EARLY EXPLORATIONS
CHRISTOPH
ER
COLUMBUS
EXCHANGES DIVIDING
THE
Americas
SPANISH
EXPLORATI
ON AND
CONQUEST
Changing
economic,
political and
social
conditions
shapes the
ambitions of
Italian-born
Columbus
The contact
between
europeans
and the
original
inhabitants
resulted in
the
Columbian
exchange, a
transfer of
plants,
animals &
germs from
one side of
Atlantic to
the other.
Spain and
Portugal were
the first ones
to claim
territories in
the Americas.
Their claims
overlapped,
leading to
disputes.
Spanish
dominance
was more
than a papal
ruling and a
treaty.
He spent
eight years
seeking
financial
support for
his plan to
sail west from
Europe to
“Indies”
Europeans
learned about
new plants
and food
such as
beans, corn,
sweet and
white
potatoes,
tomatoes and
tobacco
The catholic
monarchs of
the two
countries
turned to the
pope in Rome
to resolve
their
differences.
Spain owed
its expanding
power to its
explorers and
conquistador
es.
In 1492, he
succeeded in
winning the
backing of
Isabella and
Ferdinand.
They also
contracted
new disease,
syphilis.
The pope
drew a
vertical,
north-south
line on a
world map. It
was called
the line of
demarcation
.
Such as
journey
across the
Isthmus of
Panama to
the pacific
ocean by
Vasco de
Balboa, the
circumnaviga
tion of the
world by the
Ferdinand
Magellan’s
ships, the
conquests of
the Aztecs in
Mexico by
Hernan
Cortes, and
the conquest
of the incas
in Peru by
Francisco
Pizzaro
secured
Spain’s initial
supremacy in
the Americas.
They agreed
to outfit three
ships and to
make
Columbus
governor,
admiral &
viceroy of all
the lands that
he would
claim for
Spain.
Americans
were
introduced to
sugarcane,
bluegrass,
pigs and
horses. As
well as the
wheel, and
iron
implements,
and guns.
The pope
granted
Spain all
lands to to
the west of
the line and
Portugal all
lands on the
east
They
increased the
gold supply
by more than
500 percent
by sending
ships loaded
with gold and
silver back to
Spain from
Mexico and
Peru, making
Spain the
richest and
most
powerful
nation in
Europe.
He sailed
from the
Canary
Islands on
sept 6 and
landed on an
island in the
Bahamas on
October 12.
Deadlier was
the import of
germs and
diseases
such as small
pox and
measles to
which the
natives had
no immunity.
In 1494,
Spain and
Portugal
moved the
pope’s line a
few degrees
to the west
and signed
an agreement
called the
treaty of
Tordesillas.
After seizing
the wealth of
the Indian
empires, the
Spanish
instituted an
economienda
system, with
the kind of
Spain giving
grants of land
and natives
to individual
spaniards.
Reaching
lands on the
other side of
the ocean
brought him
glory in Spain
but 3
subsequent
voyages
across the
Atlantic were
disappointing
because he
found little
gold, few
spices and no
simple path
to china and
Asia.
Millions died
including
entire tribal
communities
The line
passed
through what
is now
country of
Brazil.
The fruits of
these Indian
labors, who
had to farm &
work in the
mines, went
to their
Spanish
masters who
in turn had to
“care” for
them.
This treaty,
together with
Portuguese
explorations,
established
Portugal’s
claim to
Brazil.
As europeans
diseases and
brutalities
reduced the
native
population,
the Spanish
brought
enslaved
people from
west Africa
under the
asiento
system
COLUMBUS’
s LEGACY
Died in 1506,
believing that
he had found
a western
route to Asia.
Spaniards
suspected
that he had
found not a
valuable
trade route,
but a “New
World”
Columbus
erroneously
gave the
people he
encountered
the name
“Indians”
Land that he
had explored
was named
for someone
else, America
Vespucci,
another
Italian Sailor.
Modern
scholars have
recognized
his great
skills as a
navigator and
his
commitment
in going forth
where
nobody had
ever dared to
venture.
Columbus’s
voyages
brought
permanent
interaction
between
people from
all over the
globe, first
time in
history.
He changed
the world
forever.
Spain
claimed the
rest of the
americas.
However,
other
European
countries
soon
challenged
these claims.
This required
the Spanish
to pay a tax
to their king
on each slave
they
imported to
the americas.
