1493 - Spanish North America
Bristol Mariners seem to have visited Canada in the 1480s, and Christopher Columbus may have learned of, and been inspired by, their voyages. In 1492, William Ayers, an Irishman undoubtedly familiar with English activities, sailed with Columbus on the Santa Maria. In 1497 and 1498 John Cabot, like Columbus a Genoese expatriate, explored eastern Canada under the English flag. By 1502 Englishmen were trading in Newfoundland and parts south, and organizing syndicates, some involving Azorean Portuguese, to exploit the fisheries there. England did not miss the entire European rediscovery of the Western Hemisphere, but did retire early. While England slept, Spain became dominant in the New World and on the high seas.
In 1493, during his second voyage, Columbus founded Isabela, the first permanent Spanish settlement in the New World, on Hispaniola. After finding gold in recoverable quantities nearby, the Spanish quickly overran the island and spread to Puerto Rico in 1508, to Jamaica in 1509, and to Cuba in 1511. The natives fared badly. Many died in one-sided armed conflict with soldiers and settlers, or in forced servitude in mines and on plantations. Others died of diseases to which they had no immunity. By mid-century, the native Ciboney of Hispaniola and western Cuba were extinct, and other tribes, including the Arawak of Puerto Rico, were nearly so.
Beginning in 1508, Spanish settlements sprang up on the mainland of Central and South America. In 1519, just six years after Balboa had crossed the Isthmus of Panama and claimed the entire Pacific Ocean for Spain, Pedro Arias de Avila, Balboa's father-in-law and executioner, founded the city of Panama on the Pacific coast. The same year, Hernan Cortes led a small force from Cuba to the Gulf coast of Mexico, founded Veracruz , and set about destroying the Aztec empire. Most of Mexico fell within two years. Subsequent conquistadors followed the example set by Cortes. By 1532, Francisco Pizarro, had effected the early stages of his conquest of the Inca empire of Peru. By 1550 Spain had dominion over the West Indies and Central America and its large surviving native population.
New World mines yielded gold and silver for Spain in far greater amounts than France and Portugal had ever been able to extract from West Africa. One-fifth of the total production, the quinto real, went to the Spanish Crown. The average value of silver shipped to Spain rose to a million pesos a year before the conquest of Peru, and to more than 35 million a year by the end of the century. Cacao, cochineal, hides, spices, sugar, timber, and tobacco yielded additional income. Seville, through which all legal trade with the colonies passed, became a great financial center and nearly quadrupled in size between 1517 and 1594.
With such wealth at stake, Spain was concerned about possible interference by other nations. Initially, only Portugal posed a serious threat to Spanish monopoly. At the Pope's insistence Spain and Portugal had ratified the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. Intended to exclude Spain from Africa and India, and Portugal from the Far East, this treaty also effectively deprived Spain of any legitimate claim to much of present-day Brazil. Shortly after the ratification of the treaty, Portugal gained control of trade with the Spice Islands, and showed occasional interest in Newfoundland. In 1580, to eliminate the threat of Portuguese expansion, Spain annexed Portugal. Although Spain mortgaged Venezuela to a German banking house for a brief period (1528-1547), she was successful in keeping most interlopers out of her holdings from Mexico to Chile for the remainder of the sixteenth century.
The nine-tenths of North America lying north and east of Mexico was another matter. In the early 1500s, Spain made a few attempts to explore Florida and the Gulf coast. Around 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon, conqueror of Puerto Rico, conducted the first reconnaissance of the area. In 1519 Alonso Alvarez de Pineda explored and mapped the Gulf of Mexico. Two years later, Ponce de Leon died in a disastrous attempt to build a settlement in Florida, and Spain withdrew from further serious efforts to establish a permanent presence there for another half-century.
The first Spanish town in what is now the United States was not in Florida, but somewhere between 30 degrees and 34 degrees North. It was built in 1526, by Luis Vasquez de Ayllon, a Spanish official based on Hispaniola. In 1520, Ayllon had ordered a slaving expedition, and in 1526, set out himself with approximately 500 Spanish colonists--including women, children, and three Dominican friars--and a number of African slaves. After a false start, Ayllon built the town of San Miguel de Guadalupe. His venture was doomed from the outset. The principals of the colony quarreled, Indians attacked, slaves rebelled, and Ayllon died. Only 150 survivors returned to Hispaniola.
Later, in 1528 a slightly smaller group under Narvaez plundered and skirmished along the Gulf coast from Tampa Bay to Texas, where it disintegrated. Cabeza de Vaca and three other members finally reached Mexico in 1536. From 1539 to 1543 de Soto and, after his death, Moscoso led an ever-shrinking party on a circuitous route through the southeastern and southcentral United States. From 1540 to 1542 Coronado explored the Southwest. In all cases, these Spanish explorers antagonized the Indians and failed to entice settlers to the higher latitudes.
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