Search

The first permanent European colony in Pueblo territory was established by Juan de Oñate in 1598. The jewels and gold of the fabled Seven Cities of Cíbola had proven to be a myth, but the Spanish still intended to settle the land. Franciscan friars came to seek converts to Catholicism, while civilian authorities and settlers sought their fortunes in mining, trading, and ranching. The entire Spanish system was based on the use of American Indian labor. In order to secure this labor, the Spanish imposed the encomienda system, which gave large land grants to holders, known as encomanderos. The part of this program known as repartimiento bestowed upon the encomanderos the right to the labor of any nearby natives. Annual taxes also were collected from the natives in the form of produce, textiles, and other resources.

The Spanish Empire was one of the first global powers to emerge during the Age of Exploration in the fifteenth century. Under the rule of Ferdinand II and Isabella I, Spain began to claim areas of Europe, Africa, and the East Indies. Later monarchs seized vast territories in North and South America looking for gold and seeking to spread the Catholic faith. Thriving for several centuries, the empire reached its peak during the reign of the Spanish Habsburgs, from the early sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century, but then began a decline as weak leadership and conflicts in Europe eroded its territories.

The Indians of North America escaped the violence and disruption of the early Spanish conquest only to encounter later imperial thrusts that contained the seeds of conflict. From the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 to Hernán Cortés’ victory over the Aztecs in 1521, the Spanish established their control of the Caribbean area. The riches of the Aztecs inspired expeditions southward to conquer the Inca Empire, but probings into North America failed to locate concentrations of gold or large urban centers. Yet the 3,000-mile stretch of territory from Florida to California became a vital but vulnerable frontier for the Spanish. They wanted to defend the lifeline of their New World empire, which stretched from Mexico to Hispaniola and on to Spain, by the establishment of settlements along the southern fringe of what is now the United States. Relations between the Indians of North America and the colonists and institutions of the empire were characterized by periods of tentative harmony under Spanish domination followed by the growth of tension and distrust among the natives, which often resulted in alienation, rejection, and, in a few cases, open rebellion. Indian-white relations—Spanish colonial[Indian white relations—Spanish colonial]

The Dominican priest Bartolomé de Las Casas arrived in the West Indies during 1502, ten years after Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the Americas. Las Casas became a constant critic of Spanish cruelties toward indigenous peoples, writing several books on the subject, including Brevísima relación de la destruyción de las Indias (1552; The Tears of the Indians, 1656; also known as A Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies). While the reports of Las Casas did little to stop the cruelty of the conquest, they did help influence papal declarations that the indigenous were to be regarded as human beings and not as beasts. Las Casas and other priests also found the indigenous peoples to be eligible for conversion to Christianity.

The Western Pueblo tribes are considered a part of a societal pattern known as the Desert culture. This migration extended southward from the Great Basin and covered most of the Southwest, dating the earliest human inhabitants of this region to some ten thousand years ago. During this long history, most changes in Pueblo culture have occurred since contact with Europeans, particularly with the Spanish. The Pueblo tribes have managed to control these changes, especially in ceremonial life, through persistence and protection. Although the Acoma, Hopi, Laguna, and Zuni tribes share many similar customs and beliefs, they should be viewed as separate, independent societies.

According to Puebloan lore, the tribe has occupied the Southwest from "time immemorial." Archaeological investigation has proved that the Pueblo nation is descended from the prehistoric Anasazi, or "the Ancient Ones." As the Anasazi abandoned their great population centers at Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, and Kayenta in approximately 1300, the tribe migrated into three main areas. The first was the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico, where they built new settlements, which were still occupied at the time of the Spanish entry into the Southwest around 1540. Most of these areas continued to be settled into the twentieth century.

Almost everything known about the first years following the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in South America comes from European sources. In 1908, however, a startling tome was found in the Royal Library of Copenhagen. It was an extensive account, with almost four hundred illustrations, written by a native Andean in a mix of Spanish and Quechua. The book recounted the history of Peru before the arrival of the Spaniards and provided a detailed account of the problems that had beset the region when the Europeans established political control. This volume, written by a former Andean collaborator in the conquest named Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala, took the form of a letter to King Philip III of Spain. It was meant to elicit sympathy from the monarch, as well as his support for governmental reforms to improve the lives of the people of Peru.

The Calusa were a sedentary people who inhabited permanent settlements on the south Florida peninsula from the Tampa Bay area to Lake Okeechobee, including the Florida Keys. They may have been related to the Muskogee family in North America. Stories of their cannibalism, human sacrifice, and piracy suggest a possible connection to the South American or Caribbean Indigenous peoples, although their unique culture developed largely in response to the environment of their South Florida home.

Not only were the Esselen one of the smallest of the Indigenous American cultures of California, but they were also probably the first to disappear due to impacts from European contact and mission life. Because very few identifiable Esselen could be located by anthropologists even in the nineteenth century, nobody knows what name they may have had for themselves. “Esselen” or variant spellings appeared in Spanish records referring to a village in the contemporary Monterey County area, and scholars adopted it for the nation without any other information.

Spain’s colonial empire began with its expansion into North Africa and the Canary Islands in the early fifteenth century. Its major growth came after Christopher Columbus Columbus, Christopher ’ American discoveries at the end of the century, when the crown of Spain claimed a monopoly over the entire Western Hemisphere. Unable to enforce these vast claims, Spain soon relinquished Brazil, the Lesser Antilles, and what later became Canada and the eastern United States to other European powers. The Spanish Empire later included the Philippines, several small Pacific islands, and parts of northwestern and equatorial Africa. Under Spain’s rule, the Roman Catholic religion and Spanish art, literature, government, and political and social values greatly influenced development throughout these regions. Spanish Empire South America

In the second half of the seventeenth century, the Spanish Habsburg Dynasty was represented by Charles II, who suffered serious physical and mental disabilities. He was not expected to live long, and the major European powers feared that a war would erupt over the spoils of the Spanish Empire. This concern led to the extraordinary circumstance in which European countries, including France, Austria, and England negotiated to partition Spain.

The global Spanish Empire had gradually developed a mission system that suited imperial policy in places as distant from Spain as the Philippines, Paraguay, and Baja California. With a relatively modest investment, the Crown could extend its frontiers and establish opportunities for further expansion later.

The Ais were a Muskogean-speaking tribe who occupied the area along the Indian River on the east coast of Florida. Their principal village was located near Indian River Inlet.