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ColonizationConquest and Cultural Collisions1recorded — Transcript

by Michael Hawkins · 12,278 words · 2,306 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00alrighty history fans welcome to the
0:02very first lecture
0:03in our course here today we're going to
0:05talk about the process by which
0:07european powers came to colonize north
0:10america
0:11in the 15 and 1600s
0:15here in this lecture we'll talk about
0:16why europeans came
0:18their early contacts with native
0:20americans
0:22and then in the latter part of this
0:24lecture we'll introduce the first
0:26of three european powers that establish
0:28empires here in north america
0:30that we will be examining comparing and
0:33contrasting
0:35here in our first couple of lectures
0:37that examine this process
0:38of european colonization of north
0:42america
0:43but let's begin by noting that before
0:45any europeans arrived
0:47there were millions of people already
0:49here in america
0:51today we refer to them as native
0:53americans
0:54you may also sometimes still hear them
0:57referred to as american indians
0:59these were the very first human beings
1:00to settle in north america
1:02anywhere from 15 to 40 000 years ago
1:06the first human beings began to trickle
1:08into
1:09north america along a land bridge that
1:12connected
1:13asia to north america a land bridge
1:16known as boringia
1:17it doesn't exist anymore it is now the
1:19bering strait or bering sea
1:21but in a very different climate tens of
1:23thousands of years ago
1:25it was possible to walk from asia into
1:28north america
1:29along this land bridge of boringia
1:32so the very first human beings to arrive
1:35in the americas the very first americans
1:38were these people who migrated from asia
1:41into north america tens of thousands of
1:43years ago who today refer to
1:45as native americans now likely they were
1:49following herds of
1:50animals uh that they hunted for food it
1:52wasn't as if they just said hey what's
1:54over there and started walking over
1:56there
1:56this was likely a process of following
1:59migratory patterns of animals that they
2:01hunted but nonetheless they arrived
2:04in north america anywhere from 15 to 40
2:06000 years ago and that's quite a span it
2:08tells you how little we actually know
2:10about
2:10when the very first human beings arrived
2:13in
2:13north america by the time europeans
2:16arrive
2:16in the late 1400s there were anywhere
2:18from two to
2:1910 million human beings already here in
2:22the americas
2:24so uh columbus who gets credit sometimes
2:28with discovering america
2:30didn't discover america and he
2:32discovered something that literally
2:34millions of people already knew about so
2:36how much credit do we offer him
2:38over the course of thousands of years as
2:41human beings came to populate the
2:42americas
2:44as when columbus arrives in 1492 there
2:47were
2:47millions of people here in north america
2:50already established
2:52civilizations over that process and in
2:54the course of the history of those
2:55civilizations
2:57you have the development of very rich
2:59complex communities
3:00rich complex civilizations with
3:03different
3:04forms of political structures different
3:06uh
3:07economies and different forms of
3:09cultural expression
3:10art folklore so over the course
3:14of the thousands and thousands of years
3:16by which native americans came to
3:17populate
3:18north america among the millions of
3:21people who lived here
3:22in america well before any europeans
3:25arrived
3:26you had these complex rich societies so
3:29we need to disabuse ourselves of the
3:31idea that history only began
3:33when the white guy showed up it wasn't
3:35as if native americans were standing on
3:37the shore saying hey
3:38when will the white guys get here so
3:40that history can begin
3:42history was in full motion history was
3:44in full
3:45bloom well before any europeans arrive
3:48because native americans
3:50had established very complex rich
3:52societies
3:53well before any europeans arrive a
3:56couple examples of this
3:58bernal diaz was the chronicler who
4:01accompanied
4:01the cortez expedition that came to
4:05conquer
4:06mexico and establish the origins of new
4:10spain
4:10the origins of the spanish empire here
4:13in north america in the early 1500s
4:15ernan cortez leads his band of
4:18conquistadors
4:19they defeat the aztec empire and begin
4:22to establish
4:24new spain the spanish colonial empire
4:27here in america
4:28accompanying cortes was bernal diaz he
4:31was the chronicler the scribe he was
4:33tasked with describing this process by
4:35which
4:36the spanish came to conquer north
4:38america
4:39and he writes in his journal he writes
4:41in his chronicle
4:43that as they approach tennochitlan the
4:45capital of the aztec empire what is
4:47today
4:48mexico city they could hear the city
4:52before they could see it that's how
4:54populous
4:56bustling with activity this city was
5:00tennochitlan the capital of the aztec
5:02empire was larger in population
5:05than any city in europe in the early
5:091500s
5:10so you had here in america this large
5:12bustling city
5:14larger than any city in europe at the
5:16time
5:17with so much economic and social
5:20activity
5:21that you could hear it before you could
5:23see it
5:25another good example of the complexity
5:27of native american societies
5:29well before contact with europeans
5:31cahokia
5:32cahokia was a native american settlement
5:35society
5:36established in modern-day st louis at
5:39the nexus of a number of rivers
5:41and because of that it was a trade
5:44society a trade economy
5:46where they produced trade goods that
5:48they would trade with other native
5:50american societies
5:52and archaeologists have found here in
5:54california
5:56trade goods produced in cahokia as
5:59far west as california thousands of
6:02miles away
6:03in an era before railroads automobiles
6:07air travel meaning that something that
6:09was produced in modern day st
6:11louis traveled as far west as california
6:14centuries ago really speaking to the
6:16complexity of the trade networks that
6:18existed
6:19here in north america well before
6:21europeans arrive and certainly well
6:23before
6:23modern means of commerce modern means of
6:26transportation
6:28so here's just a couple of examples of
6:30how native american societies were so
6:32rich
6:32so complex in this class we cover
6:35centuries of history in a very very
6:38brief period of time
6:40and because of that we do great abuse to
6:43history
6:44by taking a large macro level in order
6:47to cover all the material we are tasked
6:49with covering
6:49in a very brief time and we also tend to
6:53speak in rather broad strokes
6:55agglomerating groups of people together
6:57under
6:58titles descriptions like native american
7:01and that is a bit of an abuse to history
7:05because there isn't
7:06one native american experience instead
7:09the common denominator
7:10in native american history is diversity
7:14and by that i mean that native americans
7:17lived in very different ways in
7:19different parts of north america we have
7:21this image of native americans that
7:22usually comes from hollywood of the
7:24plains indians that they all
7:26had you know elaborate headdresses and
7:29rode on horseback it's just not the case
7:32uh that might have been one native
7:33american experience for one group of
7:35native americans in the 19th century
7:38but the way in which native americans
7:39lived here in california was very
7:40different than how they might live in
7:42cahokia
7:42or tenochitlan or other parts of north
7:46america
7:47so necessarily in a class like this that
7:50covers centuries of history
7:51in a matter of weeks we have to take the
7:54macro level the large
7:56point of view and perspective and
7:58conglomerate people into certain groups
8:00like native americans it's just the
8:01nature of the beast
8:03in this mode of history instruction
8:07but we can at least acknowledge the
8:08problems with that approach
8:10that it often um obscures
8:14the great diversity that native american
8:17societies exhibited over the course of
8:20native american history
8:24despite acknowledging the ways in which
8:26native american history
8:27is so defined by diversity
8:30we can also acknowledge that
8:34across the various native american
8:36societies that existed
8:38in the 15 1600s there are some common
8:41characteristics
8:42exhibited by most if not all
8:45of those groups let's in the slide
8:48talk about native american culture on
8:51the eve of contact with europeans
8:54the common cultural characteristics
8:56exhibited
8:57by native americans in this period so
9:00the slide will introduce
9:01the ways in which native americans
9:03behaved organize their societies
9:05their abiding beliefs common
9:08characteristics
9:08exhibited by most native american
9:10societies but the slide is going to do
9:12double duty
9:13because as we'll talk about here in this
9:15lecture
9:16when europeans arrive after 1492
9:20and they observe native americans living
9:22in this fashion
9:23exhibiting these common characteristics
9:27they come to judge them not just as
9:29different
9:30but as inferior and that creates a logic
9:33in the minds of native american
9:36europeans
9:37a logic a way of thinking an argument
9:40a discourse that will ultimately justify
9:44european colonization of north america
9:48conquering enslaving dispossessing
9:51native americans of their land
9:53so in the slide we're going to talk
9:55about some characteristics exhibited by
9:56native americans
9:58and as we do so we'll note that the way
10:00native americans behaved
10:02organized their societies was very
10:04different
10:05than europeans and when europeans arrive
10:09they see that difference and they judge
10:10it as a marker of inferiority
10:13and with it comes a rationale an
10:15argument a justification
10:17in the minds of europeans for wars of
10:21aggression against native americans
10:23dispossessing native americans of their
10:25land
10:26all undergirded by this idea that well
10:28because they're different
10:30that difference marks inferiority and
10:33that inferiority justifies what we're
10:35about to describe in these lectures the
10:36european conquest of the americas
10:39so as we go forward here in this slide
10:41and we talk about characteristics
10:43exhibited by native americans you'll not
10:44only learn how native americans organize
10:46their societies
10:48but you'll also learn how europeans came
10:51to judge those characteristics
10:53as a marker of inferiority and with it
10:55you would have that justification for
10:57conquest enslavement dispossession of
10:59native american
11:00lands the europeans who arrive in the 15
11:04and 1600s
11:05do not have the sensibility that we
11:08might have today
11:09that well you're different i'm different
11:11but that's okay we could all hold hands
11:13seeing kumbaya as we drive around in our
11:15priuses with our coexist
11:17bumper stickers that mentality
11:20is a 21st century mentality it doesn't
11:23exist
11:24in the 16th century in that period
11:26europeans saw difference
11:28as a marker of inferiority so let's now
11:31go through these characteristics
11:32understand how native americans organize
11:34their societies
11:36and how the difference between native
11:38americans and europeans
11:40would ultimately serve to justify that
11:42conquest of the americas
11:44native americans tended to create a
11:46sense of self a sense of identity
11:48through their immediate social group
11:50meaning they came to understand who they
11:52are in relation to others
11:54in regards to family lines bloodlines
11:58uh maybe at most a common linguistic
12:01connection we are the people who speak
12:03this language
12:04they do not have a sensibility that's
12:07developing in europe in this period
12:10of being part of a nation as we'll talk
12:11about at the end of this lecture the
12:13spanish
12:14who arrive in the early 1500s had a
12:16sense of being
12:17spanish and that was particularly keen
12:20and sharp in that period where spain
12:22was in a process of being reconquered
12:26by a new sovereign a new king who was
12:28really invested
12:29in this idea of a reconquered reclaimed
12:32spanish nation
12:34europeans in the 15 1600s have a sense
12:36of being spanish english french
12:38native americans don't think that way
12:40they don't think of themselves as part
12:41of a nation
12:42their sense of identity is connected to
12:44more immediate
12:46lines of connection family lines lineage
12:50bloodlines and at most linguistic lines
12:54and so native americans thought
12:56differently about who they are their
12:57sense of identity was again through
12:58their immediate social group
13:00but when europeans who arrive with a
13:02sense of being part of a nation observe
13:04these people on the other side of the
13:05ocean
13:06who don't have that sensibility they
13:09judge
13:09native americans not just as different
13:11but as inferior
13:13let's talk about native american
13:15spirituality religiosity
13:18native americans exhibited a form of
13:21spirituality
13:22that historians and anthropologists
13:24describe as
13:25animism animism is a religious tradition
13:30that's been practiced by human beings
13:32around the globe for the totality of
13:35human history and it's still practiced
13:37by human beings around the globe here in
13:38the 21st century
13:40animism the predominant belief system
13:43of native americans is rooted in the
13:46idea
13:47that everything in the natural world
13:49everything that surrounds you
13:51clouds birds rocks rivers
13:54everything in the natural world is
13:56imbued filled with a spiritual force
14:00you as a human being are part of nature
14:02you're not supreme to nature you're not
14:03above nature you're part of nature
14:05and because of that you are constantly
14:07interacting with the spiritual forces
14:10that surround you so that's animism that
14:13was the belief system
14:15that native americans exhibited
14:18sometimes
14:19this leads to native americans being
14:21described as
14:22polytheistic you may have heard that
14:24term or learned it
14:26in previous classes it's not exactly
14:29accurate to say that native americans
14:31were polytheistic
14:33because native americans didn't worship
14:36many gods in that
14:37english term of gods it's more accurate
14:39albeit more cumbersome to say that they
14:41believe that
14:42everything in the natural world has a
14:44spirit within it or a spiritual force
14:46inside so that's animism
14:49when europeans arrive and they see
14:52native americans exhibiting this form of
14:53spirituality
14:55they judge them as heathens worshiping
14:57false gods worshiping rocks and rivers
15:00because the europeans who arrived
15:01beginning in the 1500s
15:03were largely christian and they believe
15:05there's only one
15:07god one god who created the entire
15:09universe
15:10one god who is everywhere in that
15:13universe
15:15and is responsible and supreme above the
15:18natural world
15:19so that's how europeans thought and so
15:21when they arrive and they see native
15:23americans who have a very different
15:24religion a very different spiritual
15:27practice
15:28they judge them again not just as
15:29different but backward
15:31heathens who worship false gods and with
15:34it comes this justification
15:36for wars of aggression dispossession of
15:39native american lands
15:40enslavement of native americans
15:42europeans did not just enslave africans
15:45they enslaved native americans as well
15:47and a lot of that was justified in their
15:49mind by the fact that they're heathens
15:50they worship
15:51false gods one other point about native
15:54american spirituality
15:56animism the spiritual force that
16:00native americans exhibited is a local
16:02religion
16:04as i described it animism is this belief
16:06that everything in the natural world
16:08is filled imbued with a
16:12spiritual force it's in a rock it's in a
16:15river
16:16it's in that tree when you walk away
16:20from that rock
16:21river or tree the god or spirit
16:24stays in the tree because that spirit is
16:27local
16:29that's a key part of animism it's a
16:32local faith
16:33christianity the faith that europeans
16:36arrive
16:37with is a universal faith christianity
16:40is a universal religion
16:42because it argues there's one god who
16:44created the entire universe
16:45and is everywhere in the universe
16:49meaning that when christians get on a
16:51boat and sail across the atlantic in the
16:531500s
16:54god comes with them because god's
16:56everywhere when they get off the boat
16:58here in america
16:59god is here because the christian faith
17:02is a universal faith
17:04so this is very different than the local
17:08religious tradition of animism things
17:11get interesting
17:12things lead to conflict things
17:15lead to wards of aggression and
17:19efforts to conquer native americans
17:22because
17:22the europeans who arrive in the 15 and
17:241600s the groups we're talking about
17:26here in our first two lectures
17:28arrive with a belief that not only
17:31wherever you go in the universe you
17:32can be a christian because god is
17:35everywhere
17:36they arrive with the firm belief that
17:38everywhere in the universe
17:40you should be a christian because for
17:43them there's only one valid faith
17:45and so again when they arrive and they
17:47see native americans
17:49behaving worshiping in a very different
17:51way they judge them
17:52as backward inferior heathens worshiping
17:57false gods
17:58christians argue there's only one god
18:00and so if you're worshiping rocks and
18:01rivers
18:02you're a heathen and all of this serves
18:04again as a rationale justification for
18:06wars of aggression
18:08for enslavement of native americans the
18:10story that we have in these first two
18:12lectures of the european conquest
18:14of the americas another common
18:16characteristic exhibited
18:18by most native americans on the eve of
18:20contact with europeans in the early
18:221500s
18:24is a sense that land
18:27is a common resource that no one
18:30individual can own land
18:34that rather than we own the earth
18:38the earth owns us in many ways native
18:40americans didn't have a sense of private
18:42ownership of land
18:43that was so important and vital to
18:45europeans now native americans had a
18:46sense of private property
18:48something that was just yours a personal
18:50effect
18:51uh often of ancestral familial artifact
18:54but when it came to land
18:56they did not have the belief that
18:57europeans were so invested in
19:00that an individual could own land as an
19:03individual
19:04and cultivate that land for his own
19:06personal profit
19:07for native americans that didn't make
19:09sense they couldn't compute that idea
19:10they couldn't compute the idea that a
19:11piece of paper a deed
19:13somehow declares that you and only you
19:15own this plot of land
19:17they argued look the earth was here
19:19before me it'll be here when i'm gone
19:21if anything i belong to the earth rather
19:23than the earth belongs to me
19:25but the europeans who arrive
19:26particularly the english we'll talk
19:27about in our next lecture
19:29were deeply invested in the idea that a
19:31civilized people
19:33own land and cultivate that land for
19:36their own personal profit
19:38for them that was one of the barometers
19:40uh measures
19:41of being civilized so again when they
19:44arrive
19:45and they see native americans who don't
19:47have that sensibility
19:48native americans who don't have that
19:50idea that i the individual
19:52can own this plot of land i should
19:54profit from this land a piece of paper a
19:57deed
19:57declares that i and only i own this land
20:01they judge native americans who don't
20:03have that sensibility
20:04as backwards savage and uncivilized
20:08so for europeans to be civilized meant
20:10to own private property
20:12if you don't have that sensibility well
20:13you must be uncivilized
20:15and that became a rationale again for
20:17wars of aggression
20:18enslavement of native americans again
20:21that
20:21story of european conquest of north
20:24america
20:25let's talk now about gender ideologies
20:28because native americans tended to have
20:30very different beliefs about gender
20:31relations than the europeans who arrive
20:33in the fifteen and sixteen hundreds
20:36for example in many native american
20:38societies they organized
20:40their uh family lines matrilineally
20:44many native american societies were
20:45matrilineal which meant you traced your
20:48name
20:48your family name and with your identity
20:51through your mother's
20:52line we here in the united states owing
20:55to our european influence
20:56tend to have a patrilineal society when
20:58babies are born in the united states
21:00they tend to
21:02inherit their father's name but why it
21:04makes just as much sense for them to
21:05inherit their mother's name
21:07and that's how native americans organize
21:08their society so native americans tend
21:11to have a matrilineal society in
21:12contrast to europeans
21:14in many native american societies women
21:16had prominent roles in politics
21:19some of them were tribal leaders or they
21:21made key decisions about the fate of the
21:23tribe decisions about whether to go to
21:25war with another tribe
21:27in many native american societies women
21:29had prominent roles
21:30in religious life they were religious
21:32leaders they were
21:33religious figures of authority and
21:36that's very different
21:37than the patriarchal societies of
21:40europeans who tended to emphasize
21:42male authority and all authority
21:44concentrate in the hands of men
21:47in many native american societies women
21:49had a right to a divorce they could on
21:51their own at their will and volition
21:53dissolve a marriage you will not see
21:56that here in the united states until the
21:581960s
22:00and the 1970s it's really only in the
22:02last 50 years
22:03that american women have had the ability
22:06to dissolve a marriage on their own
22:08native american women had that privilege
22:10and right centuries ago
22:12so native americans tended to have a
22:14very different
22:15sense of gender than the patriarchal
22:18societies of europeans and again when
22:21europeans arrive and they see this they
22:23judge native americans not just as
22:24different but backwards savage
22:26uncivilized
22:27unmanly in the ways in which they let
22:29their women bust them around
22:31give too much power to the women
22:34in the tribe and that judgment
22:38by europeans again serves as a rational
22:41justification
22:42for conquest of native americans
22:45also native americans often had no taboo
22:48no moral stigma attached to pre-marital
22:52sex and this will
22:53really blow the european's mind when
22:55they arrive and they see these people
22:56running around with no clothes on in
22:57their mind worshiping rocks and rivers
22:59and
23:01doing it having sex before marriage for
23:04europeans that's proof that these people
23:05are
23:06animals that they're uncivilized that
23:08they are
23:09backward and savage so
23:12gender relations also vital to the way
23:14in which native americans organize their
23:16society in a different way than
23:17europeans
23:19and also a key marker of difference that
23:21for europeans will serve as a
23:23justification
23:24for the wars of aggression conquest of
23:27enslavement of the native americans
23:30that will now be our focus in many
23:32lectures here going forward
23:34so again this slide was designed to do
23:36double duty give you a sense of how
23:37native americans organize their society
23:39say in 1491
23:41before europeans arrive but also again
23:44lay out the environment the terrain of
23:46conflict
23:47when europeans do arrive see native
23:49americans exhibiting these
23:50characteristics
23:51and then judge them to be backward
23:53savage uncivilized
23:55and with it justify their conquest of
23:58the americas
24:01okay so in the previous slide we talked
24:02a lot about how native american
24:04societies were very different
24:06than europeans but we could overstate
24:09that some
24:10because the american societies weren't
24:13necessarily so
24:14different so antithetical to europeans
24:18antithetical here a fancy four dollar
24:20word for
24:21uh opposed to or different from because
24:24we know that europeans also believed in
24:27spirits
24:28we know this from european folklore in
24:30this period
24:31europeans believed in invisible forces
24:34that surround them
24:36brownies sprites trolls dwarves all
24:39kinds of
24:40uh mythological creatures that were more
24:42conversant in thanks to all the cultural
24:44texts of today like game
24:46of thrones and harry potter and the like
24:48we know a lot about european folklore in
24:50this period because of our contemporary
24:52pop culture
24:53and as a result we know that europeans
24:56believed in a lot of invisible
24:58spiritual forces in the natural world
25:00that convex and trouble your life
25:03but we as historians observing that
25:06uh very different than europeans who
25:09didn't see that commonality
25:10instead saw absolute difference and in
25:13doing so
25:14constructed an argument that
25:17articulated this absolute divide between
25:19native american and european
25:21so we as thoughtful history students and
25:24historians can say hey wait a minute
25:25wait a minute wait wait
25:26europeans and native americans weren't
25:28so different but that's not how
25:30europeans
25:30ultimately represented native americans
25:33instead they constructed a discourse
25:34which is another fancy four dollar word
25:36for an argument
25:38or in this case a body of texts a body
25:40of representations when europeans
25:42arrived
25:43in north america in the 1500s and
25:45discovered one a part of the world they
25:47never knew about
25:48and millions of people they never knew
25:50about they were fascinated by them
25:51and they wrote about them described them
25:54like bernal diaz and his chronicle
25:56and in doing so they created a discourse
25:58a body of representations a body of text
26:01a body of writing that tended to
26:04describe native americans
26:05as opposite and antithetical to
26:08europeans as possible
26:09along a line of civilization and so it's
26:11known as the discourse of
26:13civilization where europeans are arguing
26:16that there's a clear distinction between
26:18european and native american
26:20civilized and uncivilized in this
26:23discourse they said native americans
26:24worship
26:25rocks and rivers they're heathens
26:27they're superstitious they worship false
26:28gods
26:29they don't have a sense of private
26:31ownership of land and that's
26:33very key and vital to european sense of
26:36being civilized they're unmanly
26:39because they allow their women prominent
26:41roles in society and the right to
26:43divorce and so
26:44they're also uncivilized because
26:47europeans tended to associate
26:49civilization with patriarchy male
26:52dominance and male control
26:54but ultimately this discourse of
26:56civilization this body of texas body of
26:58representation
27:00that developed in the 1500s and
27:03served to define native americans as
27:06opposite
27:07and different from europeans as possible
27:10ultimately hinged on a division
27:14rooted in religion basically the
27:16discourse of civilization boils down
27:18to christian equal civilized
27:22unchristian equals uncivilized
27:25the barometer the measure for who is
27:27civilized according to europeans in the
27:291500s came down to religion
27:32but if that's your barometer if that's
27:34your measure of who is civilized
27:36it opens the door through conversion to
27:39go
27:39from unchristian to christian and with
27:42it from
27:42uncivilized to civilized and in a moment
27:45we'll talk about the spanish
27:47who are the first of the europeans to
27:49arrive and how they were deeply invested
27:53in this process of conversion the
27:55spanish come
27:56they build missions they send their
27:58friars they were deeply dedicated
28:00uh to this task of converting native
28:03americans who they believed were
28:05uncivilized because they weren't
28:06christian so
28:08if your barometer if your measure of who
28:11is civilized boils down to religion
28:13creates a permeable barrier
28:16that through conversion can move people
28:19from
28:20unchristian to christian and with it
28:23uncivilized civilized but
28:25as we'll see here in our first few
28:28lectures what happens is that
28:30over the course of european colonization
28:33in the 50s and 1600s
28:35the measure the barometer of who is
28:38civilized that once
28:39focused on religion as the discourse of
28:42civilization developed it tended to
28:44establish this barrier this barometer of
28:47who is civilized based on religion
28:49as we'll see in our first few lectures
28:51and a couple of key
28:52events that illuminate this process that
28:56barometer
28:56that measure of who is civilized will
28:59shift from one based on religion
29:01to one based on something you
29:04cannot change the color of one's skin
29:09you could change your religion but you
29:10can't change your skin color this is
29:12before michael jackson and that sort of
29:14thing
29:15so what we'll see here in lectures to
29:19come
29:20is that what began as a measure of who a
29:22civilized rooted in religion
29:25will shift to something that's more
29:27fixed
29:28immutable unchangeable the color of
29:31one's skin
29:32so we've now talked a lot about the
29:34cultural divides between native
29:36americans and europeans
29:38and we've also in our discussion here
29:41uh the discourse of civilization
29:44noted that that cultural difference will
29:47serve as a justification
29:49for european conquest of the americas
29:52so we understand these two groups we
29:54understand why europeans now may
29:57feel as if they were justified in
30:00conquering native americans
30:01enslaving native americans dispossessing
30:05native americans
30:06of their land but now bubbling to the
30:09surface is another historical question
30:12one that can't be answered through
30:14cultural
30:15collisions and divisions and that's the
30:18question of
30:18how how are europeans able to do this we
30:22might now understand why they thought
30:23they
30:24should and could and were justified
30:27in conquering the americas but how are
30:29they able to do it i mean there were
30:31more native americans than europeans
30:33who had arrived they were outnumbered
30:35native americans were fighting on their
30:37home
30:37turf they had a lot of advantage in that
30:39sense how were
30:41europeans so successful in conquering
30:44north america to answer that question we
30:47have to shift from
30:48culture to ecology and biology
30:53those are the factors that explain the
30:54success of europeans
30:57this is a phenomenon known as ecological
30:59imperialism
31:01it is an argument first established by
31:04crucial scholars
31:06like alfred crosby that the most
31:08important historical
31:10factors in explaining european success
31:13have nothing to do with culture
31:14it's all about ecology and biology
31:18the number one factor that explains the
31:20success of europeans in their ability to
31:22conquer
31:23native american societies comes down to
31:26pathogens native americans were exposed
31:30to pathogens
31:31when europeans come into contact with
31:33native americans
31:35and without immunity native americans
31:38would die
31:38in mass in some parts of the americas
31:41the death rate among native americans
31:43exposed to europeans was as high
31:46as 90 percent
31:49that's how europeans prove to be so
31:52successful
31:53it's not because they're smarter it's
31:55not because they had
31:56better technology it's not because as
31:59they imagine in their mind
32:01god was on their side the reason why
32:03native americans died
32:05in such large numbers and why they were
32:07therefore unsuccessful
32:09in resisting european determined
32:13europeans who were here to strip native
32:16americans of their land
32:17comes down to ecological factors and
32:19most importantly of all
32:21pathogens the
32:24europeans who arrive have been described
32:26by crosby and others
32:28as beneficiaries of a great human
32:30catastrophe
32:31they benefited from mass death we're
32:34talking about
32:35two human civilizations that prior to
32:371492 had
32:38absolutely no contact with each other
32:41there were no europeans in contact with
32:43native americans prior to 1492
32:46and so these are two isolated
32:47communities and therefore native
32:49americans had
32:49no immunity no immunity to the variety
32:54of pathogens and diseases that
32:56europeans introduced they were extremely
32:58vulnerable
32:59they died in mass making europeans
33:01successful
33:03because of this great human catastrophe
33:05death rates as high as 90 percent
33:08so the most important factor in
33:10explaining
33:11the success of europeans in the early
33:14conquest of the americas comes down to
33:16pathogens it's not because europeans are
33:18smarter
33:19it's not because they have better
33:20technology we'll deal with that issue in
33:22just a moment and it's not because god
33:24was on their side
33:25it's because they benefited from
33:27invisible animals
33:29on their hands pathogens that led to
33:32mass death
33:33among native americans again native
33:35americans had no immunity
33:37europeans who arrived in this period
33:38were filthy they were laden with disease
33:41in europe in the 1500s it was considered
33:44unhealthy to bathe
33:46and so europeans usually only bathed
33:48once a year
33:50so they were replete with disease and
33:52pathogens
33:53and they arrived and they exposed native
33:55americans to those pathogens
33:57and they died in mass in 1992
34:01you had the 500th anniversary of
34:03columbus's arrival so it's 1992
34:06it's the 500th anniversary of 1492
34:09and as a result there's a lot of
34:10attention and interest
34:13in that event and its significance
34:16because we americans only pay attention
34:19to
34:20anniversaries that end in a zero right
34:22if it's the 499th anniversary no one
34:24gives a but if it's the 500th
34:25anniversary everyone is paying attention
34:27right
34:28so in 1992 there's a lot of interest and
34:30attention
34:31on the 500 anniversary of columbus's
34:33arrival but also in the 1990s
34:35there had been major changes in american
34:38society
34:39and american historiography to study the
34:41past
34:42namely the rise of native american
34:44studies
34:45more native american scholars publishing
34:49and writing about the name american
34:50experience and for many
34:53the 500th anniversary
34:56of columbus's arrival was anything but
34:59something to celebrate
35:00because for native americans or scholars
35:02of native american history this is the
35:04story of a great human catastrophe mass
35:06death and in some of those accounts
35:10the term american holocaust was used to
35:12describe
35:13what happened here in this country in
35:15the 1500s when
35:16native americans were exposed to these
35:18diseases now the term is problematic and
35:21it has been criticized because it uses
35:23this term holocaust which was coined
35:25after world war ii to describe what the
35:26nazis did in world war ii in
35:28deliberately
35:30attempting to exterminate human beings
35:32jews and other
35:34ethnic and sexual minorities
35:37holocaust is this term that was coined
35:39after world war ii a necessary term
35:41that we had to have to describe that
35:43horror
35:44where the nazis deliberately planned to
35:47exterminate people they saw as inferior
35:50the nazis weren't shy about what they
35:52were doing they told the world
35:54this is what we're going to do we're
35:56going to round up people that we see as
35:58inferior and kill them well that isn't
36:00exactly what happened
36:01when the europeans arrived in the sense
36:03that it wasn't deliberate it wasn't
36:05pre-planned
36:06it wasn't as if europeans were you know
36:08doing their european thing in 1491 and
36:10then stopped and said
36:11hey let's get on boats sail across the
36:13atlantic and cough on people and kill
36:15them right
36:16so it doesn't have the same analogy it
36:19doesn't have the same connection to what
36:21the nazis did
36:23in the 1930s and 1940s
36:26but had the same effect it almost led to
36:28the absolute extermination
36:30of a human population there are other
36:32ecological factors important
36:34in the story of european conquest only
36:36did
36:37the europeans introduce pathogens they
36:39also introduced animals
36:40into the ecology of north america that
36:44had no defense for the introduction of
36:46these animals
36:47when you introduce a species into an
36:50environment where it is not a native
36:52species
36:52you could do great damage to the ecology
36:55if the local plants and animals haven't
36:57developed defenses to these new
37:00animals these new organisms introduced
37:02you could have catastrophe
37:04have you ever traveled out of california
37:06and then drive back into california
37:08across the state line
37:09uh you often have to stop at these
37:12checkpoints here in california
37:14where a state worker will ask you are
37:16you bringing any produce are you
37:17bringing any flowers from out of state
37:20and that's because even the 21st century
37:22we fear the introduction of non-native
37:24species to an environment
37:26california has a billion dollar
37:28agricultural industry
37:30and we fear that if we introduce into
37:33california some non-native species it
37:35might destroy the almond crop it might
37:36destroy the citrus crop it might destroy
37:39the avocado crop we know that when you
37:42introduce non-native species to
37:44an environment you can destroy the local
37:46flora and flanna
37:47fauna and that's what happened here
37:49europeans brought horses they brought
37:51all kinds of animals that
37:53were not native to north america and
37:54those animals destroyed
37:56a lot of the plants and animals that
37:57native americans relied upon for
37:59subsistence
38:00so you introduce all these animals they
38:02destroy local crops they eat up local
38:04crops
38:05and now native americans have nothing to
38:07eat so
38:08if the pathogens didn't kill you if the
38:11swords and
38:13guns of the europeans didn't kill you
38:15you might starve to death
38:16so that too is an ecological factor in
38:19how europeans were so successful they
38:21introduced
38:22non-native animals to the environment
38:25here
38:25and that often decimated the ability of
38:27native americans to subsist
38:29for a long time when we worked to answer
38:32this question of how
38:33how were europeans so successful we
38:36tended as historians to rely
38:38on the technological argument well they
38:40had superior technology gun powder and
38:42stirrups and steel swords
38:45before the pioneering efforts of crosby
38:47and others that tended to be
38:49the explanation proffered by historians
38:52but it's now seen as a very uh
38:55inadequate
38:57explanation yeah the europeans did have
39:00some technologies
39:02that were important in their ability to
39:05battle against native americans
39:08but the problem with the technological
39:10argument is twofold one
39:12far more important far more
39:13consequential far more
39:16um important in explaining the success
39:19of europeans
39:21pathogens far more native americans die
39:24from pathogens
39:25than from steel swords so the
39:28technological argument
39:29really obscures the real causal factor
39:32the other problem with the technological
39:34argument is that it tends to
39:36again amplify a eurocentric
39:39or euro supremacist argument that well
39:43they just had smarter technology right
39:45problem with that is that all the
39:47technologies that the europeans employed
39:49steel
39:50gunpowder stirrup that were important in
39:52giving them an advantage against native
39:54americans
39:55all those technologies aren't european
39:58they all
39:58originated in china so this idea that
40:02europeans were smarter and had better
40:03technology
40:04falters the reason why europeans had
40:07these technologies
40:08it's not because they were smarter it's
40:10because they were connected to china
40:12through trade routes
40:13that allowed them to create steel and
40:16gunpowder
40:17and stirrups so when we tend to
40:20emphasize the technological advance it
40:21tends to
40:22again advance a notion of european or
40:25even white supremacy that these
40:27europeans were just so much smarter than
40:29native americans
40:30well number one again that fails to
40:33really answer the true historical
40:34question here because pathogens are
40:36really the answer
40:38to why europeans were so successful the
40:40other problem with the technological
40:41argument is that
40:42europeans had these technologies not
40:44because they're smarter simply because
40:45they had access to trade routes that
40:47native americans did not
40:49so the technological argument is
40:50inadequate one last uh
40:52element of biology ecological stories
40:55here
40:56uh another element of now the
40:59co-mingling of these two populations
41:01european native american
41:02the co-mingling of these two continents
41:05that had been hitherto
41:06isolated and separate something that is
41:09known as the colombian exchange now i
41:11know that sounds like a transaction that
41:13might take place of a van some here on
41:15the campus parking lot right
41:17no no no no not that colombian exchange
41:20the colombian exchange referring here to
41:22christopher columbus
41:24describes the process by which now with
41:26these two continents in contact
41:28they began to exchange uh plants and
41:31animals
41:32that um the
41:36different societies never knew of for
41:38example
41:39uh prior to 1492 europeans did not know
41:43about potatoes
41:44tomatoes vanilla chocolate
41:48turkey all of those are new world crops
41:51or new world
41:52animals they were unknown to europeans
41:55prior to 1492.
41:56but here come the europeans they
41:57discover this new continent and all
41:59these wonderful things to eat i don't
42:01know what the hell europeans ate for
42:02centuries because
42:03name something good to eat it was here
42:05in the americas well before 1492
42:08potatoes tomatoes vanilla chocolate
42:10right
42:11so even in this europeans benefit not
42:14only do they come in slaughter native
42:15americans take their land and slave them
42:17they also get all this and stuff
42:19to eat right and then they bring it back
42:20to europe
42:21so the clement exchange refers to how
42:23europeans were able to now bring to
42:25europe
42:26all of these plants and animals that
42:27would change and improve their diet and
42:29over time
42:30these plants become synonymous with many
42:32european cuisines you think about
42:34italian food you think of the tomato
42:36right those rich tomato sauces
42:38there aren't any tomatoes in italy prior
42:40to 1492
42:41tomatoes are new world crops they were
42:44here in the americas
42:45unknown to italians or any europeans
42:47prior you think of irish cuisine you
42:49think of the potato right
42:50well the potato is also a new world crop
42:52there are no potatoes in ireland or
42:54europe prior to 1492.
42:56so again even in this the europeans
42:59benefit what did the native americans
43:01get out of the colombian exchange
43:03syphilis that's what they got so again
43:05part of the tragedy here
43:06the conquest of the americas let's now
43:10wrap up this lecture by focusing on the
43:13first of
43:13three european powers that come to
43:16establish permanent settlements here
43:20in north america in lecture here
43:23today and in our next lecture
43:26we're going to talk about three
43:27different european powers that come
43:30to establish permanent settlements in
43:34north america
43:35and over the course of these lectures
43:37you should be able to compare and
43:40contrast
43:42these three european powers just in case
43:45some jerk asks you about that
43:47on an exam coming soon hint hint hint
43:50so here now we're going to introduce the
43:51first of these three european
43:53settlements that you ultimately perhaps
43:55i don't know just maybe
43:57be asked to compare and contrast in an
43:59exam coming
44:00soon first of these european powers that
44:02you'll be asked to compare and contrast
44:04the spanish
44:05the spanish came for gold glory and god
44:08to understand why they came i've made it
44:10simple for you here distilling it down
44:12to an
44:12easy to study bumper sticker-like slogan
44:16gold glory and god the original 3g
44:19that's why the spanish came of the three
44:21gold is probably the easiest to
44:23understand
44:24as a catalyst an impetus for empire
44:28when the first spanish explorers
44:31see native american societies like the
44:33aztec empire
44:35they observe that these native americans
44:38are festooned with all kinds of gold and
44:40silver and they go oh yeah
44:42we're coming back with our soldiers so
44:45once uh the europeans discover
44:48that native american societies have all
44:51this gold
44:52well they're very eager to again conquer
44:55this part of the world so gold is a
44:57pretty easy to understand catalyst
45:00to the spanish empire let's go and
45:02conquer those people and take their gold
45:04glory and god though a little bit more
45:06complex so let's explain
45:08how those are also key in explaining the
45:11origins of the spanish empire
45:14in europe in the late 1400s
45:18church and state are fused
45:21together and complementary in the sense
45:24that they both need each other
45:26that one hand washes the other here in
45:29the united states we have a tradition of
45:30a separation between church and state
45:32that we separate religious power and
45:34authority from political power and
45:36authority
45:37but that's not the case in europe in the
45:39late 1400s early 1500s when
45:42the spanish empire begins instead of
45:44church and state separate they are fused
45:46together
45:47complementary needing each other
45:49reciprocal in that way
45:52the pope in this period of the late
45:541400s early 1500s
45:56is not just a kindly guy with a big hat
45:58that waves at you that's how we tend to
46:00think of the pope today
46:01bob was a badass he had his own army he
46:03was the wealthiest man
46:05in europe he had great power so
46:08the pope was not just a religious leader
46:11he was deeply involved in the politics
46:13of europe in this period and one of the
46:15powers one of the privileges that he had
46:18was to decide who was the legitimate
46:21ruler
46:21of spain of england
46:24of france literally the pope put the
46:27crown on your head and said this is my
46:29guy
46:31so that's a good example of how church
46:33and state are tied together
46:35that the religious authority of the pope
46:37was
46:38vital to deciding the political
46:40authority in a period where europe is
46:42ruled by kings and queens and sovereigns
46:46why did the pope put the crown on one
46:49man's head instead of another
46:51who did he select to be the legitimate
46:54leader
46:54of england spain well the guy who had
46:56the most power who could force the most
46:58people to pay
46:59their taxes taxes that went to the
47:01catholic church
47:02and they used that money to build a big
47:04bitching cathedrals you see on your
47:06european vacation
47:07so in this complementary relationship
47:10the sovereigns
47:12the kings and queens of this period the
47:14political figures of this period
47:16need the catholic church they need the
47:19pope
47:19because the pope decided who was the
47:22true
47:22legitimate leader of spain england
47:26portugal in turn the pope got money
47:31because the king or queen compelled his
47:34citizens to pay taxes taxes that went to
47:36the catholic church
47:38so rather than church and state separate
47:40the two needed each other the two were
47:42in this reciprocal relationship
47:44this is causal this is key
47:47in the origins of the spanish empire
47:49because in 1492
47:52that fateful year that columbus will
47:54discover
47:55something that millions of people
47:56already knew about the americas there
47:58was a brand new
47:59king and queen in spain
48:02in an event known as laura conquista or
48:05the reconquest
48:06of spain in 1492 4092 is a fateful year
48:08in human history
48:10it's not only the year that columbus
48:11arrives in the americas it's also the
48:13year
48:14that a new king and queen had come to
48:17control
48:17spain king ferdinand and queen isabella
48:22who had reconquered spain after over 700
48:25years of spain ruled by
48:27the moors muslim rulers
48:30from 711 to 1492 spain was ruled by the
48:33morse now don't worry those dates aren't
48:35going to be on an exam
48:36coming soon but they're easy to remember
48:38anyways right 7-eleven everyone knows
48:39that number right that's where you get
48:40your microwave burritos
48:42and illegal fireworks right so 7-eleven
48:44to 1492 while everyone knows that year
48:47during that period of over 700 years
48:49spain was ruled by
48:51muslim leaders the moors or if you watch
48:53seinfeld the moops
48:55but in 1492 they were expelled and a new
48:58king and queen took control
49:00of spain in la la conquista so you have
49:03a new king and queen and they want to be
49:04recognized as the legitimate leaders
49:06they need the pope to put the crown on
49:08their head
49:10and this helps explain why the spanish
49:12would be so dedicated
49:13to colonizing north america
49:17because in the same year columbus
49:19sailing for spain columbus was italian
49:21but he sailed for spain
49:23says look there are millions of people
49:25on the other side of the ocean
49:27who are worshiping rocks and rivers who
49:29don't know the one true faith
49:31so this new king and queen in 1492
49:34who need the legitimacy and sanction the
49:37pope
49:37say hey we just discovered this other
49:39part of the world where there's all
49:41these millions of people
49:42native americans who don't know the one
49:45true
49:45faith of christianity so we're going to
49:47send our friars we're going to send
49:49conquistadors and we're going to extend
49:52this faith to understand
49:56the origins of the spanish empire and to
49:59understand
49:59everything we'll talk about here in our
50:01early lectures about the
50:03qualities characteristics and ultimate
50:05failure
50:06of the spanish empire you need now to
50:09hold in the center of your study
50:10in the center of your thinking this
50:12stone cold fact regarding
50:14the spanish empire from the very
50:17beginning the spanish
50:19were tasked with this imperative
50:22of converting native americans the
50:24entire
50:25empire was justified by this imperative
50:28this drive this demand
50:31to convert native americans fernando and
50:33isabella they want the pope
50:34to recognize them as legitimate leaders
50:37a new leader
50:38in a re-conquered spain and to curry
50:41favor with the pope
50:42to get that sanctioning they say we're
50:46going to conquer
50:47colonize and convert native americans
50:50one year after vero conquista and one
50:53year
50:54after the discovery of the americas by
50:57columbus in 1493
50:59the pope signs the treaty of tordesius
51:01this also demonstrates the power of the
51:03pope in the spirit
51:04the treaty of tortosius the pope pulls
51:07out a crude early map of what had
51:09already been explored in the americas
51:11most of it centering on the caribbean
51:12and central america where the spanish
51:15and portuguese were already so active
51:18and the pope draws a line down the
51:21center of this map
51:22and he says to one catholic european
51:24nation portugal
51:25you get that half and he says to another
51:28european
51:28catholic nation spain you get that half
51:32so the pope was literally dividing
51:33american too but also what was he
51:36doing he was compelling these european
51:38powers to go
51:39and convert native americans when the
51:42pope says you get that half he's saying
51:43you get that half to convert
51:45so this too the treaty of tortacius
51:48demonstrates how from the very beginning
51:491493
51:50the spanish empire was dedicated to
51:52converting native americans
51:54this is what makes the spanish very
51:55different than the other groups will
51:56talk about
51:57in the coming lecture the french and the
51:59english they
52:00had to convert the native americans
52:04that's why they'll come and build those
52:05missions that's why they will come and
52:07send friars
52:08that's their driving imperative because
52:10they needed that
52:11sanction from the catholic church the
52:13treaty of thoracius would divide
52:15american too that's why on the
52:18west coast of south america in countries
52:21like chile
52:22and colombia they speak spanish that was
52:24the half the spanish god and that's why
52:26on the east coast in brazil they speak
52:28portuguese because the portuguese would
52:29colonize
52:30that part of south america
52:34in the early 1500s there's a challenge
52:37to the catholic church
52:38and its authority a new form of
52:40christianity
52:42protestantism now look at the root word
52:44of protestantism protest
52:46began as a protest lobbied and launched
52:49by
52:49martin luther john calvin and others
52:53who were challenging the catholic church
52:55which seemed to be so corrupt and vino
52:57in the minds of calvin
52:58and luther too concerned with money
53:01and so they launched this new form of
53:03christianity as a protest
53:05and over time it becomes very prominent
53:07certain parts of europe including
53:09england as we'll learn in our next
53:11lecture the european settlers who would
53:13come to north america in the 1600s
53:15groups like the puritans and
53:17pilgrims quakers and others were
53:19protestants
53:20and so by the 1600s the pope is looking
53:24across
53:25the atlantic and he's seeing all these
53:26protestant groups
53:28in north america establishing permanent
53:30settlements
53:31particularly the english who are so
53:33active and sending their
53:34protestant dissidents over to america
53:37and that causes a concern a threat
53:39uh-oh we don't want protestantism this
53:42other form of christianity taking root
53:44in america
53:45and what this does is it further
53:48amplifies
53:49deepens the commitment of the spanish to
53:51make sure
53:52catholicism is the only christian faith
53:54that prevails
53:55so they build more missions and they
53:57send more friars so when protestantism
53:59develops
54:00and when protestantism starts to take
54:02root in america
54:03this only amplifies the commitment of
54:06the spanish
54:07so again to understand the spanish
54:09empire not just its origins but its
54:11qualities its characteristics
54:13and its ultimate failures you have to
54:15keep in mind that from the very
54:17beginning the spanish empire was about
54:18converting native americans that's what
54:20justified the empire
54:22why did the spanish feel they were
54:23justified in conquering a
54:25huge swath of land that eventually would
54:27stretch from the tip
54:29of modern argentina all the way through
54:32alta california well was because they're
54:35there to convert the native americans
54:38so native americans were vital to
54:40justifying
54:41the spanish empire we're here to spread
54:44the one true faith
54:46that from the very beginning was central
54:49to the spanish empire
54:50if the spanish arrived and nobody was
54:52here if columbus shows up and there's
54:54this huge landmass and nobody's there
54:56they never would have had that
54:57justification
54:58they would have never really received
54:59that sanction from the catholic church
55:02so that explains the origins of the
55:04spanish empire
55:05it explains what undergirded and
55:07justified their very deliberate effort
55:09to war against and displace native
55:11americans
55:12it helps explain a lot of the
55:14characteristics that we'll talk about
55:15the spanish empire
55:17but it also explains why the spanish
55:20empire ultimately
55:21failed to become the most powerful
55:24populous and profitable of these efforts
55:31i am lecturing to you here from
55:34california in what was once part of the
55:37spanish empire
55:38for many of you you can't say where you
55:40live
55:41the name of the city you live in or the
55:44school you attend
55:46without speaking spanish but despite
55:49that despite the fact that we live
55:51here in southern california in an area
55:53that was once part of the spanish empire
55:55despite the fact that
55:56spanish place names are ubiquitous in
55:59our neighborhoods in our daily lives i'm
56:02lecturing to you today
56:03and in every lecture to come in english
56:07because because it is the english you
56:09become the most powerful
56:11populous and profitable of these efforts
56:15though the spanish got here first though
56:17they create a big bitchin empire that
56:19would span from the tip of modern
56:20argentina all the way through
56:22alta california though we're surrounded
56:25by
56:26spanish place names ultimately is the
56:29english who become the most powerful
56:31populous and profitable of these efforts
56:34and the seedbed the foundation of the
56:37american nation we trace in this class
56:40and that too comes from the fact that
56:43the spanish had to convert the native
56:44americans
56:45because of that they were very
56:47vulnerable
56:48weak as they faced many
56:53rebellions and in a moment we'll talk
56:55about a very illustrative rebellion
56:58the reason why the spanish were
56:59unsuccessful in their efforts to
57:02colonize north america was because they
57:03had to convert native americans
57:05and as a result they were often attacked
57:07they are very vulnerable to
57:08rebellions turns out when you come into
57:11a place and you say to people look
57:12you're backward savage uncivilized
57:14our god is the only god and you must
57:16convert to that god
57:18people don't always like that and
57:19sometimes they rise up in rebellion
57:22so the imperative to convert native
57:25americans not only explains the
57:28origins of the spanish empire it only
57:30explains many of the cardinal
57:31characteristics of the spanish empire
57:34it also explains why the spanish were
57:36unsuccessful
57:37why i'm not lecturing to you today in
57:39spanish
57:41because they were tasked with converting
57:43native americans it made them very
57:44susceptible
57:45very vulnerable to blowback to
57:47resistance to rebellion
57:49and again in a moment i'll give you an
57:51example of that that's very
57:52illustrative of the ultimate failure of
57:55the spanish
57:56but even when this worked it didn't
57:59really work
58:00you'll see here on the slide conversions
58:02in quotation marks
58:04when you see something in quotation
58:06marks it means one of two things
58:08it's a direct quote so if you're reading
58:10a newspaper or magazine article
58:13and you see something in quotation marks
58:15it is a clue to you the reader
58:17that what you're reading is a direct
58:18quote is the exact words of who's ever
58:20been quoted the mayor the governor
58:22president
58:23or as in this case it's an urging to you
58:26the reader of this lecture
58:28to be suspicious of what you see inside
58:33like on the side of the lapd squad cars
58:36they have their motto
58:37to protect and serve in quotation marks
58:40like they're being ironic
58:41right sometimes native americans did
58:43convert but when they converted they
58:45converted on their terms
58:46for example they would sometimes convert
58:48to christianity they'd be baptized
58:50they'd be baptized they'd adopt
58:52uh spanish last names like garcia but
58:55then they continue worshiping all their
58:57native american gods because you know
58:58you could never have too many gods
59:00i'll just add jesus as another one to
59:01cover my butt right
59:03so when americans converted they often
59:05converted
59:06in their own way in a way that they
59:08thought was most advantageous and this
59:10would
59:10frustrate the friars no no no when you
59:12convert to christianity you no longer
59:14worship your
59:15rocks and rivers right
59:18those of you who are catholic may be
59:21familiar
59:22with the sacrament of confession which
59:24is one of the things that catholics do
59:26as part of their
59:27religion if you're unfamiliar with this
59:29you should learn about it because it's
59:30great
59:32with confession periodically you appear
59:35before a priest and you tell him
59:36all your sins all the kinky you've
59:39been up to
59:40he listens to this and he does something
59:41really awesome he
59:43cleanses you of all those sins he wipes
59:45them away it's like they never happened
59:47who among us couldn't use that from time
59:49to time right you do something
59:51you're you know involved in whatever
59:54right
59:55sin sin sin sin sin have a good time
59:57right you know spring break you had a
59:58great time right
1:00:00uh and then you just tell a guy that you
1:00:02did this and he says it's okay and wipes
1:00:04it away right i mean who among us
1:00:05couldn't use that from time to time
1:00:07right do a bunch of kiki and then
1:00:08it all evaporates right
1:00:10uh well when native americans would come
1:00:13to perform
1:00:14confession this very important task of
1:00:16being catholic
1:00:18they would appear in front of the priest
1:00:19and they'd say oh you want to hear about
1:00:21some sins
1:00:22i guess what my neighbor did the other
1:00:24day they would just give all the cheese
1:00:26mists from the village they were big
1:00:27cheese
1:00:28mossos they would just tattletail and
1:00:29all their neighbors right and this would
1:00:30dry the friar's nuts they'd say no no
1:00:32no i need to know about your sins tell
1:00:34me about what you did
1:00:35so even when native americans converted
1:00:38even when the script
1:00:39went as the spanish imagined it didn't
1:00:41go as they imagined
1:00:42because native americans converted on
1:00:44their own terms
1:00:45our image of a spanish fire from this
1:00:47period father sarah or
1:00:49some other image that you can conjure up
1:00:51is of a spanish fire with a big bald
1:00:53spot right you've all seen that image
1:00:55that's because they were constantly
1:00:56pulling out their hair in frustration
1:00:57when native americans converted
1:00:59on their own terms so sometimes native
1:01:02americans resisted and rebelled
1:01:04other times when they did convert it was
1:01:06on their own terms
1:01:08so the spanish came to convert native
1:01:10americans
1:01:11and ultimately that would frustrate
1:01:13their empire in a variety of ways
1:01:15let's here go through a number of
1:01:17qualities characteristics of the spanish
1:01:19empire
1:01:20to give you a sense of these elements of
1:01:23spanish empire
1:01:24and arm you in a way that allow you to
1:01:26compare the spanish empire
1:01:28to some of the groups we'll talk about
1:01:29in our next lecture one as i've already
1:01:31indicated spanish empire is huge
1:01:33uh from the tip of argentina deep in
1:01:35south america
1:01:37through california and tejas in north
1:01:40america huge empire
1:01:41you know if you span that geography
1:01:43today everyone speak spanish right
1:01:45from argentina to california and texas
1:01:49so the spanish empire is huge and you
1:01:52see that on a map
1:01:53oh man they were so powerful they had
1:01:54this huge empire well sometimes having a
1:01:56big empire
1:01:58was more of a weakness or liability than
1:02:00a strength
1:02:01because you got to manage that empire
1:02:04and the king of spain can't do that he's
1:02:06on the other side of the ocean he's in
1:02:07spain and in the 15th 1600s he has his
1:02:09own problems right he's battling other
1:02:11european powers he's got all kinds of
1:02:13divisions within spanish society
1:02:15he can't deal with every little problem
1:02:16taking place in colonial mexico
1:02:19so he has to rely on local elites
1:02:21wealthy powerful people on the ground to
1:02:23enforce
1:02:24law and that works well if those local
1:02:26elites are loyal
1:02:27if they follow the dictates of the king
1:02:30but what happens is that over time the
1:02:32local elites start to develop their own
1:02:34interests
1:02:35interests that are often in contrast to
1:02:37in conflict with
1:02:38the spanish king and they just ignore
1:02:40the spanish king they say well he's on
1:02:42the other side of the ocean what the
1:02:43hell is he going to do
1:02:44they developed their own interests and
1:02:46then over time
1:02:48in the early 1800s that will lead to
1:02:51revolutions
1:02:52in latin america and from that
1:02:55the end of the spanish empire with new
1:02:57independent states forming like colombia
1:02:59like mexico like argentina so having a
1:03:03big empire
1:03:04might seem like a symbol of strength but
1:03:06actually prove to be a liability
1:03:08because you have to rely on local elites
1:03:10and that only works if they remain loyal
1:03:12to the king
1:03:12over time they develop other loyalties
1:03:15and this leads
1:03:16ultimately to the end the demise of the
1:03:18spanish empire
1:03:19as those local elites will lead
1:03:21revolutions of their own in the early
1:03:2319th century
1:03:25spanish got a lot of people to come
1:03:26because they were very attractive
1:03:28pull factors drawing people to new spain
1:03:32namely gold and silver when historians
1:03:35describe
1:03:36why people migrate in human history they
1:03:38often talk about
1:03:39pull factors things that pull you to a
1:03:41place draw you to a place
1:03:42good positive things that make you want
1:03:44to go there and push factors things that
1:03:46motivate people to leave
1:03:49well new spain the area colonized by the
1:03:52spanish
1:03:53had very attractive pool factors namely
1:03:55gold and silver
1:03:56and land land available and abundant so
1:03:58the spanish got a lot of people to come
1:04:00this is in contrast to the french who
1:04:02we'll talk about in our next lecture
1:04:03who can get anyone to come the french
1:04:06always struggled getting people to come
1:04:08spanish not the case they were able to
1:04:10get a lot of people to come but
1:04:12the spaniards who tended to come in the
1:04:1415 1600s were often
1:04:15temporary settlers they came to get rich
1:04:18and then go back to spain
1:04:19they wanted to get rich in the gold and
1:04:21silver mines of colonial
1:04:23mexico and then retired to toledo madrid
1:04:26and barcelona
1:04:28the english who will also talk about in
1:04:30our next lecture got a lot of people to
1:04:31come
1:04:32and every one of them came to stay so
1:04:35the spanish got a lot of people to come
1:04:36but they were often
1:04:37impermanent settlers what we call
1:04:39sojourners people who wanted to get rich
1:04:41and then go back
1:04:43the economy of new spain centered on
1:04:45mineral wealth gold silver
1:04:48and agriculture vas haciendas the
1:04:51spaniards would come
1:04:52claim land again making this argument
1:04:54well uh you native americans aren't
1:04:55using the land you don't know about
1:04:57private property
1:04:58so we're going to take the land we're
1:05:00justified in doing so all those elements
1:05:02we talked about earlier in the
1:05:03lecture and then create uh vas
1:05:06farms haciendas forcing native americans
1:05:09to work
1:05:10on that land the name americans who
1:05:11survived initial
1:05:13contact with europeans and then over
1:05:15time developed
1:05:16immunity to those pathogens would later
1:05:19be the forced
1:05:19laborers on those haciendas
1:05:23another quality of the spanish empire
1:05:25was the population
1:05:26of the spanish empire was very
1:05:29asymmetrical
1:05:30meaning it was concentrated clustered in
1:05:32certain urban areas
1:05:34often located near gold and silver mines
1:05:37like tenochtitlan which then eventually
1:05:39becomes
1:05:40mexico city um that is a good example of
1:05:43a lot of people concentrate in a certain
1:05:44urban area
1:05:46where there are resources nearby what
1:05:48this meant was in frontier regions
1:05:50in places like alta california or tejas
1:05:53the far northern reaches of the spanish
1:05:55empire not too many people
1:05:58so again if you look at a map of the
1:05:59spanish empire looks huge and you
1:06:00imagine well it's
1:06:01you know teeming with spaniards they're
1:06:03everywhere they're populating that whole
1:06:04region
1:06:05not the case you get a lot of spaniards
1:06:07in certain urban areas but not too many
1:06:09people
1:06:09on the frontier which meant on the map
1:06:12the spanish really don't control
1:06:13a lot of that area because there's more
1:06:15native americans in those frontier
1:06:17regions
1:06:18than in the urban areas where there are
1:06:21a lot of spaniards so
1:06:23an asymmetrical population
1:06:26in los angeles in 1800
1:06:29there are only 300 spaniards in the
1:06:31entire city
1:06:33so that gives you an indication of how
1:06:36in some of the frontier regions the far
1:06:38northern regions of alta california
1:06:40there really aren't a lot of spaniards
1:06:42on the ground they're instead
1:06:43concentrated in areas
1:06:45closer to gold and silver mines another
1:06:48unique characteristic of the spanish
1:06:50which we want to be mindful of as we
1:06:52compare and contrast these different
1:06:53empires is that
1:06:56unlike the english the spanish did not
1:06:59import african slaves
1:07:00to the continent of north america
1:07:04now the spanish absolutely enslaved
1:07:07africans
1:07:08the spanish were deeply involved in the
1:07:10african slave trade and will remain so
1:07:13well after the united states will ban
1:07:16the importation of african slaves
1:07:19but the spanish spanish tended to bring
1:07:22african slaves to their
1:07:23possessions in the caribbean islands
1:07:26like cuba
1:07:27puerto rico they didn't bring african
1:07:29laborers to the mainland because
1:07:31enough native americans survived that
1:07:33initial contact
1:07:35and the introduction of pathogens enough
1:07:38native americans
1:07:39eventually developed immunities to these
1:07:41pathogens that they could be
1:07:43the forced laborers who would work on
1:07:45the haciendas and the missions
1:07:48all the labor on missions was performed
1:07:51by native americans
1:07:52not by friars who were excused from such
1:07:55labor
1:07:56as they served god so
1:07:59because of that you don't have what you
1:08:01see in the english colonies
1:08:03the mass importation of millions of
1:08:05african slaves
1:08:06in lectures to come we'll talk about
1:08:08that element of english america which is
1:08:10so causal and
1:08:11important in the rest of the entire
1:08:13class the
1:08:15prominence of african slavery in english
1:08:17america and then later the united states
1:08:19in spanish america yeah they brought in
1:08:22a lot of african slaves
1:08:24but they tended to bring them to their
1:08:25possessions in the caribbean
1:08:27if you've ever seen the movie amistad
1:08:30which we'll talk about later in the
1:08:32class the real event of the amistad ship
1:08:33that was a spanship
1:08:35in 1839 bringing in african slaves to
1:08:38spanish colonies in the caribbean so you
1:08:40know well after the united states ended
1:08:42the atlantic slave trade the spanish
1:08:44continued to do so so don't mistake this
1:08:46for the idea oh the spanish were the
1:08:47nice ones they didn't slave africans
1:08:49no absolutely they enslaved africans but
1:08:52they tended to not bring african slaves
1:08:55to the continent of north america
1:08:56instead relying on native americans
1:08:58as a source of labor another unique
1:09:01aspect of the spanish empire as we
1:09:02compare and contrast these three empires
1:09:05is that
1:09:06they're developed over time a key
1:09:09demographic
1:09:10quality of the spanish empire a large
1:09:12mestizo population
1:09:14the spanish who came in the 15 and 1600s
1:09:17tend to be men
1:09:18and that's because the economy of new
1:09:21spain
1:09:21selected for male labor the economy of
1:09:24new spain as we noted in the slide
1:09:25centered on
1:09:26mining and farming economic activities
1:09:29that select for male labor so most of
1:09:31the spanish who came were men
1:09:32and that meant that over time new spain
1:09:34became a big sausage factory
1:09:37or more accurately chorizo factory where
1:09:39there are a bunch of guys
1:09:41and not too many ladies the only way for
1:09:43these spanish men to get laid and get
1:09:45married
1:09:46was to intermarry with the native
1:09:48american population
1:09:49and that leads to a large mestizo
1:09:52population mestizo is spanish for mixed
1:09:55and the term refers to the mixing of
1:09:56europeans
1:09:58and native americans this is a unique
1:10:01quality to the spanish empire
1:10:02and it ultimately becomes a very key
1:10:04factor in latin american history
1:10:06culture cuisine this idea of being of
1:10:09two worlds
1:10:10european and native american you do not
1:10:12see this in the french empire
1:10:14you do not see this in the english
1:10:17empire it is unique to the spanish
1:10:19and it comes again from the demography
1:10:21of a lot of guys coming
1:10:22uh intermarrying with the local
1:10:24population and from it
1:10:26this key aspect of latin american
1:10:28culture and identity
1:10:31let's conclude our look at the spanish
1:10:33empire with a flashpoint event
1:10:36that illuminates so much regarding the
1:10:39spanish empire
1:10:40its qualities characteristics and its
1:10:42ultimate failures
1:10:44it's a class that attempts to cover
1:10:46centuries of american history
1:10:48in a matter of weeks and because of that
1:10:50we rely on flashpoint events
1:10:52signal events that illuminate a larger
1:10:54story
1:10:55the first of these flashpoint events
1:10:57we'll encounter in this class there'll
1:10:58be many to come
1:10:59oh i know you're excited the first of
1:11:02the flashpoint events that we encounter
1:11:04in this class is the pueblo revolt of
1:11:051680 this one event that occurs
1:11:08in modern day santa fe
1:11:11in 1680 tells us so much about the
1:11:13spanish empire it is one of these
1:11:15flashpoint events that we can mine
1:11:17draw upon to understand so much about
1:11:20this history in 1610 the first spaniards
1:11:24arrive
1:11:25in what is today santa fe as the name
1:11:28indicates they christened the settlement
1:11:31in spanish is part of their effort to
1:11:33spread what they saw as the one true
1:11:35faith
1:11:36they're of course living in that part of
1:11:38north america for thousands of years
1:11:40prior were native americans the pueblo
1:11:42indians the pueblo indians were native
1:11:44americans who lived
1:11:45in this region that the spanish attempt
1:11:47to colonize
1:11:49in north america modern-day santa fe
1:11:53as we said earlier the spanish were very
1:11:56thinly populated on the frontier
1:11:58there weren't too many spaniards in
1:12:00santa fe
1:12:01they were outnumbered by the pueblo
1:12:03indians so
1:12:05one way that the public tells us so much
1:12:07about the spanish empire
1:12:08is the fact that the uh
1:12:11spanish there in santa fe were few in
1:12:15number
1:12:15because as we noted throughout this
1:12:17lecture that tended to be very typical
1:12:20of the spanish empire a lot of people in
1:12:23cities not too many people on the
1:12:24frontier
1:12:25so how does the small population
1:12:29of spaniards exert power over the much
1:12:32larger group of pueblo indians and
1:12:36more pointedly how do they convince them
1:12:38to convert
1:12:39to catholicism because another key
1:12:43aspect
1:12:43of the public 1680 is that it also
1:12:46illuminates
1:12:47what we have urged you to have in the
1:12:49center of your thinking regarding
1:12:51the spanish empire the stone cold fact
1:12:55that the spanish had to convert the
1:12:57native americans why are they in santa
1:12:58fe there's no gold in santa fe
1:13:00they're there to convert the pueblo
1:13:02indians but because they're so
1:13:04few in number they had a hard time
1:13:07convincing the pueblo indians to
1:13:09jettison their culture
1:13:10jettison their religion and adopt this
1:13:12new strange religion of catholicism
1:13:15to compel them to do so to exert power
1:13:18over a group of people they saw as
1:13:20inferior the pueblo indians
1:13:22the spanish used violence and
1:13:24intimidation they would beat
1:13:26the pueblo indians into submission they
1:13:29would
1:13:30intimidate them they would break
1:13:31cultural taboos that were designed to
1:13:33demonstrate their power
1:13:35if the pueblo indians said that tree
1:13:36over there there's a god that lives in
1:13:38that tree the spanish would come along
1:13:39and say hahaha and just hack it down to
1:13:41the ground proving that they were
1:13:42superior
1:13:43they used terrorism this is a strategy
1:13:46employed
1:13:47by a small group of people trying to
1:13:49exert power over a larger group
1:13:51scare the hell out of them on september
1:13:5411
1:13:552001 19 guys with box cutters
1:13:59drove the most powerful nation in human
1:14:01history
1:14:02into absolute terror absolute fear
1:14:05brought it to a screeching halt because
1:14:08they did something
1:14:08dramatic that scared everybody
1:14:12so if you're a small group of people
1:14:14trying to exert power over a much
1:14:16larger and more powerful group you do
1:14:18something really dramatic
1:14:20scare the hell out of them and try to
1:14:22force them into obedience
1:14:24that's terrorism and that's the strategy
1:14:26the spanish employed
1:14:28in 1675 as part of this effort to exert
1:14:31command
1:14:32over the pueblo indians get them to now
1:14:34see the spanish as the powerful
1:14:36occupiers to convert them to the one
1:14:39true faith
1:14:40the spanish took the leader of the
1:14:43pueblo indians pope
1:14:45into the town square in santa fe and
1:14:47publicly whipped him in an effort to
1:14:50represent his weakness and make him
1:14:53obedient yes i know his name looks like
1:14:56the pope but please
1:14:57on our exam don't tell me that in 1675
1:15:01the spanish whipped the pope okay that's
1:15:03some kinky s m stuff for your own
1:15:05fantasies right
1:15:06uh pope wasn't the pope he wasn't a
1:15:08catholic he wasn't a european he was a
1:15:10native american he was the leader of the
1:15:11pueblo indians and the idea here was if
1:15:13we can humiliate their leader
1:15:15if we can discredit him if we can whip
1:15:17him in public
1:15:18and demonstrate that we're superior to
1:15:19him well all of his people will get in
1:15:21line
1:15:22so let's go after the headless snake and
1:15:24we'll control the entire
1:15:25snake so in 1675 the small group of
1:15:28spanish settlers publicly whip pope
1:15:31pope retreats to the outskirts of santa
1:15:33fe and
1:15:34in the years that follow builds up an
1:15:36army of angry disgruntled
1:15:40pueblo indians in 1680 they lead this
1:15:43revolt
1:15:43against the spanish in the course
1:15:46thousands of spanish are killed
1:15:48the spanish are expelled and
1:15:51the pueblo indians have regained control
1:15:55over their civilization and society
1:16:00so another value of the public vote of
1:16:021680
1:16:03is the way in which it demonstrates how
1:16:05because the spanish were so committed to
1:16:07conversion
1:16:08because they had to convert the native
1:16:10americans
1:16:11because that was at the origins
1:16:13beginnings and
1:16:15center of the spanish empire
1:16:19they would be very vulnerable to
1:16:21rebellion blow back
1:16:23it would make them very weak so we're
1:16:26comparing contrasting these three
1:16:27different empires
1:16:28at this point in the class in our next
1:16:29lecture we'll introduce the french in
1:16:31english
1:16:33and in the process we are working to
1:16:35understand why
1:16:36of the three the english become the most
1:16:39powerful
1:16:40populous and profitable again i'm
1:16:42lecturing to you in
1:16:43english because the english colonies
1:16:46become the most powerful populous
1:16:48profitable
1:16:49and the seed bed the foundation of the
1:16:51american nation that is our focus
1:16:53in this class and
1:16:56one reason why that happens one reason
1:16:59why the spanish
1:17:00don't become the most powerful populous
1:17:03and profitable
1:17:04is exemplified in the public 1680 that's
1:17:06what makes it such a rich
1:17:08touchstone such a rich flashpoint event
1:17:11that we can mine here to understand the
1:17:13story not only do we understand
1:17:14so much about the spanish they had to
1:17:16convert the native americans they were
1:17:17thinly populated on the frontier
1:17:19we also understand that because of that
1:17:21they're very vulnerable
1:17:23to rebellion in 1692 the spanish
1:17:26came back and retook santa fe and
1:17:28because of that you might say well this
1:17:29is just 12-year
1:17:30period a blip on the radar in the end
1:17:32the spanish came back and reconquered
1:17:34santa fe
1:17:35but when the spanish retake santa fe
1:17:38they no longer employ terrorism
1:17:41intimidation
1:17:42because they remember what happened in
1:17:441680 and they didn't want another
1:17:46rebellion they didn't want more dead
1:17:49spaniards
1:17:50after 1692 rather than overwhelm
1:17:53terrorize
1:17:54beat the pueblo indians they had to
1:17:56share power they live
1:17:58side by side so on the map it looks like
1:18:00they've
1:18:01taken santa fe it's theirs again but in
1:18:03reality on the ground
1:18:04they are not in charge they have to
1:18:07share power they have to live side by
1:18:09side with the pueblo indians
1:18:11so again this one event that occurs in
1:18:13santa fe in 1680 tells us so much
1:18:16about the spanish their qualities
1:18:19characteristics
1:18:20and ultimately why they do not become
1:18:22the most powerful populous and
1:18:24profitable
1:18:25of these efforts

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