Age of Discovery: Spain

By: Tom Blanton

15th-16th century

• Spain began to settle the Caribbean islands and conquistadors soon toppled native empires such as the Aztecs and Incas on mainland America.

• Later expeditions established an empire that stretched from present-day Canada in North America to Tierra del Fuego in South America.

• Established links with Africa, Asia and the Americas in search for an alternative trade route to Asia, moved by the trade of gold, silver and spices.

• France, England and the Netherlands soon followed Spain's example of exploration.

Contact

• Contact between the Old and New Worlds produced the Columbian Exchange, a transfer of goods unique to one hemisphere to another.

• Europeans brought cattle, horses, and sheep to the New World, and in return received tobacco, potatoes, and bananas

• The new trans-oceanic links and their domination by the European powers led to the Age of Imperialism, a time when European colonial powers came to control most of the planet.

North American Natives

• There were many conflicts between Europeans and Natives.

• The Europeans had many advantages over the Natives (diseases that wiped out 50-90% of their population)

• Europeans also came to garner gunpowder and of course more technologically advanced equipment and transportation