonize -> sugar plantations – Later, governor to oversee and implement royal policy Iberian Empires: European-style cities, indigenous lifeways persisted in rural areas – Spain and Portugal: focus on exploitation and administration (not settlement and colonization – but there were many migrants)

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Settler Colonies in North America

1500s: Spain sought opportunities in north (towns, forts, missions) Mid-1500s: Dutch, French, and English in mid-Atlantic (fish and NW passage) Early 1600s: colonies (difficult life), funded by private investors, subject to royal authority, governed by local assemblies – Natives didn’t “own” land, so they cleared it and used it (legitimized with treaties, and progress) – Some clashes with natives; pop decreased due to diseases and conflict

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Intro: Colonial Societies in the Americas

Relations between Natives, Europeans, and Africans -> mixed societies and ethnic groups But, Europeans dominated political and economic affairs (mining, cash crop farming, trapping)

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Formation of Multicultural Societies

Lots of mixing between European men and native women -> mestizo population – – Europeans + Africans = mulattoes Natives + Africans = zambas (Brazil = more diverse than Spanish areas) Social Hierarchy: Euro. migrants = peninsulares, American-born = criollos, mestizos, mulattoes and zambas, slaves Sexual hierarchy: men dominated women, but depended on ratio of men to women, local economy, life stage, race and class

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North American Societies

French and English colonies: more women (-> less ethnic mixing) – But, French men sometimes mixed with native women around trading posts – Very little in English colonies (due to racism); did not accept or acknowledge people of mixed parentage

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Mining and Agriculture in the Spanish Empire

Silver : – northern Mexico (Zacatecas): used indigenous, voluntary labor – Central Andes (Potosi): voluntary labor and mita (each native village had to send 1/7 of male pop. To work for 4 months in the mines) – low wages, bad conditions Supported Spanish American economy and stimulated global economy (European markets, traded to Asia for luxury goods, Manila galleons)

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The Hacienda

Site of agriculture and craft production in New Spain Labor: first – encomienda, after 1550s – less labor, more tribute required , later – debt peonage Resistance: rebellion, feet-dragging, retreat

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Sugar and Slavery in Portuguese Brazil

Portugal focused on sugar production and export Instead of indigenous labor (resisted/retreated/ died), 1530s - enslaved Africans Poor conditions -> high disease and mortality rate > constant demand Sugar requires lots of work to make (agri/indust)

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Fur Traders in N. America

Fur was very lucrative – high demand in Europe Made way into interior and set up trading posts (natives trapped, Europeans traded wool blankets, iron pots, guns, alcohol) Competition, demand, declining beaver pop. -> conflict (between native groups and between Europeans )

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Settlers in North America

Bigger threat to native lifeways – displaced populations, took hunting grounds Cash crops (tobacco; later – rice, indigo, cotton) plantations – Labor: at first - indentured servants from Europe, early 1600s – African indentured servants, late 1600s – slaves (esp. in South, but the north was involved in slave trade)

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Christianity and Native Religions in the Americas

Spanish missionaries – : Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits represented the crown Tried to convert: learned languages, history, etc.

– Some resistance, but many converted, but incorporated their own interests and needs – In Mexico, Virgin of Guadalupe became popular national symbol French and English missionaries: difficult (nomadic) and English Prot weren’t really interested (French Cath – some success)

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Intro: Europeans in the Pacific

Later than in Americas, but similar transformations (esp. epidemic disease) – 16 th -18 th centuries: exploration – Late 18 th century: permanent settlements – 19 th -20 th centuries: intense interaction

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Australia and the Larger World

Early 1600s: Dutch VOC authorized exploration but found nothing of interest Mid-1600s: scouted coasts -> New Holland – Brief landfalls and encounters with locals 1770: Cook visited and determined Botany Bay was suitable for settlement 1778: British penal colony at Sydney, plus free settlers; little contact with aboriginal people

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The Pacific Islands and the Larger World

Mostly, no big changes until 19 centuries: limited visiting and trading (French – Tahiti, English – Cook in Hawaii) th and 20 th Exceptions: Guam and Mariana Islands – Marianas: 1521, Magellan and 1565, Manila galleons > contact, brief visits – Guam: 16 th century, galleons took on provisions and traded with Chamorro ; 1670s-80s, Spain consolidated power, under viceroy of New Spain; 1700, Spanish garrisons and relocation of natives