How did a few European conquistadors colonize the Americas after Christopher Columbus?

There European colonization of American continentwhich began in the sixteenth century, caused the progressive occupation of the so-called New World by the European powers: Spain and Portugal first and foremost and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Russia. This process produced profound consequences both in America and in Europe. The conquest was characterized by extreme brutality by the so-called conquistadors, such as Cortés and Pizarro: the indigenous population was drastically reduced (there were millions of deaths, largely due to diseases of European origin) and those who survived were subjected to harsh exploitation. Furthermore, Europeans “imported” to America black slaves from Africa, distorting the ethnic composition of the population. Even in North America colonization was brutal, but it occurred later and had different characteristics.

The arrival of Europeans and pre-Columbian civilizations

When Columbus arrived in America, the continent was home to both moderately advanced populations and less advanced civilizations from a socio-economic point of view. The peoples with the most complex societies were found in Mesoamerica (Aztecs and Maya) and the Andes (Inca). In North America (counting only the current United States and Canada, but not Mexico) and in other sectors of Central and South America (for example, the areas where Argentina and Brazil are located today) there lived semi-nomadic and less ” structured”.

A few years after the “discovery” of America, the conquest began. In 1494 Spain and Portugal, the main maritime powers of the time, signed the Treaty of Tordesillaswhich established the border line between the respective areas of conquest: Portugal received Brazil, Spain the rest of Central and South America.

The division of the world between Spain and Portugal (credits Lencer)

The conquistadors and the occupation of American territory

The conquest occurred a few years after the “discovery”. In many areas, inhabited by semi-nomadic and poorly “structured” populations, Europeans limited themselves to settling on the territory, even without managing to conquer it completely. In other places they had to face armed clashes with local populations. The best known conquests are those of the Aztec empire (Mexico), defeated by the troops of Hernán Cortés between 1518 and 1522, and of the Inca Empire (Peru), occupied by the soldiers of Francisco Pizarro a few years later.

THE conquistadorsas those who conquered the American territory were called, were much less numerous than the native populations, but could benefit from a clear technological superiority: firearms, metal armour, the use of horses in war, elements completely unknown to the natives which, in addition to guaranteeing enormous military advantages, had a strong psychological impact.

Furthermore, the conquistadors were also able to benefit from other advantages. First of all, the American populations were divided by deep rivalries. In Mexico, for example, the Aztec dominion was disliked by the other Mesoamerican populations, who supported Cortés’ conquest. Furthermore, the conquistadors were adept at exploiting some indigenous beliefs. Since the Aztecs believed that their god, Quetzalcoatlwould return to Earth from the sea, Cortés made them believe that he was his representative (in other versions, that he was the divinity himself), thus facilitating the conquest.

Thus, in the first half of the sixteenth century Spain and Portugal they occupied vast areas of Central and South America. North America suffered a partially different fate. It was partly occupied by the Spanish, who considered it a peripheral territory; partly from other European peoples: English, Dutch, French, who however only arrived in the 17th century and originally founded only small coastal settlements. Alaska, however, was occupied by the Russians in the 18th century.

Europeans in America (credits Jluisrs)

The extermination of the natives and the colonial exploitation of the Americas

The arrival of the colonizers turned the lives of the American populations upside down. Only a small number of Europeans settled in the New World, but they assumed a position of absolute dominance. The Spanish and Portuguese, in the name of presumed superiority, felt authorized to subjugate the local population. There brutality knew no limits: the indigenous people were enslaved, forced to convert to Christianity, subjected to every kind of oppression.

The Europeans, moreover, in the early days after the conquest had no intention of develop the American territoriesbut they only wanted to grab the riches. The primary objective was to appropriate the precious metals, gold and silverpresent in some locations. Later, the colonizers planted large plantations to grow products to export to the rest of the world.

The most serious consequence of the arrival of the Europeans was the drastic decline in the indigenous population, which over the centuries went – according to the most reliable estimates – from around 80 million to a few million. The main causes were not the massacres, but the exploitation to which the populations were subjected and, above all, the epidemics. The Europeans, in fact, brought it to America new viruses and bacteriaagainst which the native population had no antibodies; diseases such as smallpox and measles therefore exterminated the local population.

Due to the demographic decline and the little physical resistance of the indigenous people, the Europeans decided to “import” workers from Africa. They therefore started the slave trade, which lasted until the nineteenth century and populated the continent with men and women with black skin.

Colonial society, accordingly, was ethnically heterogeneousincluding whites, blacks and indigenous people. In Central and South America, Europeans mixed with other ethnic groups and created a society divided into ethnic castes. In North America, however, the colonizers did not mix with the indigenous people, but gradually expelled them from the territory, to the point of confining them to special reserves.

In Europe, among the consequences of the colonization of the Americas were the arrival of new agricultural products and new animal species, as well as the economic upheavals caused by the arrival of large quantities of precious metals.