First Contact

Lecture 1

• Foods that are native to North America

  • Corn

  • Squash

  • Potatoes

  • Tomatoes, though it is debatable

• Rice, cotton, and noodles were not native, but would go on to make money.

  • This shows how different things had traveled across the oceans

• The Atlantic World - Historical Framing that historians use to make sense of the “first contact” moment.

  • Good Atlantic History engages with info from the Americas, Africa, and Europe - anything touching the Atlantic ocean

  • These areas would begin to become highly involved with each other in the 17th and 18th centuries - why?

    • It was an era of exploration - people are traveling to the Americas and to Africa

    • Trading of goods - the people of Western Europe want to make a profit off the things they find in the other places. (Taking things from the New World to the Old World)

  • Slavery grows as the Atlantic trade increases

    • Slave labor is brought into north America to cultivate items for the European market

    • Scholars estimate around 2,000,000 Africans die on the Middle Passage trying to get to America

  • Notes About Slavery

    • Slavery changed over time

    • Enslavement was a status that ultimately became a racialized status.

    • The Institution radically changed as the New World trade started as it became more of a racial status, instead of a captive status

    • Attitudes changed from viewing slaves as property to it become a paternalistic system - the masters decide the decisions for a slave, not the slave themselves.

    • Slavery is still around today, one of the greatest operations being human trafficking

Lecture 2

• Around the 7th or 8th century, a lot of the fallen Roman Empire was under Islamic control.

• Spain is not unified at this time - you have the Kingdoms of Aragon and Castile

• By 1085, there were attempts by the Castillians to push the Moors (Islamic forces in power) out of the area. Ultimately, The Castilians were able to take over the kingdom but also merge with Aragon

  • By 1469, The moors were pushed further out of Spain thanks to the marriage of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon which led to a united Spain.

  • This led to all groups that were not Catholic Christians to be forced to convert.

    • For example, the Jewish Population was given the choice to either convert or the be expelled from Spain.

• Ultimately, the Reconquista was a violent time in Spanish history - however, the unification of Spain led to wealth among the country.

• In 1492, Isabella and Ferdinand sponsored the voyage of Christopher Columbus.

  • European nations wanted to extend potential markets, like the Crusades did with the spice trade in Europe.

  • People like Columbus wanted to get cheap access to these spices on a sea route, not having to travel along the dangerous Silk Road.

• Portugal has begun getting trade routes around to Africa thanks to Henry the Navigator.

Lecture 3

• Some groups came to the new world first:

  • China arrived in 1421 when they “ruled the sea”

  • Vikings had also come over (or at least gotten close)

• However, Christopher Columbus was who made it popular to travel to the new world.

  • Columbus was working for the Spanish to find an effective route to open new markets in Asia to get new leads in the spice trade (saffron, pepper, nutmeg, etc.)

  • He is attempting to get to India by going west through the ocean to find a fast, cheap route to get Spain a cheap and fast access to the spice trade

• Columbus instead ends up in the Bahamas, thinking he would end up in Japan.

  • He claims the area for Spain and is greeted with a hero’s welcome when he returns to the King and Queen’s court, where they make him become a viceroy - a governor of the area he had found.

  • He appoints his family members as smaller governors in the area, where he and his family would take advantage of the indigenous population - some he would enslave and take back into Spain.

    • He was very hard and violent towards the indigenous population, making them look for gold.

  • These captives he would send back to Spain and use for labor is the beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade. However, both rulers believe that taking these captives is immoral - there is now an issue to find a middle ground on taking these people.

    • They feel as though evangelizing these people excuses the captive status of these people.

    • One solution to the moral problem was to treat the captives as serfs (people tied to the land, essentially worked as slavery)

• As Spain begins to colonize parts of NA, the Portuguese begin to colonize parts of Africa and SA. These kingdoms that are allied with each other begin to start to have an international rivalry.

  • The solution to this was to have the pope decide where each empire could expand to - this became the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494).

    • (This is an agreement the countries make to divide the lands in which Columbus finds and the Portuguese find.)

  • The pope essentially cuts the world in half - He gives the left side (Mexico, La Florida, Central America, Nicaragua, Peru - left side of SA) to Spain and the right side (wealthiest part of Brazil and sections of Africa) to Portugal.

    • Brazil became so important in the 1500’s that Portugal agrees, despite the size.

  • The Spanish empire would begin to expand all the way down into South America.

• Why does the Spanish Empire continue to expand?

  • The Three G’s: God, Glory, and Gold

  • God: There is a notion to bring evangelism to those living in the New World who had not heard of it. Again - this was a way to excuse taking people captive for trade and work.

  • Glory: People want to make a living in the New World, such as people escaping old world feudalism.

    • Some Nations want to take land over to take the markets over on the land.

    • There is a rush to take captives from those already living in the area - you don’t have to pay them for work.

  • Gold: The empire wanted to become wealthy off the potential gold to be found on the continent - books promoted the adventure.

    • This would set power in the Spanish hands if they had more money to work with.

Lecture 4

• How did Spain make their captives appear in a more ethical light?

  • One thing that made the kingdom more okay with it is that it looked like serfdom. The captives from the new world operated like how they did since they were tied to the land.

  • The Spanish who were given the right to the land with these captives had a responsibility to convert these people to Christianity. If they did so, they would be able to work the land.

    • This essentially made this a slave system.

• Some objected to this still, namely Bartolome de la Casa, a Spanish priest and historian.

  • A missionary, he was sent over to evangelize the captives and spoke out against the exploitation of their labor. He called for immediate abolition of slavery there. He would write about the Indians during his time there in the Historiae de las Indias.

    • He would say that what the Spanish committed in the New world was “one of the most unpardonable offenses committed against God.”

• Two Case Studies of the continued Colonization and expansion of the Spanish Empire:

  • Colonization of Mexico:

    • Conquistador Cordoba has the first attempt to invade Mexico to destroy the tri-alliance of the Aztec’s (the dominant poltical force between the 13th and early 16th century.)

      • The Tri Alliance controlled the Yucatan peninsula, and had large wealth and ruled over large areas on the peninsula.

      • This alliance was ruled by Montezuma.

    • Eventually, Hernando Cortes was the ultimate conqueror of the Aztecs.

      • He would first assist the future Spanish governor around the Dominican Republic area in conquering those islands.

      • He would talk him into letting him explore inland Mexico. However, the Spanish governor realizes Cortez aims to take over Mexico. He launches his own expedition to capture Cortez while Cortez advances towards Montezuma.

      • Cortez was welcomed into the city, and Cortez would then take Montezuma hostage. He is ultimately killed during this hostage crisis, and the Aztecs rally to push Cortez out of the city. However, he would gain more forces and return.

        • One of the things that allowed him to overturn the Empire was the spread of smallpox, unknowingly spread by the Spanish to the Aztecs. Cortez then takes over the Aztec empire.

      • Spain becomes afraid of how much power Cortez gains from this capture.

      • Cortez spends the rest of his years attempting to explore central America, and Mexico City is built of the former Aztec capital.

  • Colonization of Pizarro in Peru:

    • Pizarro, another Conquistador, defeats the Incan empire, and makes a fortune with all the silver he captures. Peru then becomes under the control of the Spanish empire.

      • Peru does not receive it’s independence until the 19th century.

NOTE: The Colombian Exchange - This was the trade of everything, from agricultural goods, to germs, from the new world and the old world.