section one introduction europeans called the americas the new world but for millions of native americans they encountered it was anything but humans have lived in the americas for over 10 000 years dynamic and diverse they spoke hundreds of languages and created thousands of distinct cultures native americans built settled communities and followed seasonal migration patterns maintained peace through alliances and ward with their neighbors and developed self-sufficient economies and maintained vast trade networks they cultivated distinct art forms and spiritual values kinship ties knit their communities together but the arrival of europeans and the resulting global exchange of people animals plants and microbes what scholars benignly call the colombian exchange bridged more than 10 000 years of geographic separation inaugurated centuries of violence unreleased the greatest biological terror the world had ever seen and revolutionized the history of the world it began one of the most consequential developments in all of human history and the first chapter in the long american yap section two the first americans american history begins with the first americans but where do their stories start native americans passed stories down through the millennia that tell of their creation and reveal the contours of indigenous belief the saladin people of present-day california for example tell of a bald eagle that formed the first man out of clay and the first woman out of a feather according to lenape tradition the earth was made when sky woman fell into a watery world and with the help of muskrat and beaver landed safely on a turtle's back thus creating turtle island or north america a choctaw tradition locates southeastern people's beginnings inside the great mother mound earthwork nuni in the lower mississippi valley nawa people traced their beginnings to the place of the seven caves from which their ancestors emerged before they migrated to what is now central mexico america's indigenous peoples have passed down many accounts of their origins written and oral which share creation and migration histories archaeologists and anthropologists meanwhile focus on migration histories studying artifacts bones and genetic signatures these scholars have pieced together a narrative that claims that the americas were once a new world for native americans as well the last global ice age trapped much of the world's water in enormous continental glaciers twenty thousand years ago ice sheets some a mile thick extended across north america as far south as modern day illinois with so much of the world's water captured in these massive ice sheets global sea levels were much lower and a land bridge connected asia and north america across the bering strait between 12 and 20 000 years ago native ancestors crossed the ice waters and exposed lands between the continents of asia and america these mobile hunter-gatherers traveled in small bands exploiting vegetable animal and marine resources into the beringian tundra at the northwestern edge of north america dna evidence suggests that these ancestors paused for perhaps 15 000 years in the expansive region between asia and america other ancestors crossed the seas and voyaged along the pacific coast traveling along riverways and settling where local ecosystems permitted glacial sheets receded around 14 000 years ago opening a corridor to warmer climates and new resources some ancestral communities migrated southward and eastward evidence found at monte verde a site in modern day chile suggests that human activity begin there at least 14 500 years ago similar evidence hints at human settlement in the florida panhandle at the same time on many points archaeological and traditional knowledge sources converge the dental archaeological linguistic oral ecological and genetic evidence illustrates a great deal of diversity with numerous groups settling and migrating over thousands of years potentially from many different points of origin whether emerging from the earth water or sky being made by a creator or migrating to their homelands modern native american communities recount histories in america that date long before human memory in the northwest native groups exploited the great salmon-filled rivers on the plains and prairie lands hunting communities followed bison herds and moved according to seasonal patterns in mountains prairies deserts and forests the cultures and ways of life of paleo-era ancestors were as varied as the geography these groups spoke hundreds of languages and adopted distinct cultural practices rich and diverse diets fueled massive population growth across the continent agriculture arose sometime between nine thousand and five thousand years ago almost simultaneously in the eastern and western hemispheres mesoamericans in modern day mexico and central america relied on domesticated maize corn to develop the hemisphere's first settled population around 1 1200 bce corn was high in caloric content easily dried and stored and in mesoamerica's warm and fertile gulf coast could sometimes be harvested twice in a year corn as well as other mesoamerican crops spread across north america and continues to hold an important spiritual and cultural place in many native communities agriculture flourished in the fertile river valleys between the mississippi river and the atlantic ocean an area known as the eastern woodlands there three crops in particular corn beans and squash known as the three sisters provided nutritional needs necessary to sustain cities and civilizations in woodland areas from the great lakes and the mississippi river to the atlantic coast native communities managed their forest resources by burning underbrush to create vast park-like hunting grounds and to clear the ground for planting the three sisters many groups used shifting cultivation in which farmers cut the forest burned the undergrowth and then planted seeds in the nutrient-rich ashes when crop yields began to decline farmers moved to another field and allowed the land to recover and the forest to regrow before again cutting the forest burning the undergrowth and restarting the cycle this technique was particularly useful in areas with difficult soil but in the fertile regions of the eastern woodlands native american farmers engaged in permanent intensive agriculture using hand tools rather than european style plows the rich soil and use of hand tools enabled effective and sustainable farming practices producing high yields without overburdening the soil typically in woodland communities women practiced agriculture while men hunted and fished agriculture allowed for dramatic social change but for some it also may have accompanied a decline in health analysis of remains reveals that societies transitioning to agriculture often experienced weaker bones and teeth but despite these possible declines agriculture brought important benefits farmers could produce more food than hunters enabling some members of the community to pursue other skills religious leaders skilled soldiers and artists could devote their energy to activities other than food production native america's indigenous peoples shared some broad traits spiritual practices understandings of property and kinship networks differed markedly from european arrangements most native americans did not neatly distinguish between the natural and the supernatural spiritual power permeated their world and was both tangible and accessible it could be appealed to and harnessed kinship bound most native american people together most peoples lived in small communities tied by kinship networks many native cultures understood ancestry as matrilineal family and clan identity proceeded along the female line through mothers and daughters rather than fathers and sons fathers for instance often joined mothers extended families and sometimes even a mother's brothers took a more direct role in child raising than biological fathers therefore mothers often wielded enormous influence at local levels and men's identities and influence often depended on their relationships to women native american culture meanwhile generally afforded greater sexual and marital freedom than european cultures women for instance often chose their husbands and divorce often was a relatively simple and straightforward process moreover most native people's notions of property rights differed markedly from those of europeans native americans generally felt a personal ownership of tools weapons or other items that were actively used and this same rule applied to land and crops groups and individuals exploited particular pieces of land and used violence or negotiation to exclude others but the right to the use of land did not imply the right to its permanent possession native americans had many ways of communicating including graphic ones and some of these artistic and communicative technologies are still used today for example algonquin speaking ojibwes used birch bark scrolls to record medical treatments recipes songs stories and more other eastern woodland people's wove plant fibers embroidered skins with porcupine quills and modeled the earth to make sites of complex ceremonial meaning on the plains artisans wove buffalo hair and painted on buffalo skins in the pacific northwest weavers wove goat hair into soft textiles with particular patterns maya zapotec and naiwa ancestors in mesoamerica painted their histories on plant-derived textiles and carved them into stone in the andes inca recorders noted information in the form of knotted strings or kipu two thousand years ago some of the largest culture groups in north america were the puebloan groups centered in the set current day greater southwest the southwestern united states and northwestern mexico the mississippian groups located along the great river and its tributaries and the mesoamerican groups of the areas now known as central mexico and the yucatan previous developments in agricultural technology enabled the explosive growth of the large early societies such as that at tenochtitlan in the valley of mexico cahokia along the mississippi river and in the desert oasis areas of the greater southwest chaco canyon in northern new mexico was home to ancestral puebloan peoples between 900 and 1300 ce as many as 15 000 individuals lived in the chaco canyon complex in present-day new mexico sophisticated agricultural practices extensive trading networks and even the domestication of animals like turkeys allowed the population to swell massive residential structures built from sandstone blocks and lumber carried across great distances housed hundreds of pueblo in people one building pueblo bonito stretched over two acres and rose five stories its 600 rooms were decorated with copper bells turquoise decorations and bright macaws homes like those at pueblo bonito included a small dugout room or kiva which played an important role in a variety of ceremonies and served as an important center for pueblo and life and culture pueblo and spirituality was tied both to the earth and to the heavens as generations carefully charted the stars and designed homes in line with the path of the sun and the moon the pueblo and people of chaco canyon faced several ecological challenges including deforestation and over irrigation which ultimately caused the community to collapse and its people to disperse to smaller settlements an extreme 50-year drought began in 11 30. shortly thereafter choco canyon was deserted new groups including the apache and navajo entered the vacated territory and adopted several playblind customs the same drought that plagued the pueblo also likely affected the mississippian peoples of the american midwest and south the mississippians developed one of the largest civilizations north of modern-day mexico roughly 1 000 years ago the largest mississippian settlement cahokia located just east of modern-day st louis peaked at a population of between ten thousand and thirty thousand it rivaled contemporary european cities in size no american city in fact would match cahokia's peak population levels until after the american revolution the city itself spanned 2 000 acres and centered on monk's mound a large earthen hill that rose 10 stories and was larger at its base than the pyramids of egypt as with many of the peoples who lived in the woodlands life and death in cahokia were linked to the movement of the stars sun and moon and their ceremonial earthwork structures reflect these important structuring forces cahokia was politically organized around chiefdoms a hierarchical clan based system that gave leaders both secular and sacred authority the size of the city and the extent of its influence suggest that the leader relied on a number of lesser chiefdoms under the authority of a paramount leader social stratification was partly preserved through frequent warfare war captives were enslaved and these captives informed are formed rather an important part of the economy in the north american southeast native american slavery was not based on holding people as property instead native americans understood the enslaved as people who lacked kinship networks slavery then was not always a permanent condition very often a formerly enslaved person could become a fully integrated member of the community adoption or marriage could enable an enslaved person to enter a kinship network and join the community slavery and captive trading became an important way that many native americans regrew or gained and maintained power around 10 50 cahokia experienced what one archaeologist has called a big bang which included a virtually instantaneous and pervasive shift in all things political social and ideological the population grew almost 500 percent in only one generation and new people groups were absorbed into the city and its supporting communities by 1300 the once powerful city had undergone a series of strains that led to collapse scholars previously pointed to ecological disaster or slow depopulation through emigration but new research instead emphasizes mounting warfare or internal political tensions environmental explanations suggest that population growth placed too great a burden on the arable land others suggest that the demand for fuel and building materials led to deforestation erosion and perhaps an extended drought recent evidence including defensive stockades suggest that the political turmoil among the ruling elite and threats from external enemies may explain the end of the once great civilization north american communities were connected by kin politics and culture and sustained by long-distance trading routes the mississippi river served as an important trade artery but all of the continent's waterways were vital to transportation and communication cahokia became a key trading center partly because of its position near the mississippi illinois and missouri rivers these rivers created networks that stretched from the great lakes to the american southeast archaeologists can identify materials like seashells that traveled over a thousand miles to reach the center of the civilization at least 3 500 years ago the community at what is now poverty point louisiana had access to copper from present-day canada and flint from modern-day indiana sheets of mica found at the sacred serpent mount site near the ohio river came from the allegheny mountains and obsidian from nearby earthworks came from mexico turquoise in the greater southwest was used at teotihuacan 1200 years ago in the eastern woodlands many native american societies lived in smaller dispersed communities to take advantage of rich soils and abundant rivers and streams the napes also known as delawares farmed the bottomlands throughout the hudson and delaware river watersheds in new york pennsylvania new jersey and delaware their hundreds of settlements stretching from southern massachusetts through delaware were loosely bound together by political social and spiritual connections dispersed and relatively independent lenape communities were bound together by oral histories ceremonial traditions consensus-based political organization kinship networks and a shared clan system kinship tied the various lanape communities and clans together and society was organized along matrilineal lines marriage occurred between clans and a married man joined the clan of his wife lenape women wielded authority over marriages households and agricultural production and may even have played a significant part in determining the selection of leaders called sachems dispersed authority small settlements and kin-based organization contributed to the long-lasting stability and resilience of lenape communities one or more sachems governed lenape communities by the consent of their people lenape sachems acquired their authority by demonstrating wisdom and experience this differed from the hierarchical organization of many mississippian cultures large gatherings did exist however as dispersed communities and their leaders gathered for ceremonial purposes or to make big decisions sachems spoke for their people in larger councils that included men women and elders lenapes experienced occasional tensions with other indigenous groups like the iroquois to the north or the susquehanna to the south but the lack of defensive fortifications near lanape communities convinced archaeologists that the lenapes avoided large scale warfare the continued longevity of lenape societies which began centuries before european contact was also due to their skills as farmers and fishers along with the three sisters lenape women planted tobacco sunflowers and gourds they harvested fruits and nuts from trees and cultivated numerous medicinal plants which they used with great proficiency the lenapes organized their communities to take advantage of growing seasons and the migration patterns of animals and fowl that were a part of their diet during planting and harvesting seasons lenape's gathered in larger groups to coordinate their labor and to take advantage of local abundance as proficient fishers they organized seasonal fish camps to net selfish and catch shad lenape's wove nets baskets mats and a variety of household materials from the rushes found along the streams rivers and coasts they made their homes in some of the most fertile and abundant lands in the eastern woodlands and use their skills to create a stable and prosperous civilization the first dutch and swedish settlers who encountered the lenapes in the 17th century recognized lanabe prosperity and quickly sought their friendship their lives came to depend on it in the pacific northwest the kwakwaka wak twingets haidas and hundreds of other peoples speaking dozens of languages thrived in a land with a moderate climate lush forests and many rivers the peoples of this region depended on salmon for survival and valued it accordingly images of salmon decorated totem poles baskets canoes oars and other tools the fish was treated with spiritual respect and its image represented prosperity life and renewal sustainable harvesting practices incur ensured the survival of salmon populations the coast salish people and several others celebrated the first salmon ceremony when their first migration the first migrating salmon was spotted each season elders closely observed the size of the salmon run and delayed harvesting to ensure that a sufficient number survived to spawn and return in the future men commonly used nets hooks and other small tools to capture salmon as they migrated up river to spawn massive cedar canoes as long as 50 feet and carrying as many as 20 men also enabled extensive fishing expeditions in the pacific ocean where skilled fishermen caught halibut sturgeon and other fish sometimes hauling thousands of pounds in a single canoe food surpluses enabled significant population growth and the pacific northwest became one of the most densely populated regions of north america the combination of population density and surplus food created a unique social organization centered on elaborate feasts called potlatches these potlatches celebrated birds and weddings and determined social status the party lasted for days and hosts demonstrated their wealth and power by entertaining guests with food artwork and performances the more the hosts gave away the more prestige and power they had within the group some men saved for decades to host an extravagant potlatch that would in turn give him greater respect and power within the community many peoples of the pacific northwest built elaborate plank houses out of the region's abundant cedar trees the five hundred foot long tsukwamish oliman house or old man house for instance rested on the banks of puget sound giant cedar trees were also carved and painted in the shape of animals or other figures to tell stories and express identities these totem poles became the most recognizable artistic form of the pacific northwest but peoples also carved masks and other wooden items such as hand drums and rattles out of the region's great trees despite commonalities native cultures varied greatly the new world was marked by diversity and contrast by the time europeans were poised to cross the atlantic many native americans spoke hundreds of languages and lived in keeping with the hemisphere's many climates some lived in cities others in small bands some migrated seasonally others settled permanently all native peoples had long histories and well-formed unique cultures that developed over millennia but the arrival of europeans changed everything section three european expansion scandinavian seafarers reached the new world long before columbus at their peak they sailed as far east as constantinople and raided settlements as far south as north africa they established limited colonies in iceland and greenland and around the year one thousand leif eriksen reached newfoundland in present-day canada but the norse colony failed culturally and geographically isolated the norse were driven back to the sea by some combination of limited resources inhospitable weather food shortages and native resistance then centuries before columbus the crusades linked europe with the wealth power and knowledge of asia europeans rediscovered or adopted greek roman and muslim knowledge the hemispheric dissemination of goods and knowledge not only sparked the renaissance but fueled long-term european expansion asian goods flooded european markets creating a demand for new commodities this trade created vast new wealth and europeans battled one another for trade supremacy european nation states consolidated under the authority of powerful kings a series of military conflicts between england and france the hundred years war accelerated nationalism and cultivated the financial and military administration necessary to maintain nation states in spain the marriage of ferdinand of aragon and isabella of castile consolidated the two most powerful kingdoms of the iberian peninsula the crusades had never ended in iberia the spanish crown concluded centuries of intermittent warfare the reconquista by expelling muslim moors and iberian jews from the iberian peninsula in 1492 just as christopher columbus sailed west with new power these new nations and their newly empowered monarchs yearned to the access of the wealth of asia seafaring italian traders commanded the mediterranean and controlled trade with asia spain and portugal at the edges of europe relied on middlemen and paid higher prices for asian goods they sought a more direct route and so they looked to the atlantic portugal invested heavily in exploration from his estate on the sagras peninsula of portugal a rich sailing port prince henry the navigator infante henry duke of physio invested in research and technology and underwrote many technological breakthroughs his investments bore fruit in the 15th century portuguese sailors perfected the astrolabe a tool to calculate latitude and the caravel a ship well suited for ocean exploration both were technological breakthroughs the astrolabe allowed for precise navigation and the caravel unlike more common vessels designed for trading on the relatively placid mediterranean was a rugged ship with a deep draft capable of making lengthy voyages on the open ocean and equally important carrying large amounts of cargo while doing so blending economic and religious motivations the portuguese established forts along the atlantic coast of africa during the 15th century inaugurating centuries of european colonization there portuguese trading posts generated new profits that funded further trade and further colonization trading posts spread across the vast coastline of africa and by the end of the 15th century vasco de gama leapfrogged his way around the coasts of africa to reach india and other lucrative asian markets the vagaries of ocean currents and the limits of contemporary technology forced iberian sailors to sail west into the open sea before cutting back east to africa in so doing the spanish and portuguese stumbled on several islands off the coast of europe and africa including the azores the canary islands and the cape verde islands they became training grounds for the later colonization of the americas and saw the first large-scale cultivation of sugar by enslaved laborers sugar was originally grown in asia but became a popular widely profitable luxury item consumed by the nobility of europe the portuguese began growing sugar cane along the mediterranean but sugar was a difficult crop it required tropical temperatures daily rainfall unique soil conditions and a 14-month growing season but on the atlantic islands the portuguese had found new land to support sugar production new patterns of human and ecological destruction followed isolated from the mainlands of europe and africa for millennia island natives known as the guanches were enslaved or perished soon after europeans arrived portugal's would-be planters needed laborers to cultivate the difficult labor-intensive crop portuguese merchants who had recently established good relations with the powerful african kingdoms such as the congo ndongo and songhai looked then to enslaved africans slavery had long existed among african societies african leaders traded war captives who by custom forfeited their freedom in battle for portuguese guns iron and manufactured goods from bases along the atlantic coast the largest in modern day nigeria the portuguese began purchasing enslaved people for export to the atlantic islands to work the sugar fields thus were born the first great atlantic plantations spain too stood on the cutting edge of maritime technology spanish sailors had become masters of the caravels as portugal consolidated control over african trading networks and the circuitous eastbound sea route to asia spain yearned for its own path to empire christopher columbus a skilled italian-born sailor who had studied under portuguese navigators promised just that opportunity educated asians and europeans of the 15th century knew the world was round they also knew that while it was therefore possible to reach asia by sailing west from europe thereby avoiding italian or portuguese middlemen the earth's vast size would doom even the greatest caravals to starvation and thirst long before they ever reached their destination but columbus underestimated the size of the globe by a full two-thirds and therefore believed it was possible after unsuccessfully shopping his proposed expedition in several european courts he convinced queen isabella and king ferdinand of spain to provide him three small ships which set sail in 1492 columbus was both confoundingly wrong about the size of the earth and spectacularly lucky that two large continents lurked in its path in october 12 1492 after two months at sea the nina pinta and santa maria and their 90 men landed in modern-day bahamas the indigenous airlocks or taino populated the caribbean islands they fished and grew corn yams and cassava columbus described them as innocents they are very gentle and without knowledge of what is evil nor the sins of murder or theft he reported to the spanish crown your highness may believe that in all the world there can be no better people they love their neighbors as themselves and their speech is the sweetest and gentlest in the world and always with a smile but columbus had come for wealth and he could find little the airlocks however wore small gold ornaments columbus left 39 spaniards at a military fort on hispaniola to find and secure the source of the gold while he returned to spain with a dozen captured and branded airlocks columbus arrived to great acclaim and quickly worked to outfit a return voyage spain's new world motives were clear from the beginning if outfitted for a return voyage columbus promised the spanish crown gold and enslaved laborers columbus reported with 50 men they can be all subjugated and made to do what is required of them columbus was outfitted with 17 ships and over 1 000 men to return to the west indies columbus made four voyages to the new world still believing he had landed in the east indies he promised to reward isabella and ferdinand's investment but when material wealth proved slow in coming the spanish embarked on a vicious campaign to extract every possible ounce of wealth from the caribbean the spanish decimated the arawaks bartolome de las casas traveled to the new world in 1502 and later wrote i saw with these eyes of mine the spaniards for no other reason but only to gratify their bloody-mindedness cut off the hands noses and ears both of indians and indianesses when the enslaved laborers exhausted the island's meager gold reserves the spaniards forced them to labor on huge new estates the encomiendas las casas inscribed european barbarities in cruel detail by presuming the natives had no humanity the spaniards utterly abandoned theirs casual violence and dehumanizing exploitation ravaged the airlocks the indigenous population collapsed within a few generations the whole island of hispaniola had been depopulated and a whole people exterminated historians estimates of the island's pre-contact population range from fewer than 1 million to as many as 8 million las casas estimated it at 3 million in a few short years they were gone who in future generations will believe this las cosas wondered i myself writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness can hardly believe it despite the diversity of native populations and the existence of several strong empires native americans were wholly unprepared for the arrival of europeans biology magnified european cruelties cut off from the new the old world its domesticated animals and its immunological history native americans lived free from the terrible diseases that ravaged populations in asia europe and africa but their blessing now became a curse native americans lacked the immunities that europeans and africans had developed over centuries of deadly epidemics and so when europeans arrived carrying smallpox typhus influenza diphtheria measles and hepatitis plagues decimated native communities many died in war and slavery but millions died in epidemics all told in fact some scholars estimate that as much as 90 percent of the population of the americas perished within the first century and a half of european contact though ravaged by disease and warfare native americans forged middle grounds resisted with violence accommodated and adapted to the challenges of colonialism and continued to shape the patterns of life throughout the new world for hundreds of years but the europeans kept coming [Music] section 4 spanish exploration and conquest as news of the spanish conquest spread wealth hungry spaniards poured into the new world seeking land gold and titles a new world empire spread from spain's caribbean foothold motives were plain said one soldier we came here to serve god and the king and also to get rich mercenaries joined the conquest and raced to capture the human and material wealth of the new world the spanish managed labor relations through a legal system known as the encomienda an exploitative feudal arrangement in which spain tied indigenous laborers to vast estates in the encomienda the spanish crown granted a person not only land but a specified number of natives as well ann comenderos brutalized their laborers after bartolome de las casas published his incendiary account of spanish abuses the destruction of the indies spanish authorities abolished the encomienda in 1542 and replaced it with the repartimento intended as a milder system the reiparti miento nevertheless replicated many of the abuses of the older system and the rapacious exploitation of the native population continued as spain spread its empire over the americas as spain's new world empire expanded spanish conquerors met the massive empires of central and south america civilizations that dwarfed anything found in north america in central america the maya built massive temples sustained large populations and constructed a complex and long-lasting civilization with a written language advanced mathematics and stunningly accurate calendars but maya civilization although it had not disappeared nevertheless collapsed before european arrival likely because of the droughts and unsustainable agricultural practices but the eclipse of the maya only heralded the later rise of the most powerful native civilization ever seen in the western hemisphere the aztecs militaristic migrants from northern mexico the aztecs moved south into the valley of mexico conquered their way to dominance and built the largest empire in the new world when the spaniards arrived in mexico they found a sprawling civilization centered around tenochtitlan an awe-inspiring city built on a series of natural and man-made islands in the middle of lake texcoco located today within modern day mexico city tenochtitlan founded in 1325 rivaled the world's largest cities in size and grandeur much of the city was built on large artificial islands called chinapas which the aztecs constructed by dredging mud and rich sediment from the bottom of the lake and depositing it over time to form new landscapes a massive pyramid temple the temple mayor was located in the center uh the city center its ruins can still be found in the center of mexico city when the spaniards arrived they could scarcely believe what they saw seventy thousand buildings housing perhaps two hundred thousand to two hundred fifty thousand people all built on a lake and connected by causeways and canals bernal diaz de castillo a spanish soldier later recalled when we saw so many cities and villages built in the water and other great towns on dry land we were amazed and said that it was like the enchantments some of our soldiers even asked whether the things that we saw were not a dream i do not know how to describe it seeing things as we did that had never been heard of or seen before not even dreamed about from their island city the aztecs dominated an enormous swath of central and southern mesoamerica they ruled their empire through a decentralized network of subject peoples that paid regular tribute including everything from the most basic items such as corn beans and other foodstuffs to luxury goods such as jade cacao and gold and provided troops for the empire but unrest festered beneath the aztecs imperial power and european conquerors lusted after its vast wealth hernan cortes an ambitious 34 year old spaniard who had won riches in the conquest of cuba organized an invasion of mexico in 1519 sailing with 600 men horses and cannon he landed on the coast of mexico relying on a native translator whom he called dona marina and whom mexican folklore denounces as la malinche cortez gathered information and allies in preparation for conquest through intrigue brutality and the exploitation of endemic political divisions he enlisted the aid of thousands of native allies defeated spanish rivals and marched onto nochetlan aztec dominance rested on fragile foundations and many of the region's semi-independent city-states yearned to break from the aztec rule nearby kingdoms including the taraskins to the north and the remains of mayan city-states on the yucatan peninsula chafed at aztec power through persuasion and maybe because some aztecs thought cortes was the god quetzalcoatl the spaniards entered tenochtitlan peacefully cortes then captured the emperor montezuma and used him to gain control of the aztecs gold and silver reserves from their network of mines eventually the aztecs revolted montezuma was branded a traitor and uprising ignited the city montezuma was killed along with a third of cortez's men in la noche triste the knight of sorrows the spanish fought through thousands of indigenous insurgents and across canals to flee the city where they regrouped enlisted more native allies captured spanish reinforcements and in 1521 besieged the island city the spaniards 85 day siege cut off food and fresh water smallpox ravaged the city one spanish earth's observer said it spread over the people as a great destruction some it covered on all parts their faces their heads their breasts and so on there was great havoc very many died of it they could not move they could not stir cortez the spaniards and their native allies then sacked the city the temples were plundered and fifteen thousand died after two years of conflict a million person strong empire was toppled by disease dissension and a thousand european conquerors farther south along the andes mountains in south america the quechuas or incas managed a vast mountain empire from their capital of cusco in the andean highlands through conquest and negotiation the incas built an empire that stretched around the western half of the south american continent from present-day ecuador to central chile and argentina they cut terraces into the sides of mountains to farm fertile soil and by the 1400s they managed a thousand miles of andean roads that tied together perhaps 12 million people but like the aztecs unrest between the incas and conquered groups created tensions and left the empire vulnerable to traders smallpox spread in advance of spanish conquerors and hit the incan empire in 1525. epidemics ravaged the population cutting the empire's population in half and killing the incan emperor waianae and many members of his family a bloody war of succession ensued inspired by cortez's conquest of mexico francisco pizzaro moved south and found an empire torn by chaos with 168 men he deceived incan rulers and took control of the empire and seized the capital city cusco in 1533 disease conquest and slavery ravaged the remnants of the incan empire after the conquests of mexico and peru spain settled into their new empire a vast administrative hierarchy governed the new holdings royal appointees oversaw an enormous territory of landed estates and indigenous laborers and administrators regulated the extraction of gold and silver and oversaw their transport across the atlantic in spanish galleons meanwhile spanish migrants poured into the new world during the 16th century alone 225 000 migrated and 750 000 came during the entire three centuries of spanish colonial rule spaniards often single young and male emigrated for the various promises of land wealth and social advancement laborers craftsmen soldiers clerks and priests all crossed the atlantic in large numbers indigenous people however always outnumbered the spanish and the spaniards by both a necessity and design incorporated native americans into colonial life this incorporation did not mean equality however an absolute or sorry an elaborate racial hierarchy marked spanish life in the new world regularized in the mid-1600s but rooted in medieval practices the systema de costas organized individuals into various racial groups based on their supposed purity of blood elaborate classifications became almost prerequisites for social and political advancement in spanish colonial society peninsulares iberian-born spaniards or espanoles occupied the highest levels of administration and acquired the greatest estates their descendants new world-born spaniards or creoles occupied the next rung and rivaled the peninsulares for wealth and opportunity mestizos a term used to describe those of mixed spanish and indigenous heritage followed like the french later in north america the spanish tolerated and sometimes even supported interracial marriage there were simply too few spanish women in the new world to support the natural growth of a purely spanish population the catholic church endorsed interracial marriage as a moral bulwark against bastardy and rape by 1600 mestizos made up a large portion of the colonial population by the early 1700s more than one third of all marriages bridged the spanish indigenous divide separated by wealth and influence from the peninsulares and cryos mestizos typically occupied a middling position in spanish new world society they were not quite indios or indigenous people but their lack of limpiesa de sangre or pureblood removed them from the privileges of full-blooded spaniards spanish fathers of sufficient wealth and influence might shield their mestizo children from the racial prejudice and a number of wealthy mestizos married espanols to whiten their family lines but more often mestizos were confined to a middle station in spanish new world enslaved and indigenous people occupied the lowest rungs of the social ladder many manipulated the systema de casas to gain advantage for themselves and their children mestizo mothers for instance might insist that their mestizo daughters were actually castizas or quarter indigenous who if they married a spaniard could in the eyes of the law produce pure creole children entitled to the full rights and opportunities of spanish citizens but passing was an option only for the few instead the mass of native populations within spain's new world empire ensured a level of cultural and racial mixture or mestizate unparalleled in british north america spanish north america wrought a hybrid culture that was neither fully spanish nor fully indigenous the spanish not only built mexico city atop tenochtitlan but food language and families were also constructed on indigenous foundations in 1531 a poor indigenous named juan diego reported that he was visited by the virgin mary who came as a dark-skinned new waddle-speaking indigenous woman reports of miracles spread across mexico and the virgin de guadalupe became a national icon for a new mestizo society from mexico spain expanded northward lured by promises of gold and other and another wealthy tenochtitlan spanish expeditions scoured north america for another wealthy indigenous empire huge expeditions resembling vast moving communities composed of hundreds of soldiers settlers priests and enslaved people with enormous numbers of livestock moved across the continent juan ponce de leon the conqueror of puerto rico landed in florida in 1513 in search of wealth and enslaved laborers alvar nunez joined the navaras expedition to florida a decade later but was shipwrecked and forced to embark on a remarkable multi-year odyssey across the gulf of mexico and texas into mexico pedro menendez de aviles founded saint augustine florida in 1565 and it remains the oldest continuously occupied european settlement in the present-day united states but without the rich gold and silver mines of mexico the plantation friendly climate of the caribbean or the exploitative potential of large indigenous empires north america offered little incentive for spanish officials still spanish expeditions combed north america francisco vasquez de coronado pillaged his way across the southwest hernando de soto tortured and raped and enslaved his way across the southeast soon spain had footholds however tenuous across much of the continent section 5 conclusion discovery of america unleashed horrors europeans embarked on a debauching path of death and destruction exploitation that unleashed murder and greed and slavery but disease was deadlier than any weapon in the european arsenal it unleashed death on a scale never before seen in human history estimates of the population of pre-colombian america range wildly some argue for as much as 100 million some as low as 2 million in 1983 henry dobbins put the number at 18 million whatever the precise estimates nearly all scholars tell of the utter devastation wrought by european diseases davin's estimated that in the first 130 years following european contact 95 of native americans perished at its worst europe's black death peaked at death rates of 25 to 33 percent nothing else in history rivals the american demographic disaster a 10 000 year history of disease hit the new world in an instant smallpox typhus bubonic plague influenza mumps measles pandemics ravaged populations up and down the continents wave after wave of disease crashed relentlessly disease flung whole communities into chaos others it destroyed completely disease was only the most terrible in a cross-atmospheric exchange of violence culture trade and peoples the so-called colombian exchange that followed in columbus's wake global diets for instance were transformed the america's calorie-rich crops revolutionized old-world agriculture and spawned a worldwide population boom many modern associations between food and geography are but products of the colombian exchange potatoes in ireland tomatoes in italy chocolate in switzerland peppers in thailand and oranges in florida are all manifestations of the new global exchange europeans for their part introduced their domesticated animals to the new world pigs ran rampant through the americas transforming the landscape as they spread throughout both continents horses spread as well transforming the native american cultures who adapted to the newly introduced animal partly from trade partly from the remnants of failed european expeditions and partly from theft indigenous people acquired horses and transformed north american life in the vast north american plains the europeans arrival bridged two worlds and ten thousand years of history largely separated from each other since the closing of the bering strait both sides of the world had been transformed and neither would ever again be the same