[Music] within a period of over 300 years South America was colonized by European powers mainly Spain and Portugal during the age of discovery that is from the 15th century to the 17th century the process of colonization involved Conquest exploitation of resources and establishment of European settlements Christopher Columbus sponsored by Spain arrived in the Americas in 1492 subsequently Spanish explorers like Amero Vespucci and ernand ctez explored and conquered parts of South America Spanish conquistas most notably Francisco pizaro and Anan Cortez played a significant role in the conquest of the Inca empire located in present day Peru and the Aztec empire located in present day Mexico Spain established vast territories in South America including the vice royalty of Peru the vice royalty of new Granada and the captaincy general of Chile on the other hand Spain's neighbor Portugal claimed Brazil and began its colonization in the early 16th century the Portuguese established sugane plantations and later developed a significant trade in other resources while Spain and Portugal were the primary colonizers of South America other European powers such as the Dutch English and French made attempts to establish colonies in various parts of South [Music] America [Music] in the 15th century in a beach to discover more trading routes to Asia Portugal and Spain began putting out ships on sea Expeditions it was on one of such Expeditions that Christopher Columbus stumbled on land along the west he landed around the West Indies along the Caribbean although he and other Spas who followed right after him were not aware they had just reached the Americas at the time the continents of Asia Europe and Africa were already known and including water they were thought to be all that made up the world hence this discovery to the Explorers made them call the continent the new world in the real sense of it the new world was not new because before before Christopher Columbus reached the Americas in 1492 some other Europeans had ventured into it some four centuries back in the 11th century the Vikings will be the first to make contact with America and they set up many colonies in Greenland these colonies frequently had clashes in battle with the natives but survived nonetheless for many years before eventually collapsing now that another set of Europeans had just found it again it did not take them long to discover that the land was one flowing with treasures for it contained large gold deposits along with other minerals and commodities that they sought it also had thousands of miles of expanse of FAL land and pastures what more could be asked for as they made the return Voyage it was certain that the Europeans would be back not as explorers this time but as exploiters as news concerning this new found land said to be rich in everything spread it became a contest between European nations to settle and plant colonies in the Americas Portugal Spain the Dutch France and England all contended with one another to establish colonies from continent to continent and their Americas just became the newest bone of contention the new world was not uninhabited though millions of Native Americans lived there already speaking no less than 800 different languages they were spread across the Western Hemisphere and survived by either being haunters nads or Farmers they were far from the Primitive era though as they built Empires and large cities for themselves however the Europeans did not consider these Native Americans as owners of anything as far as they were concerned the land was theirs but occupied by Savages who would gain from their colonization as they taught them civilization and further brought the Blessed gospel to them to the Europeans they were simply doing the Savages a favor the arrival of the Europeans would greatly decimate the American Indian Community as with them came diseases into a community of Indians where these diseases had never reached millions of them died from these diseases the Europeans also made slaves out of the natives confiscated lands and tried to eradicate their culture and force them out of their religion at the Helm of the colonization of South America were none other than Portugal and Spain Portugal majorly colonized Brazil leaving Mexico and most of the rest of South and Central America along with many Caribbean islands to Spain today the expans of these regions is regarded as Latin America and the languages being spoken there are either Portuguese or [Music] Spanish [Music] Spain had the largest land area in the South Americas among all other European countries that VI for territories in the new world the nation possessed the majority of Southern and Central America many islands in the West Indies the entirety of Mexico and areas that are now California Florida and Southwest of the United States the only place out of the jurisdiction of Spain was Brazil the reason for Spain's domination is not farfetched but that being the first to colonize South America they had almost a 100 years Head Start before other European nations began to venture into the new world 20 years after Columbus's arrival Spain had taken over the bigger islands of the Caribbean the regions now separated into Dominican Republic and Haiti used to be the island of Hispanola and it was there that Spain first set up its towns in 1496 the Spanish established the town of Santo Domingo on the island and it became Spain's First Capital City in the new world they set up others across Jamaica Puerto Rico and Cuba and in them stored Goods they acquired in their exploits some Spanish men even governed over lands and many of the natives were taken as slaves missionaries also did their part to bring Christianity to the American Indians the dream for gold would not be realized however until 1519 to 1521 when Anan ctez would defeat the Aztec Empire and gain possession of their much prized and coveted gold some years later Francisco pizaro would also conquer the Inca Empire and acquire the treasures of Peru the king of Spain delightfully welcomed these treasures and added them to the treasury it was at this point that other nations began to turn towards South America Spain however expanded its expeditions to more areas conquering more lands and establishing its claim on the EXP of South America the colonies established often faced resistance from the natives but the latter were not strong enough to overcome The Intruders so they submitted to slavery in their own land however missionaries and Roman Catholic priests from Spain introduced Christianity to the natives they mainly settled in Frontier areas where they set up their religious missions and built schools to educate the [Music] Americans the Portuguese with an Infamous reputation for being one of the most notorious explorers and colonizers had to settle for Brazil alone as its portion of the new world shortly after Spain made tries and the Americas it got into a sharp dispute with Portugal concerning the rights and jurisdiction to establish colonies this dispute was finally settled in 1494 by a line of demarcation which ran from the north to the South for about 1,185 mil west of the a of Cape FD a pact was thus signed called the Treaty of tesas which declared all land portions to the west to Spain and those to the east to Portugal perhaps if those who signed the treaty were aware that the Western Hemisphere still contained a great expanse of land as Spain would later find out they certainly would have adjusted the line more to the west but since they did not know Portugal was left with the coastal region of Brazil alone in the east in 1500 Pedro Alvarez cabal a Portuguese Navigator and Aristocrat founded the country of Brazil but Portugal paid little attention until Spain and France made advances to venture into it so in 1530 King John III of Portugal ordered the exploration and possession of Brazil the nation was partitioned into what was called capitanas land portions colonized by a governor known as a Don atario who oversaw a portioning land to Farmers by 1549 the whole of Brazil was under a single colony and governor general the lands given to farmers were used to grow sugar cane to be exported back to Europe this began in 1620 with American Indians working as slaves on the farmlands later on and slaved men women and children from Africa would take over as between the 1500s and the 1800s about 4 million were brought into Brazil to work on plantations Brazil would temporarily come under the Reigns of Spain in 1580 when King Philip II hijacked control of the government of Portugal the Portuguese would regain freedom in 1640 and reclaimed control over Brazil until 1822 when the Brazilian Revolution paved the way for its own independent [Music] [Music] monarchy the Dutch started exploring South America right from the early 17th century commercial Traders paved the way for the New Netherlands to settle in the new world a joint stock business Enterprise established in 1621 the Dutch West India Company sponsored all of The Dutch's exploration Endeavors in 1624 the Dutch made attempts to establish colonies in Brazil and continued to make such attempts for 30 years but all proved abortive however they did establish many many colonies in the Caribbean islands and one in South America Dutch Guana apart from the doch Sweden also joined the quest to colonize South America in the 1630s when the new Sweden company was established they established colonies and built forts to fortify them in 1638 Peter minu who had deserted the Dodge to Sweden side helped build the first fort on the Delaware River called Fort Christina in 1643 they spread out to an area on tenom island where they cut out wooden cabins it became the first European settlement in pennylvania in 1647 the swedes built Fort new klom before capturing Fort Casimir from the Dutch four years later this fort proved very significant as it guarded the path to all the colonies established by Sweden however in 1655 Peter Styers New Netherlands Governor reclaimed Fort Casmir and captured Fort Christina from the sweds making them a part of the Dutch [Music] Empire [Music] Europe has been characterized by many years of living close to their bars and animal farms where they read pigs horses cows fowls and dogs where diseases are known to originate the ancestors of the Europeans had battled the diseases until their Generations developed antibodies to neutralize them the natives of South America on the other hand had never experienced such diseases and this led to them suffering greatly from them when they came in contact with the Europeans the small pox epidemic broke out five times during the colonization of the American Indians and it led to the death of many other diseases which broke out include typhos misos diptheria and influenza the extent of damage of these diseases were so alarming that they wiped out about 95% of the natives of the Americas a number between 10 million and 20 million amerindians perhaps this mortality rate may not have been reached if the colonizers paid little attention to the dying Natives and were not all focused on acquiring the wealth of the continent for themselves [Music] in the expanse of half a century from 1775 to 1825 the countries of South America gained their independence from their European colonizers Spain lost control of Mexico in 1821 and other South American countries gained their independence from Portugal and Spain between the years 1810 and 1825 except for the guanes it was not until 1975 that Dutch Guana finally gained independence from the Netherlands the colonization of South America was strategic in reshaping the course of the world with more countries discovered the map of the world was getting into clearer shape and what man knew about the world was ever increasing the civilization of the Native Indians was totally eradicated and it is a shame that they were labeled as having no prior history however they are no longer where they used to be and as many historical cases usually are they leave the past behind and together as a continent Forge a future for themselves however in North America the these Native Indians were being systematically wiped out by the United States of America it was a genocide you can learn the full story in our next [Music] episode [Music]