APUSH 1.4 Columbian Exchange, Spanish Exploration, and Conquest

Columbian Exchange

  • Exchange of people, livestock, food, and diseases
  • There were social, cultural, and political changes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean
  • The most impactful was the diseases introduced to the New World
    • These diseases will decimate the Native American population, 90% of them falling victim to these illnesses
    • They had no natural resistance
    • Diseases included influenza, measles, chicken pox, mumps, typhus, and smallpox
  • Europeans introduce new food crops and domestic livestock
    • Sugar and bananas
    • Cattle, sheep, pigs, and horses
  • Columbus took maize back to Spain on his first trip
  • Later, other American foods were brought to the Old World
    • Squash, pumpkins, beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes

Gold, Glory, and Gold

  • These three desires are typically what the Spanish and other European powers wanted out of America
    • It was, of course, more complex than this, and some countries differed
  • The Spanish, having claimed the New World save for whats the Portuguese had, tried to enslave Native Americans and find gold
    • Gold was the basis for European economies
  • Hernando Cortes leads a military expedition of 600 men into Mexico
    • He had been a Spanish official for a long time with little success
    • Instead of finding gold, he was met with resistance from the Aztecs
  • Francisco Pizarro conquers Peru from 1532-1538
    • His exploration reveals the wealth of the Inca
    • He opens a way to advance into South America
  • Hernando de Soto also has a futile search for gold, silver, and jewels
    • Leads several expeditions through Florida
    • First European to cross the Mississippi
  • Francisco Coronado
    • Traveled north from Mexico to midern-day New Mexico, also searching for wealth
    • Opened Southwest to Spanish settlement

Brutality and Greed

  • Spanish settlers used brute force and avarice to motivate them
  • This trend of brutality would repeat throughout the centuries
Lasting Effects of Warfare and Disease
  • Conquistadores subjugated or even almost eradicated native populations through warfare and disease
  • By the 1570s, Spanish laws called the ordinances of Discovery bammed the most brutal military conquests, but colonization continued
  • Conquistadores got rich through taking gold and silver from mines over 300 years
  • These riches made Spain the wealthiest and most powerful nation at the time
Spanish Agriculutral Economy
  • Spanish settlers also aimed to create a profitable agricultural economy
  • They established elements of European civilization in the Americas
  • This permanently altered both the landscape and social structure
The Catholic Church and Their Missions
  • The Church was another force of colonization
  • Catholocism was the only religion allowed from Mexico south into new territories
  • By the seventeenth century, their goal was to convert natives
  • Presidios, military bases, were often near missions
  • After the era of Conquistadores came to an end, preists and friars accompanies most colonizing adventures
  • The gospel of the Catholic Church extended throughout the South and Central Americas
  • The religion spread alongside the languages of Spanish and Portuguese
    • Today, these languages are still the most spoken in Mexico, Central America, and Southern America
A New Racial Heirarchy
  • New settlers from the Spanish empire outnumbered European women ten to one
  • Spanish immigrants had substantial sexual contact with native women
  • Intermarriage became frequent and a new mixed race, mestizos, became common
Labor Systems Created by the Europeans
  • Natives in the Spanish Empire were principal labor source
  • Commercial, agricultural, and mining enterprises depended on native workers
  • Natives were sold into slavery and later disappeared or died due to illness, diseases and war
    • Families were separated, cultures decimated, and many histories were forgotten due to this practice
Lasting Effects
  • Spanish invaders killed, invaded, enslaved, and infected countless natives from California and Florida to Tierra del Fuego in South America
  • The Spanish forced their culture, laws, religion, and language onto the native societies
  • The Spanish invasions would eventually lead to the birth of new nations in the Caribbean, Central, and South America
  • The SPanish intermarried and incorporated indigenous cultures into their own