Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain

• King Ferdinand (Aragon) + Queen Isabella (Castille)

• 1479 - Married and united Spain

• Drove out the Moors, who were Muslims who controlled Iberian Peninsula

• Sponsored Columbus on his New World explorations

• Capitalized on treasures in New World

Missions

• 1493

• Spanish colonization led to peaceful interactions with Native Americans

• In farming villages, the Spaniard converted Native Americans, built churches, and walls to shelter cooperative Native Americans

• Clergymen (Jesuits) wanted to educate Native Americans and assimilate them into the population

Jesuits

• Approved by Pope in 1540

• Scholarly Roman Catholicism was committed to education

• Founded by Ignatius Loyola

• Catholic Counter-Reformation

• Missionaries in Central/South America + Southwest

Encomiendas

• Granted by Spanish Crown to organize Native American labor

• Spaniards part of the program were entitled to salary + Native American labor

• Native Americans were used in mining + farming + ranching

• When disease + hardships decreased the Native American population, African slaves were imported to take their place

Pope’s Rebellion

• Pope (a Native American) encouraged resistance to Spanish rule

• 1680 - Organized attack in Rio Grande River Valley

• Were successful, but the Spanish returned again + re-subjugated the Native American tribes

Council of the Indies

• 1524 - Begins managing Spanish colonies

• Advisory body that answered to the Crown

• Collected records & information + controlled employees + oversaw clergy in Americas

• Was VERY EFFICIENT + maintained control for 300 years

• When it was removed in the 19th century, colonies weren’t used to autonomy + suffered

Viceroy

• 1535

• Governed divisions in New World

• Removed & rotated loyal men in power

• Head of civil gov’t + commander of military forces

• Other nations liked the model + adopted it for their own colonies

Columbian Exchange

• 1492

• Started by contact w/ Columbus

• Native Americans previously developed in complete isolation

• Exchanged animals, plants, precious metals, diseases

• Brought to New World - Food, draft animals, fruit trees, grains, olives, grapes, sugarcane, honey bees, new vegetables, coffee beans

• Brought to Old World - Potatoes, tomatoes, squash, pepper, maize, peanuts, vanilla beans, pineapples, new tobacco strains

• Positively impacted world economies

• Native Americans had no immunity to diseases, and many died from European contact

Bartolome de las Casas

• 1552 - Lobbied for better treatment of Native Americans in Spanish military campaigns + encomienda system

• Developed the 1st utopian community

• Reform efforts were unsuccessful

• Used writings to justify African slavery (helping Native Americans by using African Americans as slaves instead)

Junipero Serra

• 1749 - Arrived in North America

• Founded 9 missions in San Diego

• Continued harsh treatment of Native Americans

Protestant Reformation

• Born from widespread dissatisfaction w/ Roman Catholic Church

• Catholic Counter-Reformation

• Colonists went to America seeking freedom

• Protestants believed they had individual callings + Christian duties

Martin Luther

• 1517 - Wrote the 95 Theses and started the Protestant Reformation, defying the Roman Catholic Church

• Created a connection between Renaissance + Reformation

• Suffered from contradictory impulses (reform vs. liberty of conscience)

Denominations

• Different interpretations of Bible

• Different sects of Christians

• New denominations of Christianity

John Calvin

• Protestant

• 1536 - Published Institutes of the Christian Religion

• Believed in the sovereignty of God

• Founded Presbyterian + Congregational churches

• Was the mentor of John Knox

Henry VIII of England

• Tudor King of England

• When the Roman Catholic Church opposed his divorce to Catherine of Aragon, he severed ties to Rome

• Began English Reformation in 1534

• Edward + Mary + Elizabeth (his 3 children) on throne

• 1588 - Clash b/w England + Spain, defeated Spanish Armada

Jacques Cartier

• Worked w/ Giovanni de Verrazano of France

• 3 voyages

• 1534 - Sailed up St. Lawrence River + reported immensely rich region

• Reported large findings of fur

Northwest Passage

• Nonexistent route to Asia

• Sought after by powerful European nations

• Many explorers searched for it but couldn’t find it

• Many nations wanted to profit from a shorter route to trade w/ China + India

Samuel de Champlain

• Searched for Northwest Passage

• Explored St. Lawrence River + 2 of Great Lakes

• 1608 - Founded Quebec + Montreal settlements

• Allied w/ Huron against Iroquois

• Governor of Montreal

Coureurs de Bois

• “Runners of the woods”

• Fur-trappers

• Used river system of Appalachian Mts.

• Profited from fur trade w/ Native American tribes

Rene-Robert de la Salle

• Continued to explore Great Lakes

• 1682 - Proved Mississippi River flows into Gulf of Mexico + claimed it for France

• Claimed Louisiana

  • France was unable to maintain such a huge territory of land

New Amsterdam

• 1624 - Peter Minuit buys harbor on Manhattan Island, which was the beginning of the Dutch colony

• Fur traders + merchants + shipbuilders

• Colony of New Netherland

• Ethnically diverse

• Eventually became NYC

Patronships

• Aristocratic Dutch society

• If settlers brought 50 other settlers to New World, they were granted feudal estates in the Hudson River Valley

Peter Stuyvesant

• 1647 - Governor of New Netherland

• 1664 - England absorbed the Dutch colony, and New Amsterdam became an English colony

• Diverse colonial population

BIG PICTURE

• Spanish colonization + subjugated Native Americans and African slaves

• Mission system - Spread Roman Catholicism + control

• Exchanged culture + goods BUT diseases killed Native Americans

• Protestant Reformation - Great change in Europe + people came to New World for religious freedom

• France - Fur trade + competed w/ England

• Dutch - New Amsterdam + colonial diversity