APMWH Chapter 12

What was Doña Marina’s real name (in her language)? What was she later called?

Malintzin

La Malinche (traitor)

Where was Doña Marina born?

Central Mexico

What languages did Doña Marina speak?

Nahuatl (language of the Aztec Empire), Maya (learned during captivity in the Yucatan peninsula), and eventually, Spanish (from working with Hernan Cortes)

What happened during Doña Marina’s early life?

Her family sold her into slavery on the Mexican coast. She was later sent to the Yucatan peninsula, where she became fluent in Maya

When Cortés allied with a chieftain against the Aztecs, the chief presented Cortés with 12 women including Dona Marina

Why was Doña Marina important/helpful to Hernán Cortés’ group?

Some people in the group only spoke Maya or Nahuatl, and she was able to speak both. She was able to be a mediator of sorts and help Cortés and the people of the group communicate through a chain of languages (Cortés/group would speak Spanish, member of group knew Maya and would tell her, and then she would tell the other slaves in Nuhuatl. And back again)

What else did Marina provide for Cortés?

• Information

  • Learned of planned attacks against him and told him so he could prevent it

• Diplomatic services

  • Helped negotiate with emissaries

Why do people call Doña Marina “La Malinche”?

They say she was a “traitor” because she helped Spanish people

Why did other people in Mexico ally with Cortés?

Because they disliked Aztec imperial rule

What did Doña Marina’s children symbolize? Why?

An emergence of mestizo population in Mexico

Because she had children with Hernán Cortés (Spanish) as well as another Spanish captain. The mixed parentage that emerged at the time (indigenous and Spanish or other) led to different societal rankings/names of groups

What did Doña Marina contribute to during her life?

The reformation of Mexican society

What did European people bring to the Americas?

Technology and diseases

What did the Europeans try to do in the Americas?

Exploit divisions between indigenous peoples

What did Spanish conquerors do? How?

Toppled the Aztec and Inca empires

With the help of technology, disease, and ruthless political maneuvering

What did the Portuguese do in Brazil?

Establish sugar plantations

What did the French, English, and Dutch do in North America?

They displaced the indigenous peoples. They also established colonies and settlements under European rule

What were the Taíno people also known as?

The Arawaks

Why were the Taínos important?

They were the most prominent people in the Caribbean when the Spanish arrived

What did Taíno ancestors do?

They sailed in canoes around the area and established themselves/settled throughout the region

What was the Taíno way of life?

They were cultivators and lived in chief-ruled villages

How did the Taíno react to the Spanish? Why did that change?

At first, they were interested in Spanish goods (such as glass beads and metal tools). They received them warmly.

When they realized that the Spanish wanted more gold than they had, relations turned sour.

Where did Christopher Columbus and his followers establish the Spanish base of operations in the Caribbean?

Hispanola (modern-day Haiti and Dominican Republic)

What was the importance of Santo Domingo to the Spanish?

Spanish settlers established a fort there, and it became the city and capital of the Spanish Caribbean.

What did Christopher Columbus originally want? What changed?

At first, he wanted to establish trading posts and forts and trade with indigenous peoples

Eventually, he realized the indigenous peoples had no spices or silks for the European market. He realized that the Spanish needed to find some way to make a living if they wanted to stay.

What was the first job that the Spanish tried to do? Why did not work?

Gold mining

Because not enough people were willing to do heavy labor

How did the recruitment of labor happen?

Through encomienda, where Spanish settlers (encomederos) forced Taíno to work in the mines and fields.

How was the encomienda system supposed to work? How did it actually work?

The Taíno would work, and in return, the Spanish would look after their health and welfare, as well as encourage their conversion to Christianity.

It was like slavery. The Taíno were worked hard and punished severely.

What did forcing Taíno to do labor lead to?

• Rebellions from the Taíno, though they did not have the technology to beat the Spanish

• Enslavement and physical abuse led to a reduced Taíno population

The arrival of what disease led to demographic decline?

Smallpox

How did the Spanish replace laborers that died because of disease? What did this lead to?

Launched riding parties to kidnap and enslave more Taíno and indigenous peoples

This exposed more people to diseases which led to further population decline.

What did epidemics lead to?

• Demographic decline

• Reduced laborers

• Some entire indigenous societies (and they cultures with them) died off

What of the Taínos survived and was lost?

Some cultural elements survived, such as words like canoe, hurricane, hammock, and barbecue.

Society was destroyed and many people were killed

Why did the Caribbean become less important to the Spanish?

Because there was not plentiful gold there, and then they found silver in Mexico and Peru, where they shifted their focus.

What did English pirates do in the Caribbean? Why were they unsuccessful?

They waited there to intercept Spanish fleets with silver going to Spain.

That was not the center of production

Why did the French, English, and Dutch go to the Caribbean?

To make plantations. Because even though the Caribbean lacked metals, it had ideal conditions for cultivation of cash crops (like sugar and tobacco)

How did Europeans solve labor shortages due to diminished indigenous populations?

They forcibly important enslaved Africans

What became a prime cash crop of the Caribbean?

Tobacco

How did importation of enslaved people affect societal composition?

There was a small class of European landowners and lots of enslaved Africans

What did the Spanish hope to find when they shifted their interests to the American mainland?

Resources to exploit

Where did Spanish conquistadores move?

Into Mexico, Panama, and Peru

Who brought down the Aztec Empire in Mexico?

Hernán Cortés and his band of men

What helped Hernán Cortés overtake the Aztec Empire?

The spread of epidemic diseases

Who toppled the Inca Empire in Peru?

Francisco Pizarro and his followers

What did conquests lay the foundation for?

Colonial regimes that transformed the Americas

How were Mexico and Peru similar before the Spanish arrived?

• They were sites of agricultural societies, cities, and large states for centuries.

• They both fell into strong imperial states

• Neither could rely on support from all subjects

How did the Inca and Aztec empires not being able to rely on support from all their subjects tie in with the Spanish?

Spanish campaigns often rested on the support of indigenous allies who wanted to escape Inca or Aztec rule.

How did indigenous peoples who were against the Incas/Aztecs aid the Spanish?

• Allied with them

• Provided them troops, logistical support, and secure bases

What was a key feature of the Columbian Exchange? What started this particular exchange?

The spread of diseases from Eurasia to ingenious Americans

When indigenous Americans and Europeans met

Why were diseases from Eurasia so deadly in the Americas?

Because indigenous Americans had no immunity to the new European diseases

How did the conquest of Mexico begin?

With an expedition for gold on the American mainland

How did Cortés first attempt to take over the Aztec Empire? How did it go?

He left with his soldiers for Tenochtitlan (the Aztec capital). They seized the emperor, Motecuzoma II (who died in a skirmish between Spanish forces and Tenochtitlan’s residents)

Strong Aztec resistance drove the conquistadores out of the capital

Who emerged as the last Aztec emperor? How did Cortés overtake the empire?

Cuauhtémoc

Cortés built a fleet of ships and placed Tenochtitlan under siege. He starved the city into surrender. He tortured Cuauhtémoc for information on where Aztec gold and treasures were. The emperor withstood, but was executed

What helped during the conquest of the Aztec empire?

• Steel swords

• Cannons

• Muskets

• Horses

• Alliances with indigenous peoples who didn’t like Aztecs and provided logistical support and provided secure bases in friendly territory

• Epidemic disease

How was epidemic disease essential for the conquering of the Aztec empire?

Smallpox killed many of its inhabitants which sapped the strength of its defensive forces. The disease spread beyond the capital and further into Mexico, which killed so many that the Aztec society couldn’t function

Where did Francisco Pizarro lead his expedition?

From Central America to Peru

How was the timing of Francisco Pizarro’s arrival convenient in helping him take over Cuzco (the capital of the Inca empire)?

He arrived just after a dispute between Huascar and Atahualpa, two brothers within Inca ruling house. He exploited the differences between the two factions and took over capital, Cuzco

How did Francisco Pizarro trick the Inca ruling elites?

He invited them to a meeting under the pretense of a conference and killed all of them.

They spared Atahualpa until he got gold for Pizarro, but then killed him after.

How did Francisco Pizarro and his group get the gold they sought?

They looted gold and silver from temples and buildings. They melted statues made of previous metals and stole jewelry and ornaments from the deceased Inca rulers

What aided in the toppling of the Inca empire?

• Subjects despised Incas, allied with the Spanish

• Epidemic disease weakened Andean populations

What did both Cortés and Pizarro do with gained labor rights and land?

They allocated them to troops of their own authority

What did the Spanish monarchy do with their rule after they toppled the Inca empire?

• Extended their control over the growing American empire.

• Replaced the semiprivate regime of conquistadores with formal rule under the Spanish crown

• Bureaucrats implemented royal policy and administered justice

Who did not welcome the arrival of bureaucrats in the recently conquered (by Spain) Americas? How did the bureaucrats get their way anyway?

Conquistadores who previously had power

They had the aid of Spanish lawyers, tax collectors, and military forces

What were the two main centers of Spanish authority in the Americas? How were they governed?

Mexico (New Spain) and Peru (New Castile)

Each governed by a viceroy loyal to the king of Spain

Where did the Spanish build a capital in the Americas?

The previous site of Tenochtitlan, under the new name of Mexico City

Where did the Spanish in Peru hope to rule from? Why didn’t they? Where did they go instead and why?

Cuzco

They found the high altitude in the Andean mountains and the location there unpleasant and inaccessible.

They moved the government and founded Lima. They chose it for its location on the coast, which made it accessible to Spanish shipping

Why did viceroys wield considerable power? How did the kings keep them from becoming too powerful?

Because viceroy’s were the king’s representatives there.

To keep them from building power bases and becoming independent, kings subjected them to the review of their courts (audiencias) staffed by lawyers.

What were audiencias? What did they do?

A court that was staffed by lawyers, ordered by the king to make sure the viceroys stayed in line. They heard appeals against the viceroy’s decisions and policies and could bring concerns to the king. They conducted reviews of the viceroy’s performances at the end of their terms. If the reviews were negative, it could lead to punishment.

What did transportation and communication difficulties in the Americas do? What did this lead to?

They limited the ability of viceroys to supervise their territories

In many regions, local administration fell to audiencias and town councils.

________ __________ exercised less influence on American affairs than ________.

Spanish monarchy; viceroys

How did viceroys get around doing orders they didn’t want to do? What allowed this?

When viceroys received orders they didn’t like they procrastinated since the king wouldn’t get word of it for a long time. They sometimes replied to the king and implied that with additional information, he would change his decision. This process would allow the viceroy to wait a long time before enforcing/doing something he didn’t want to do.

It often took years for the central government to respond to a query from Mexico or Peru, and with many replies, it could take an even longer time.

What did Spanish rule in the Americas lead to?

The rapid establishment of cities throughout viceroyalities

Where did colonists prefer to live?

In cities, even though they got income from agricultural production of their estates outside of the cities

What happened as the number of migrants increased?

They expanded the territory of Spanish imperial authority and built a network of bureaucratic control in new cities. The capitals and viceroyalties had far reaches and control

What was the Treaty of Tordesillas?

An agreement between Spain and Portugal that divided the world along a north-south line west of the Azores and Cape Verde. The treaty said that Spain could claim any land west of the line that was not under Christian rule, while Portugal was allowed to do the same for the eastern side of the line (which allowed them to settle in NE South America/Brazil)

The treaty disregarded indigenous claims to the lands

Who stopped in Brazil on his journey to India?

Pedro Avares de Cabral, a Portuguese mariner

Why was Pedro Alvares de Cabral relevant?

He was one of the first to arrive in and express interest in Brazil (he had more interest than his compatriots as well).

When did the Portuguese king decide to consolidate Portugal’s claim on Brazil?

When French and Dutch mariners began to visit its shores

How did the king of Portugal encourage the development of land in Brazil? How did he control this?

He made land grants to nobles so that they would colonize and develop the holdings.

He dispatched a governor to oversee affairs and implement royal policy

When did Portuguese interest in Brazil rise?

When entrepreneurs established sugar plantations on the coasts there (based on slave labor)

What were Spanish/Portuguese cities centers of? What made them this way?

They were centers of European-style society in America

They had churches, cathedrals, languages of the government, business, and society similar to European ones

How did indigenous ways in Brazil persist?

In places such as the Amazon basin and Paraguay, indigenous peoples produced little agricultural surplus and no mineral deposits that would attract European migrants.

The few European migrants who did move there adapted to the indigenous societies and customs.

What did the Spanish and Portuguese see the western hemisphere as?

Land to exploit and administer

What did the presence of permanent migrants contribute to?

A world characterized by meaningful encounters between peoples

Where did Spanish explorers also seek opportunities? What did they do and where did they do it?

North of Mexico and the Caribbean.

They established towns, forts, and missions along the east coast of North America. On the west coast, they ventured into modern Canada and established a fort on Vancouver Island

Mariners from where sailed to the north Atlantic? Why? What did they do?

French, English, and Dutch mariners

For fish and in search of the northwest passage to Asia

They dislodged Spanish colonists in Florida. They did not find the northwest passage, but they harvested lots of fish from northeast North America

Where did the French establish colonies/do stuff?

Nova Scotia and Quebec. Migrants settled in eastern Canada and explorers and traders scouted rivers and built forts all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico

Where did the English find and establish colonies?

Founded Jamestown and the Massachusetts Bay Colony

They established colonies along the east coast of the modern day US

Where did Dutch entrepreneurs build a settlement? What happened there? What was it renamed?

New Amsterdam

It was seized by an English fleet who took it into their control. They renamed it new York.

How did most settlers want to live? What did they rely on? What issues did that pose?

Most wanted to sustain their communities by producing commodities like fur, tar, lumber, etc instead of cultivating

They relied on provisions from Europe. When supply ships were late, they only avoided starvation because of food given to them by indigenous peoples

How were French and English colonies in North America different from Spanish and Portuguese territories?

• French/English were backed more by private investors (not royals like the Spanish/Portuguese)

• French/English individuals put money to finance expeditions and those people retained more control over the colonies’ affairs (different from what the Spanish and Portuguese had/did)

• English colones were subject to royal authority, but maintained its own assemblies and influenced the choice of royal governors (unlike the viceroys and audiencias of the Spanish)

After what war did Canada fall out of French control? Who gained control of it?

The Seven Years’ War

The British, who acquired institutions of self government

What did the Incas and Aztecs do that the French and English migrants did not?

They did not find large centralized states

How did the indigenous peoples of North America live?

They formed dozens of distinct societies and practiced agriculture, hunted, and were nomads. They did not claim ownership of precisely bounded territories, and regularly migrated between well-defined regions and used the land’s resources while doing it.

How did Europeans view forested lands not bearing crops or supporting villages? What did they do?

As empty and unclaimed. They claimed farms and excluded indigenous peoples who used the lands in their migrations.

What attracted European migrants to North America?

Availability of fertile farmland

How did Europeans try to justify claims to American lands? Why did they just take this land?

They brought legal structures like treasties and property deeds that suggested the land could be permanently transferred to individuals/groups.

Because they did not understand Native American way of life and had a different way of using and claiming land.

What was the Native American’s idea of using land productively? How did this differ from European views?

Keeping the hunting grounds healthy.

For Europeans, it was only productive if it was under cultivation

Why did French and English settlers clash with indigenous peoples?

Because the indigenous peoples resented the intrusions on their hunting grounds and means for survival

How were the conflicts between Native Americans and French/English settlers different from conflicts between conquistadores and Aztec/Inca rulers in Mexico/Peru?

English settlers negotiated rights to American lands by treatise and the natives did not accept that the land should be for only one owner.

The conquistadores wanted to conquer, while the English and French didn’t necessarily want to take over the indigenous people (at the time), just take their “unproductive” land

What did Native Americans do in response the English trying to take their lands?

The English tried to insist on exclusive use of land, and the Native Americans resisted by mounting raids on farms and villages

What was one example of a Native American raid/resistance? What happened?

In the Chesapeake region, they killed many English settlers. The English, in response, brought destruction of entire Native American towns and villages. Edward Waterhouse survived the raid, and he advocated for the annihilation of the indigenous population