Spanish colonization of the AmericasSpanish colonization of the Americas began with the arrival in the Americas of Christopher Columbus in 1492. He had been searching for a new route to the Asian Indies and was convinced he had found it. Columbus was made governor of the new territories and made several more journeys across the Atlantic Ocean. He profited from the labor of native slaves, whom he forced to mine gold; he also attempted to sell some slaves to Spain. While generally regarded as an excellent navigator, he was a poor administrator and was stripped of the governorship in 1500.
South America
Central America
North America\n*Mexico \n*Florida including parts of modern-day Alabama and Mississippi\n*California and New Mexico - in the west the extent of Spanish colonies was formally set in 1819 by the Adams-Onís Treaty to replace nebulous boundaries. Most of the interior was not permanently inhabited by Spain. This included all or some part of the modern U.S. states of: California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming.\n*Louisiana territory - Spain controlled this territory from 1762-1803. Most of the north and interior was not inhabited by Spain. French settlers made up most of the inhabitants and new immigrants. This included land in the present U.S. states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Idaho, and Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
New World Trade\nThe precious metals were subjected to the Quinto Real tax, a fifth of everything seized. The silver of America (especially the mines of Zacatecas and Potosí) went to pay the enormous debt brought by the wars against the Reformation led by the Spanish kings. Soon the exclusive of commerce between Europe and America was conceded to Seville (later to Cádiz). Mexico served as a base for the later colonization of the Philippines (see Galeón de Manila)Northern extent of Spanish influence\nIn 1720 a small expedition from Santa Fe met and attempted to parley with French allied Pawnee in what is now Nebraska. Things did not go well and a battle ensued; the Spanish were badly defeated, only 13 managing to return to New Mexico. Although this was a small engagement, it is significant being the furthest penetration of the Spanish into the Great Plains, setting the limit to Spanish expansion and influence there. In 1781, a Spanish expedition during the American Revolutionary War left St. Louis, Missouri, then under Spanish control and reached as far as Fort St. Joseph at Niles, Michigan where the captured the fort while the British were away. Spanish territorial claims based on this furthest north penetration of Spain in North America were not supported at the treaty negotiations.Independence\nDuring the Peninsula War, several assemblies were established by the creole to rule the lands in the name of Ferdinand VII of Spain. This experience of self-government and the influence of Liberalism and the ideas of the French and American Revolutions brought the struggle for independence, led by the Libertadores. The colonies freed themselves, often with help from the British empire, which aimed to trade without the Spanish monopoly. In 1898, the United States won the Spanish-American War and occupied Cuba and Puerto Rico, ending Spanish occupation in the Americas. Still, the early 20th century saw a stream of immigration of poor people and political exiles from Spain to the former colonies, especially Cuba, Mexico and Argentina. After the 1970s, the flow was inverted. In the 1990s, Spanish companies like Repsol and Telefonica invested in South America, often buying privatized companies. Currently, the Iberoamerican countries and Spain and Portugal have organized themselves as the Comunidad Iberoamericana de Naciones.See also\n* California mission\n* Spanish conquest of Yucatán\n* Archivo de Indias\n* Black Legend\n*Casa de Contratación\n\n |
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"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955) |
