Colonialism

 Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

• Split the Western Hemisphere 

• The Eastern part was for the Portuguese 

• The Western part was for the Spanish 

• Underestimated South America and North America 

  • Didn’t realize that they were way bigger than they realized 

• The Spanish were winners because of the size of the land mass. 

 Spanish Conquest

 Aztecs

• A major empire in Central Mexico 

• Advanced Urbanization and Technological

  • Example: Tenoctitlan 

    • They were very strong in terms of their empire 

 Hernan Cortes 

• He was a Spanish Conquistador 

  • Local animosity towards the Aztecs 

• Was given a charter to explore Mexico 

• biggest group was the Tlaxcala, who taxed people 

• Made a Spanish and Native coalition  

 Montezuma II 

• Aztec leader 

• Meets with Cortes 

 How did the Spanish conquer?

• Cortes imprisons Montezuma II 

• Cortés leaves him to help with the Spaniards

Massacre at the Great Temple (1520) 

• The Aztecs were going to have a religious festival 

• The Nobles came too to celebrate some of their gods  

• The Spanish think the Aztecs are going to celebrate the human sacrifice 

  • Bc of that, the Aztec nobles were massacred by the Spanish 

  • The Spanish have to retreat 

    • Somewhat during this retreat, Montezuma is killed in the fight  

Spanish Reinforcements   

• The coalition attacks Tenochtitlan 

• The city got destroyed 

• Cortés appointed the first governor of New Spain 

 Spread of Disease

• 30 years: 70% of the native population died 

• 50 years: 10% of the pre-Columbus indigenous population were still alive 

• Impacted the Spanish allies 

  • Helped establish the New Spain 

 Colonial Wealth 

• Endless amounts of gold and silver mines 

• Cattle Ranching 

• Sugar Cultivation

  • Europeans loved sugar 

  • From India 

 Encomienda 

• Land entrusted to Spanish Representatives 

• Owned by the indigenous populations 

  • Exploited for elite gain 

  • Created a need for forced labor  

 The Example of Barbados 

Conquering

• Small island in the Caribbean 

• It was a native population 

• Originally a Spanish colony 

  • By the early 1600s: English colony 

 Indentured Servants

• Someone who agrees to work for a specified period in exchange for passage to a new country or to pay off a debt

• Free Europeans repaying Transatlantic crossing (free laborer) 

 Sugar Cultivation 

• Large plantations

• Demand started to go up 

• Forests cut down 

• Rivers polluted 

• Soil erosion 

Why was sugar cultivated?

• Was the significance of labor needs 

  • Indentured servants were not effective 

 Triangle Trade

 Locations of Trade 

• Trade from Europe to Africa to the Americas 

 Examples of products traded

Old World to New World 

• Wheat

• Banners

• Horses: Huge Part  

New World to Old World 

• Corn 

• Potatoes: grew very well 

• Tobacco 

 Immigration

• 1500-1700: 1.5 million European immigrants 

• Urban and military centers 

• Expensive and dangerous 

  • People were scared to go on ships because they thought they would sink and die 

  • If you had gone to the New World, you would have been attacked 

 African Slavery

Labor Shortages 

• Due to labor shortages (causes)

  • Diseases 

  • War in Europe 

  • Little immigration

  European Markets

  • Demand for sugar 

   Impact of the Triangle Trade

  • From Europe, send to Africa are  

    • Goods 

    • Guns: help the war in the tribe  

    • Rum to Africa 

    • African slaves to Americans 

    • Slaves would be sold at auction for molasses to Europe 

  Growth of European Private Industry 

   Financiers

  • Private banks are continuing to grow

  • Lots of banks are also failing miserably, and there is turmoil

  • Trial and Error time

   Joint-Stock Companies 

  • COMPANIES BEGAN TO GROW AND NEVER BE ABLE TO RECOVER 

  • COMPANIES WOULD BUY STOCKS (which meant buying into the company) 

   Insurance

  • Policies taken out of voyages, in order to reduce the risk 

    • The risk is losing all of your money  

   Mercantilism’s Impact

  • Economic Theory that resources are limited, so they expand their amount of resources at the expense of other nations

  • Used by absolutist monarchs

    • Absolutists want their country to expand at the expense of another nation

    • Expand trades/marketplaces in order to grow another nation, and reduce their chance of shrinking

    • Expand resources, but comes at the expense of another nation/resources 

   Absolutism’s Impact

  • Monarchy: one sole ruler 

   The Human Cost: The Middle Passage 

  • Between West Africa and the New World 

  • 1540: Portuguese slaves to Brazil 

  • Vasco de Gama and Henry been moving around the slaves along the Atlantic 

   Details of the slave trade from Africa to the Americas

   Slave capturing

  • Many slaves were captured in the inner parts of Africa

   Slave Ports

  • sold to Western merchants for guns and other types of goods at Slave Ports

  Trip across the Atlantic

  • 6-month walk was very difficult 

  • 6-10 journey 

  • Shackled and no sanitation 

   Slave Markets in the Americas 

  • People were traded there once they got there for goods and cash, and were loaded on ships  

   Mortality Rate

  • 100 slaves were captured and marched for 6 months to Africa 

  • 36 died on the march to the coast 

  • 12 died in prison, waiting to be sold 

  • Another six died on the journey 

   Approximate Statistics of gross numbers of slaves 

  • 60% of them died 

  • Total gross rate: 11,000,000

  • Brazil was the last country to outlaw slavery 

   First Maroon War (1660-1739) 

  • 1660-1739: First Maroon War in Jamaica 

    • Fight back against the British 

    • Resulted in Europeans creating laws to stop it from happening 

    • Western nations 

      • French Black Code 

      • African slaves were not able to congregate

• David Hume (1711-76)

  • Scottish Intellectual

  • He was an Empiricist

    • Wanted to use the data he can see, touch, and feel 

    • Argued that human passions govern behavior (good and bad) 

    • Reinsert emotion back into the Enlightenment