Alperovich Moisey Samuilovich, Slezkin Lev Yuryevich::: Formation of independent states in Latin America (1804-1903)

By the time of the discovery and conquest of America by European colonialists, it was inhabited by numerous Indian tribes and peoples who were at various stages of social and cultural development. Some of them managed to reach a high level of civilization, others led a very primitive lifestyle.

The oldest known culture on the American continent, the Maya, the center of which was the Yucatan Peninsula, was characterized by the significant development of agriculture, crafts, trade, art, science, and the presence of hieroglyphic writing. While maintaining a number of institutions of the tribal system, the Mayans also developed elements of a slave society. Their culture had a strong influence on neighboring peoples - Zapotecs, Olmecs, Totonacs, etc.

Central Mexico in the 15th century. found itself under the rule of the Aztecs, who were the successors and heirs of more ancient Indian civilizations. They had developed agriculture, construction equipment reached a high level, and a variety of trade was conducted. The Aztecs created many outstanding monuments of architecture and sculpture, a solar calendar, and had the rudiments of writing. The emergence of property inequality, the emergence of slavery and a number of other signs indicated their gradual transition to a class society.

In the region of the Andean highlands lived the Quechua, Aymara and other peoples, distinguished by their high material and spiritual culture. In the XV - early XVI centuries. a number of tribes in this area subjugated the Incas, who formed a vast state (with its capital in Cusco), where the official language was Quechua.

The Pueblo Indian tribes (Hosti, Zuni, Tanyo, Keres, etc.) who lived in the basin of the Rio Grande del Norte and Colorado rivers, inhabited the basins of the Orinoco and Amazon rivers, the Tupi, Guarani, Caribs, Arawaks, Brazilian Kayapo, inhabitants of the Pampas and the Pacific coast warlike Mapuches (whom the European conquerors began to call Araucanians), inhabitants of various regions of modern Peru and Ecuador, Colorado Indians, Jivaro, Saparo, tribes of La Plata (Diaguita, Charrua, Querandi, etc.) "Patagonian Tehuelchi, Indians of Tierra del Fuego - she, Yagan, Chono - were at different stages of the primitive communal system.

At the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. The original process of development of the peoples of America was forcibly interrupted by European conquerors - the conquistadors. Speaking about the historical destinies of the indigenous population of the American continent, F. Engels pointed out that “the Spanish conquest interrupted any further independent development of them.”

The conquest and colonization of America, which had such fatal consequences for its peoples, were determined by the complex socio-economic processes that were then taking place in European society.

The development of industry and trade, the emergence of the bourgeois class, the formation of capitalist relations in the depths of the feudal system caused at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries. .in the countries of Western Europe, the desire to open new trade routes and seize the untold riches of East and South Asia. For this purpose, a number of expeditions were undertaken, in the organization of which Spain took a major part. The main role of Spain in the great discoveries of the 15th-16th centuries. was determined not only by its geographical location, but also by the presence of a large bankrupt nobility, which, after the completion of the reconquista (1492), could not find employment for itself and feverishly looked for sources of enrichment, dreaming of discovering a fabulous “golden country” overseas - Eldorado. “...Gold was the magic word that drove the Spaniards across the Atlantic Ocean to America,” wrote F. Engels, “gold is what the white man first demanded as soon as he set foot on the newly discovered shore.”

At the beginning of August 1492, a flotilla under the command of Christopher Columbus, equipped with funds from the Spanish government, left the port of Palos (in southwestern Spain) in a westerly direction and, after a long voyage in the Atlantic Ocean, on October 12 reached a small island, which the Spaniards gave the name San -Salvador” i.e. “Holy Savior” (the locals called him Guanahani). As a result of the voyages of Columbus and other navigators (the Spaniards Alonso de Ojeda, Vicente Pinzon, Rodrigo de Bastidas, the Portuguese Pedro Alvarez Cabral, etc.) by the beginning of the 16th century. the central part of the Bahamas archipelago, the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Jamaica), most of the Lesser Antilles (from the Virgin Islands to Dominica), Trinidad and a number of small islands in the Caribbean Sea were discovered; The northern and significant parts of the eastern coast of South America and most of the Atlantic coast of Central America were surveyed. Back in 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas was concluded between Spain and Portugal, delimiting the spheres of their colonial expansion.

Numerous adventurers, bankrupt nobles, hired soldiers, criminals, etc., rushed to the newly discovered territories in pursuit of easy money from the Iberian Peninsula. Through deception and violence, they seized the lands of the local population and declared them the possessions of Spain and Portugal. In 1492, Columbus founded on the island of Haiti, which he called Hispaniola (i.e., “little Spain”), the first colony “Navidad” (“Russianism”), and in 1496 he founded the city of Santo Domingo here, which became a springboard for the subsequent conquest of the entire island and the subjugation of its indigenous inhabitants. In 1508-1509 Spanish conquistadors began to capture and colonize Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Isthmus of Panama, the territory of which they called Golden Castile. In 1511, Diego de Velazquez's detachment landed in Cuba and began its conquest.

Robbering, enslaving and exploiting the Indians, the invaders brutally suppressed any attempt at resistance. They barbarously destroyed and destroyed entire cities and villages, and brutally dealt with their population. An eyewitness to the events, the Dominican monk Bartolome de Las Casas, who personally observed the bloody “wild wars” of the conquistadors, said that they hanged and drowned the Indians, cut them into pieces with swords, burned them alive, roasted them over low heat, poisoned them with dogs, not even sparing the elderly and women and children. “Robbery and robbery are the only goal of Spanish adventurers in America,” K. Marx pointed out.

In search of treasures, the conquerors sought to discover and capture more and more new lands. “Gold,” Columbus wrote to the Spanish royal couple from Jamaica in 1503, “is perfection. Gold creates treasures, and the one who owns it can do whatever he wants, and is even able to bring human souls into heaven."

In 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama from north to south and reached the Pacific coast, and Juan Ponce de Leon discovered the Florida Peninsula - the first Spanish possession in North America. In 1516, the expedition of Juan Diaz de Solis explored the basin of the Rio de la Plata (“Silver River”). A year later, the Yucatan Peninsula was discovered, and soon the Gulf Coast was explored.

In 1519-1521 Spanish conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes conquered Central Mexico, destroying the ancient Indian culture of the Aztecs here and setting their capital Tenochtitlan to fire. By the end of the 20s of the 16th century. they captured a vast area from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, as well as most of Central America. Subsequently, the Spanish colonialists continued their advance to the south (Yucatan) and north (up to the Colorado and Rio Grande del Norte river basins, California and Texas).

After the invasion of Mexico and Central America, troops of conquistadors poured into the South American continent. Since 1530, the Portuguese began a more or less systematic colonization of Brazil, from where they began to export the valuable species of wood “pau brazil” (from which the name of the country came). In the first half of the 30s of the 16th century. The Spaniards, led by Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro, captured Peru, destroying the Inca civilization that had developed here. They began the conquest of this country with a massacre of unarmed Indians in the city of Cajamarca, the signal for which was given by the priest Valverde. The Inca ruler Atahualpa was treacherously captured and executed. Moving south, Spanish conquerors led by Almagro invaded the country they called Chile in 1535-1537. However, the conquistadors encountered stubborn resistance from the warlike Araucanians and failed. At the same time, Pedro de Mendoza began the colonization of La Plata.

Numerous detachments of European conquerors also rushed to the northern part of South America, where, according to their ideas, the mythical country of Eldorado, rich in gold and other treasures, was located. The German bankers Welser and Echinger also participated in the financing of these expeditions, who received from their debtor, Emperor (and King of Spain) Charles V, the right to colonize the southern coast of the Caribbean, which at that time was called “Tierra Firme”. In search of El Dorado, the Spanish expeditions of Ordaz, Jimenez de Quesada, Benalcazar and detachments of German mercenaries under the command of Ehinger, Speyer, Federman penetrated in the 30s of the 16th century. in the Orinoco and Magdalena river basins. In 1538, Jimenez de Quesada, Federman and Benalcazar, moving respectively from the north, east and south, met on the Cundinamarca plateau, near the city of Bogota.

In the early 40s, Francisco de Orella did not reach the Amazon River and descended along its course to the Atlantic Ocean.

At the same time, the Spaniards, led by Pedro de Valdivia, undertook a new campaign in Chile, but by the beginning of the 50s they were able to capture only the northern and central part of the country. The penetration of Spanish and Portuguese conquerors into the interior of America continued in the second half of the 16th century, and the conquest and colonization of many areas (for example, southern Chile and northern Mexico) dragged on for a much longer period.

However, the vast and rich lands of the New World were also claimed by other European powers - England, France and Holland, who unsuccessfully tried to seize various territories in South and Central America, as well as a number of islands in the West Indies. For this purpose, they used pirates - filibusters and buccaneers, who robbed mainly Spanish ships and the American colonies of Spain. In 1578, the English pirate Francis Drake reached the coast of South America in the La Plata area and passed through the Strait of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean. Seeing a threat to its colonial possessions, the Spanish government equipped and sent a huge squadron to the shores of England. However, this “Invincible Armada” was defeated in 1588, and Spain lost its naval power. Soon another English pirate, Walter Raleigh, landed on the northern coast of South America, trying to discover the fabulous El Dorado in the Orinoco Basin. Raids on Spanish possessions in America were carried out in the 16th-17th centuries. the English Hawkins, Cavendish, Henry Morgan (the latter completely plundered Panama in 1671), the Dutch Joris Spielbergen, Schouten and other pirates.

The Portuguese colony of Brazil was also subjected to in the 16th-17th centuries. attacks by French and English pirates, especially after its inclusion in the Spanish colonial empire in connection with the transfer of the Portuguese crown to the King of Spain (1581 -1640). Holland, which during this period was at war with Spain, managed to capture part of Brazil (Pernambuco), and hold it for a quarter of a century (1630-1654).

However, the fierce struggle of the two largest powers - England and France - for world primacy, their mutual rivalry, caused, in particular, by the desire to seize the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in America, objectively contributed to the preservation of most of them in the hands of weaker Spain and Portugal. Despite all attempts by rivals to deprive the Spaniards and Portuguese of their colonial monopoly, South and Central America, with the exception of the small territory of Guiana, divided between England, France and Holland, as well as the Mosquito Coast (on the east coast of Nicaragua) and Belize (southeast Yucatan) , which were the object of English colonization until the beginning of the 19th century. .continued to remain in the possession of Spain and Portugal.

Only in the West Indies, during which during the 16th - 18th centuries. England, France, Holland and Spain fought fiercely (with many islands repeatedly passing from one power to another), the positions of the Spanish colonialists were significantly weakened. By the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century. they only managed to retain Cuba, Puerto Rico and the eastern half of Haiti (Santo Domingo). According to the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697, Spain had to cede the western half of this island to France, which founded a colony here, which in French began to be called Saint-Domingue (in traditional Russian transcription - San Domingo). The French also captured (back in 1635) Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Jamaica, most of the Lesser Antilles (St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, St. Vincent, Barbados, Grenada, etc.), the Bahamas and Bermuda archipelagos were in the 17th century. captured by England. Its rights to many islands belonging to the Lesser Antilles group (St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Dominica, St. Vincent, Grenada) were finally secured by the Treaty of Versailles in 1783. In 1797, the British captured the Spanish island of Trinidad, located near northeastern coast of Venezuela, and at the beginning of the 19th century. (1814) achieved official recognition of their claims to the small island of Tobago, which had actually been in their hands since 1580 (with some interruptions).

The islands of Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire and others came under Dutch rule, and the largest of the Virgin Islands (Saint Croix, St. Thomas and St. John), initially captured by Spain, and then the object of a fierce struggle between England, France and the Netherlands, 30-50s of the 18th century. were bought by Denmark.

The discovery and colonization of the American continent by Europeans, where pre-feudal relations previously reigned supreme, objectively contributed to the development of the feudal system there. At the same time, these events had enormous world-historical significance for accelerating the process of development of capitalism in Europe and drawing the vast territories of America into its orbit. “The discovery of America and the sea route around Africa,” K. Marx and F. Engels pointed out, “created a new field of activity for the rising bourgeoisie. The East Indian and Chinese markets, the colonization of America, exchange with the colonies, the increase in the number of means of exchange and goods in general gave a hitherto unheard of impetus to trade, navigation, industry and thereby caused the rapid development of the revolutionary element in the disintegrating feudal society.” The discovery of America, according to Marx and Engels, prepared the way for the creation of a world market, which “caused a colossal development of trade, navigation and means of land communication.”

However, the conquistadors were inspired, as W. Z. Foster noted, “by no means the ideas of social progress; their only goal was to capture everything they could for themselves and for their class." At the same time, during the conquest, they mercilessly destroyed the ancient civilizations created by the indigenous population of America, and the Indians themselves were enslaved or exterminated. Thus, having captured vast spaces of the New World, the conquerors barbarously destroyed the forms of economic life, social structure, and original culture that had reached a high level of development among some peoples.

In an effort to consolidate their dominance over the captured territories of America, European colonialists created appropriate administrative and socio-economic systems here.

From the Spanish possessions in North and Central America, the Viceroyalty of New Spain was created in 1535 with its capital in Mexico City. Its composition by the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century. included the entire modern territory of Mexico (with the exception of Chiapas) and the southern part of the current United States (the states of Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, part of Colorado and Wyoming). The northern boundary of the viceroyalty was not precisely established until 1819 due to territorial disputes between Spain, England, the United States and Russia. Spain's colonies in South America, with the exception of its Caribbean coast (Venezuela), and the southeastern part of Central America (Panama) formed the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1542, whose capital was Lima.

Some areas, nominally under the authority of the viceroy, were actually independent political-administrative units governed by captains general, who were directly subordinate to the Madrid government. Thus, most of Central America (with the exception of Yucatan, Tabasco, Panama) was occupied by the Captaincy General of Guatemala. Spanish possessions in the West Indies and on the Caribbean coast “until the second half of the 18th century. constituted the captaincy general of Santo Domingo. Part of the Viceroyalty of Peru until the 30s of the 18th century. included the captaincy general of New Granada (with its capital in Bogota).

Along with the formation of viceroyalties and captaincy generals, during the Spanish conquest, special administrative and judicial boards, the so-called audiences, were established in the largest colonial centers, with advisory functions. The territory under the jurisdiction of each audience constituted a specific administrative unit, and its boundaries in some cases coincided with the boundaries of the corresponding captaincy general. The first audience - Santo Domingo - was created in 1511. Subsequently, by the beginning of the 17th century, audiences of Mexico City and Guadalajara were established in New Spain, in Central America - Guatemala, in Peru - Lima, Quito, Charcas (covering the La -Plata and Upper Peru), Panama, Bogota, Santiago (Chile).

It should be noted that although the governor of Chile (who was also the head of the audience) was subordinate and accountable to the Peruvian viceroy, due to the remoteness and military importance of this colony, its administration enjoyed much greater political independence than, for example, the authorities of the audiences of Charcas or Quito. In fact, she dealt directly with the royal government in Madrid, although in certain economic and some other matters she depended on Peru.

In the 18th century The administrative and political structure of Spain's American colonies (mainly its possessions in South America and the West Indies) underwent significant changes.

New Granada was transformed into a viceroyalty in 1739. It included territories that were under the jurisdiction of the audiences of Panama and Quito. After the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763, during which the Cuban capital Havana was occupied by the British, Spain had to cede Florida to England in exchange for Havana. But the Spaniards then received the French colony of Western Louisiana with New Orleans. Following this, in 1764, Cuba was transformed into a captaincy general, which also included Louisiana. In 1776, another new viceroyalty was created - Rio de la Plata, which included the former territory of the audience of Charcas: Buenos Aires and other provinces of modern Argentina, Paraguay, Upper Peru (present-day Bolivia), "Eastern Coast" ( "Banda Oriental"), as the territory of Uruguay, located on the eastern bank of the Uruguay River, was called at that time. Venezuela (with its capital in Caracas) was transformed into an independent captaincy general in 1777. The following year, the status of captaincy general was granted to Chile, whose dependence on Peru now assumed an even more fictitious character than before.

By the end of the 18th century. There was a significant weakening of Spain's position in the Caribbean. True, Florida was returned to her under the Treaty of Versailles, but in 1795 (according to the Treaty of Basel), the Madrid government was forced to cede Santo Domingo to France (i.e., the eastern half of Haiti), and in 1801 return it to France. Louisiana. In this regard, the center of Spanish rule in the West Indies moved to Cuba, where the audience from Santo Domingo was transferred. The governors of Florida and Puerto Rico were subordinate to the captain general and the audience of Cuba, although legally these colonies were considered to be directly dependent on the mother country.

The system of governance of Spain's American colonies was modeled after the Spanish feudal monarchy. The highest authority in each colony was exercised by the viceroy or captain general. The governors of individual provinces were subordinate to him. The cities and rural districts into which the provinces were divided were governed by corregidores and senior alcaldes, subordinate to the governors. They, in turn, were subordinate to hereditary elders (caciques), and later elected elders of Indian villages. In the 80s of the XVIII century. In Spanish America, an administrative division into commissaries was introduced. In New Spain, 12 commissaries were created, in Peru and La Plata - 8 each, in Chile - 2, etc.

Viceroys and captains-general enjoyed broad rights. They appointed provincial governors, corregidors and senior alcaldes, issued orders concerning various aspects of colonial life, and were in charge of the treasury and all armed forces. The viceroys were also royal viceroys in church affairs: since the Spanish monarch had the right of patronage in relation to the church in the American colonies, the viceroy on his behalf appointed priests from among the candidates submitted by the bishops.

The audiences that existed in a number of colonial centers performed mainly judicial functions. But they were also entrusted with monitoring the activities of the administrative apparatus. However, the audiences were only advisory bodies, the decisions of which were not binding on the viceroys and captains general.

Cruel colonial oppression led to a further decrease in the Indian population of Latin America, which was greatly facilitated by frequent epidemics of smallpox, typhus and other diseases brought by the conquerors. The catastrophic labor situation thus created and the sharp reduction in the number of taxpayers very seriously affected the interests of the colonialists. In this regard, at the beginning of the 18th century. The question arose of eliminating the institution of encomienda, which by this time, as a result of the spread of peonage, had largely lost its former significance. The royal government hoped to get new workers and taxpayers at its disposal in this way. As for the Spanish American landowners, most of them, due to the dispossession of the peasantry and the development of the peonage system, were no longer interested in preserving the encomiendas. The liquidation of the latter was also due to the growing resistance of the Indians, which led in the second half of the 17th century. to numerous uprisings.

Decrees of 1718-1720 The institution of encomienda in the American colonies of Spain was formally abolished. However, in fact, it was preserved in some places in a hidden form or even legally for many years. In some provinces of New Spain (Yucatan, Tabasco), encomiendas were officially abolished only in 1785, and in Chile - only in 1791. There is evidence of the existence of encomiendas in the second half of the 18th century. and in other areas, particularly La Plata and New Granada.

With the abolition of encomiendas, large landowners retained not only their estates - “haciendas” and “estancias”, but in fact also power over the Indians. In most cases, they seized all or part of the lands of Indian communities, as a result of which landless and land-poor peasants, deprived of freedom of movement, were forced to continue working on the estates as peons. The Indians who somehow escaped this fate fell under the authority of the corregidores and other officials. They had to pay a capitation tax and serve labor service.

Along with the landowners and the royal government, the oppressor of the Indians was the Catholic Church, in whose hands were vast territories. Enslaved Indians were attached to the vast possessions of the Jesuit and other spiritual missions (of which there were especially many in Paraguay) and were subjected to severe oppression. The church also received huge income from the collection of tithes, payments for services, all kinds of usurious transactions, “voluntary” donations from the population, etc.

Thus, by the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. the majority of the Indian population of Latin America, deprived of personal freedom and often land, found themselves in virtual feudal dependence on their exploiters. However, in some inaccessible areas, remote from the main centers of colonization, independent tribes remained who did not recognize the power of the invaders and showed stubborn resistance to them. These free Indians, who stubbornly avoided contact with the colonialists, mostly retained the former primitive communal system, traditional way of life, their own language and culture. Only in the XIX-XX centuries. most of them were conquered, and their lands were expropriated.

In certain areas of America there also existed a free peasantry: “llaneros” - on the plains (llanos) of Venezuela and New Granada, “gauchos” - in southern Brazil and La Plata. In Mexico there were small farm-type land holdings - “ranches”.

Despite the extermination of most of the Indians, a number of indigenous people survived in many countries of the American continent. The bulk of the Indian population were exploited, enslaved peasants who suffered under the yoke of landowners, royal officials and the Catholic Church, as well as workers in mines, manufactories and craft workshops, loaders, domestic servants, etc.

Negroes imported from Africa worked primarily on plantations of sugar cane, coffee, tobacco and other tropical crops, as well as in the mining industry, in factories, etc. Most of them were slaves, but those few who were nominally considered free, in their own way in fact, they were almost no different from slaves. Although during the XVI-XVIII centuries. Many millions of African slaves were imported into Latin America due to high mortality caused by overwork, unusual climate and disease; their numbers in most colonies by the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. was small. However, in Brazil it exceeded at the end of the 18th century. 1.3 million people with a total population of 2 to 3 million. The population of African origin also predominated on the islands of the West Indies and was quite numerous in New Granada, Venezuela and some other areas.

Along with Indians and blacks in Latin America, from the very beginning of its colonization, a group of people of European origin appeared and began to grow. The privileged elite of colonial society were natives of the metropolis - the Spaniards (who in America were contemptuously called “gachupins” or “chapetons”) and the Portuguese. These were predominantly representatives of the noble nobility, as well as wealthy merchants in whose hands colonial trade was in control. They occupied almost all the highest administrative, military and church positions. Among them were large landowners and mine owners. The natives of the metropolis were proud of their origins and considered themselves a superior race in comparison not only with Indians and blacks, but even with the descendants of their compatriots - the Creoles - who were born in America.

The term “Creole” is very arbitrary and imprecise. Creoles in America were the “purebred” descendants of Europeans born here. However, in fact, most of them had, to one degree or another, an admixture of Indian or Negro blood. Most of the landowners came from among the Creoles. They also joined the ranks of the colonial intelligentsia and the lower clergy, and occupied minor positions in the administrative apparatus and the army. Relatively few of them were engaged in commercial and industrial activities, but they owned most of the mines and manufactories. Among the Creole population there were also small landowners, artisans, owners of small businesses, etc.

Possessing nominally equal rights with natives of the metropolis, Creoles were in fact discriminated against and were appointed to senior positions only as an exception. In turn, they treated the Indians and “coloreds” in general with contempt, treating them as representatives of an inferior race. They were proud of the supposed purity of their blood, although many of them had absolutely no reason for this.

During colonization, a process of mixing of Europeans, Indians, and blacks took place. Therefore, the population of Latin America at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. its ethnic composition was extremely heterogeneous. In addition to Indians, blacks and colonists of European origin, there was a very large group that arose from a mixture of various ethnic elements: whites and Indians (Indo-European mestizos), whites and blacks (mulattoes), Indians and blacks (sambo).

The mestizo population was deprived of civil rights: mestizos and mulattoes could not hold official and officer positions, participate in municipal elections, etc. Representatives of this large group of the population were engaged in crafts, retail trade, liberal professions, served as managers, clerks, and supervisors rich landowners. They constituted the majority among small landowners. Some of them, by the end of the colonial period, began to penetrate the ranks of the lower clergy. Some of the mestizos turned into peons, workers in factories and mines, soldiers, and constituted a declassed element of the cities.

In contrast to the mixture of various ethnic elements that was taking place, the colonialists sought to isolate and contrast with each other the natives of the metropolis, Creoles, Indians, blacks and mestizos. They divided the entire population of the colonies into groups based on race. However, in fact, belonging to one or another category was often determined not so much by ethnic characteristics as by social factors. Thus, many wealthy people who were mestizos in the anthropological sense were officially considered Creoles, and the children of Indian and white women who lived in Indian villages were often considered by the authorities as Indians.

Tribes belonging to the linguistic groups of the Caribs and Arawaks also made up the population of the islands of the West Indies.

The estuary (widened mouth) formed by the Parana and Uruguay rivers is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean.

K. Marxi F. Engels, Works, vol. 21, p. 31.

Ibid., p. 408.

This was one of the Bahamas islands, according to most historians and geographers, the one that was later called Fr. Watling, and recently renamed again to San Salvador.

Later, the entire Spanish colony in Haiti and even the island itself began to be called this.

Archives of Marx and Engels, vol. VII, p. 100.

Travels of Christopher Columbus. Diaries, letters, documents, M.,. 1961, p. 461.

From the Spanish "el dorado" - "gilded". The idea of ​​Eldorado arose among European conquerors, apparently on the basis of greatly exaggerated information about some rituals common among the Chibcha Indian tribes inhabiting the north-west of South America, who, when electing a supreme leader, covered his body with gold and brought gold and emeralds as gifts to their deities .

That is, “solid land”, in contrast to the islands of the West Indies. In a more limited sense, this term was later used to designate the part of the Isthmus of Panama adjacent to the South American mainland, which made up the territories of the provinces of Daria, Panama and Veraguas.

The last attempt of this kind was made in the 70s of the 18th century. Spaniard Rodriguez.

About the fate of Santo Domingo at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. see page 16 and chap. 3.

K. Marxi F. Engels, Works, vol. 4, p. 425.

W. Z. Foster, Essay on the Political History of America, Ed. foreign lit., 1953, p. 46.

This city was built on the site of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, destroyed and burned by the Spaniards.

K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, vol. 23, p. 179.

Gachupins (Spanish) - “people with spurs”, Chapetones (Spanish) - literally “newcomers”, “newcomers”.

Colonization of America

How was America colonized?

European colonization of the Americas began as early as the 10th and 11th centuries, when Western Scandinavian sailors explored and briefly settled minor areas off the coast of what is now Canada. These Scandinavians were Vikings who discovered and settled Greenland, and then they sailed to the Arctic region of North America near Greenland and down to neighboring Canada for the purpose of exploration and subsequent settlement. According to the Icelandic sagas, violent conflicts with the indigenous population eventually forced the Scandinavians to abandon these settlements.

Discovery of North American lands

Extensive European colonization began in 1492, when a Spanish expedition led by Christopher Columbus sailed west to find a new trade route to the Far East, but inadvertently landed in what became known to Europeans as the “New World.” Moving through the northern part of Hispaniola on December 5, 1492, which was inhabited by Taino people since the 7th century, Europeans founded their first settlement in the Americas. This was followed by European conquest, large-scale exploration, colonization and industrial development. During his first two voyages (1492-93), Columbus reached the Bahamas and other Caribbean islands, including Haiti, Puerto Rico and Cuba. In 1497, setting out from Bristol on behalf of England, John Cabot landed on the North American coast, and a year later, on his third voyage, Columbus reached the coast of South America. As the sponsor of Christopher Columbus's voyages, Spain was the first European power to settle and colonize much of North America and the Caribbean to the southernmost point of South America.

What countries colonized America

Other countries, such as France, established colonies in the Americas: in eastern North America, a number of Caribbean islands, and small coastal parts of South America. Portugal colonized Brazil, tried to colonize the coast of modern Canada, and its representatives settled the northwest (eastern bank) of the La Plata River for a long period. The era of great geographical discoveries marked the beginning of territorial expansion by some European countries. Europe was occupied with internal wars, and was slowly recovering from the loss of population due to the bubonic plague; therefore the rapid rate of growth of her wealth and power was unpredictable in the early 15th century.

Eventually the entire Western Hemisphere came under the apparent control of European governments, leading to profound changes in its landscape, its population, and its flora and fauna. In the 19th century, more than 50 million people left Europe alone for North and South America. The period after 1492 is known as the period of the Columbian Exchange, the large and widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, populations (including slaves), infectious diseases, and ideas between the American and Afro-Eurasian hemispheres that followed Columbus's voyages to the Americas .

Scandinavian travel to Greenland and Canada is supported by historical and archaeological evidence. The Scandinavian colony of Greenland was established in the late 10th century and existed until the mid-15th century, with a court and parliamentary assemblies sitting in Brattalid, and a bishop based in Sargan. The remains of a Scandinavian settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada, were discovered in 1960 and have been dated to around the year 1000 (carbon analysis showed 990-1050 AD); L'Anse aux Meadows is the only settlement which has been widely accepted as evidence of pre-Columbian transoceanic contact. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. It should also be noted that the settlement may be related to the failed Vinland colony founded by Leif Erikson around the same time, or, more broadly, to the West Scandinavian colonization of the Americas.

Colonial history of America

Early explorations and conquests were made by the Spanish and Portuguese immediately after their own eventual reconquest of Iberia in 1492. In 1494, with the Treaty of Tordesillas, ratified by the Pope, these two kingdoms divided the entire non-European world into two parts for exploration and colonization, from the northern to the southern border, cutting across the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern part of modern Brazil. Based on this treaty and on the earlier claims of the Spanish explorer Nunez de Balboa, discoverer of the Pacific Ocean in 1513, the Spanish conquered large territories in North, Central and South America.

The Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec kingdom and Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca empire. As a result, by the mid-16th century, the Spanish crown gained control of much of western South America, Central America, and southern North America, in addition to the Caribbean territories it had conquered earlier. During this same period, Portugal took over land in North America (Canada) and colonized much of the eastern region of South America, calling it Santa Cruz and Brazil.

Other European countries soon began to challenge the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas. England and France tried to establish colonies in the Americas in the 16th century, but they failed. England and France managed to establish permanent colonies in the next century, along with the Dutch Republic. Some were in the Caribbean islands, which had been repeatedly conquered by the Spanish, or had been depopulated by disease, while other colonies were in eastern North America - north of Florida - which had not been colonized by Spain.

Early European possessions in North America included Spanish Florida, Spanish New Mexico, the English colonies of Virginia (with their North Atlantic offshoot, Bermuda) and New England, the French colonies of Acedia and Canada, the Swedish colony of New Sweden, and the Dutch colony of New Netherland. In the 18th century, Denmark and Norway revived their former colonies in Greenland, while the Russian empire gained a foothold in Alaska. Denmark-Norway later made several claims to own lands in the Caribbean, dating back to the 1600s.

As more countries became interested in colonizing the Americas, competition for territory became increasingly fierce. Colonists often faced the threat of attacks from neighboring colonies, as well as indigenous tribes and pirates.

Who paid for the expeditions of the discoverers of America?

The first phase of well-funded European activity in the Americas began with the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by Christopher Columbus (1492-1504), financed by Spain, whose original goal was to try to find a new route to India and China, then known as the "Indies". He was followed by other explorers such as John Cabot, who was funded by England and reached Newfoundland. Pedro Alvarez Cabral reached Brazil and claimed it on behalf of Portugal.

Amerigo Vespucci, working for Portugal on voyages from 1497 to 1513, established that Columbus had reached new continents. Cartographers still use the Latinized version of its first name, America, for the two continents. Other explorers: Giovanni Verrazzano, whose voyage was financed by France in 1524; the Portuguese João Vaz Cortirial in Newfoundland; Joao Fernandez Lavrador, Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real and João Alvarez Fagundes in Newfoundland, Greenland, Labrador and Nova Scotia (from 1498 to 1502, and in 1520); Jacques Cartier (1491-1557), Henry Hudson (1560-1611), and Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635), who explored Canada.

In 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and led the first European expedition to see the Pacific Ocean from the west coast of the New World. In fact, sticking to the previous history of conquest, Balboa claimed that the Spanish crown claimed the Pacific Ocean and all surrounding lands. It was before 1517 that another expedition from Cuba visited Central America, landing on the Yucatan coast in search of slaves.

These explorations were followed, particularly by Spain, by a phase of conquest: the Spanish, having just completed the liberation of Spain from Muslim rule, were the first to colonize the Americas, applying the same model of European administration of their territories in the New World.

Colonial period

Ten years after Columbus's discovery, the administration of Hispaniola was transferred to Nicolás de Ovando of the Order of Alcantara, founded during the Reconquista (the liberation of Spain from Muslim rule). As in the Iberian Peninsula, the people of Hispaniola received new landowners as masters while religious orders took charge of local administration. Gradually, the encomienda system was established there, which obliged European settlers to pay tribute (with access to local labor and taxation).

A relatively common misconception is that a small number of conquistadors conquered vast territories, and brought there only epidemics and their powerful caballeros. In fact, recent archaeological excavations have suggested the existence of a large Spanish-Indian alliance numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Hernán Cortés eventually conquered Mexico with the help of Tlaxcala in 1519-1521, while the conquest of the Incas was carried out by about 40,000 traitors of the same people led by Francisco Pizarro between 1532 and 1535.

How did the relationship between European colonists and Indians develop?

A century and a half after Columbus's voyages, the indigenous population of the Americas had plummeted by about 80% (from 50 million in 1492 to 8 million in 1650), largely due to outbreaks of Old World diseases.

In 1532, Charles V of the Holy Roman Emperor sent a viceroy to Mexico, Antonio de Mendoza, to prevent the independence movement that arose during the reign of Cortés, who finally returned to Spain in 1540. Two years later, Charles V signed the New Laws (which replaced the Laws of Burgos of 1512), prohibiting slavery and repartimiento, but also claiming ownership of American lands and considering all people inhabiting these lands as his subjects.

When Pope Alexander VI issued the bull "Inter caetera" in May 1493, which transferred new lands to the Kingdom of Spain, he demanded in exchange the evangelization of the people. Thus, during Columbus's second voyage, Benedictine monks accompanied him along with twelve other priests. Because slavery was prohibited among Christians, and could only be applied to prisoners of war who were not Christians, or to men already sold as slaves, the debate over Christianization was particularly intense during the 16th century. In 1537, the papal bull Sublimis Deus finally recognized the fact that Native Americans possessed souls, thereby prohibiting their enslavement, but did not end the debate. Some argued that indigenous people who rebelled against authority and were captured could still be enslaved.

A debate was later held in Valladolid between the Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas and another Dominican philosopher Juan Ginés de Sepulveda, where the former argued that the Native Americans were beings with souls like all other human beings, while the latter argued the opposite and justified their enslavement.

Christianization of Colonial America

The process of Christianization was initially brutal: when the first Franciscans arrived in Mexico in 1524, they burned sites dedicated to pagan worship, chilling relations with much of the local population. In the 1530s, they began to adapt Christian practices to local customs, including building new churches on the sites of ancient places of worship, leading to the mixing of Old World Christianity with local religions. The Spanish Roman Catholic Church, in need of native manpower and cooperation, preached in Quechua, Nahuatl, Guarani, and other Indian languages, increasing the use of these indigenous languages ​​and providing some with writing systems. One of the first primitive schools for Native Americans was that founded by Fray Pedro de Gante in 1523.

In order to encourage their troops, the conquistadors often gave up Indian cities for the use of their troops and officers. Black African slaves replaced the native labor force in some places, including in the West Indies, where the indigenous population was close to extinction on many islands.

During this time, the Portuguese gradually moved from their original plan of establishing trading posts to extensive colonization of what is now Brazil. They brought millions of slaves to work their plantations. The Portuguese and Spanish royal governments intended to administer these settlements and receive at least 20% of all treasures found (at Quinto Real, collected by the government agency Casa de Contratación), in addition to collecting any taxes they might collect. By the end of the 16th century, American silver accounted for one-fifth of Spain's total budget. In the 16th century, about 240 thousand Europeans landed at American ports.

Colonization of America in search of wealth

Inspired by the wealth the Spaniards were gaining from their colonies based on the conquered lands of the Aztecs, Incas and other large Indian settlements in the 16th century, the first English began to settle permanently in the Americas and hoped for similar rich discoveries when they established their first permanent settlement in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. They were financed by the same stock companies, such as the Virginia Freight Company, financed by wealthy Englishmen who exaggerated the economic potential of this new land. The main purpose of this colony was the hope of finding gold.

It took strong leaders such as John Smith to convince the Jamestown colonists that in their search for gold they needed to forget their immediate needs for food and shelter, and the biblical principle that “he who does not work, neither shall he eat.” Lack of food supply leading to to the extremely high mortality rate was very sad and was a cause for despair among the colonists. Numerous supply missions were organized to support the colony. Later, thanks to the work of John Rolfe and others, tobacco became a cash export crop, which ensured the sustainable economic development of Virginia and the neighboring colony of Maryland .

From the beginning of Virginia's settlement in 1587 until the 1680s, the main source of labor came from the vast majority of immigrants who came to foreign colonies to work as indentured servants in search of a new life. During the 17th century, indentured laborers made up three-quarters of all European immigrants to the Chesapeake region. Most of the hired workers were teenagers, originally from England, with poor economic prospects in their homeland. Their fathers signed documents that gave these teenagers the opportunity to come to America for free and get unpaid work until they reached adulthood. They were provided with food, clothing, housing, and training in agricultural work or domestic service. American landowners needed workers and were willing to pay for their passage to America if these workers served them for a few years. By exchanging passage to America for unpaid work for five to seven years, after this period they could begin an independent life in America. Many migrants from England died within the first few years.

Economic advantage also prompted the creation of the Darien Project, an ill-fated undertaking by the Kingdom of Scotland to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama in the late 1690s. The Darien Project was intended to control trade through that part of the world, and thereby assist Scotland in increasing its power in world trade. However, the project was doomed due to poor planning, low food supplies, weak leadership, lack of demand for trade goods, and a devastating disease. The failure of the Darien Project was one of the reasons that led the Kingdom of Scotland to conclude the Act of Union in 1707 with the Kingdom of England, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and giving Scotland commercial access to the English and now British colonies.

In the French colonial regions, the mainstay of the economy was sugar plantations in the Caribbean. In Canada, the fur trade with the local people was very important. About 16,000 French men and women became colonizers. The vast majority became farmers, settling along the St. Lawrence River. With favorable health conditions (no disease) and plenty of land and food, their numbers grew exponentially to 65,000 by 1760. The colony was transferred to Great Britain in 1760, but there were few social, religious, legal, cultural and economic changes in the society, which remained true to the newly formed traditions.

Religious immigration to the New World

Roman Catholics were the first major religious group to immigrate to the New World, as settlers in the colonies of Spain and Portugal (and later France) belonged to this faith. The English and Dutch colonies, on the other hand, proved to be more religiously diverse. The settlers of these colonies included Anglicans, Dutch Calvinists, English Puritans and other Nonconformists, English Catholics, Scottish Presbyterians, French Huguenots, German and Swedish Lutherans, as well as Quakers, Mennonites, Amish, Moravians, and Jews of various nationalities.

Many groups of colonists went to America in order to gain the right to practice their religion without persecution. The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century disrupted the unity of Western Christendom and led to the formation of numerous new religious sects, which were often persecuted by government authorities. In England, many people came to terms with the organization of the Church of England towards the end of the 16th century. One of the main manifestations of this was the Puritan movement, which sought to "cleanse" the existing Church of England of its many residual Catholic practices, which they believed had no mention in the Bible.

A firm believer in the principle of government by divine right, Charles I, King of England and Scotland, persecuted religious dissenters. Waves of repression led to the migration of about 20,000 Puritans to New England between 1629 and 1642, where they founded several colonies. Later that century, the new colony of Pennsylvania was given to William Penn in settlement of the king's debt to his father. The government of this colony was founded by William Penn about 1682, primarily to provide a refuge for persecuted English Quakers; but other residents were also welcome. Baptists, Quakers, German and Swiss Protestants, and Anabaptists flocked to Pennsylvania. Very attractive were the good opportunity to get cheap land, freedom of religion and the right to independently improve one’s life.

The peoples of America before and after the start of European colonization

Slavery was a common practice in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans, as various American Indian groups captured and held members of other tribes as slaves. Many of these captives were subjected to human sacrifice in Native American civilizations such as the Aztecs. In response to some cases of enslavement of local populations in the Caribbean during the early years of colonization, the Spanish crown passed a series of laws prohibiting slavery as early as 1512. A new, stricter set of laws was passed in 1542, called the New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Protection of the Indians, or simply the New Laws. They were created to prevent the exploitation of indigenous peoples by encomenderos, or landowners, by strictly limiting their power and dominance. This helped reduce Indian slavery significantly, although not completely. Later, with the arrival of other European colonial powers in the New World, the enslavement of the indigenous population increased, as these empires did not have anti-slavery legislation for several more decades. The indigenous population declined (mostly due to European diseases, but also from forced exploitation and crime). Later, indigenous workers were replaced by Africans brought in through the large commercial slave trade.

How were blacks brought to America?

By the 18th century, the overwhelming numbers of black slaves were such that Indian slavery was significantly rarer. The Africans who were taken aboard slave ships sailing to the Americas were primarily supplied from their African home countries by coastal tribes, who captured them and sold them. Europeans bought slaves from local African tribes who captured them in exchange for rum, weapons, gunpowder and other goods.

Slave trade in America

The total slave trade in the islands of the Caribbean, Brazil, Mexico and the United States involved an estimated 12 million Africans. The vast majority of these slaves were sent to the sugar colonies in the Caribbean and Brazil, where life expectancy was short and the number of slaves had to be constantly replenished. At best, about 600,000 African slaves were brought into the United States, or 5% of the 12 million slaves taken from Africa. Life expectancy was much higher in the US (due to better food, fewer diseases, easier work, and better medical care), so the number of slaves grew rapidly from births to deaths, reaching 4 million by 1860 according to the census. From 1770 to 1860, the rate of natural growth of North American slaves was much higher than the population of any country in Europe, and was almost twice as fast as that of England.

Slaves imported into the thirteen colonies/USA over a period of time:

• 1619-1700 - 21.000
• 1701-1760 - 189.000
• 1761-1770 - 63.000
• 1771-1790 - 56.000
• 1791-1800 - 79.000
• 1801-1810 - 124.000
• 1810-1865 - 51.000
• Total - 597.000

Losses of the indigenous population during colonization

The European way of life included a long history of direct contact with domesticated animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, and various domesticated birds, from which many diseases originally originated. Thus, unlike indigenous peoples, Europeans accumulated antibodies. Large-scale contact with Europeans after 1492 introduced new microbes to the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Epidemics of smallpox (1518, 1521, 1525, 1558, 1589), typhoid (1546), influenza (1558), diphtheria (1614), and measles (1618) swept the Americas after European contact, killing between 10 million and 100 million people, up to 95% of the indigenous population of North and South America. Cultural and political instability accompanied these losses, which together significantly contributed to the efforts of various colonists in New England and Massachusetts to gain control of the greater wealth in land and resources that indigenous communities commonly enjoyed.

Such diseases have added to human mortality of undeniably enormous severity and magnitude - and it is pointless to attempt to determine its full extent with any degree of accuracy. Estimates of the pre-Columbian population of the Americas vary widely.

Others have argued that significant differences in population size since pre-Columbian history are a reason to view the largest population count with caution. Such estimates may reflect historical population highs, while indigenous population numbers may have been at levels slightly below these highs or in decline immediately before European contact. Indigenous peoples reached their final lows in most areas of the Americas in the early 20th century; and in some cases growth has returned.

List of European colonies in the Americas

Spanish colonies

• Cuba (until 1898)
• New Granada (1717-1819)
• Captaincy General of Venezuela
• New Spain (1535-1821)
• Nueva Extremadura
• Nueva Galicia
• Nuevo Reino de Leon
• Nuevo Santander
• Nueva Vizcaya
• California
• Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico
• Viceroyalty of Peru (1542-1824)
• Captaincy General of Chile
• Puerto Rico (1493-1898)
• Rio de la Plata (1776-1814)
• Hispaniola (1493-1865); The island, now included in the islands of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, was under Spanish rule in whole or in part from 1492 to 1865.

English and (after 1707) British colonies

• British America (1607-1783)
• Thirteen Colonies (1607-1783)
• Rupert's Land (1670-1870)
• British Columbia (1793-1871)
• British North America (1783-1907)
• British West Indies
• Belize

Courland

• New Courland (Tobago) (1654-1689)

Danish colonies

• Danish West Indies (1754-1917)
• Greenland (1814–present)

Dutch colonies

• New Netherland (1609-1667)
• Essequibo (1616-1815)
• Dutch Virgin Islands (1625-1680)
• Berbice (1627-1815)
• New Valcheren (1628-1677)
• Dutch Brazil (1630-1654)
• Pomeranian (1650-1689)
• Cayenne (1658-1664)
• Demerara (1745-1815)
• Suriname (1667-1954) (After independence, still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1975)
• Curacao and dependent territories (1634-1954) (Aruba and Curacao are still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Bonaire; 1634-present)
• Sint Eustatius and dependent territories (1636-1954) (Sint Maarten is still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Sint Eustatius and Saba; 1636-present)

French colonies

• New France (1604-1763)
• Acadia (1604-1713)
• Canada (1608-1763)
• Louisiana (1699-1763, 1800-1803)
• Newfoundland (1662-1713)
• Ile Royale (1713-1763)
• French Guiana (1763–present)
• French West Indies
• Saint-Domingue (1659-1804, now Haiti)
• Tobago
• Virgin Islands
• Antarctic France (1555-1567)
• Equatorial France (1612-1615)

Order of Malta

• Saint Barthelemy (1651-1665)
• St. Christopher (1651-1665)
• Sainte-Croix (1651-1665)
• Saint Martin (1651-1665)

Norwegian colonies

• Greenland (986-1814)
• Danish-Norwegian West Indies (1754-1814)
• Sverdrup Islands (1898-1930)
• Land of Eric the Red (1931-1933)

Portuguese colonies

• Colonial Brazil (1500-1815) became a Kingdom, the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.
• Terra do Labrador (1499/1500-) territory that was claimed (inhabited periodically, from time to time).
• Land of Corte Real, also known as Terra Nova dos Bacalhaus (Land of the Cod) - Terra Nova (Newfoundland) (1501) claimed territory (settled periodically, from time to time).
• Portugal Cove Saint Philip (1501-1696)
• Nova Scotia (1519 -1520) territory that was claimed (settled periodically, from time to time).
• Barbados (1536-1620)
• Colonia del Sacramento (1680-1705 / 1714-1762 / 1763-1777 (1811-1817))
• Sisplatina (1811-1822, now Uruguay)
• French Guiana (1809-1817)

Russian colonies

• Russian America (Alaska) (1799-1867)

Scottish colonies

• Nova Scotia (1622-1632)
• Darien Project on the Isthmus of Panama (1698-1700)
• Stuart Town, Caroline (1684-1686)

Swedish colonies

• New Sweden (1638-1655)
• Saint Barthelemy (1785-1878)
• Guadeloupe (1813-1815)

American Slavery Museums and Exhibits

In 2007, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and the Virginia Historical Society (VHS) jointly organized a traveling exhibit to recount the strategic alliances and bitter conflicts between European empires (English, Spanish, French) and the indigenous people living in the American North. The exhibition was presented in three languages ​​and from different perspectives. Artifacts on display included rare surviving local and European artefacts, maps, documents and ritual objects from museums and royal collections on both sides of the Atlantic. The exhibition opened in Richmond, Virginia on March 17, 2007 and closed at the Smithsonian International Gallery on October 31, 2009.

A related online exhibition explores the international origins of the societies of Canada and the United States, and commemorates the 400th anniversary of three long-term settlements at Jamestown (1607), Quebec (1608), and Santa Fe (1609). The site is available in three languages.

Western European colonization of “new” lands in the 16th-17th centuries. - This is a very important process in the development of the American continent. Europeans moved to unknown lands in search of a better life. At the same time, the colonialists encountered resistance and conflicts with the local residents - the Indians. In this lesson you will learn how the conquest of Mexico and Central America took place, how the civilizations of the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas were destroyed and what were the results of this colonization.

Western European colonization of new lands

Background

The discovery of new lands was associated with the Europeans' search for new sea routes to the East. Habitual trade communications were cut off by the Turks. Europeans needed precious metals and spices. The progress of shipbuilding and navigation allowed them to make long sea voyages. Technological superiority over the inhabitants of other continents (including the possession of firearms) allowed the Europeans to make rapid territorial gains. They soon discovered that colonies could be a source of great profit and quick enrichment.

Events

1494 - Treaty of Tordesillas on the division of colonial possessions between Spain and Portugal. The dividing line ran across the Atlantic Ocean from north to south.

1519 - About five hundred conquistadors led by Cortez landed in Mexico.

In 1521, the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan was captured. A new colony was founded on the conquered territory - Mexico. ( about the Aztecs and their ruler Montezuma II).

1532-1535 - Conquistadors led by Pizarro conquer the Inca Empire.

1528 - the beginning of the conquest of the Mayan civilization. In 1697, the last Mayan city was captured (the resistance lasted 169 years).

The penetration of Europeans into America led to massive epidemics and the death of a huge number of people. The Indians had no immunity to Old World diseases.

1600 - the English East India Company was created, which equipped and sent ships to the “spice islands”.

1602 - The Dutch East India Company is created. From the government, the company received the right to seize land and manage the local population.

By 1641, most of Indonesia's fortresses were in Dutch hands.

1607 - The city of Jamestown, the first English settlement in the New World, is founded.

1608 - The French establish the colony of Quebec in Canada.

XVII century - The French colonized the Mississippi River Valley and founded the colony of Louisiana there.

1626 - The Dutch found New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island (future New York).

1619 - English colonists bring the first group of slaves to North America.

1620 - English Puritans found the colony of New Plymouth (north of Jamestown). They are considered the founders of America - the Pilgrim Fathers.

End of the 17th century - There are already 13 English colonies in America, each of which considered itself a small state (state).

Participants

The conquistadors were Spanish conquerors who participated in the conquest of the New World.

Hernan Cortes- Spanish nobleman, conquistador. Led the conquest of the Aztec state.

Francisco Pizarro- conquistador, led the conquest of the Inca state.

Conclusion

In the 16th century, two major colonial empires emerged - Spanish and Portuguese. The dominance of Spain and Portugal in South America was established.

The colony was headed by a viceroy appointed by the king.

In Mexico and Peru, the Spaniards organized gold and silver mining. Trade in colonial goods brought great profits. Merchants sold goods in Europe at 1000 times the price at which they were purchased in the colonies. Europeans became acquainted with corn, potatoes, tobacco, tomatoes, sugar molasses, and cotton.

A single world market gradually emerged. Over time, a slave-owning plantation economy developed in the colonies. Indians were forced to work on the plantations, and from the beginning of the 17th century. - slaves from Africa.

Colonies became a source of enrichment for Europeans. This led to competition between European countries for possession of colonies.

In the 17th century, France and Holland ousted the Spaniards and Portuguese in the colonies.

In the XVI-XVIII centuries. England won the battle for the seas. It became the strongest naval and colonial power in the world.

The lesson will focus on Western European colonization of “new” lands in the 16th-17th centuries.

The great geographical discoveries radically changed the vector of development of the American continent. XVI-XVII centuries in the history of the New World is called conquest, or colonization (which means “conquest”).

The aborigines of the American continent were numerous Indian tribes, and in the north - the Aleuts and Eskimos. Many of them are well known today. Thus, in North America lived the Apache tribes (Fig. 1), later popularized in cowboy films. Central America is represented by the Mayan civilization (Fig. 2), and the Aztec state was located on the territory of the modern state of Mexico. Their capital was located on the territory of the modern capital of Mexico - Mexico City - and was then called Tenochtitlan (Fig. 3). In South America, the largest Indian state was the Inca civilization.

Rice. 1. Apache tribes

Rice. 2. Mayan civilization

Rice. 3. The capital of the Aztec civilization - Tenochtitlan

Participants in the colonization of America (conquests) were called conquistadors, and their leaders were called adelantados. The conquistadors were impoverished Spanish knights. The main reason that prompted them to seek happiness in America was the ruin, the end of the Reconquista, as well as the economic and political aspirations of the Spanish crown. The most famous adelantodos were the conqueror of Mexico, who destroyed the Aztec civilization, Hernando Cortez, Francisco Pizarro, who conquered the Inca civilization, as well as Hernando de Sota, the first European to discover the Mississippi River. The conquistadors were robbers and invaders. Their main goal was military glory and personal enrichment.

Hernando Cortez is the most famous conquistador, conqueror of Mexico, who destroyed the Aztec empire (Fig. 4). In July 1519, Hernando Cortez and his army landed on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Leaving the garrison, he went deep into the continent. The conquest of Mexico was accompanied by the physical extermination of the local population, the plunder and burning of Indian cities. Cortez had Indian allies. Despite the fact that the Europeans were superior to the Indians in the quality of weapons, their numbers were thousands of times smaller. Cortez concluded an agreement with one of the Indian tribes, which made up most of his army. According to the treaty, after the conquest of Mexico this tribe was to gain independence. However, this agreement was not respected. In November 1519, Cortes and his allies captured the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. For more than six months, the Spaniards held power in the city. Only on the night of July 1, 1520, the Aztecs managed to expel the invaders from the city. The Spaniards lost all their artillery and the loss of life was great. Soon, having received reinforcements from Cuba, Cortes again captured the Aztec capital. In 1521, the Aztec state fell. Until 1524, Hernando Cortez ruled Mexico alone.

Rice. 4. Hernando Cortez

The Mayan civilization lived south of the Aztecs, in Central America, on the Yucatan Peninsula. In 1528, the Spaniards began conquering Mayan territories. However, the Mayans resisted for more than 169 years, and only in 1697 the Spaniards were able to capture the last city inhabited by the Mayan Indian tribe. Today, about 6 million descendants of the Mayan Indians live in Central America.

A famous Adelantado who conquered the Inca Empire was Francisco Pizarro (Fig. 5). Pizarro's first two expeditions of 1524-1525. and 1526 were unsuccessful. It was not until 1531 that he set out on his third expedition to conquer the Inca Empire. In 1533, Pizarro captured the Inca leader Atahualpa. He managed to obtain a large ransom for the leader, and then Pizarro killed him. In 1533, the Spaniards captured the capital of the Incas, the city of Cusco. In 1535, Pizarro founded the city of Lima. The Spaniards named the captured territory Chile, which means “cold.” The consequences of this expedition were tragic for the Indians. Over half a century, the number of Indians in the conquered territories decreased by more than 5 times. This was due not only to the physical extermination of the local population, but also to diseases that Europeans brought to the continent.

Rice. 5. Francisco Pizarro

In 1531, Hernando de Soto (Fig. 6) took part in Francis Pizarro's campaign against the Incas, and in 1539 he was appointed governor of Cuba and undertook an aggressive campaign in North America. In May 1539, Hernando de Sota landed on the coast of Florida and walked as far as the Alabama River. In May 1541, he reached the coast of the Mississippi River, crossed it and reached the Arkansas River valley. He then fell ill, was forced to turn back, and died in Louisiana in May 1542. His companions returned to Mexico in 1543. Although contemporaries considered de Soto's campaign a failure, its significance was still very great. The aggressive attitude of the conquerors towards the local population led to the outflow of Indian tribes from the territory of the Mississippi River. This facilitated further colonization of these territories.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. Spain captured vast territories on the American continent. Spain held onto these lands for a long time, and the last Spanish colony was recaptured only in 1898 by a new state - the United States of America.

Rice. 6. Hernando de Soto

Not only Spain colonized the lands of the American continent. At the end of the 16th century, England made two unsuccessful attempts to establish colonies in North America. Only in 1605 did two joint-stock companies receive a license from King James I to colonize Virginia. At that time, the term Virginia meant the entire territory of North America.

The First London Virginia Company was licensed for the southern part of North America, and the Plymouth Company for the northern part. Officially, both companies set as their goal the spread of Christianity on the continent; the license gave them the right to search and mine gold, silver and other precious metals on the continent by all means.

In 1607, the city of Jamestown was founded - the first English settlement in America (Fig. 7). In 1619, two important events occurred. This year, Governor George Yardley transferred some of his powers to a council of burghers, thus establishing the first elected legislature in the New World. In the same year, a group of English colonists acquired Africans of Angolan origin and, despite the fact that they were not yet officially slaves, from that moment the history of slavery in the United States of America began (Fig. 8).

Rice. 7. Jamestown - the first English settlement in America

Rice. 8. Slavery in America

The population of the colony had a difficult relationship with the Indian tribes. The colonists were attacked more than once by them. In December 1620, a ship carrying Calvinist Puritans, the so-called Pilgrim Fathers, arrived on the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts. This event is considered the beginning of active colonization of the American continent by the British. By the end of the 17th century, England had 13 colonies on the American continent. Among them: Virginia (early Virginia), New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Thus, by the end of the 17th century, the British colonized the entire Atlantic coast of the modern United States.

At the end of the 16th century, France began to build its colonial empire, which stretched west from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the so-called Rocky Mountains, and south to the Gulf of Mexico. France colonizes the Antilles and in South America establishes the colony of Guiana, which is still French territory.

The second largest colonizer of Central and South America after Spain is Portugal. It captured the territories where the state of Brazil is located today. Gradually, the Portuguese colonial empire in the second half of the 17th century fell into decline and gave way to the Dutch in South America.

The Dutch West India Company, founded in 1621, gains a monopoly on trade in South America and West Africa. Gradually, in the 17th century, England and Holland occupied the leading place among the colonial powers (Fig. 9). There is a struggle between them for trade routes.

Rice. 9. Possessions of European countries on the American continent

Summing up the results of Western European colonization in the 16th-17th centuries, we can highlight the following.

Social change

The colonization of America led to the extermination of the local population; the remaining aborigines were driven into reservations and subjected to social discrimination. The conquistadors destroyed the most ancient cultures of the New World. Along with the colonialists, Christianity spread across the American continent.

Economic changes

Colonization led to the shift of the most important trade routes from inland seas to the ocean. Thus, the Mediterranean Sea lost its decisive importance for the European economy. The influx of gold and silver led to a fall in the price of precious metals and a rise in the prices of other goods. The active development of trade on a global scale stimulated entrepreneurial activity.

Household changes

The European menu included potatoes, tomatoes, cocoa beans, and chocolate. Europeans brought tobacco from America, and from that moment on, the habit of smoking tobacco spread.

Homework

1. What do you think caused the development of new lands?
2. Tell us about the conquests of the Aztec, Mayan and Incas by the colonists.
3. Which European states were the leading colonial powers at the time?
4. Tell us about the social, economic and everyday changes that occurred as a result of Western European colonization.

1. Godsbay.ru ().
2. Megabook.ru ().
3. worldview.net().
4. Biofile.ru ().

1. Vedyushkin V.A., Burin S.N. Textbook on the history of modern times, grade 7, M., 2013.
2. Verlinden Ch., Mathis G. Conquerors of America. Columbus. Cortes / Trans. with him. HELL. Dera, I.I. Zharova. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 1997.
3. Gulyaev V.I. In the footsteps of the conquistadors. - M.: Nauka, 1976.
4. Duverger Christian. Cortes. - M.: Young Guard, 2005.
5. Innes Hammond. Conquistadors. History of the Spanish conquests of the XV-XVI centuries. - M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2002.
6. Kofman A.F. Conquistadors. Three Chronicles of the Conquest of America. - St. Petersburg: Symposium, 2009.
7. Paul John, Robinson Charles. Aztecs and conquistadors. The death of a great civilization. - M.: Eksmo, 2009.
8. Prescott William Hickling. Conquest of Mexico. Conquest of Peru. - M.: Publishing house “V. Sekachev", 2012.
9. Hemming John. Conquest of the Inca Empire. The Curse of the Vanished Civilization / Trans. from English L.A. Karpova. - M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2009.
10. Yudovskaya A.Ya. General history. History of modern times. 1500-1800. M.: “Enlightenment”, 2012.

Great geographical discoveries also affected North America. The first country that began to discover and master the colonization process was Spain.

1519-1525 Cortez conquers the modern territories of Mexico, from which the Spaniards then send expeditions north to conquer the North American continent.

The most important expedition is that of Francis Coronar 1540-42. The Spaniards explored almost the entire southern part of the United States.

As a result, by the end of the 16th century they founded the first European colonies on the territory of the future United States. This new Mexico, almost 1 million km 2, covers the southernmost states of the modern USA, these are Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico, with a center in Santa Fe, then Florida. By the end of the 18th century - California.

In the 16th century, colonization attempts were made by other European powers.

Jacques Cartier, 1534-35-36, 3 expeditions, attempt to settle in the valley of the St. Mauritius River, this is modern Canada, Quebec. They do not end entirely successfully; permanent settlements are not formed.

In the 2nd half of the 16th century, during the era of religious wars, French Huguenots tried to settle in the territory of the modern state of Georgia. After 2 years, this colony perishes under the attacks of the Spaniards.

English settlements of the last third of the 16th century in the territory of modern Carolina (then called Virginia), the 5th expedition also did not lead to the creation of permanent settlements. They either die or return to their homeland.

In fact, colonization begins at the beginning of the 17th century.

1604 - creation of the very first European survivor colonies. This is a huge territory from the valley of the St. Lawrence River, from New Foundland, Labrador, to the modern state of Colorado. This is the northern part of the USA, the southern part of Canada.

After 1603, Lassalle's 11 expeditions lead to the founding of Canada. French possessions in Canada.

Beginning of the 18th century - the French landed in the Mississippi River Delta and founded the colony of Louisiana, the only agricultural colony. The port city of New Orleans.

1624 - The Dutch establish their settlement on the Atlantic coast of New Amsterdam. This is the center of the colony, which was called New Netherland.

1638 - end of the 30 Years' War.

Thus, several states are actively involved in attempts to develop North America.

The most important thing is the English colonization flow, or the flow from the British Isles.

1607 - James Town is founded. It is the core of the largest southern colony of Virginia or Virginia.

In this region, the second southern colony is founded in the neighborhood of Maryland, then Carolina, which is then divided into North and South.

In the 18th century, the British in this region created the colony of Georgia as a buffer between Spanish Florida and the English settlements in 1735.

Northern region - New England.

From 1628-29 - the founding of Massachusetts and other small colonies that make up the New England region.

Mid-17th century - such a conglomerate of colonies is created.

Wars between England and the Netherlands for supremacy in trade and at sea. These wars lead to the fact that the Dutch themselves fell victim to the attacks of the British.

The reason why in the struggle for dominance is England. This primacy has been confirmed since the beginning of the 18th century by the War of the Spanish Succession. France was forced to defend its territories in eastern Canada and the Hudson Bay coast, and after the end of the 7-year war, at the Treaty of Paris in 1763, France lost almost all of its Canadian lands, and Spain lost Florida.

Thus, by 1763, the struggle of European countries for North America ends with a crushing defeat for England's competitors.

What is the reason for the English victories? There are always many reasons. But the main thing is that the English flow of colonization turned out to be the most massive:

1610 - the number of colonists in North America, in Virginia - 500 people.

1700 – 250 thousand people (this is more than 20 times the population of all French colonies).

On the eve of the War of Independence, the 2nd half of the 18th century, 2 million 600 thousand people already lived in the colonies.

The reason for such mass colonization is one of the consequences of the Great English Revolution. The de-peasantization of England, landlessness, some of the emigrants were sent to new lands, to the New World.

This Atlantic migration in the history of modern times became the largest, longest flow of migrants.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy - he was not only a president, but also a historian, a writer, he wrote the book “We are a Nation of Migrants.” There he cites data that the flow of migrants reached 70 million people by the beginning of the 18th century.

Scientists have calculated that if this migration had not occurred, the US population would have grown 40% less rapidly. What does this migration mean? That large masses of people came to America, representatives of all strata and all categories of society, from the elite, nobles, merchants, wealthy capital owners to workers.

We drove differently. A significant part traveled voluntarily with their own money. And half were indentured workers, or exiles, criminals, political prisoners, criminals. The exiles had to work for 10 years or more in hard labor, on farms, mines, plantations, etc. And those contracted, who did not have their own funds, went on credit, had to work off the loan from 3 to 7 years, on the same plantations and farms. The owner could teach a careless worker with a stick.

But nevertheless, English colonization provided a huge number of workers who transformed the country.

As a result, in the mid-18th century, this settlement, which became known as British North America, became one of the most prosperous and developed regions of the world. In terms of living standards, it is second only to England and France. In other words, by the 18th century, Americans were accustomed to living not just well, but very well. And America, since this period, has been one of the most prosperous and economically developed regions of the world, both in terms of living standards and gross product.

In America, durable ships were built that sailed for up to 50 years. For comparison, Russian military ships worked for up to 10 years, and then needed repairs. The cost of construction was 2 times lower than in Europe.

A third of the British fleet was built from American materials, by American hands. And Britain in the 18th century was the most powerful maritime power.

The next region is the Central Colonies, this is the breadbasket of the country, wheat. Much was exported. Farms, large. By the time of the War of Independence, 700 thousand blacks were concentrated there.

The country's population by the middle of the 18th century was about 3 million. All layers and classes of society were represented.

Thus, the colonial, American elite was born: political, military, spiritual and religious, legal, traders, merchants, large landowners and planters. From the mid-18th century, this elite began to claim to rule the country itself, without prompting from England. Local Americans increasingly asserted their claims to the right to govern the colonies themselves.

After the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, Europeans began to actively conquer new and unexplored lands. The local population did not always like this, but their opinion was not taken into account. Streams of colonists rushed in search of happiness and a new life.

In the mid-16th century, almost the entire territory belonged to the Spanish Crown. The huge incomes received from trade and lease of land did not allow competitors from other countries to enter the new lands. In this regard, the dominance of the Spaniards was observed in America.

The kings and their retainers, siphoning enormous wealth from the colony, did not pay attention to its needs. Spain's position on the world stage began to gradually weaken. The final blow came in 1588, when the Invincible Armada was destroyed. With the death of the fleet, a crisis arose in the country, from which it was never able to recover.

During this difficult period for Spain, England, as well as France and Holland, began to take first place in world politics.

The emergence of English colonies

By the British - this is the second stage of the conquest of the new continent and the redistribution of property. The first British exploration expedition set out for the new continent and arrived in 1584. The open lands were named Virginia. But two groups of colonists were unable to take root on them, one of which was expelled by the Indians, and the second disappeared without a trace.

The beginning of the 17th century was marked by the entry into action of two private companies in the process of colonization. By order of the king, the northern territories were assigned to the Plymouth Company, and the southern lands to the London Virginia Company. The declared goal was to spread Christianity among the local population, but the true goal was the desire to extract as much gold, copper and silver as possible, in which the Indians were rich.

In 1607, three ships landed on the shore near Chesapeake Bay. Within a month, the colonists erected the walls of the fortification, which later received the name Jamestown. In the history of America, this settlement is idealized, but its existence was not cloudless. Hunger, cold and attacks by Indians led to the death of a huge number of pioneers, out of 500 only 60 remained. In the winter, cases of cannibalism were witnessed.

No precious metals were found, but Virginia became the main supplier of high-quality tobacco. Native Americans in this region they lived peacefully with the colonists and even became related to them.

In 1619, the decision was made to purchase the first group of black slaves, which marked the beginning of a long period of slavery in the country.

If in the 30s of the 17th century two colonies appeared in North America: Massachusetts and New York, then in the 40s there were already five: Maryland, Rolle Island, Connecticut, Delaware and New Hampshire. In 1653, a new settlement, North Carolina, appeared, and 10 years later - South Carolina. New Jersey was founded in the mid-70s. Pennsylvania appeared in 1682, and already in 1732 the last colony, Georgia, was founded.

Colonization of North America by the French

France did not lag behind the British in developing new lands. By the beginning of the 18th century, five large provinces had formed. This time period is considered the heyday of French colonization. Canada, Acadia, Hudson Bay, Novaya Zemlya and Louisiana belonged to the second most powerful world power.

Dutch colonies

Other European countries did not remain aloof from the race for new territories. From the east, ships of the Dutch flotilla approached the shores of North America. Already in 1614, new lands appeared on the map under the name New Netherland, and ten years later the first settlers appeared. Their main location was Governor's Island, on which the city of New Amsterdam later grew. In the second half of the 17th century it was placed under the protection of the British crown.

Swedish colonies

The beginning of the Swedish conquest of new lands is considered to be 1638, when two ships set off on an expedition. The long journey and torment along the way were compensated by the discovery of a free coast, where Fort Christina was founded, securing ownership of the territories to Sweden. Wilmington would later take over this location.

The emergence of Russians in North America

The Russian Empire could not remain aloof from the massive campaign of Europeans to uncharted lands. In 1784, a large flotilla landed in the Aleutian Islands. A little more than ten years later, a Russian-American company appears, producing and selling expensive fur. Already at the beginning of the 19th century, the region acquired a capital - Novo-Arkhangelsk, and it itself passed into the department of the East Siberian General Government. The basis of the colonists were local Aleut tribes.

Only 80 kilometers separated Russian lands from American California. This caused concern on the part of England and America, so in 1824 two Conventions were signed at once, which fixed clear boundaries between Russia and these two powers. In 1841, the southernmost settlement of Fort Ross was sold to wealthy Mexican settlers. For Alaska, the United States had to pay 7 million 200 thousand dollars. Since 1867, this section of the Russian colonies went to the buyer.

Relations between settlers and Indians

The Indians suffered the most from the colonization of the new continent. tribes of america. With the arrival of more and more new settlers, their usual way of life changes radically. Many colonists believed that they had more rights to use this land and showed obvious aggression. The standard of living of the Indians was much lower than the European one, so no one listened to their opinion, and their lands were indiscriminately taken away. Due to diseases brought by Europeans, constant clashes and real extermination, the number of Indians inexorably declined.

The Iroquois were considered one of the most warlike tribes in North America. They constantly attacked the colonists' settlements. In peaceful life, the Iroquois were farmers and also engaged in hunting and fishing. All settlements of this tribe were surrounded by a high palisade, which created an obstacle to their capture. The Iroquois were called "scalp hunters." It is still not known where the colonists from the second expedition to Virginia went.

The Apache tribes were considered the most cunning and treacherous. They very quickly mastered horse riding when this noble animal was introduced by the Spaniards. The Apaches robbed not only white colonists, but also their relatives, not disdaining the loot

Among the aborigines there were tribes that not only provided assistance to the settlers, but also sought to learn everything new from them. These included Seminole and Cherokee, Creek and Choctaw, and Chickasaw. Among the Indians of these tribes there are many actors, writers, military men, and so on.

Despite the fact that some of the natives of America accepted European culture and adapted to living conditions, this process was very painful. A five dollar reward was paid for the head of a killed Indian, and the resettlement of entire tribes was carried out by force. All these measures led to the partial assimilation of the aborigines and their mass extermination.