How did the Colonization of America Happen? (1492 - 1600)

in the late 15th century an ambitious sailor from Genoa approached the king of Portugal with an impassioned offer to find new lands and riches to the West his proposal was dismissed as being far too fanciful and way too costly undeterred this determined sailor a man by the name of Christopher Columbus tried his luck with Spain it was 1492 and his timing couldn't have been better the Spanish had just seen off the last of the daunting occupying Muslim forces and were now Keen to expand in their own name there was money in the coffers and Spain

liked Columbus's confidence Columbus set sail across the Atlantic in August 1492 just 2 months later he landed in the Bahamas making the first significant European contact with the Americas the the world was about to change forever Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas signaled the start of the European colonization of the American lands it gave birth to new nations and made some European powers incredibly Rich it also took a devastating toll on the native populations from which they never recovered all of this from what was intended to be a search for another Passage to the Far

East or the Indies as the East was simply known what led to this huge push for European expansion and how were the first 100 years in the Americas to begin it helps to understand why the European powers were compelled to seek routes to the West for centuries Europe had been dependent on the Silk Road for trade with the East the Silk Road enabled trade between European countries in India and China everything from tea silk spices cotton Ivory and precious metals were traded until the Ottoman Empire put a stop to it all when the Ottomans claimed

Constantinople in 1453 today's Istanbul it meant they effectively controlled the Western end of the Silk Road this meant big tax hikes on anything that was traded along the famous route and this more or less forced Europe to look for alternate routes to the east at the time the Portuguese were world leaders in Sea navigation and favored sending ships around Africa into the Indian Ocean this was their plan until a fellow named Christopher Columbus walked onto a beach in the Bahamas archipelago suddenly there was another option in 1493 Columbus made his second voyage to the Americas

but this time it was far more purposeful on his first voyage Columbus had set out with just three ships the second time around comprised a fleet of 17 ships which included colonists priests and soldiers they even took a pack of fearsome looking Masti dogs to further intimidate the natives not that Columbus was particularly concerned about any native resistance however in a revealing extract from his 1492 diary Columbus wrote that the Caribbean people should be good servants and would easily be made into Christians he also noted that the natives seemed to be unarmed or were at

least unfamiliar with iron weapons such as swords this was immensely encouraging to the powers back in Spain and Columbus was sent again in 1493 to set up a colony history was made when Santo Domingo became the first official European settlement in the Americas the colony was established on the Caribbean island of Hispanola which is today split between Haiti and the Dominican Republic when word filtered back to Europe that there was a mass of land to the West the Portuguese wanted in on the action Spain of course was only two aware of Portugal's Naval strength and

realized the Portuguese could prove a real obstacle to further expansion in the new world and so in 1494 Pope Alexander V 6 stepped in to avoid future conflicts a demarcation line was drawn up in the Atlantic Ocean running north to south anything lying to the west of the line was to be Spain's and any territory to the east were fair game for Portugal both countries agreed and signed the Treaty of pilus the demarcation line was situated roughly in the middle of the Atlantic about 2,000 km west of the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of

West Africa the general idea was that the new lands discovered by Columbus would go to Spain while Portugal was free to conquer Africa and Southern Asia there was just a small exception to what was pretty much all Spanish territory a sizable chunk of land in South America was jutting out into Portugal side of the demarcation line in 1500 this was unknown to the Portuguese in 1498 Vasco deama had successfully rounded Africa to reach India becoming the first European to reach India by sea Portugal was excited because access to India via the Mediterranean was blocked by

Italian and ottoman fleets a second voyage was organized this time with Pedro Alvarez cabal in charge cabal commanded 13 ships which held over 1,000 men and supplies like dama he sails down the African West Coast and then headed out into the Western Atlantic to ride on the back of the trade winds unlike dama though cabal continued heading West and in April 1500 he landed on the northeastern shores of Brazil at Bahia realizing that this new land lay on Portugal side of the demarcation line cabal claimed it on behalf of the crown although many historians have

speculated that other Europeans had most likely been there before cabal he is generally acknowledged to be the one who officially discovered Brazil cabal looked around Bahia and guessed that it was in fact part of a continent he sent a ship back to Lisbon immediately to spread the good news the Portuguese were eager to get their hands on any precious medals that might have been in Brazil specifically gold and silver when it became clear that the local Timber was the only real resource of any value the Portuguese lost interest in Brazil for the next few decades

the local trees called brazilwood were found to be useful because of the red dye that could be extracted this was used to make textiles and clothes back in Europe and the Portuguese had the natives clear the forests for them they traded items such as mirrors scissors knives and axes with the natives to seal the deal almost from the start the Portuguese relationship with the indigenous people was markedly different from that between the Spanish and the native Liv in Mexico and Central America while the Spanish colonization was based more on out andout Conquest there was no

evidence of natural riches in Brazil instead of settling the new territory Portugal initially decided to keep it as a trading base between Europe and India eventually though it was decided that the best way to manage Brazil was by forming a colony and in 1532 the first Portuguese settlement was established in salv Cente on the Mid Coast near today's sou Paulo the new land was divided up into 15 captaincies which were areas of land granted to people for agriculture the captaincy owners were Nobles merchants or ex Sailors and it was soon evident that sugar was the

go-to crop to grow things began to move slowly but in the right direction and in 1549 Brazil was declared an official official Crown Colony the port Colony Salvador deia became the capital complete with a cathedral hospital prison and a customs house in the meantime Spain had launched into a period of Rapid colonization in Central and South America following on from settling in Hispanola the Spanish then colonized Porto Rico in 1508 Jamaica in 1509 and then Cuba in 1511 in 1513 Vasco de Balboa became the first European to officially set sight on the Pacific Ocean when

he crossed the ismos of Panama and declared the Pacific as a Spanish territory and then in 1519 things really took off for Spain hernon Cortez was an Explorer stationed in Cuba and eager to discover new lands and treasures for the crown like others he heard the rumors of the gold and silver that was waiting to be discovered over on the Mainland Mexico he set off on an unauthorized Expedition for what was then meso America landing on the shores of Yucatan in February 1519 the first indigenous people Cortez interacted with were from the Mayan tribes but

he soon realized that in order to gain full control of Mexico he had to overpower these Mighty a the Aztecs were the most advanced civilization in the region at the time and were based out of their Capital Teno titlan which would later become Mexico City however the Spanish liked their chances they had Superior Firepower with steel swords and guns plus well organized armies with horses and dogs the Spanish also had arguably the Europeans deadliest weapon against native forces disease es smallpox in particular was a mass killer none of the native tribes in the Americas had

been exposed to the disease and had zero immunity it didn't take long for smallpox to exact a crushing toll on the Aztec and aided by their Superior weapons the Spanish took control of tenos titlan in 1521 the Aztecs hadn't gone down without a fight however and had battled fiercely to the end but they were were simply too decimated and ultimately overwhelmed by sickness and Spain's artillery it was estimated that the azte Lost over 240,000 soldiers during the fighting with more than half that number falling to disease most of Mexico would fall over the next few

years and the Spanish then set their sights further south to the Inca controlled regions of Peru this was no easy feat in 15 1828 the Inca Empire was at the height of its powers its territory covered a gigantic 1,800,000 Square kilm in 1532 Francisco pizaro LED Spanish forces into Peru where they clashed with the Inca Army in a fight to control Peru and its surrounding territories despite being vastly outnumbered pizaro and his troops took full advantage of their Superior Firepower had massacred thousands of Incas who had no reply to the guns and swords of the

European Invaders the Spanish were further aided by the aftermath of a civil war that had erupted amongst the Inca leaders leaving the Incan armies disorganized and unprepared for the onslaught Emperor atpa Was Defeated and Spain had captured not just Peru but all of the Incan territories surrounding it this included almost all of South America America with the exception of the Portuguese controlled Brazil and Venezuela Spain had been in Argentina in 1516 but was underwhelmed by the lack of resources and didn't officially settle there until 1580 in 1537 Spanish troops marched into Colombia and took over

Chile in 1841 Spain additionally began making inroads into North America in 1559 Tristan Duna arano established a settlement in today's Pensacola in Florida then in 1565 the Spanish set up a colony in St Augustine Florida not far from modern-day Jacksonville throughout the 16th century the Spanish gradually moved into areas of what would become the Southern United States this included Texas New Mexico Colorado California and Arizona meaning that Spain had secured huge expanses of land across two continents none of this activity had escaped the attention of Britain and France the two European superpowers also knew about

Spain and Portugal's Treaty of toric silus and decided to completely disregard it after all neither Nation answered to the pope and both firmly believed that they had every right to acquire what they could in the new world France was the the first to set up a serious quest in 1534 Francis the first sent jacqu Cartier across the Atlantic on the first of his three voyages to North America Cartier explored the coast of New Foundland and traveled along the St Lawrence River in July of 1534 France became the third European country to officially land in the

Americas Cartier landed on the shores of the gasp peninsula in Quebec and placed across cross in the sand claiming the land for the French Crown it was to be a short-lived attempt to build New France Cartier also tried to establish a colony in what would become Quebec City in 1541 but the project failed due to hostilities from native tribes and atrocious weather the French then attempted to start colonies further down the North American Coast at Paris Island in South Carolina in 1562 and then in present day Jacksonville Florida in 1564 these efforts were thwarted by

Spanish attacks who had grown increasingly paranoid about the impending French colonization of North America France made a half-hearted attempt to start a colony of convicts on Sable Island off Nova Scotia in 1598 but nothing materialized the early attempts by the French were poorly financed and didn't receive anywhere near the amount of support needed to successfully establish colonies that added to constant fighting with the local tribes and harsh weather meant France had little to show for its efforts by the end of the 16th century big changes were taking place in England contrarily and it too was

about to throw its hat into the ring England already had a strong and established Navy and was looking to build some serious his wealth when Queen Elizabeth took the throne in 1558 she was ready for action Elizabeth not only gave the green light for British ships to attack and loot any Spanish ships traveling back from the Americas with booty but she also sponsored voyages to the Caribbean when these Ventures failed because of strong reprisals from the Spanish Elizabeth and Britain then focused their sights on the North American Coast The Adventurous swashbuckler Walter Raleigh was given

a charter to explore North America in 1584 the motives for giving Raleigh the go-ahead were both economical and ideological Elizabeth realized the enormous potential that lay in colonizing parts of North America and was also Keen to counter Spanish Catholicism in the region in 1585 Raleigh set up an expedition to settle at Rowan o island off North Carolina the Rowan o colonies struggled from the outset and when a supply ship returned from England after 2 years the settlement had been abandoned the mystery of Rowan Oak still puzzles historians today some believe the colonists joined the Local

Natives others believe the settlers simply perished however Britain was far from discouraged and began making plans for another expedition to the American east East Coast throughout the early years of European colonization the interaction with Native populations varied widely some settlers were able to establish relatively friendly relationships while other situations were heated from the start on the whole the Europeans assumed themselves to be the superior race and their role was to civilize and educate the natives the Spanish were quick to enslave the local population when they settled in Hispanola in the Caribbean they continued this practice

when they ventured into Mexico natives captured in battle were soon put to work and when disease began to take its toll on the local populations the Spanish looked to West Africa the British had a similar Viewpoint they were there to colonize and take what they needed if the natives didn't like it that was their problem this led to regular outbreaks of violence in the early days of colonization while the French later demonstrated the benefits of befriending local populations the British Spanish and Portuguese were primarily concerned with Conquest this meant the exchanges between the colonizers and

the natives were often brutal the colonists had the technological advantage in terms of weapons and the natives had an edge in using the environment that they knew so well religion all also played another major role in South and North America the natives were expected to conform to Christianity and missionaries were deployed to convert the indigenous people it didn't occur to many Europeans that the native people may have had existing cultures and religious beliefs of their own some of the Spanish missionaries were able to spend more time with the natives than others and came to sympathize

with them and understand their cause Pope Paul III read the letters of the missionaries and warned colonists that the native people were not beasts to be killed or enslaved but human beings with Souls capable of Salvation this was quite an enlightened outlook for the time and although it conceded that Christianity was the only true Way Forward the pope indicated that colonists should at least be mindful of the plight of the natives still the physical shock alone must have been tremendous neither side had seen anything quite like the other and the first contacts evoked a mass

array of emotions ranging from mild curiosity to derision and fear some settlers realized that befriending natives would work in their favor the locals knew the land better than them and they could learn how to farm it and hunt on it when the British initially settled at Rowan Oak in 1585 they struck up a relationship with the local Algonquin people the Algonquin showed them how to crop the land and where to find food so good was this relationship that many believe the struggling settlers may have simply opted to live with the Algonquins all of this aside

no matter what industry their colonies were based on all the European powers needed labor and when the job proved to be too much for the settlers and disease wiped out the enslaved natives the colonists began bringing slaves over from West Africa and so after the first 100 Years of American Colonization Spain was the clear winner in terms of territories and riches gained the Spanish had established colonies from Buenos Aries all the way up to Florida and Texas however France was about to have a massive influence and England had only only gotten started in North America

at least massive changes were on the near Horizon [Music]