Identify 2 social/economic effects of the Columbian Exchange

Identify 2 social/economic effects of the Columbian Exchange

BELL ASSIGNMENT

Map 14.1:

European Colonial Empires in the Americas

By the beginning of the 18th century, European powers had laid claim to most of the Western Hemisphere.

Their wars and rivalries during that century led to an expansion of Spanish and English claims, at the expense of the French.

European rulers were driven by the enduring rivalries of competing states. The growing & relatively independent merchant class in a rapidly commercializing Europe sought direct access to Asian wealth in order to avoid the reliance on Muslim intermediaries that they found so distasteful.

Which European

empire had the most

territory in the New World?

YouTube: CC WH Spanish Empire, Silver, & Runaway Inflation

Cycle of Conquest & Colonization

Explorers Conquistadores

Mission

aries

PermanentSettlers

OfficialEuropeanColony!

Document Analysis

• Work in groups of 4 to analyze the documents provided.

• Discuss the following questions using evidence from the documents:– How did the Spanish and Native Americans view each

other?– How did the Spanish’s view of the natives justify their

conquest? Be specific. – How did the Spanish justify their treatment of the

natives?

English & Spanish ColoniesEuropean colonial rule in the

Americas varied ★ cultures & policies of the

colonizing power, ★ character of the Native American

cultures, ★ economy established in a

particular region.English were late to the

game of exploration & many felt the lands they had

left to take (New York, New England, PA, and Virginia) were left-over and worthless in comparison to the treasures of Central & SA (gold)

Lands of the Aztecs and the Incas:

The Spanish empire ruled over the most densely settled indigenous populations in the Americas & developed an economic system based on commercial agriculture & mining

Colonial rule replicated something of the Spanish class hierarchy while accommodating the racially & culturally different Indians & Africans.

English & Spanish Colonies

The Colonial Class System

Peninsulares Creoles

Mestizos

Mulattos

Native Indians Black Slaves

Encomienda (en-koh-mee-en-duh)

Some Native Americans decided to aid the Spanish in their initial invasion of the New World, mostly due to old tribal rivalries.

Encomienda: system employed mainly by the Spanish during colonization of the Americas to regulate Native American labor (mostly farming & mining)

Spanish crown granted Spaniards specified number of natives for whom they were to take responsibility.

In theory, the receiver of the grant was to protect the natives from warring tribes & to instruct them in the Spanish language and in the Catholic faith: in return they could extract tribute from the natives in the form of labor, gold or other products.

Encomienda (en-koh-mee-en-duh)

In practice, the difference between encomienda & slavery could be minimal. Natives were forced to do hard labor and subjected to extreme punishment and death if they resisted.

In the former Inca Empire, for example, the system continued the Incaic (and even pre-Incaic) Mita traditions of extracting tribute under the form of labor.

The Influence of the Colonial Catholic

Church

Guadalajara Cathedral

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Spanish Mission

Syncretism• Religious syncretism is the blending

of two belief systems• Religious syncretism often takes

place when foreign beliefs are introduced to an indigenous belief system and the teachings are blended

• For the indigenous peoples of Mexico, Catholic beliefs blended with their native religious beliefs

• Syncretism allowed the native peoples to continue their traditions while adapting to a changing world

• Christian saints blended easily with specialized indigenous gods

The above picture shows the traditional offerings from a Mayan festival with a picture of Jesus, a central figure in the Christian religion.

Other Forms of Syncretism: The Virgin de Guadalupe

• The Virgin de Guadalupe is a cultural symbol that unites Mexicans

• The Catholic Church encouraged festivals that coincided with indigenous festivals in order to blend the two and appropriate indigenous festivals as new Christian celebrations

• “After the conquest, the church destroyed shrines to indigenous gods and goddesses, and tried to stamp out the cult of Tonantzin, an Aztec virgin deity”

• Tonantzin was the “honored mother” of Mexico and a fertility goddess

• Mary, mother of Jesus, merged to symbolize the Mother figurehead in both Catholicism and ancient Aztec beliefs

Source: Rose Anna Mueller, Virgin of Guadalupehttp://www.blueroadrunner.com/virgen.htm

The Mayan cross is a pre-Christian cross. Looking at the picture on the left, can you see evidence of syncretism?

Chamula Syncretism•Chamulans worship in Cathedral built by Spanish•Town dedicated to John the Baptist, priest comes once a year for baptisms•Chamulans are Catholic by name; helped keep their traditions alive under Spanish rule•No pews•Floors covered in pine needles•Catholic saints rest on tables posted in church but represent Mayan gods •Candles lit and people sit on floor and pray below saints•Sometimes chickens sacrificed•Pox traditionally drunk, now substituted with Coca-Cola•No pictures allowed

Compare English & Spanish Colonies.

In the plantation colonies of Brazil & the Caribbean, colonial powers ruled over regions where no earlier civilization existed & where the production of sugar for export defined the economy. Spanish colonists rarely included women & families. In these regions, large numbers of Africans were imported as slave labor, & a considerable amount of racial mixing took place. From the mixed-race population were drawn much of the urban skilled workforce & supervisors in the sugar industry, as well as some prominent members of the community. More slaves were voluntarily set free by their owners in Brazil than in North America.

Slaves Working in a Brazilian Sugar Mill

Eye Spy Activity

Compare English & Spanish Colonies.A variation on the colonial rule of a plantation-based

economy occurred in British North America, where the raising of different crops (including tobacco, cotton, rice, and indigo), less racial mixing, & a self reproducing slave workforce shaped a different society.

In British North America, prevailing ideas about "race" was that any amount of African or “black” ancestry would make someone African or “black” - this idea was sadly, long=lasting.

Didn’t try to live among the natives.

Compare English & Spanish Colonies.

3rd distinctive type of colonial society: Northern British colonies of New England, New York, & Pennsylvania.

Upon the arrival of British settlers, these regions were not heavily settled with Native Americans, in part because of the ravages of European-borne epidemic diseases.

Compare English & Spanish Colonies. Why So Literate?Availability of land, the climate & geography of

North America, & the “outsider” status of many British settlers:

Economic & social system of small independent farmers without sharp class hierarchy, large rural estates, or dependent laborers.

Weak British rule, the largely literate population of the region developed traditions of local self-government, elected colonial assemblies, & vigorously contested the prerogatives of royal governors sent to administer their affairs.

The British colonists sought to escape European traditions, while Spanish/Portuguese colonists sought to recreate them in the Americas.

Protestantism, which encouraged the reading of the Bible, was the dominant form of Christianity in the British colonies. Women & families accompanied men & cultural expectation was reading & interpretation of the Bible.

What is a one major reason for the higher literacy rates in British North American colonies than in Spanish/Portuguese colonies?

European Empires in the Americas

New Colonial Rivals