SPAIN IN AMERICA

SPAIN IN AMERICAJessica Kyriacou, Tyler Henry, Laura Dorfman, Courtney

McNamara

THE SPANISH EXPLORATION

Spanish explorers voyaged to the Americas in search of lands that were rich in natural resources and metals such as gold and silver.

CONQUISTADORS• Spanish conquerors from the early

1500s• Invaded the Caribbean, took control

over the islands and enslaved the natives forcing them to do labour

• Brought over European diseases and influenzas that natives weren’t accustomed to and many got sick and died

• In the 1520’s they brought over people from Africa as slaves to compensate for the natives who effectively had been wiped out

THE SPANISH EXPLORATION

• Hernán Cortés left Cuba in 1519 and travelled to the shores of Mexico with 600 men and quickly overpowered the natives

• The Aztec empire, Moctezuma believed Cortés was Quetzalcoatl, a god who promised to return as a fair skinned man

• Spaniards gained allies from some of the subjects of Aztec as they went inland towards the capital Tenochtitlan

• When they arrived at the capital they captured Moctezuma and raided the city

• The Spaniards were driven out of Tenochtitlan eight months later by the Aztecs when the empire was killed by one of his subjects

• Later Cortés cut off supplies to the capital and destroyed the city with the help of his allied natives

THE TALE OF CORTÉS AND MOCTEZUMA

THE SPANISH EXPLORATION

DESTRUCTION OF THE INCAN EMPIRE• Conquest of Mexico encouraged other

conquistadors to seek their fortunes in the Americas

• Francisco Pizzaro was an illiterate soldier who heard about fabulously rich cities on the Pacific Coast of South America

• In 1531 he set sail from Panama with 150 soldiers towards the Incan Empire (present-day Peru)

• Pizzaro and the Spaniards greeted the emperor Atahualpa with swords and guns taking him captive

• Atahualpa gave the Spanish a room filled with gold objects and other treasures

• Later the Spanish executed Atahualpa and settlers immigrated to Peru, where they mined silver and gold

THE SPANISH EXPLORATION

JUNÍPERO SERRA • Most Spanish conquests in the New world

were marked by a terrible slaughter of the local people

• Junípero Serra was born on an island off the Spanish coast and became a Franciscan priest and a professor of philosophy

• He established Spanish control in California by setting up missions to care for Native Americans

• Serra wished to work as a missionary among the natives and in 1749 he left Spain to travel to Mexico

• When he was 55 he had been sent to take control of Upper California

• His motto had been “Always go forward and never turn back.”

LIFE IN THE COLONIESELUSIVE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

• Instead of heading south, some Spanish conquistadors explored areas in the North

• One explorer that did so was Juan Ponce de León, the governor of Puerto Rico

• In 1513, the Spaniards reached land near what is now the city of St. Augustine, they named the area Florida

• After 1542, the Spanish worked to consolidate their empire in the Americas

LIFE IN THE COLONIESCOLONIAL LIFE

• Spain’s American colonies formed a structured society:1. Peninsulares: high government and church officials who were born in Spain2. Creoles: born in Spanish colonies of Spanish parents3. Mestizos: those born of Native American and Spanish parents4. Mulattoes: people of Spanish and African or Native American ancestry• Spaniards were given title to American land and ownership of the villages on that land• In return the Indians would be converted to Christianity

• Conquistadors were given land by the Spanish monarchs and earned the ability to demand tax and labour from the Native Americans through the encomienda system

• Spanish colonists overworked the natives to gain personal wealth

• Spanish became the language of the colonies through the socializing of the natives and the Spanish, however many natives kept on with their language of origin

• The two cultures were combined, the Spanish introduced crops such as wheat and oranges along with cattle and horses

• Spaniards also affected life in Europe when they returned with items like potatoes tomatoes and corn which they were introduced to by the Native Americans

LAND AND AGRICULTURE

LIFE IN THE COLONIES

LIFE IN THE COLONIESCOLONIAL ADMINISTRATION AND RELIGIOUS MISSIONS

• Viceroys were appointed by the Spanish monarch to look after the crown

• Audiencia was a court set up to oversee the viceroys and monitor the behaviors of the conquistadors to allow equity for the natives

• Missions were established to persuade Native Americans to become Catholics and many priests like Father Bartolomé de Las Casas tried to protect the natives from the Spaniards

• Presidios were built near missions to house native peoples who would be fed, clothed, and taught European methods and traditions and attended religious services