Chapter 12: Integration of Americas and Oceania with The Wider World

Colliding worlds

The meeting and interaction of European explorers and indigenous peoples in the Americas and the Pacific.

The Spanish Caribbean

The early area of Spanish colonization where the Taino people lived under chiefs.

Taino

Indigenous people of the Caribbean who lived in small villages and initially offered little resistance to Europeans.

Columbus built the fort of Santo Domingo

Established as the capital of the Spanish Caribbean.

Taino conscripted to mine gold

Forced labor of the Taino for Spanish economic interests.

Encomiendas

Land grants to Spanish settlers that included control over the local population.

Brutal abuses and smallpox

Led to the decline of the Taino population.

The conquest of Mexico and Peru

Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires by Cortés and Pizarro.

Hernán Cortés

Conquered the Aztec Empire (1519–1521) with a small force and local allies.

Smallpox epidemic

Devastated indigenous populations and aided Spanish conquests.

Francisco Pizarro

Conquered the Inca Empire (1532–1533) using similar tactics.

By 1540 Spanish forces controlled the Inca Empire

The Spanish established dominance over South America.

Iberian empires in the Americas

Spanish and Portuguese colonial systems formalized by the 16th century.

Viceroys

Representatives of the Spanish king who governed colonies like Mexico and Peru.

Audiencias

Courts established to oversee viceroys and prevent misuse of power.

Portuguese Brazil

Granted to Portugal by the Treaty of Tordesillas and developed sugar plantations.

Colonial American society

A blend of European and indigenous cultures

Settler colonies in North America

Established by France

Private investors in North American colonies

Funded colonies with little initial royal support.

Relations with indigenous peoples

Marked by land seizures

The formation of multicultural societies

Interactions in Spanish and Portuguese colonies led to mestizo societies.

Mestizo

Children of Spanish/Portuguese men and indigenous women.

Social hierarchy in Iberian colonies

Whites (peninsulares and criollos) at the top

North American societies

More gender balance among settlers and less intermarriage with indigenous peoples.

Mining and agriculture in the Spanish empire

Silver mining and large estates (haciendas) formed the economic base.

Zacatecas and Potosí

Major silver mining sites in Mexico and Peru.

The quinto

A tax of one-fifth of silver production for the Spanish crown.

Repartimiento system

Replaced the encomienda system with a labor system using free laborers.

Sugar and slavery in Portuguese Brazil

Brazil’s economy centered on sugar production with heavy reliance on African slaves.

Engenho

Sugar mills that combined agricultural and industrial processes.

High slave mortality

A constant demand for slaves due to harsh conditions in sugar production.

Fur traders and settlers in North America

Fur trade drove economic and environmental changes

Cultivation of cash crops

Crops like tobacco and cotton replaced fur trade as the main economic activity.

Indentured labor

Prevalent in North America before being replaced by African slave labor.

Christianity and native religions in the Americas

Spanish missionaries spread Catholicism while indigenous religions persisted.

Virgin of Guadalupe

Became a national symbol blending Catholic and indigenous traditions.

French and English missions

Had limited success in converting indigenous populations in North America.

Europeans in the Pacific

European exploration and colonization expanded to the Pacific Islands and Australia.

Australia

Explored by the Dutch and later settled by the British as a penal colony in 1788.

Pacific Islands

Contact with Europeans through trade

Chamorro population

Indigenous people of Guam who resisted Spanish colonization but were decimated by disease.