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European Discovery
of the New World
Columbus reports on his voyage
to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain:
These people in the Caribbean
have no creed and they are not idolaters, but they are very
gentle and do not know what it is to be wicked, or to kill others,
or to steal...and they are sure that we come from Heaven....So
your Highnesses should resolve to make them Christians, for
I believe that if you begin, in a little while you will achieve
the conversion of a great number of peoples to our holy faith,
with the acquisition of great lordships and riches and all their
inhabitants for Spain. For without doubt there is a very great
amount of gold in these lands….
The people of this island [Hispaniola], and of all the others
that I have found and seen, or not seen, all go naked, men and
women, just as their mothers bring them forth; although some
women cover a single place with the leaf of a plant, or a cotton
something which they make for that purpose. They have no iron
or steel, nor any weapons....They have no other weapons than
the stems of reeds...on the end of which they fix little sharpened
stakes. Even these they dare not use....they are incurably timid....
I have not found, nor had any
information of monsters, except of an island which is here the
second in the approach of the Indies, which is inhabited by
a people whom, in all the islands, they regard as very ferocious,
who eat human flesh….
They brought us parrots and
balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they
exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly
traded everything they owned. They do not bear arms, and do
not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the
edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. With fifty men we
could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.
1. How accurate
do you consider Columbus's description of the New World?
2. How does
Columbus describe the Indians?
3. Why, according
to Columbus, should Spain be interested in colonizing
the New World?
The First Americans
| Depopulation
of Native Americans in Florida, 1519-1617 |
| Year |
Disease |
Percent
Decline |
Estimated
Population |
| 1517 |
|
|
722,000 |
| 1520 |
Smallpox |
-50 |
361,000 |
| 1528 |
Measles |
-50 |
180,500 |
| 1545 |
Bubonic plague |
-12.5 |
158,000 |
| 1559 |
Influenza |
-5 |
150,000 |
| 1564-70 |
Influenza |
-10 |
135,000 |
| 1585 |
Unidentified |
-10 |
121,500 |
| 1586 |
Cape Verde Island fever |
-20 |
97,200 |
| 1596 |
Measles |
-25 |
72,900 |
| 1613-17 |
Bubonic plague |
-50 |
36,450 |
1. How many
people were living in the New World when Columbus arrived?
2. Why did
the Native American population rapidly decline after the arrival
of Europeans?
3. What factors
may have contributed to the Indians lack of immunity to disease?
| Chronology
of Spanish Exploration and Conquest |
| Date |
Explorer |
Accomplishment |
| 1492-1504 |
Christopher
Columbus |
Discovered West
Indies |
| 1513, 1521 |
Juan Ponce de
Leon |
First European
to explore land in present-day United States |
| 1513 |
Vasco Nunez
de Balboa |
First European
to see the Pacific Ocean |
| 1519-1522 |
Ferdinand Magellan |
Led first voyage
around the world |
| 1519-1521 |
Hernando Cortes |
Conquered Aztec
empire in Mexico |
| 1528-1536 |
Alva Nunez Cabeza de Vaca |
First European
to explore American Southwest |
| 1531-1533 |
Francisco Pizarro |
Conquered Inca
empire |
| 1539-1542 |
Hernando de
Soto |
Explored Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Oklahoma |
| 1540-1542 |
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado |
Explored American
Southwest as far north
as Kansas |
|
|
