Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest

US History Summary Historical Themes (HST 200) Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest Spanish Exploration Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal led his nation's exploration of the Atlantic and Africa in the 1400s. With his assistance, Portuguese seafarers were able to successfully travel an easterly path to Africa, gaining a footing that served as the cornerstone of their country's commercial empire in the 15 and sixteenth centuries. centuries. Portuguese seafarers colonized the Canary, Cape Verde, and Azores Islands, establishing an empire across the Atlantic. as the Madeira Island. These Atlantic outposts were subsequently used by traders as debarkation locations for later travels. Portugal expanded its empire from these important locations along the western coast of Africa to the Congo, the western coast of India, and ultimately the eastern coast of South America, where Brazil is located. Additionally, it set up trade operations in Japan and China. The Portuguese did not control a vast territory, but They had almost unmatched control over marine commerce channels because to their strategically located islands and coastal ports. and, in the 1400s, an international empire of commercial stations. Portuguese explorers who traveled to western Africa first encountered the already active African slave trade. between nations in Africa. Realizing the importance of this labor source for producing the lucrative sugar harvest on their Portuguese traders quickly started shipping Africans in slavery along with African gold and ivory from the Atlantic islands. The Atlantic slave trade was driven by sugar, and sugar plantations soon sprung up on the Portuguese islands. Additionally, the Portuguese trafficked these slaves, providing other countries with much-needed human resources. countries in Europe. Slavery expanded in the years that followed as a result of increased European discovery. Eventually, A large portion of the Atlantic World would develop into a massive network of sugar plantations, where Africans worked to create the very lucrative product for European customers. Spanish Conquest and Exploration The earliest European settlers in the Americas were Spanish, who started in the Caribbean and spread across Central and South America by 1600. A large number of Spaniards arrived in the Americas. pursuing rank and fortune. Among these Spanish explorers, Christopher Columbus is the most well-known. Despite being Italian, Francisco Pizarro and Hernán Cortés traveled for the Spanish kings. The history of Spain itself is the starting point for the history of Spanish exploration. Spain in the fifteenth century intended to outperform Portugal, a competitor. Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile's union in Catholic Spain was united in 1469, and work on creating a country that could compete on a global strength. A large portion of Spain had been ruled by Muslims since the 700s, and King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I, the staunchest opponents of Islam for the Catholic Church, they were committed to eliminating the Muslims in Granada, the Spain's last bastion of Islam. They finished the Reconquista in 1492, the centuries-long Christian conquering the Peninsula Iberian. The Reconquista represented yet another advancement in the process of creating With Spain now an imperial power, Ferdinand and Isabella were prepared to explore new horizons. Their objectives were to get an economic edge over Portugal and to spread Catholicism. To achieve such goals, Great exploration of the Atlantic was financed by Ferdinand and Isabella. The most renowned explorer from Spain, Christopher Actually hailing from Genoa, Italy, was Columbus. Using calculations based on the opinions of other seamen, he thought that travels, he was able to map out a westward path to India, which he might exploit to increase commerce between Europe and Christianity. He began approaching the rulers of Genoa, Venice, Portugal, England, and Spain in 1485. requesting money and ships to investigate this westward route. Everyone he appealed to, including Ferdinand and At first, Isabella rejected him; their marine specialists agreed that Columbus's calculations of the breadth of were far too low in the Atlantic Ocean. But after three years of pleadings and, more significantly, the After the Reconquista was over, Ferdinand and Isabella decided to support Columbus's journey in 1492. giving him the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina as vessels. The rulers of Spain were aware of this. Portuguese sailormen had traveled the Indian Ocean and arrived at the southernmost point of Africa. They recognized that The Portuguese would soon arrive in Asia, and the Spanish emperors would compete with them to reach the Far East. resolved to take action. Columbus's perceptions of the world were influenced by false beliefs that he carried with him on his journey west. He thought the world was much smaller than it really was, and because he was unaware of the He was completely expecting Americas to land in Asia. But on October 12, 1492, he arrived on an island in the Bahamas. He then traveled to what is now the Dominican Republic and Haiti, an island he dubbed Hispaniola. (Illustration 2.4). Thinking he had touched down in the East Indies, Columbus named the locals he encountered Taínos. "Indios," which gave birth to the word "Indian" for any New World aboriginal population. After Columbus arrived back in Spain, the Spanish monarchy granted him the title of Ocean Sea Admiral and appointed him as governor and viceroy of the new territories he had found. Columbus, a devout Catholic, had concurred with Ferdinand and Isabella knew before leaving for the west that a portion of the money he would likely make would go toward funding the oppose Islam. Columbus's 1493 letter claiming to have "discovered" a New World is known as the probanza de mérito, or "proof of merit." done lot to arouse curiosity throughout Europe. Spanish-written letters and reports were known as probanzas de méritos. intended to gain royal favor in the New World to the Spanish throne. These days, they draw attention to the challenging work of historical research; while the letters are first-hand accounts, historians must comprehend the background and the the civilization that the Spanish explorers, known as conquistadors, wrote about and distinguished their subjectivity and prejudice. Probabanzas de méritos are full of fabrications and distortions, yet are nevertheless helpful in demonstrating the explorers' expectations of affluence and their belief that local Peoples wouldn't really be a barrier to colonization. Two copies of a probanza de mérito were delivered by Columbus to the Spanish monarch, queen, and minister in 1493. Luis de Santángel, a financier. Santángel had aided Columbus in securing money for his expedition by Isabella and Ferdinand. Soon, copies of the letter were making their way around Europe, disseminating information about the Columbus would go on three additional expeditions during the following years, exploring the wonderful new region he had "discovered." constructing on the island of Hispaniola the first Spanish colony in the New World within ten years. Numerous more European explorers who were enticed to sail west in search of riches followed Columbus's lead. One more Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian navigator who was pursuing the Portuguese throne, discovered the South American coast between The years 1499 and 1502. In contrast to Columbus, he understood that the Americas were uncharted territory and not a part of Asia. People from Europe. Vespucci's extensively disseminated narratives of his expeditions stimulated conjecture and fervent curiosity among the Europeans' perception of the New World. One among the individuals who perused Vespucci's findings was Martin, a German mapmaker. Waldseemuller. Waldseemuller labeled the newly discovered continent with the explorer's first name. In 1507, he added "America" to his map of the New World, and the term stayed. The competition between Spain and Portugal intensified after Columbus' arrival in 1492, as the two nations fought for dominance by acquiring new territories. Pope Sixtus IV had given Portugal permission in the 1480s to entire territory south of the Cape Verde islands, prompting the Portuguese monarch to assert that the territories found by Columbus was not Spanish; he belonged to Portugal. In an effort to preserve the Spanish language of Columbus' discoveries, Pope Alexander VI, who was born in Spain, was consulted by the rulers of Spain and issued two papal decrees in 1493 that granted acceptance to Spain's claims in the Atlantic against Portugal. In an attempt to save Portugal's Atlantic King João II started talks with Spain over possessions. Following this, the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 formed a line across South America from north to south (Figure 2.5); Spain obtained territory west of the line, while Portugal gained area east of it. kept the territories east of the boundary, which included Brazil's east coast. With his discovery, Columbus unleashed a wave of Spanish exploration. Later Spanish explorers were unrelenting in their pursuit of land and wealth, driven by stories of rivers of gold and meek, accommodative aboriginal people. Juan Cortés Hernán wanted to get labor and tribute from the indigenous, a yearly salary, and inherited privileges for his family. pension in recognition of his royal service. When Cortés arrived in 1504, he participated in the conquest of Hispaniola. island. Later Cortés traveled the Yucatán Peninsula, hoping to gain his own glory and fortune. In He arrived at Tenochtitlan, the Aztec (Mexica) Empire's capital, in 1519. He was amazed, as were his soldiers, by the city's extraordinarily intricate causeways, gardens, and temples, but they were appalled by the a custom of human sacrifice that the Aztecs followed. Above all, the Aztecs' gold treasure intrigued the intrepid Spanish explorers. Cortés kidnapped Moctezuma, the emperor of the Aztecs, in an attempt to seize control of the city. Then, the Spanish killed hundreds of powerful Mexica during a celebration honoring the god of battle, Huitzilopochtli. This Tenochtitlan's citizens were enraged and rebelled against the outsiders who had invaded their city. Cortés departed with his people. for their lives, fleeing to safety on the coast via one of Tenochtitlan's causeways. After suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of the Aztecs, Cortés gradually forged alliances with indigenous groups that despised Aztec authority. Tens of thousands of local friends helped the Spanish defeat the Mexica at Tenochtitlan, which they achieved by besieging the city, a process that took about a year. Only by capitalizing on the division among the various The Spanish were successful in seizing Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. August of 1521 Cortés successfully incited civil conflict and repelled rival Spanish explorers, gaining possession of Tenochtitlan and renaming it Mexico City for Spain. The conventional European account of discovery portrays the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs as an illustration of how Europeans were superior to "savage Indians," yet the truth is far more intricate. Cortés discovered a land seething with war while venturing into central Mexico. Not at all Many Mexicans were prepared to revolt against Aztec authority since they were united and satisfied under it. One a specific tribe, the Tlaxcalan, joined the Spanish and contributed up to 200,000 warriors in the Tenochtitlan siege. Smallpox was also introduced by the Spanish to the Mexican valley. The illness required a severe toll on Tenochtitlan residents, contributing far more to the city's fall than did Spanish the power of weapons. Additionally, Malintzin, a Nahua lady also known as La Malinche or Doña Marina, assisted Cortés. Spanish name), which the Tabasco Indians presented to him as a gift. Malintzin served as Cortés' interpreter in his interactions with Moctezuma and, voluntarily or under duress, established a physical bond with him. Martín, their son, could have been the first mestizo (a person of mixed Native American and European ancestry). descent). In the history of the Atlantic World, Malintzin is still a contentious character; some see her as some see her as a traitor for aiding Cortés in his conquest of the Aztecs, while others regard her as a victim of European growth. Either way, she illustrates one reaction of the aboriginal peoples to the coming of the In Spanish. Cortés would not have been able to converse without her, and he would not have had the linguistic bridge. would have undoubtedly had less success in overthrowing the Aztec Empire. Through these and other channels, native The conquest of the Americas was shaped in part by humankind. Spain's avarice seemed to have no boundaries as teams of explorers looked for the next treasure immediate wealth. Francisco Pizarro was one such adventurer who traveled to the Spanish Caribbean in 1509, lured by the assurance of riches and status. Before heeding reports, he took part in successful excursions in Panama. of southern Inca riches. Pizarro's first attempts to overthrow the Inca Empire in the 1520s were unsuccessful, but seized Atahualpa, the Inca monarch, in 1532 and put him to death the next year. Pizarro created Lima in 1533. Peru. Similar to Cortés, Pizarro faced opposition from both the local inhabitants of the new territories he was capturing and rivals from inside his own nation; in 1541 he was slain by a rival from Spain. The desire of Spain to expand its kingdom encouraged other enthusiastic conquistadors to go further into the Americas in the hopes to duplicate Pizarro and Cortés' achievements. Hernando de Soto had assisted Pizarro in capturing the Inca, and he oversaw voyages to what is now the Southeast of the United States from 1539 to 1542 in search of gold. He traveled across what are now Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama, and Auburn with his disciples. Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Wherever they went, they introduced European illnesses that took the lives of the explorers and thousands of local people. De Soto himself in 1542 passed away while on the trip. A little over three hundred Spaniards who were still alive made their way back to Mexico City without discovering the awaited mountains of silver and gold. Born from an aristocratic family, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado traveled to Mexico, then known as New Spain, in 1535. In his capacity as governor of Nueva Galicia, he oversaw reports of wealth to the north: Quivira, a golden city. Coronado oversaw a large Spanish expedition between 1540 and 1542. local allies to the regions north of Mexico City, where they spent the next years exploring what is now the United States southwest (Figure 2.6). In the winter of 1540–1541 the adventurers fought the Tiwa in what is now New Mexico. But instead of resulting in the finding of gold and silver, the Coronado's expedition just went bankrupt. THE GOLDEN AGE OF SPAIN The adventures of European explorers had a significant influence in Europe as well as the Americas. New World goods served as a catalyst and source of funding for an intellectual interchange that connected European countries. and to reach the regions of the globe that the Europeans had conquered in turn. In Spain, the silver and gold from the The Americas contributed to the Siglo de Oro, a period of Spanish art and literary prosperity. Wealthy came from the colonies, as well as fresh concepts from other nations and uncharted territories. The Habsburg dynasty, which controlled a number of regions, including as Austria, the Netherlands, Sicily, Naples, and Spain, supported and provided funding for the creations of authors, musicians, painters, and sculptors, leading to a Spanish Renaissance culture was in full bloom. The book The Ingenious is among the most well-known works from this era. Miguel de Cervantes wrote the novel Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha. The narrative of this two-volume work (1605 and 1618) vivid account of a hidalgo (gentleman) who grows to be a knight after reading so many stories of valor and heroism unable to distinguish fact from fabrication. Don Quixote escapes reality with his devoted companion Sancho Panza. He fights those he believes to be Spain's adversaries in an effort to bring back chivalry.