Iberian Expansion
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
An Italian explorer and navigator from the republic Genoa
Completed four Spanish based voyages across the Atlantic sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain: Ferdinand and Isabella
First Voyage: (1492) to Cuba and returned to Palos, Spain in 1493
Also, he went to Hispaniola
Second Voyage: from Cadiz to Cuba and Hispaniola 1493-1496
Third Voyage: from San Lucar de Barrameda to Cuba and Hispaniola (1498-1500)
Fourth Voyage: from Cadiz to Hispaniola and San Lucar de Barrameda (1502-1504)
Text*: The Earthly Paradise
Narrative from the third voyage
Says how the holy scriptures record that the earth made an earthly paradise and planted it in the tree of life which springs like a fountain from 4 principal rivers of the world
The earth is a paradise purely accessible by water which made him the admiral of the ocean in history
Utopian vision: how Jesus’ the world could be
Using scriptures and narrative experience of his voyages to shape his utopian ideal that the earth is already a paradise you just have to know how to navigate
Hispaniola: Haiti and DR
Encomienda y Repartimiento were systems enforced by the Spinach crown that exploited native populations for tribute and labor enriching Spanish nobles and advancing global trade while oppressing natives and land (“different from slavery”)
Encomienda was an institution of medieval origin characterized by Mathew Restall and Kris Lane
Describing Encomienda as semi-feudal trusteeship of indigenous villagers to prominent settlers
Text*: LA in colonial times 2nd edition
Collapse of Taino population
By 1510 collapse irreversible
Direct consequence of the Spanish colonialist exploitation
“The indigenous population of Hispaniola before 1492 was 400-600k inhabitants, tragically by 1508 the indigenous population had been decimated and reduced to some 60k” - Frank Moya Pons in his research book: Historia de las Antillas 2. Historia de la Republica Dominica*
Indigenous Slave Labor
Rapid decimation of all indigenous populations
Spanish colonizers increasingly turned to the use of Amerindian slave labor
Spanish slavers raided the neighboring islands of the Bahamas, PR, Cuba, Jamaica to enslave natives from those locations between 1508-1513
Nearly 40k were trafficked from throughout Caribbean to Hispaniola
Transatlantic Slave Trade
The colonial administration started conceiving the use of black slaves in larger numbers and more broadly after the above shit bc Encomienda and repartimiento were so successful and they killed all the Tanios
From 1492-1600
in the region of Spanish America 75k slaves made and were participants in Atlantic slave trade
In Portuguese America 50k slaves made…
From 1601-1700
Spanish America: 292,500
Portuguese America: 560,000
British America: 263,700
French: 155,800
Dutch: 40,000
Danish:4,000
From 1701-1810
Spanish America: 578,600
Portuguese America: 1,891,400
British America: 1,749,300
French: 1,348,400
Dutch: 460,000
Danish: 24,000
From 1810-1870
Spanish America: 606,000
Portuguese America: 1,145,400
British America: 51,000
French: 96,000
Dutch: 0
Danish: 0
Total:
Spanish America: 1,552,100
Portuguese America: 3,646,800
British America: 2,064,000
French: 1.6m
Dutch: 500k
Danish: 28k
Francisco de Vitoria* (1483-1546)
Spanish RC philosopher, theologian, jurist of ren Spain
Founder of Salamanca: intellectual movement between 16-17c in Iberian Peninsula about scholastic theologians rooted in pedagogical work
Catholic conception of things
This movement laid the groundwork for free market economics and individual rights
A lot of work on natural law and the freedom of exchange
Noted for his concept of a just war and international law
Influential in colonial development and also furthering intellectual rights and the property of the native people. All of his work went to educating those being colonized so they could fight for their right to individual freedom and property
Hernan Cortes* (1485-1547)
Led a campaign against the Aztecs that ultimately led to their conquest as a people
Allied with another native people the Tlaxcala to exploit the cleavages in the Aztec people
Mainly known for being a conquistador in LA
Wrote Letters from Mexico*
Describing his conquests and the “heathen people” and how they practice a pagan religion and how they are unreformed and ungovernmented and “singular in thought”