Beginings Of Spanish And European World Destruction

Describe Spain’s early westward explorations in the late 15th – early 16th centuries. Include the early development of the Spanish Empire (New Spain). The age of exploration saw all of the western European nations rise and fall in power and wealth. From the late 1400’s to the early 1900’s all of Europe scrambled to carve up the earth, such that all the riches of the world would flow from the colonized to the colonizers. It all began, however with the capture of Andalusia (the Iberian Peninsula), and the subsequent commandeering of the Al-Andalus navy. Shortly after the land south-west of France was christened Spain, the new Kingdom, needed money to thrive. The major items of trade were Silk, Gold, Silver and Spices. All of Europe hungered for these items but because they were surrounded by the Ottoman Empire, were unable to access them, for as long as this empire existed, they barred any and all Europeans from eastern trade. Before the advent of the Caravel, Europeans never seriously considered the sea as a route of trade, but in taking all of Andalusia form the Moors, Europeans also gained access to this great, ocean worthy ship. Lacking land access, and needing the goods from the east, the Portuguese and Spanish began a race to see who could get to the there, and lock up trade routes first. Their original goal was to reach Japan, and subsequently the other Oriental countries. In 1492 an Italian Sailor made a spectacular proposition to the Portuguese monarchy, if they funded him, he proposed, he and his men would find a sea route to the Far East by sailing west. The Portuguese laughed at him, and he brought the same proposal to the Spanish Crown. Queen Isabella complied, and that same year, the Caribbean was claimed for Spain. The claim to the land was solidified, when Pope Alexander IV issued the Inter caetera, dividing the Caribbean, and yet undiscovered South American lands in two, pole to pole. Portugal getting the everything east of the pole, and Spain getting everything west. Initially, the annexation of Hispaniola yielded very little profit to the conquers. There was sugar and vegetables to be planted, but the pirates had an insatiable hunger for gold. This led more raiders to leave Spain in search rumored riches, and glory in the new world. Later, less than 30 years after the decimation, and colonization of Hispaniola, the present lands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Panama were each to share the same fate. For the next ~150 years the, Spanish pillagers toppled every government,

and every nation that they came across. They crushed, and erased any aspects of aboriginal culture, and replaced it with their own. It's due to the arrival of the Europeans that the two continents (North and South America) were almost completely depopulated. New Spain was the first of the European empires that the “sun never set on”. At their zenith, The Spanish Empire consisted of the Caribbean islands, South America(minus Brazil), all of central America, all of the South and Western present day United States, and the Philippines. The creation and existence of the Spanish empire was the bane of hundreds of millions, but for Spain, this empire was a godsend. Without it, Europe would have surely perished under the weight of the Ottoman trade blockade. Attached are pictures of the Ottoman, and Moorish empires needed to demonstrate how Europe was surrounded, and needed to branch out and discover new lands.