New Spain and Slavery in the Americas

New Spain

• By the 1500s, several European nations, including Spain, sent explorers to claim land in the Americas.
• Explorers often claimed hundreds of miles of land after stepping onto a beach.
• They did not stay to protect the claims.
• European countries competed to control as much land as possible.
• Native Americans already lived in most of the claimed lands, but their rights were often ignored.
• Spain claimed large parts of the Americas.
• Spain realized claiming land was not the same as controlling it and needed to protect its land from other European nations.
• Spain formed colonies to protect its land and govern the people.
• The colony of New Spain was formed in 1535, mostly in Mexico with Mexico City as its capital.
• New Spain also included many islands in the Caribbean Sea and Spanish lands north of present-day Panama.
• Spain built forts to protect its claims in North America.

Slavery in the Americas

• Initially, very few Europeans settled in the Americas.
• More colonists came when gold and silver were discovered.
• Colonists created large farms called plantations.
• By 1550, there were about 100,000 Spanish colonists in the Americas.
• Portugal formed the colony of Brazil to the South of New Spain.
• Both Spain and Portugal needed many workers for farming and mining.
• They forced Native Americans into slavery.
• Thousands of Native Americans died from hunger and the work they did, and other diseases brought from Europe.
• Some colonists became concerned about the treatment of Native Americans. One such person was Bartolomé de Las Casas.
• Las Casas freed his enslaved workers and spoke out in favor of better treatment for Native Americans.
• As Native American populations declined, colonists began enslaving Africans.
• Many Africans were taken to Brazil and the Caribbean Islands.
• Enslaved Africans also worked in terrible conditions in sugar mills in Brazil.

Settlements of New Spain, 1650

• Spain wanted to protect the lands north of Mexico City.
• These lands on the edge of Spain's claims were called borderlands.
• The borderlands included parts of present-day northern Mexico and the southern United States, from Florida to California.
• Spain built the first permanent European settlement in what is now the US, in St. Augustine, Florida in 1565.
• Spanish soldiers built presidios (forts) in the borderlands.
• Spain established missions, which were religious settlements, in areas of the southern half of North America.
• Missionaries helped settle Santa Fe, the capital of the New Mexico colony.
• Missions were locations where missionaries and Native Americans resided near each other.

Life in the Borderlands

• Some Native Americans chose to stay in missions and learn new ways of living and working.
• Others were forced to work on mission farms and ranches.
• Some people resisted by tearing down churches and mission buildings.
• The Spanish brought cattle and sheep and horses to the land; these heavily impacted indigenous life.
• Some Native Americans learned how to tame horses for use in hunting and war.
• Some learned to raise sheep and use wool for clothing.

England Attempts a Colony

• England wanted colonies in the Americas to gain resources like lumber.
• Raw materials could be used to make products.
• In 1584, Queen Elizabeth I chose Walter Raleigh to establish a colony.
• Raleigh sent colonists to Roanoke Island (part of present-day North Carolina).
• These colonists did not stay long.
• The colonists ran low on supplies and returned to England.
• In 1587, John White led another group of settlers to Roanoke Island, seeking additional resources.
• White returned three years later and found that all of the settlers had disappeared, calling this the Lost Colony.
• In the early 1600s, English merchants formed the Virginia Company and established a colony in Virginia to try and establish a profitable colony.
• Companies sold stock (part ownership) to the public

Jamestown

• In 1607, three ships from the Virginia Company sailed into the Chesapeake bay, establishing Jamestown.
• The colonists built a settlement on the James River in honor of King James I.
• Jamestown was a poor location for a settlement.
• The land wasn't good for farming.
• Colonists had little interest in farming and focused on finding gold instead.
• More than half of the colonists died in the first year.
• John Smith helped Jamestown survive.
• He established a "work or starve" rule for the colony.
• Tobacco crops were grown – a very important cash crop in the colony.

Growth and Government

• Growing tobacco required many workers.
• The Virginia Company paid for people to travel to Virginia in exchange for work.
• These workers were called indentured servants.
• Indentured servants worked from 4-7 years without pay.
• In 1619, the first Africans were brought to Jamestown.
• No one knows if they were indentured servants or enslaved people.
• Over time, more Africans arrived as enslaved people.
• Enslaved labor significantly contributed to the prosperity of the colony.
• Virginia needed more laws to maintain order and peace.
• The colonists established a legislature called the House of Burgesses in 1619.

The Powhatan Confederacy

• Most of the Native Americans in Virginia were part of the Powhatan Confederacy.
• Colonists took over Powhatan land as the colony grew, leading to conflicts.
• Years of fighting between the Powhatan and the colonists are known as the Powhatan Wars.
• In 1624, King James I made Virginia a royal colony, meaning the king controlled the colony.
• A governor was appointed to help run the colony, sharing power with the House of Burgesses.