Spanish Influence On The New World

Originally of the Italian descent Christopher Columbus in 1492, the Spanish were the dominant group of settlers in the New World for over a century or so. They were also abundant with natural resources like silver, as well the labor provided by the Native Americans created an immense amount of wealth for Spain. Excluding Brazil, the Spanish expanded throughout Central and South America even including Southern and Western parts of today’s United States, and the Caribbean Islands as well. However, due to the sheer amount of wealth created from the New World, forced European countries to eventually develop their own interests in settlements. In the late 1500’s, the English began their own mild exploration but their first permanent settlement was

In the late fifteenth century the Portuguese were expanding its kingdom in Africa where it tapped into the existing gold and slave trades of the western Sudan and West Central Africa (Ehret 339). By the early sixteenth century, the Americas became a major player in the global commerce system as the Spanish and Portuguese began to carve at the land and importing and exporting sugar, tobacco, and slaves. Slaves in this moment were the chief commodity that the Portuguese sought from West Central Africa as they provided the free labor that was needed to cultivate and maintain sugar plantations in the Americas. However, the slave trade was not a one-sided system, in fact many African elites, like King Afonso a Nzinga of the Kongo allowed for the buying and selling of African people to Europeans. In other words, Europeans traded with Africa because Africa allowed it to happen, however, there are moment when the demand overshadowed the supply. The slave trade and its many complications is one way in understanding the expanding commercial exchanges between Europeans and West Central Africans during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This essay will analyze the letters King Afonso Nzinga wrote to the King of Portugal, Joao

Throughout the sixteenth century, the Spanish established sugar plantations in the Americas. The Spanish considered using Native Americans as their labor force but, eventually relied on slavery. Though American Indians were utilized in the Mexican gold mines, European diseases had decimated the American Indian population, and the Spanish considered Native Americans too savage to be good workers.

1). The Nations of Europe sought to expand their empire because they were on the verge of overpopulation.Between 1550 and 1600 the population grew from three million to four million people. Also, England and Spain were at a war for power. The Spanish attempts at colonizing the New World had been extremely successful, for they had gained both wealth and power. The English did not see such success, as their ships would crash, be lost to the seas, or their colonization efforts would cease to be useful. Through the Spaniards control over the Americas they had gained a massive naval army, noted as the Spanish Armada. The Spanish attempt to invade England in 1588 failed which lead to the beginning of the fall of the Spanish empire in the New World.

During the 1450’s to 1750’s the Americas were evolving at a constant rate. The slave trade and the use trade such as the triangular trade were very common during this time-period due to the rise in plantations, causing a diverse region in South America. In addition, forced labor was an important constant throughout the region and was controlled by Spanish and the Inca’s which also allowed for a mixture of culture and ethnicities.

While the Spanish conquered the New World, there were a couple of approaches used to approach the cultures already present. There were those who focused on getting rich using whatever means they could. And those who valued the natives and the land and believed they weren’t as different as was first believed.

Next year sees the 120th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Brazil. Some contemporary writers saw the period as an horrific maltreatment of our fellow human beings while others saw through this and viewed the patriarchal and familial advantages that society, especially slaves received. Whichever way one sees it, the period before its abolition saw a huge boost in Brazil’s economy, mainly down to its vast manpower – 37% of all African slaves traded – a massive 3 million men, women and children.

During Brazil’s first few decades of colonialism, the Portuguese decided that to control the population they would directly enslave them. Captured native people were the ones that labored on the first sugar mills. Native slavery was abolished in Brazil in the 1570s but exceptions were made if a Native was captured during “just war”. Although a loophole existed that allowed for Natives to still be enslaved, by the 1590s it didn’t matter because they were

The lack of people in Brazil and the “new” infrastructure was very puzzling for the Brazilians. They did not need change, and their economy was more productive before the Portuguese then after. The Brazilian civilization did not and could not recover from the Portuguese invasion. Today, Brazil is riddled with crime and slavery.

As tea and sugar are complimentary goods, Europe’s increase demand for tea resulted in an increase demand for sugar. To answer this demand, Portugal, by the means of imperialism, became the main supplier of sugar to Europe. Portugal colonized Haiti and Brazil, turning both into sugar “factories.” Though the majority of Portuguese were Roman Catholics, they ignored their religious culture that emphasized morality for the sake of capitalism. The Portuguese enslaved Africans in return for free labor or maximum profits. The slaves were subject to inhumane conditions, as there was no concern for their health, abandoned families, and moreover the morality of their situation. While Portugal became a leading imperialist power in Europe, it consequently, permanently robbed Haiti’s viability. Presently, Haiti is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world; moreover, its future prospects look bleak to none. As Portugal’s beliefs in

From the 1500s through the 1800s, the Spanish had controlled large areas of the modern-day Southwest and West Coast of the United States. The Spanish had controlled, enslaved and killed many Native Americans, Indians and Africans and in Spain, resulting in a cultural blending and a rise to a new social structure. Between 1810 and 1826, the Creoles led the revolution across Latin America due to resentment over the Spanish government’s massive control over North and South America, especially against the minority peninsulares, or Spanish-born Spaniards. having social conflicts with political power, demanding economic control and complexities with self identity have all led to the revolt against the peninsulares and for independence.

Sugarcane cultivation was very labor intensive and required a dependable and inexpensive labor supply. The Portuguese first tried to use Indians as their primary labor source, but many died from old world disease which they were not immune to or died from the abuse they suffered while enslaved. With a need for another labor supply, the Portuguese turned to African slavery. To the Portuguese, African slaves were ideal; they were immune to diseases, strong, and had superior knowledge of farming (Kent 239). Today, African cultural elements are still seen throughout the region in various cuisine, religious practices, folk medicine, dresses, and martial arts (Kent 241-242). The plantation society created a basic social and economic unit early in the colonial period, an aristocracy of planters and their families (Kent 239). Slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888; this event transformed the economy of sugarcane. The social prestige and aristocracy previously noted gradually lost its power. Sugar production boomed until 1650, experienced numerous ups and downs, but remained a key crop along Brazil’s coast (Kent 240).

In 1500, the Portuguese led by Pedro Álvares Cabral, a diplomat from Portugal were encountered by the Tupinamba Indians on their arrival to Brazil. Their objectives were to control the profitable trade of red wood, pau brasil and settle permanently. Besides being cherished for producing dye, pau brasil gave Brazil its name. The Portuguese planned to make plantations out of the accessible land and that required workers. At first the Indians became their slaves, but the foreign diseases brought by the Europeans and the long hours of labor resulted in the casualties and the abandonment of the Indians. That led to the initiation of African slave trade (Fonseca).

In 1575, Brazilian sugar planters were producing volumes of sugars and they were producing 130 tons a year per sugar mill. Sugar production went up and the demand for slaves went up; the price of sugar was a steady trade in human captives along the Atlantic. In 1600, Brazil was the dominant force in the industry of

Brazilwood was a key product for Portuguese trade. But the focus on timber would soon change. Cash crops in the form of sugar cane production became the focus. Slavery was needed for the growing of sugar cane and replaced the unsuccessful usage of native people for labor. “Regular slave trade between Brazil and Africa was begun in the 1550s as a temporary measure to replace the Indians decimated by war and disease, but it lasted for over 300 years, and the institution of slavery persisted until 1889, Brazil being the last country of the American hemisphere to abolish it.” The agricultural focus of sugar cane changed to coffee bean production in the late 19th century. As coffee began to take off, slavery was abolished. With the influx of Africans halted, foreign immigration was promoted. This would have a profound effect on the societal make-up of the colony. Mass migrations were already occurring as the Portuguese had established their minute South American empire. Between 1884 and 1920 three million immigrants, mainly Italian, entered the country. Portuguese, Germans, Italians, Spanish, Britons, the descendants of African slaves and the products of racial mixtures of Brazilian Indians, Europeans, and Africans would be the kin of those who football would become entrenched within.