Exploration and Colonization

Exploration and Conquest

• The speed of European exploration after Columbus's first voyage was remarkable.
• Johannes Gutenberg's printing press in the 1430s enabled the rapid spread of information in Europe.
• News of Columbus's achievement spread quickly, inspiring others to follow.
• Hernán Cortés encountered the Aztec empire in 1519.
• Tenochtitlán was the nerve center of the Aztec empire.
• The Aztecs dominated nearby peoples and practiced ritual sacrifice, alienating their neighbors.
• The Spanish viewed native inhabitants as barbarians.

Cortés's Conquest of the Aztecs

• Cortés conquered the Aztec city with a few hundred men.
• He relied on superior military technology like iron weapons and gunpowder.
• He enlisted the aid of the Aztecs' subject peoples.
• A smallpox epidemic devastated Aztec society and was his most powerful ally.
• Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca kingdom in modern-day Peru.
• Pizarro captured the Incan king, demanded a ransom, and then killed him.
• Treasure fleets carried gold and silver from Mexico and Peru to Spain.

The Spanish Empire

• By the mid-16th century, Spain had an immense empire across Europe, the Americas, and Asia.
• The Atlantic and Pacific oceans became highways for the exchange of goods and people.
• Spanish ships carried gold and silver from Mexico and Peru to Spain and Manila (Philippines), and then to China.
• The Spanish empire included the most populous and resource-rich parts of the New World.
• It stretched from the Andes Mountains through Mexico and the Caribbean to Florida and the southwestern United States.
• The Spanish empire exceeded the size of the Roman empire.
• Its center in North America was Mexico City, built on the ruins of Tenochtitlán.
• Mexico City had churches, hospitals, monasteries, government buildings, and the New World's first university.
• Spanish America was essentially an urban civilization, an "empire of towns."
• Cities like Mexico City, Quito, and Lima were far more significant than urban centers in North America and most of Europe.

Colonists in Spanish America

• Despite the decline in the native population, Spanish America remained populous.
• Large-scale importations of African slaves were unnecessary, except in the West Indies and a few cities.
• The Spanish forced tens of thousands of Indians to work in gold and silver mines (encomienda system) and on large-scale farms (haciendas).
• Indians performed most of the labor.
• The Spanish introduced livestock, wheat, and sugar, but the main agricultural crops remained corn, beans, and squash.
• The government barred non-Spaniards and non-Christian Spaniards from emigrating to its American domains.
• The opportunity for social advancement drew numerous colonists from Spain.
• 225,000 colonists in the 16th century and a total of 750,000 in three centuries.
• Initially, most were young, single men: laborers, craftsmen, and soldiers.
• Later, more families came.
• Many also came as government officials, priests, professionals, and minor aristocrats.
• Living without manual labor was a sign of noble status.
• Successful colonists enjoyed lives of luxury.

Colonists and Indians

• Persons of European birth (peninsulares) were at the top of the social hierarchy (Casta System).
• Indian inhabitants always outnumbered European colonists and their descendants.
• Large areas remained effectively under Indian control for many years.