GHG - The "New World" (Lesson)
The "New World"
As depicted in the Virgin of the Navigators (to the right), many Europeans saw their explorations and conquests of the "New World" in a certain light—in their view, European explorers were charged with a quest to bring God to foreign peoples, gold back to home and glory to the national identity (often referred to as the Three Gs.) With these goals in mind, the Europeans treated the "New World" differently than earlier empires treated previously conquered lands. The interaction between the "Old World" and the "New World" transformed populations, landscapes, languages, governments, economies and the futures of all of the continents involved—sometimes on purpose, sometimes by chance.
The Columbian Exchange
The transatlantic transfer of flora (plant life), fauna (animal life), ideas, and technology between Europe, Africa and the Americas is referred to as the Columbian Exchange. It started with Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492—he brought horses, sheep, goats, cattle, chickens, dogs and cats with him. Later explorers and settlers brought more domesticated European animals to the Americas and returned with ships loaded with new plant life. The result was a complete transformation in global diets. For example, the potato was indigenous to the Americas. It was introduced to Europe in the latter half of the 16th Century CE and within two centuries was one of the most important crops in Europe. The overall result of this exchange was a population explosion in Europe and Asia.
Naturally, flora and fauna were not the only things to be exchanged between the "Old" and "New Worlds." Just as the Bubonic Plague accompanied trade throughout Afro-Eurasia during the 14th Century, so did diseases travel with the explorers and settlers between the continents during the Age of Exploration.
While diseases flowed in two directions, the most impacted were the Americas whose people had no immunities to the far-deadlier and very numerous European diseases. As Native Americans (throughout South America, North America and the Caribbean) had led more isolated existences amongst themselves and had never been exposed to the new diseases, they were extremely susceptible to any outbreaks. On top of their susceptibility was the fact that the European diseases were communicable through air and touch—meaning that the European diseases naturally spread more rapidly than the local diseases. In many cases, European diseases would reach a community living in the New World before Europeans actually arrived in the specific community—as the villages that experienced the initial European contacts contracted the illnesses and later spread the diseases through local trade. Regardless of how the diseases were transmitted, though, the statistics on the mortality rates of the indigenous populations in the "New World" following European contact are depressing. In all, between 1492 and 1650, perhaps 90 percent of the first Americans to meet the Europeans died—on some Caribbean islands, the entire native population died out.
But germs were not alone in killing off the Native Americans, part of the Columbian Exchange included goods that were deadly either in design or in the emotions they inspired.
When European conquistadors first arrived in Mesoamerica, they brought with them the combined technology of many centuries of cultural diffusion among three continents—including gun powder. And the conquistadors found metal resources that were in great demand throughout Eurasia. This would turn into a deadly combination of wants and means. (The Americas had what Europe wanted and Europe had the means to get it.)
The Aztecs and the Incas
When Columbus first set sail on his maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, he traveled with three ships and eighty-seven men. Within ten years of his landing on and claiming the island of Hispaniola along with other Caribbean islands, Spain was sending expeditions with thousands of men, who sailed past the now-known islands of the Caribbean and on to the continents of North and South America. Their arrival changed the world forever.
By the late 15th Century CE, the Aztec Empire consisted of millions of people and a single emperor. Their capital, Tenochtitlan, had more residents than most cities in Europe and rivaled them in grandeur. The Aztec Empire differed, however, from the empires and nation-states of Eurasia politically. Most of the Aztec Empire consisted of cities governed independently by a governor. These cities paid taxes, or tributes, to the Aztec Empire and often provided the human sacrifices required to appease the gods. According to Aztec religion, the terrible, natural disasters of history were cyclical; therefore, to stave off these disasters, the Aztecs continually offered human sacrifices to please the gods—most of these humans came from conquered cities.
As a result of the constant demand of tributes and human sacrifices, many cities within the Aztec Empire were feeling a bit antagonistic towards the Aztec capital and emperor. By the time rumors reached Tenochtitlan of the appearance of "floating mountains" [ships] landing on the shore with pale men and monsters [horses,] the Aztec Empire ruled over many disgruntled cities and people ready to see a change. It was in this politically charged atmosphere that Hernán Cortés first encountered the Aztec Empire in 1519 CE. Upon Cortés's landing in Mesoamerica, Emperor Moctezuma II sent welcoming gifts to greet the new arrival—after all, according to Aztec religion, this could have been the arrival of the god Quetzalcoatl. The rumors certainly had made Cortés and his men sound mysterious - According to the Aztec religion, Quetzalcoatl was a pale-skinned god who would come to Earth and visit the Aztecs personally. It was understood that the Aztecs were expected to present Quetzalcoatl with a great deal of the Aztec wealth upon his arrival. But these gifts made Cortés feel a bit more welcome than Moctezuma II intended and he set a course from the coastline to Tenochtitlan to take more "gifts." Working with Moctezuma's enemies in exchange for a promise to release the cities from Aztec control, Cortés captured Moctezuma and converted the latter's reign into a form of "puppet" government with Cortés as the "puppet master." Within two years, the Aztec people realized that Cortés was neither friend nor god and revolted against the new regime. During the revolt, Moctezuma II died and Cortés fled the area. But this interruption in Cortés's pursuit of gold and glory was short-lived. Once again, Cortés enlisted the aid of the Aztec Empire's enemies (especially from the nearby cities of Tlaxcala and Texcoco) and invaded Tenochtitlan—this time the people of the city were in no position to fight back as a European disease (probably smallpox) had ravaged the population. Hernán Cortés claimed Tenochtitlan and the Aztec Empire as "New Spain" and declared himself as its governor in 1521 CE. This was clearly his objective the whole time—Cortés had, in fact, burned his ships upon arrival to prevent a premature departure.
The Inca Empire, to the south, experienced much the same story. By the time Europeans arrived there, the Inca Empire consisted of four to six million people that were very internally divided. Earlier, the emperor of the Inca Empire died from a mysterious disease and no one was sure who should succeed him—his eldest son or his favored son. In the end, the favored son killed the eldest son and took over his father's title—but this came with a cost as many did not find him to be the legitimate ruler considering the manner in which his reign began. Then, in 1531 CE, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro arrived and the validity of the new emperor soon became a moot point.
Inspired by Cortés's accomplishments in Mesoamerica, Pizarro exploited the internal divisions among the Incas for his personal gain. He then set a trap for the new emperor which led to the new emperor being decapitated. Pizarro's next step was to conquer the Incan capital of Cuzco—which he did in 1533. Pizarro spent the next years conquering the remainder of the Inca Empire. But there is an old adage— "live by the sword, die by the sword"—and that is precisely what happened to Pizarro in 1541. During the years leading up to Pizarro's death, thousands of Spaniards arrived in Pizarro's new capital, Lima, and fought with each other over wealth and power—ultimately one of those Spaniards stabbed Pizarro in the throat and the Spanish king had to step in to end the chaos in the new settlement known as the Viceroyalty of Peru.
Although explorers and conquistadors were initially granted authority by the Spanish crown to rule over the territory they found and conquered, by 1524 Queen Isabella had rescinded that decision. The Spanish government established the Council of the Indies—a group of six to ten counselors acting upon the king's behalf and in his name to handle all legislative activity for the Spanish overseas colonies. These colonies included New Spain in North America, the Philippines in the Pacific Ocean, Peru and Granada in South America and the Caribbean Islands.
As thousands of Spaniards moved, into the Spanish colonial territories, the Council of Indies established a social and economic system to guide their colonial development. The Encomienda System, or Encomiendas, were grants from Spanish governors to Spanish officials (known as peninsulares ) to control the labor of the colonized people. The peninsulares received land and some native people (who worked as slaves) and, in return, the peninsulares protected native people and converted them to Christianity (while working them as slaves despite Spanish law forbidding the enslavement of native people.) The Encomienda System was rigidly hierarchical and based on race/ethnicity—
Once a system of labor was in place, the Spanish were able to enjoy its fruits and the wealth poured in to the Spanish coffers. Most of this wealth stemmed from three sources.
Work in all of these areas was dangerous and exhausting. Despite Spanish laws that forbade cruel treatment of indigenous peoples whom the Spaniards were supposed to be protecting and converting to Christianity, those in charge worked the local people hard—literally to death, in many cases. Because the Native Americans were so maltreated, Spain instituted reforms for their protection. One of these reforms was to bring in more workers so that the workload per individual would decrease—this decision led to the development of a "peculiar institution."
Recap Section
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