16 - Portuguese and Spanish Exploration and Empire

Prince Henry the Navigator

(1394-1460) Portuguese prince who established an observatory and school of navigation and directed a series of expeditions along the African coast in the 15th century; marked the beginning of western European expansion

Isabella of Castile

(1451-1504) along with Ferdinand of Aragon, monarchy of largest Christian kingdoms in Iberia (r. 1474-1504); her marriage to Ferdinand created united Spain; responsible for reconquest of Granada, initiation of exploration of New World

Christopher Columbus

(1451-1506) Italian captain in service of Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon; successfully sailed to New World in 1492; initiated European discoveries in the Americas

Amerigo Vespucci

(1451-1512) Italian navigator who mapped the coast of South America; North America and South America are named after him

Ferdinand II of Aragon

(1452-1516) along with Isabella of Castile, monarch of largest Christian kingdoms in Iberia (r. 1479-1516); his marriage to Isabella created united Spain; responsible for reconquest of Granada, initiation of exploration of New World

Juan Ponce de Leon

(1474-1521) Spanish explorer of the modern southeast United States; searched Florida for the Fountain of Youth

Bartolome de Las Casas

(1484-1566) Dominican friar who protested Spanish atrocities against indigenous Native Americans and supported peaceful conversion; wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1542)

Hernan Cortes

(1485-1547) led an expedition of 600 conquistadors to Mexico in 1519; responsible for defeat of Aztec Empire; captured Tenochtitlan

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi

(1502-1572) first Spanish governor-general of the Spanish East Indies in 1565

Pedro de Valdivia

(1511-1546) Spanish conquistador; conquered Araucanian Indians of Chile and established city of Santiago in 1541

Francisco de Orellana

(1511-1546) travelled the length of the Amazon River

Miguel Cabrera

(1695-1768) mestizo painter of New Spain; created religious and secular art for the Catholic Church and wealthy patrons; his casta paintings depicted interracial marriage among Amerindians, Spaniards and Africans

Bartolomeu Dias

(c. 1450-1500) Portuguese explorer who was the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 establishing a sea route from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean

Afonso de Albuquerque

(c. 1453-1515) admiral who seized control of key trading ports in east Africa, Arabia, and India establishing Portuguese domination of Indian Ocean Trade in the 1500s

Vasco da Gama

(c. 1460-1524) Portuguese captain who sailed for India in 1497; established early Portuguese dominance in Indian Ocean

Pedro Cabral

(c. 1467-c. 1520) Portuguese leader of an expedition to India; blown off course in 1500 and landed in Brazil

Martin Waldseemüller

(c. 1470-1520) German cartographer who named the American continents after Amerigo Vespucci

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

(c. 1475-1519) first Spanish captain to begin settlement on the mainland of Mesoamerica in Panama in 1509; initial settlement eventually led to conquest of Aztec and Inca empires by other captains

Francisco Pizarro

(c. 1478) Spanish conquistador who captured and ransomed Inca emperor Atahualpa prisoner; then executed him and took over the Inca empire

Hernando de Soto

(c. 1478-1541) Spanish explorer of the American southeast; found and claimed the Mississippi River for Spain

Ferdinand Magellan

(c. 1480-1521) Spanish captain who initiated first circumnavigation of the globe (1519-1522); killed in the Philippines but his crew completed the voyage

Juan Sebastian Elcano

(c. 1486-1526) completed the first circumnavigation (1519-1522) after Ferdinand Magellan was killed in the Philippines

Pedro de Mendoza

(c. 1499-1537) founded Buenos Aires (1536)

Francisco Vazquez de Coronado

(c. 1510-1554) leader of Spanish expedition into northern frontier region of New Spain; entered what the modern-day southwest United States in search of mythical cities of gold

royal fifth

20% royal tax of mining profits of gold and silver in the New World

engenho

Brazilian sugar mill; the term also came to symbolize the entire complex world relating to the production of sugar

Dominican, Franciscan, and Jesuit missions

Catholic missions founded in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California to convert Native American peoples

factories

European trading fortresses and compounds with resident merchants; utilized throughout Portuguese trading empire to assure secure landing places and commerce

Council of the Indies

body within the Castilian government that issued all laws and advised king on all matters dealing with the Spanish colonies of the New World

Calicut, India

coastal city in south India which was a major hub of the Indian Ocean spice trade

Spanish Main

coastal waters of the mainland Spanish colonies on the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea; point of departure for enormous American wealth shipped to Spain in the form of gold, silver, gems, spices, hardwoods, hides and other riches; a ripe target for pirates and privateers

sistema de castas

colonial Spanish America social hierarchy based on racial origins; Europeans or whites at top, black slaves or Native Americans at bottom, mixed races in middle

Spanish East Indies

colonies of the Spanish Empire in Asia and Oceania from 1565 until 1901: the Philippines, Marianas, Carolines, Palaos and Guam, as well as parts of Formosa, Sulawesi and the Moluccas

circumnavigation

complete circular navigation of the Earth; first performed by the Magellan Expedition which left Spain in 1519 and returned in 1522 after crossing the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans

Manila galleons

first permanent trade route across the Pacific; heavily armed, fast ships made or two round-trip voyages per year between Mexico and the Philippines from 1565 to 1815; exchanged Asian spices and porcelain for Mexican silver

Spanish treasure fleet

first permanent transatlantic trade route connecting Spain and the Spanish colonies in the Americas; transported American agricultural goods, lumber, silver, gold, gems, pearls, spices, sugar, tobacco, silk, and other exotic goods to Spain

Sao Jorge da Mina (aka Elmina)

fortified Portuguese trading factory established in 1482 on the west African coast in modern Ghana; oldest European building south of the Sahara; African slaves were later shipped to the Americas from here

encomienda

grant of Indian laborers made to Spanish conquerors and settlers in Mesoamerica and South America; basis for earliest forms of coerced labor in Spanish colonies

smallpox

highly contagious viral disease characterized by fever, weakness, and skin eruption with pustules that form scabs; responsible for killing the majority of the 90-95% of the Native American population who died from Afro-Eurasian diseases

Casa de Contratacion

licensed captains, approved voyages, administered commercial law, and collected colonial taxes including the royal fifth

consulado de mercaderes

merchant guild of Seville, Spain; enjoyed virtual monopoly rights over goods shipped to America and handled much of the silver received in return

Cerro Potosi

mountain in the Peruvian Andes; its rich mines provided vast quantities of silver for Spain; one of the largest colonial cities in the Americas

peninsulares

people born in Spain and Portugal living in the New World; occupied top position in the Spanish colonial caste system

mullatos

people of mixed European and African ancestry in the New World Spanish colonies

mestizos

people of mixed European and native ancestry in Mesoamerica and South America; particularly prevalent in areas colonized by Spain; often part of forced labor system

audiencias

royal court of appeals established in Spanish colonies of the New World; there were 16 throughout Spanish America; part of colonial administrative system; staffed by professional magistrates

viceroys

senior government officials in Spanish America; ruled as direct representative of the king over the principal administrative units; usually high-ranking Spanish nobles with previous military or governmental experience; Portuguese also used this office in the Indian Ocean and Brazil

Treaty of Tordesillas

signed in 1494 between Castile and Portugal; clarified spheres of influence and rights of possession in New World; reserved Brazil and all newly discovered lands east of Brazil to Portugal; granted all lands west of Brazil to Spain

conquistadors

soldiers and explorers who led expeditions into the Americas and captured land for Spain

Cape of Good Hope

southern tip of Africa; reached in 1488 by Portuguese in search of direct route to India

captaincies

strips of land along Brazilian coast granted to minor Portuguese nobles for development; enjoyed limited success in developing the colony of Brazil

letrados

university-trained lawyers from Spain in the New World; juridical core of Spanish colonial bureaucracy; exercised both legislative and administrative functions

criollos

white Latin Americans of Spanish descent born in the New World Spanish colonies; dominated local Latin American economies and ranked just beneath peninsulares

Ceuta

Islamic city in north Africa conquered by Prince Henry in 1415; found large stores of pepper, cinnamon, cloves, gold, silver, and jewels; inspired Portuguese explorations

Zacatecas

Mexican settlement in New Spain founded in 1546 after the discovery of one of the world's richest silver veins; produced one-fifth of the world's silver by the 1700s

Pueblo Revolt

Native American revolt against the Spanish in 1680; expelled the Spanish from New Mexico for over 10 years; aka Popé's Rebellion

Viceroyalty of New Spain

Spanish colonial administrative unit including Central America, Mexico, and the southeast and southwest of the present-day United States; governed from the capital of Mexico City

Viceroyalty of Peru

Spanish colonial administrative unit including most of Spanish-ruled South America; governed from the capital of Lima