3.3 Americas and Spanish Arrival

The Americas

Until 1492, the Western Hemisphere (North and South America and the Caribbean) remained shielded from interactions with Afro-Eurasia due to the expanses of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This isolation did not prevent the development of the types of complex societies that we commonly study in the histories of Afro-Eurasia. The Maya and Aztec of Mesoamerica and the Incan Empire of the South American Andes resemble their Eastern Hemisphere counterparts due to their systems of intensive agriculture, urbanization, hierarchical political systems, and long-distance trade networks. The Aztec and Incan empires had large standing armies and powerful monarchs at the top.

Despite Mexican trade networks that were smaller than those which existed in the most connected parts of the Eastern Hemisphere, the earliest Spaniards to enter Tenochtitlan were awestruck by the richness and diversity of goods found in the city’s markets. According to Hernan Cortés in the great market at Tlatelolco: “There is one square twice as large as that of the city of Salamanca, surrounded by porticoes, where are daily assembled more than sixty thousand souls, engaged in buying, and selling; and where are found all kinds of merchandise that the world affords…” One of Cortés’ soldiers, Bernal Diaz, was similarly impressed: “We were astounded at the great number of people and quantities of merchandise, and the orderliness and good arrangements that prevailed. For we had never seen such a thing before.”

The territory of the Inca Empire was, if anything, more diverse than that of the Aztec. More uniquely, the Andes themselves provided a range of microclimates all in close proximity to each other. So, rich valleys suitable for the growing of maize could border terraced hillsides where hundreds of varieties of potato were farmed, while on the higher slopes, llamas and alpacas were raised to be used as pack animals, to provide meat, fur, and hides, and for their dung which could be used both as a fuel source and as a fertilizer. Beans, squash, and quinoa could also be grown at various altitudes, helping to provide Andean populations with a rich and diverse diet.

Lastly, it must be said that both the Aztec and Inca empires created ruling systems based on conquest, violence, forced labor, and extraction of wealth from subject populations. We can marvel at the complexity and sophistication of the states they created but should never forget the human suffering and exploitation that made their systems possible. Indeed, one of the reasons the Spanish were able to successfully bring down the two empires was because of the willingness of subject populations to collaborate with the new invaders against their Aztec or Inca overlords.

The Fall of the Aztec and Incan Empires

Traditional European and American histories of exploration often present the victory of the Spanish over the Aztec as an example of the superiority of Europeans over the savage Indians. The reality is far more complex. When Hernan Cortés led his expedition to topple the Aztec Empire in 1519, he encountered a region simmering with native conflict. Far from being unified and content under Aztec rule, many peoples in Mexico resented the overlords living in the capital city of Tenochtitlán and were ready to rebel.

Additionally, Europeans were able to take over due to Eastern Hemisphere diseases, which completely transformed the demographics of the Americas. Pre-encounter population estimates for the Americas vary widely but the consensus seems to have settled in the range of 50-60 million people with the highest estimates closer to 100 million. The rampant spread of disease along with the inherent violence of settler colonialism devastated indigenous communities with population reductions of 60-95% across the Americas. Coupled with the forced migration of millions of enslaved West Africans and increased migrations from Europe, the result was that by 1700 the demographic picture of the Americas looked almost nothing like what it had in 1450.

Historians call the transfer of disease, plants, and animals that began with the encounter between Europe and the Americas after 1492 the Columbian Exchange. The directions of these biological transfers and their effects on the environments and people of Europe and the Americas shaped the modern world we live in. American maize, potatoes, and cassava fed growing European, African, and Asian populations, allowing the building of new cities and industries. European animals such as pigs, sheep, chickens, and cattle thrived in the Americas, enabling both Native Americans and Europeans there to add and maintain animal protein to their diets and eventually expand their populations.

Spain and Portugal had a papal charter to justify this expansion into the Americas. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas in Figure 3.3.1 awarded all the territory east of the 47th meridian to Portugal and everything west of it to Spain. The Spanish were awarded most of the Americas while the Portuguese were granted Africa and Brazil. The Portuguese received the east, because they were already establishing colonies on the east and west coasts of Africa. The Spanish were assigned the unknown west, which turned out to be bigger than anyone had expected. The Pope granted nothing to any other European kingdom. These claims led to the prevalence of both the Spanish and Portuguese languages throughout modern-day Latin America.

Figure \(\PageIndex{3.3.1}\): Treaty of Tordesillas, Ultimadesigns, Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain

Review Questions

• What were the main features of the Aztec and Incan empires?
• How were the Spanish able to topple both?