The Destruction Of The Indies Summary

The first english settlers were in Roanoke island left by John White 3 years ago but they were the lost colony and the first in the New World in 1585.

The Expansion of Europe

Western Europe was an agricultural society with most people being peasants. Europe had a social system called feudalism, where the lords controlled the land and the peasants worked for them and gave them a share of crops.

Europe was fragmented but was controlled by the Roman Catholic Church. There was a huge Jewish population because of persecution from the Romans in Palestine and experienced discrimination from the Christians.

Living conditions were harsh for the peasants with their only diet consists of bread and porridge. There was many diseases including the epidemic

the Black death which raved Europe in 1347-1353 and killed ⅓ of the population in Western Europe.

European economy bounced back in the 14th and 15th century with the discovery of new technologies. Population grew back after the plague. New monarchies emerged and grew alliances with merchants with both of them getting lucrative trade deals and support.

European commercialism started in the city states of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa in Italy with them seizing control of the Mediterranean for trade. After the Crusades in Palestine, the Italians found new spices and technologies from the other countries which generated trade.

Contact from the Islamic world gave the Italians access to classical texts that was lost in the middle ages from this knowledge launched the Renaissance which sparked revival of classical art during the 14th,15th, and 16th centuries.

Portugal was the first European country that explored far away lands and had a bustling port city, Lisbon that was full of merchants and placed a king in their favor King Joao that wanted Portugal as a trading empire.

Prince Harry establishes a sea naval academy with building new ships based on Islamic and Asian technology. They explore north Africa and discovers gold and slaves. They made a route that goes around Africa to India and establish a trade of spices.

Cristopher Colombus proposed a way of going west of the atlantic ocean and was rejected by Portugal, France, and England because of his short calculations. Spain accepted his proposal and funded his trip after the end of the Reconquista of the Muslim Iberia peninsula.

Columbus landed In October and thought he was India but was in the Bahamas. He found the native Tainos and brought them to Spain as slaves with stories of gold. He came back with warfare but the colony loses population and money and Columbus was jailed. Amerigo vogues and called the Indies a new world and in his honor, America.

The Spanish in the Americas
When the Spanish raided the Caribbean island they set up the encomienda which made the natives slaves and lords controlled over them.

The also raided Jamaica and Puerto Rico in 1508 and Cuba in 1511 when there was no gold in Hispania.

The Aztecs was a huge society with the capital over water and a population over 200,000. Hernan Cortes landed in Mexico in 1519 and conquered the Aztec in 1521 while they were facing small pox.

A priest named Antonio de Montesinos condemned the violence in the Indies saying the human race is one but nobody listens to him. The book The Destructions of the Indies written by Las Cabas shows the Spanish abuse to the Indians for exploitation. He writes that their lowered population was due to fighting and wars but in reality was epidemics and low birthrate.

The intercontinental exchange of the new world and the old world was silver and gold to Europe with new crops like maize, potatoes, sugar, rice, coffee, tobacco, vanilla, and chocolate. What europe introduced to the new world was horses.

The governor of Puerto Rico, Peon de Leon lands in southeast of America and calls it Florida and was killed in 1921. Another expedition by Panfilo de Narvaez was ruined by shipwreck but survivor Nunez Cabeza de Vaca writes about a city Cibola. De Soto tries to find Cibola but leaves and dies on the way. Vasquez de Coronado dies another expedition but found nothing and the Spanish stops investing of the

southwest.

After a century of Columbus expedition, 250,000 Spanish and 150,000 slaves settle in plantation in the Caribbean and Brazil under the Treaty of Tordesillas. There was not a lot of Spanish women in the Americans and made up 10%. Colonists men mixed with the natives and slaves which made mixed ancestry. The Spanish colonies were under the Spanish throne but was self governing.

European fishers explores North Atlantic oceans and fished Newfoundland for cod. John Cabot reached Labrador in 1497.Giovanni de Verrazano sailed to North Carolina and Main in 1524 and in his later expeditions found St.Lawrence river and the Great Lakes.

With France's new knowledge, Captian Cartier claimed the new territories for France. The natives and Europeans had a fur trade which natives were active in. Fur prices were expensive and gave France a new economy and tries to monopolize trade.

The Protestant Reformation was a revolt against the Roman Catholic Church led by Martin Luther in 1517 for purer intentions to God. Calvin converted to Luther's teaching and went to Switzerland and made his doctrine predestination which humans can reach salvation by themselves.

Protestant were the followers of Charles V Holy Roman Empire reform. John Ribault and 150 protestants tried to make a French colony but failed when Ribault was late of getting supplies and starved but were rescued by a British ship.

Lords in England took farming land to graze sheep for the woolen trade to make more money. King Henry VIII wanted to get a divorce from his wife but the pope denied and he made himself head of Church of England in 1534.

After Henry VIII died and his son soon after, his sister Mary became queen but she tried to change the reformation and killed many Protestants. After she died, Elizabeth I took over and had tolerant views. She tried to take Ireland that was Catholic but was afraid of the Spanish monarchy but invaded and valued them as an inferior race.

When England tied to make vogues in the new world, the Spanish had conflicts and tied stopped them. John Hawkins violated Spanish trade laws and got attacked for it which launched raids and pirateering on Spanish ships.

England tried to get colonies in the Americas but failed with the Newfoundland colony when the ship was lost and the Roanoke colony colonists were lost. The English tried to dominate the natives for colonization like they did to the Irish.

They also tried to take lands from the Catholics which the Spanish got mad and destroyed the french colony in Florida and tried to invade England but failed and broke their monopoly of the new world as dominant power.