HIST 1015 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: John Cabot, New Laws, Repartimiento
Document Summary
Inauspicious beginnings: spain gets to america first and establishes a different empire than what english/french will do, but, columbus only encounters small islands (cuba, puerto rico, Hispaniola) instead of mainland u. s: spain establishes powerful/large empire (at islands) in ~50 years, now, columbus needs to pay ferdinand back d. i. 1st voyage = not profitable (no gold) d. ii. 2nd voyage = start looking for gold d. ii. 1. d. ii. 2. Works natives to death looking for more, but nothing d. ii. 3. Columbus eventually figures this out, and concentrates efforts in mexico. The conquest of mexico and peru: cc encounters native civilizations and finds them urban and sophisticated, traits of aztec/inca that work toward cc"s benefit: b. i. Large/extensive not concentrated, therefore can conquer small pieces at once b. ii. Not ruled with iron hand (conquer but not destroy; take tribute instead) less violent threat b. iii. Only control the top of the empire, not much attention paid to trickledown lower areas not as loyal b. iv.
