European settlers to "the New World" had a major, and mostly negative effect on the indigenous populations across North and South America. Whatever the motivations, those who settled North America left in their wake a legacy of poverty, domestic, drug and alcohol abuse, and an impenetrable sense of hopelessness among Native American communities.
What was the effect of European settlement in the Americas?
The effect of European settlement in the Americas was devastating to the indigenous populations. It is thought that the native population was reduced by as much as ninety percent in the first century after first contact as the result of diseases inadvertently introduced from Europe. Whole civilizations vanished and societies...
Where did the Spanish colonize North and South America?
Spain was the first European country to colonize what today is North and South America, and the Spanish approach to the region came from several directions. One was from the Caribbean area, primarily Cuba and Puerto Rico, into Florida. At its height of development, Spanish Florida included the coastal regions of Georgia and southern South Carolina.
How did the arrival of the Europeans affect Native Americans?
Over hundreds of years, the Native Americans were negatively impacted by the arrival of the Europeans to the Americas. That negative impact continues to this very day. European settlers to "the New World" had a major, and mostly negative effect on the indigenous populations across North and South America.
What countries did Europe colonize in the Americas?
European colonization of the Americas. Portugal colonized Brazil, tried colonizing the eastern coasts of present-day Canada and settled for extended periods northwest (on the east bank) of the River Plate. The Age of Exploration was the beginning of territorial expansion for several European countries.
How did European exploration affect South America?
As we learned, Europeans brought a host of deadly diseases, including smallpox, influenza, and measles, against which the indigenous peoples had no immunity. In other words, disease, rather than warfare, was the number one killer of Latin America's indigenous peoples.
What impact did European settlement have on the Americas?
Colonization ruptured many ecosystems, bringing in new organisms while eliminating others. The Europeans brought many diseases with them that decimated Native American populations. Colonists and Native Americans alike looked to new plants as possible medicinal resources.
When was South America settled by Europeans?
During the Age of Exploration, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800.
Where did the Europeans settle in South America?
The first European countries to begin colonizing the Americas were Spain and Portugal. Spain claimed and settled Mexico, most of Central and South America, several islands in the Caribbean, and what are now Florida, California, and the Southwest region of the United States. Portugal gained control of Brazil.
Who settled South America?
Latin America came to fruition in the 1500's after European “discovery” of the New World. Countries such as Spain, France and Portugal colonized the region. Although most of Latin America was colonized by Spain, the countries of Portugal and France also had major influences on the region.
How did European settlement impact South African societies?
Colonialism made African colonies dependent by introducing a mono- cultural economy for the territories. It also dehumanized African labour force and traders. It forced Africans to work in colonial plantations at very low wages and displaced them from their lands.
Why is South America not developed?
No country in Latin America can be named developed, although a few are higher-middle income. One important reason for this large gap is protectionism.
How was South America settled?
South America is thought to have been first inhabited by humans when people were crossing the Bering Land Bridge (now the Bering Strait) at least 15,000 years ago from the territory that is present-day Russia. They migrated south through North America, and eventually reached South America through the Isthmus of Panama.
What was South America called before colonization?
Before 1492, modern-day Mexico, most of Central America, and the southwestern United States comprised an area now known as Meso or Middle America.
What happened after the European settlement?
Lifestyle After Colonisation European settlement had a severe and devastating impact on Indigenous people. Their dispossession of the land, exposure to new diseases and involvement in violent conflict, resulted in the death of a vast number of the Aboriginal peoples.
How much of South America is European?
Among the countries with the largest number of Europeans, they comprise 97 percent of the population in Argentina; 90 percent in Uruguay; 50 percent in Brazil; 25 percent in Chile; 20 percent in Paraguay, Venezuela, and Colombia; 15 pecent in Ecuador; 14 percent in Bolivia; and 12 percent in Peru.
What part of South America is mostly European?
Mulattos have a range of 60 to 80% European genes and are mostly found in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana where French ancestry Mulattos are the majority. To a much smaller percentage degree they can be found in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay.
What were the causes and effects of European colonization of the Americas?
Basic Effects Europeans gained new materials like gold, silver, and jewels. The Europeans enslaved the Native Americans and took most of them back to Europe. The explorers also gained new foods like corn and pineapple. Columbus also discovered tobacco seeds and brought the seeds back to Europe.
What were the effects of European exploration?
European explorations led to the Columbian Exchange and an increase in international trade. European nations competed for colonies. The European economy underwent major changes. Today, as in the days of mercantilism, some groups want to restrict global trade to protect certain jobs and industries from competition.
How did the colonization of the Americas affect the Caribbean?
According to scientists from University College London, the colonization of the Americas by Europeans killed so much of the indigenous population that it resulted in climate change and global cooling. Some contemporary scholars also attribute significant indigenous population losses in the Caribbean to the widespread practice of slavery and deadly forced labor in gold and silver mines. Historian, Andrés Reséndez, supports this claim and argues that indigenous populations were smaller previous estimations and "a nexus of slavery, overwork and famine killed more Indians in the Caribbean than smallpox, influenza and malaria."
What countries were involved in the colonization of the Americas?
During this period of time, several European empires —primarily Spain, Portugal, Britain, and France —began to explore and claim the natural resources and human capital of the Americas, resulting in the displacement and disestablishment of some Indigenous Nations, and the establishment of several settler-colonial states.
Why did the population of the Americas drop?
After European contact, the native population of the Americas plummeted by an estimated 80% (from around 50 million in 1492 to eight million in 1650), mostly as the result of outbreaks of Old World disease.
Why did the Dutch want independence?
The Netherlands had been part of the Spanish Empire, due to the inheritance of Charles V of Spain. Many Dutch people converted to Protestantism and sought their political independence from Spain. They were a seafaring nation and built a global empire in regions where the Portuguese had originally explored. In the Dutch Golden Age, it sought colonies. In the Americas, the Dutch conquered the northeast of Brazil in 1630, where the Portuguese had built sugar cane plantations worked by black slave labor from Africa. Prince Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen became the administrator of the colony (1637–43), building a capital city and royal palace, fully expecting the Dutch to retain control of this rich area. As the Dutch had in Europe, it tolerated the presence of Jews and other religious groups in the colony. After Maurits departed in 1643, the Dutch West India Company took over the colony, until it was lost to the Portuguese in 1654. The Dutch retained some territory in Dutch Guiana, now Suriname. The Dutch also seized islands in the Caribbean that Spain had originally claimed but had largely abandoned, including Sint Maarten in 1618, Bonaire in 1634, Curaçao in 1634, Sint Eustatius in 1636, Aruba in 1637, some of which remain in Dutch hands and retain Dutch cultural traditions.
Why was the rapid rate at which Europe grew in wealth and power unforeseeable in the early 15th century?
The rapid rate at which Europe grew in wealth and power was unforeseeable in the early 15th century because it had been preoccupied with internal wars and it was slowly recovering from the loss of its population which was caused by the Black Death. The strength of the Turkish Ottoman Empire held on trade routes to Asia prompted Western European monarchs to search for alternatives, resulting in the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the accidental re-discovery of the " New World ".
Where did the Aztecs first colonize?
Inspired by the Spanish riches from colonies founded upon the conquest of the Aztecs, Incas, and other large Native American populations in the 16th century, their first attempt at colonization occurred in Roanoke and Newfoundland, although unsuccessful.
Which country founded the colonies in the Americas?
France. France founded colonies in the Americas: in eastern North America (which had not been colonized by Spain north of Florida ), a number of Caribbean islands (which had often already been conquered by the Spanish or depopulated by disease), and small coastal parts of South America.
Which regions of Latin America were sparsely populated?
The same processes also characterized sparsely populated regions of Latin America such as Argentina and Chile. The Spanish Crown required all ships involved in early exploratory expeditions to carry seeds, plants, and livestock for the establishment of European forms of agricultural production.
What were the ecological impacts of European colonizations?
The arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492 initiated an extensive exchange in material goods, traditions, and ideas that was to have ecological impacts not only in the Americas and Europe, but also in the wider world. These transfers are often referred ...
How did the Iberians provide labor?
The Iberians disparaged manual work and looked to Native Americans, or in their absence African slaves, to provide the necessary labor. Initially this was supplied through the encomienda, an institution that had been used during the Reconquest of southern Spain from the Moors. An encomienda was an allocation of Indians to an individual who was given the right to exact tribute and labor from them. However, because of ill treatment, in 1549 the right of encomenderos to exact labor was withdrawn and in many regions replaced by other forced labor systems modeled on pre-Columbian forms of draft labor, such as the repartimiento or mita. Where labor was short, landowners attempted to recruit free workers by offering them incentives in the form of better wages, credit, or plots of land on their estates. Where labor demands could not be met locally, the only recourse was to import African slave labor. However, this was only an economic proposition where agricultural commodities, such as sugar, could generate sufficiently high profits to cover the high cost of importing African slaves.
How did the Iberians control the land?
Given the high demand for some crops in Europe, notably sugar cane, and the growing demand for food in the cities and mining areas, that could not be supplied by declining native populations, the Iberians began to assume control of agricultural production through the acquisition of land and the development of haciendas. In pre-Columbian times a variety of types of land tenure existed: Some lands were owned by the state, communities, or private individuals, while tribal peoples and hunter-gatherers had no concept of private property. With the exception of state lands, the Iberians recognized private ownership of land, but not usufruct rights, which meant that lands that were used but not owned by indigenous communities were vulnerable to seizure by incoming settlers and their descendants. Although the Iberians attempted to replicate the large estates or latifundia that existed in Europe, because native rights to land were recognized in law, at the outset few large land grants were allocated. However, such land grants could be consolidated piecemeal over time and combined with lands acquired in other ways to underpin the growth of great estates held by single owners.
Why were cattle raised in the Americas?
The Iberians were more successful in establishing the raising of livestock because they faced little competition from native domesticated animals . The only animals raised in the Americas in pre-Columbian times were llama, alpaca, guinea pig, muscovy duck, and turkey. Cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats accompanied all early expeditions to the New World. Although better suited to savanna conditions, cattle raising soon became important in the Caribbean, and encouraged a good market for hides in the Iberian peninsula and by the haulage demands of sugar industry. On the mainland and in Brazil the expansion of cattle raising was linked to the development of the mining industry for which it provided hides for saddle bags and tallow for candles.
Why did sugar become the mainstay of the economies of Brazil and many Caribbean islands?
Sugar became the mainstay of the economies of Brazil and many Caribbean islands where, because of the shortage of Native American labor, its cultivation led to the large-scale exploitation of imported African slaves. The Iberians were not the only people to introduce new crops.
Who was the first person to import sugar to Brazil?
The Spanish and Portuguese were also interested in establishing the production of sugar, but for export to Europe rather than for local consumption. Columbus introduced sugar to Hispaniola on his second voyage. Later, the Portuguese, who had developed sugar production in Madeira, introduced it to Brazil from whence it was exported as early as the 1520s. Sugar became the mainstay of the economies of Brazil and many Caribbean islands where, because of the shortage of Native American labor, its cultivation led to the large-scale exploitation of imported African slaves.
Overview
During the Age of Exploration, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800. Although the Norse had explored and colonized areas of the North Atlantic, colonizing Greenland and creating a short term settlement near the northern tip of Newfoundland circa 1000 CE, the later and more well-known wave by the European powers is what formally constitutes as beginning of colonization, involving both the continents of North America
Overview of Western European powers
Norse explorers are the first known Europeans to set foot on what is now North America. Norse journeys to Greenland and Canada are supported by historical and archaeological evidence. The Norsemen established a colony in Greenland in the late 10th century, and lasted until the mid 15th century, with court and parliament assemblies (þing) taking place at Brattahlíð and a bishop located at Garðar. The remains of a settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada…
Christianization
Beginning with the first wave of European colonization, the religious discrimination, persecution, and violence toward the Indigenous peoples' native religions was systematically perpetrated by the European Christian colonists and settlers from the 15th-16th centuries onwards.
During the Age of Discovery and the following centuries, the Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires were the most active in attempting to convert the Indigenous peoples of the Americas t…
Religion and immigration
Roman Catholics were the first major religious group to immigrate to the New World, as settlers in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies of Portugal and Spain, and later, France in New France. No other religion was tolerated and there was a concerted effort to convert indigenous peoples and black slaves to Catholicism. The Catholic Church established three offices of the Spanish Inquisition, in Mexico City; Lima, Peru; and Cartagena de Indias in Colombia to maintain religious …
Disease and indigenous population loss
The European lifestyle included a long history of sharing close quarters with domesticated animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, dogs and various domesticated fowl, from which many diseases originally stemmed. In contrast to the indigenous people, the Europeans had developed a richer endowment of antibodies. The large-scale contact with Europeans after 1492 introduced Eurasian germs to the indigenous people of the Americas.
Slavery
Indigenous population loss following European contact directly led to Spanish explorations beyond the Caribbean islands they initially claimed and settled in the 1490s, since they required a labor force to both produce food and to mine gold. Slavery was not unknown in Indigenous societies. With the arrival of European colonists, enslavement of Indigenous peoples "became commodified, expanded in unexpected ways, and came to resemble the kinds of human trafficki…
Colonization and race
Throughout the South American hemisphere, there were three large regional sources of populations: Native Americans, arriving Europeans, and forcibly transported Africans. The mixture of these cultures impacted the ethnic makeup that predominates in the hemisphere's largely independent states today. The term to describe someone of mixed European and indigenous ancestry is mestizo while the term to describe someone of mixed European and African ancestry is
Impact of colonial land ownership on long-term development
Eventually, most of the Western Hemisphere came under the control of Western European governments, leading to changes to its landscape, population, and plant and animal life. In the 19th century over 50 million people left Western Europe for the Americas. The post-1492 era is known as the period of the Columbian exchange, a dramatically widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations (including slaves), ideas, and communicable disease between …
Old World Crops and Livestock in The New World
The Adoption of Old World Crops and Livestock
Changes in Agricultural Implements and Techniques
The Development of Haciendas
Gold and Silver Mining
Manufacturing
The Impact of Native Crops on Europe and The Wider World
- The impact of indigenous American crops had an equally profound effect on production and consumption patterns in Europe and the rest of the world. Attention focused initially on exotic crops, such cacao and dyes, which were produced in the Americas and exported. However, the transfer of staple food crops to the Old World brought more far-reaching e...
The Transfer of Diseases
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