Colonial South America
In their conquest of South America the Spanish were so driven by the quest for gold and silver
.that took the conquistadores less than ten years to take over the rich, organized states of Andes. The Portuguese were slower to settle Brazil ,first trading with the Indians ,then turning to sugar production. Whenever Europeans settled ,the native population declined rapidly, mainly through lack of resistance to alien diseases.
There were also periodic wars against the colonists. Large cattle stations that destroyed native arable smallholding were a further factor in their decline. Emigration to South America from both Spain and Portugal was light ; settlers mixed with the natives creating a mixed –race mesitizo population. To make up for shortage in labor ,they imported African slaves. Catholic missionaries ,notably the Jesuits, were active throughout the
colonial era, often defending the rights of the Indians against the settlers. Both colonial empires collapsed in the19th century ,but the religion and languages of the conquerors survived.
The conquest of Peru
In1531 Francisco Pizarro sailed from Panama to conquer Peru. By the time the expedition had penetrated in land to Cajamarca .where the reigning Inca, Atahualpa, and 40,000 men were camped Pizarro had only 180 men. Yet he succeeded in capturing Atahualpa, whom he held for ransom .W hen this was paid ,Atahualpa was executed, and the conquistadores moved on to capture the Inca capital, Cuzco .The Incas were in awe of the Spanish horses and guns ,but astonishing feat of conquest would have been impossible had
Inca Empire not been weakened by a smallpox epidemic and civil war.
Spanish South America
Spain ruled the American
colonies through two viceroyalties New Spain (centred on Mexico)and Peru. The viceroys principal duty was to guarantee a steady flow of bullion for the Spanish Crown, When booty from the natives Empire was exhausted the colonists turned to the region mineral resources using forced native labor (mita) to extract precious metals, in particular silver. Smaller administrative units called audiencies were presided over by a judge who enacted the complex laws devised in Spain for the running of the colonies .Attempts to expand the empire were thwarted in the South by the fierce Araucanian people elsewhere by the inhosipitable nature of the terrain.
Portuguese South America
.Brazilwas formally claimed by Portugal in 1500 .There were no conspicuous mineral resources so colonization depended on agricultural .In the 1530s in an attempt to encourage settlement ,Joao III made grants of land to 12 hereditary Captains each captaincy consisting of 50 leagues of coastline . Some failed completely and little of the coastal plain was settled before 1549 when a Royal governor-general was send to Bahia. The captaincy system continued ,but the colonists fortunes changed with success of sugar The native population living near the coast had been wiped out by disease and wars. The few that remained had no wish to labor on sugar plantations ,so slaves were imported from Africa. In the 18th century a gold boom opened up the Minas Gerais region ,but apart from slave-raiders hunting for Indians and prospectors searching for gold and diamonds, penetration of the interior was limited .
Other colonial power
For 150 years Portugal hold Brazil was far from secure .The French who traded along the coast with the Indians made several attempts to found colonies. In the first half of the 17th century the defence of Portuguese colonies was neglected by the ruling Spanish Kings. This allowed the Dutch to capture a long stretch of the northeast coast .They were finally expelled in 1654 and had to be content ,like the English and French , with a small colony in the Guianas.
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