B. Contact and Conquest

From HCO Jr

Part 2. Explorers of Canada → A. Early Exploration → B. Contact and Conquest → C. First Explorers →D. Cartier & Champlain →E. The Fur Traders → E. Later Explorers

New Explorers Go West

Explorers traveled to these Spanish forts. These men were looking for two things: a route to Asia and great wealth. These men were not explorers. They were soldiers. In Spanish they are called conquistadors which means someone who conquers and takes what he wants. Conquistadors were willing to fight and kill.

One such conquistador was Hernan Cortez. He sailed to the coast of Mexico. Other Spanish explorers had arrived in Mexico between 1516 and 1518. Cortez landed there in 1519. He went without permission from the Spanish governor of Cuba.

Tenochtitlan Map

Cortez found a powerful group of native peoples called the Aztecs. Aztecs lived were Mexico City is today. They called their city Tenochtitlan. It was a large city of 50,000 people. It had many stone buildings and canals for boats to travel on. Aztecs also had large amounts of gold and silver. When Cortez arrived in the Aztec city he wanted this gold and silver.

Montezuma, the Aztec ruler, thought that Cortez was a god named Quetzalcoatlin.

Montezuma Taking a Chocolate Drink

There is an Aztec legend of Quetzalcoatlin returning to earth. This god has pale skin and hair on his face: this is how Cortez appeared to Montezuma. Many Aztecs thought this god had returned to earth. Montezuma treated the Spanish like important people. This was a grave mistake.

Cortez and his men kidnapped Montezuma. They then attacked the Aztec capital. Other native tribes helped the Spanish. Aztecs were an agressive people. They conquered other tribes, and took men to be sacrificed to the Aztec sun-god. These tribes hoped that the Spanish would help them destroy the Aztecs so they could be free again.

Montezuma's Warriors Attack Cortez; from An Aztec Painting

Montezuma was killed by the Spaniards shortly after he was kidnapped. Cortez and his men left Tenochtitlan and prepared for their battle with the Aztecs. Even though they were outnumbered the Spanish soldiers had guns, metal weapons and armour. With the help of their native allies they defeated the Aztecs.

Thousands of Aztecs were killed by the Spanish. The natives who helped Cortez soon learned that the Spanish would not leave Mexico. Native peoples became slaves to the Spanish. They used these people to work in the gold and silver mines.

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Portugal

Even before the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople the Portuguese looked for a sea route to Asia. Travelling over the Silk Road was very dangerous. Bandits robbed people. The trip was long. Different cities and rulers along the route charged traders taxes.

Prince Henry the Navigator

It also made sense for Portugal to find an ocean route to Asia. Portugal has a very large coastline. Many Portuguese made a living from the sea and sailing.

Prince Henry, son of King Joao (John) I of Portugal, wanted to develop Portugal into an important and powerful country. In 1419 he created a school to train all the different people involved in sailing. Henry hired people from all over Europe and paid them to develop new technology and idea for sailing.

Many people are involved in sailing in addition to the sailors. Henry hired mapmakers to draw accurate maps of the oceans and the different countries. He also hired astronomers. During this time sea captains navigated (steered) their ships by studying the stars. Shipbuilders travelled to Portugal because Henry wanted them to develop new ways to make ships stronger and able to sail great distances.

It is for this reason that Prince Henry is often called Henry the Navigator. Henry wanted to explore for all the reasons listed above: trade, finding a route to Asia, and missionary work.

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Raleigh and His Son

England

You have already read about one English explorer, John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto). England sent very few explorers to North America after Cabot's discovery. England fought very expensive wars in Europe during this time, and did not have the money and resources to send explorers overseas.

England also had its own problems. Different religious groups fought between each other. Once these wars ended, and England became more peaceful, explorers began to sail to North America.

In 1587 an Englishman named Sir Walter Raleigh sent a group of 116 men, women and children to settle the island of Roanoke off the coast of Virginia in the modern United States. They were led by John White. White left the people on the island to create a settlement and he returned to England.

Three years later White went back to Roanoke. All of the people were gone. All White found was a wooden post with the word "Croatoan" - the name of a nearby Algonkian village - carved into it. What happened to the people of Roanoake remains a mystery.

Algonkian Village of Pomeiooc, by John White

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The Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494

Pope Alexander VI

Since Spain and Portugal were exploring in the same areas some feared the two countries might go to war. One country, such as Spain, might discover islands in the Caribbean Ocean. Portugal could claim they found the islands first. An argument over land could become violent.

To prevent war Pope Alexander VI drew a line on the map of the world (or at least the best map Europeans had at that time). His line was 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde and Azores Islands in the Atlantic Ocean (sailors measure distance in leagues - usually there are 3 miles or 4.8 kms in a league). All lands to the west of the line belonged to Spain. All lands east of the line belonged to Portugal

One year later, in 1494, Spain and Portugal negotiated the Treaty of Tordesillas. This treaty moved Pope Alexander's line another 270 leagues further west. This gave Portugal ownership of a very large part of Brazil.

Treaty of Tordesillas

Neither Pope Alexander nor either ruler of Spain and Portugal gave any thought to the First Nations who lived in these lands. Two countries and the Pope simply decided to take land without asking the people who lived there if they wanted to sell it or invite people to live with them.

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First Nations and the First Explorers

When the first European explorers landed in the Americas they met First Nations. When these two people met they exchanged many things. Sometimes they exchanged through trade. Other times things were exchanged without anyone being aware of what was happening.

Historians call this the Columbian Exchange after Christopher Columbus. It is also called a biological exchange. This means an exchange of natural diseases, animals and plants.

Some of this exchange happens on purpose. For example, Europeans took back plants from North America to Europe. They also brought animals from Europe to North America. But even when this happened, it affected Europeans and First Nations in ways that no one expected. Other times this exchange happened without anyone being aware of it such as with disease. Some of this change was positive and some it was very negative.

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Diseases

Many First Nations people died because of new European diseases. They had no immunity to these diseases. They had never caught them before, and their bodies could not fight the diseases.

Aztec Victims of Smallpox

Some of the diseases Europeans brought to the Americas were:

Smallpox
Measles
Chicken Pox
Malaria
Yellow Fever
Influenza (the flu)

The Common Cold
Plague
Cholera
Typhoid Fever
Scarlet Fever

Mumps
Diphtheria and Whooping Cough
Pneumonia
Various sexually transmitted infections.

A few North American diseases like Syphilis also passed back to Europe, Africa and Asia.

Some of these diseases are very serious even today. In the past people in Europe often caught these diseases, such as chicken pox and measles, as young children. When they became better they became immune to the diseases. Over time Europeans became less likely to become very sick or die from these diseases.

Europeans did not know that they brought these diseases with them to the Americas. By sharing food, living with First Nations, sometimes even just breathing and coughing they passed these diseases to native peoples.

Soon these diseases spread far beyond where Europeans were living. If a native person traded with Europeans he or she might catch smallpox and travel back to their village. For a few days they would not appear sick, but they would infect other people. Some of these infected people might travel to another village and make others sick. Through this process diseases spread very quickly.

First Nations had no immunity or resistance to these diseases. Sickness such as the flu killed people. Chicken pox is not too serious when a young child catches it, but can be very serious if an adult catches it. Many First Nations people died from European diseases. Some historians think that millions of people died because of disease.

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Unloading Horses from a Ship

Animals

Europeans brought animals with them to the Americas. Spanish conquistadors brought horses with them. Over many years some of these animals ran away from their owners. They became wild horses. Eventually these wild horses spread north. First Nations on the plains began to use these horses. They became an important part of their culture. It also changed their culture. Plains people relied less on dogs as work animals and started using horses.

Europeans also brought over pigs, sheep, cows, chickens and other farm animals. Over time this changed the landscape. Cows require land to graze on. Settlers cut down trees to open up land for farm animals. Very slowly this changed the environment of the Americas.

The European Rat

Europeans also brought over less desirable animals such as rats. Rats spread disease to people. Europeans did not bring rats deliberately. Rats would hide on ships. When these ships arrived in the Americas they rats would leave the ships and enter towns and villages.

Europeans also found some animals in the Americas very useful. We still use them today for different reasons. These animals are the turkey, the guinea pag, the llama and the alpaca:

Female Wild Turkey; northeastern North America; modern use: source of food

The Guinea Pig; South America; modern use: pets

The Llama; South America; modern use: source of food, pack animal, and source of wool

The Alpaca; South America; modern use: source of food and wool

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Aztecs Offering Chocolate to the Spaniards

Plants

When Europeans arrived in the Americas they found many useful plants. Many of the foods we eat today were originally eaten by First Nations people for thousands of years before Europeans arrived.

Corn was grown by many First Nations such as the Iroquois. Beans and squash were other important foods. Many of the foods that people eat during Thanksgiving are from First Nations people: corn, squash, and cranberries.

Inca Potatoes

Perhaps the most important plant was the potato. Potatoes can be grown very easily. You do not need a lot of land to grow potatoes. This had a big impact on Europe. Many people in Europe were very poor. If they were farmers they did not own very much land. Often they did not grow enough food to feed themselves. Now they could grow potatoes on only a few acres of land. Having access to this new plant allowed Europe's population to grow and become larger.

Many other foods we have today came from the New World: