martin

Jan 20, 20195 min read

EUROPEAN CONQUEST IN THE AMERICAS & THE SLAVE TRADE

Updated: Jan 29, 2019

TO SET THE SCENE

THE ENDING OF 'APOCALYPTO' movie directed by Mel Gibson

ARRIVAL OF THE SPANISH - THE END OF THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION

THE END OF THE POST CLASSICAL MAYAN PERIOD 95O AD - 1524 AD

PRELUDE TO THE BATTLE OF UTATLAN THE MAYAN RESISTANCE CRUSHED BY THE CONQUISTADOR ALVARADO

1524 AD

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GLOBAL EXPLORATION + TRADE LEADS TO CONQUEST

AZTEC MESOAMERICA EMPIRE

The AZTEC EMPIRE under the leadership of Moctezuma was a alliance of 3 city states. It flourished between 1345 AD - 1521 AD - the late middle ages in EUROPE. Tenochititlan the largest city in the Pre- Columbian Americas had 2OO,OOO inhabitants. The whole Aztec Empire probably had 11 million people at this time.

CORTÉS AND THE AZTECS

1519 CORTÉS fleet lands at VERA CRUZ he sends one ship back to Spain burns the rest - a no turning back leadership tactic ? He wishes to establish a new Spanish colony and aquire the wealth of the Aztecs particularly their gold.

King Moctezuma welcomes the Spanish thinking they are emissaries of their white skinned god Quetzalcoatl who had sailed away to the East and would one day return to rule over them.

La Malinche a woman he meets on the Mexican gulf becomes his mistress and translator.

1521 HERNÁN CORTÉS becomes a Spanish Conquistador by capturing Moctezuma the Aztec Empire King at Tenochtitlán (present day Mexico city larger than any European city at the time) then later with the help of tribes that King Moctezuma had conquered he takes the city.

Cortés has 5OO soldiers and 16 horses never seen by the Aztecs / like Alexander the Great soldiers who had never seen elephants in India - scene from Alexander by Oliver Stone ...

They thought they were supernatural creatures.

After the war Cortés calls the region New Spain. He rebuild the Aztec capital now Mexico city. The locals were used as slaves but many died of diseases brought by the Europeans - estimates as high as 2O million people in the Americas died of diseases ( small pox, measles, flu ) during the European conquest .

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MACHU PICCHU

PERU

Lost city of the Incas built around 1438 - 1471 ( a secret Inca stronghold in the rebellion against the Spanish) excavated by American explorer archaelogist and politician Hiram Bingham in 1912.

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A similar history would be repeated by the Conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1531 when he defeated the INCA Empire in South America.

Expanding also the Spanish Empire, the Spanish language and the power of the Church in the Americas

Local waring factions with the Inca Empire allowed Pizzaro to defeat a whole civilization of 12 million inhabitants starting with only 2OO Spanish soldiers. Again European diseases killed many of the indigenous population. He also took a native woman as his interpreter Dona Marina who also bore him a son.

The Gold and Silver that returned to Europe in the 16th century made Spain a very wealthy country. In the 16th century more Spanish settlers expanded the colonies in the new world providing the background for the future history of Latin America.

GLOBAL EXPLORATION + TRADE LEADS TO CONQUEST

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TRADE EXPANSION NEEDS AN EXPANDED LABOUR WORKFORCE

tobacco - coffee - tea - sugar & cotton plantations

THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE

Here we come to the deplorable issue of human trafficking eventually overturned by the ABOLISHIONIST MOVEMENT in Europe & America mid 19 century (still reported in some parts of the world) but has been a feature of all empires of the past - Slavery.

1. Prince Henry the Navigator had already helped start a trade route between Portugal and the west coast of Africa.

Slave coast geography map 1729

Europe itself was not a big market for slaves but the new world needed labour.

Estimates (UNESCO) of 17 million slaves were transported in the 18th and 19th centuries from West Africa to the Americas. Estimated 1.8 million died on the journey. A high percentage of the ships crews also died from diseases on board - this was often in the Captains interest as he had to pay less in wages at the end of the voyage. You can see what kind of brutal mentality this industry cultivated.

Transportation

- was an inhumane experience to begin their lives once sold into slavery.

The Portugeuse were the first to engage in Atlantic slave trade in 1526 from West Africa to Brazil. Other European countries followed -

From UNESCO research

The trade proceeded in three steps. It was a very organised industry.

1. The ships left Western Europe for Africa loaded with goods which were to be exchanged for slaves.

Upon their arrival in Africa the captains traded their merchandise for captive slaves. Weapons and gun powder were the most important commodities but textiles, pearls and other manufactured goods, as well as rum, were also in high demand. The exchange could last from one week to several months.

2. The second step was the crossing of the Atlantic. Africans were transported to America to be sold throughout the continent.

3. The third step connected America to Europe. The slave traders brought back mostly agricultural products, produced by the slaves. The main product was sugar, followed by cotton, coffee, tobacco and rice.

The circuit lasted approximately eighteen months. In order to be able to transport the maximum number of slaves, the ship’s steerage was frequently removed. Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, England and France, were the main triangular trading countries.

What should be noted is that waring tribes in AFRICA captured their own slaves and then sold them to European Atlantic traders. Also slavery enforced the idea of racism and ethnic superiority. Even as the 'enlightened' founding fathers of the USA were writing the Declaration of Independance in 1776 for the 13 colonies, slavery existed Thomas Jefferson for example 'owned' 6OO African slaves. Jefferson did eventually support a gradual emancipation.

William Wilberforce was a driving force in the British Parliament against slavery and in 18O7 England banned slave trade. The USA did the same but not their internal slavery culture. Between 18O7 and 186O the Royal Navy seized approx 16OO ships involved in the slave trade on the Atlantic freeing some 15O,OOO Africans on board.

The slave trade indirectly fueled the Industrial Revolution in England with sugar as a sweetener and energy resource.

Tate and Lyle sugar refining company in London.