Chapter 14Later Explorers and continuing changes

News of the Discovery• April 1 1493 – News of Columbus’

discovery printed in Barcelona• Spreads due to printing press• 1503 – Florentine Amerigo

Vespucci writes “Mundus Novus” singing the praises of the new world• Spanish soon realize the

Caribbean not very rich in precious metals• Turn attention to North and

South America

Spain and Viceroyalties

• 1494 - Treaty of Tordesillas divides Spanish and Portuguese claims to new territories• Spanish crown appoints

governors or Viceroys to govern large and wealthy territories

Later explorers and “Conquistadors”

• 1519 – Hernan Cortes arrives in present day Mexico with 600 men. In 3 years subdues Aztec empire• 1531-1536 – Francisco

Pizarro repeats Cortes’ success in Peru and crushes the Inca Empire and establishes vice royalty of Peru

Tenochtitlan

Phillip II of Spain (r. 1556 – 1598)

• Son and Heir of Charles V• Inherited Spain, the Netherlands, Naples• Also King of Spain’s Possessions in the new world• Devout Catholic• Married to Mary I of England• Tries to invade England with Armada, fails

miserably

Phillip II in "Elizabeth the Golden Age"

Phillip II’s European Domains

And further afield…

The Complicated King

• Ruled from El Escorial outside of Madrid• Phillip II attempted to:• Subdue Dutch Revolts• Conquer England• Fight off Ottoman advances in the

Mediterranean• Conquer the New World

Golden Century of Spain 1500s (16th cent)• Between 1503 and 1650 – 16 million Kilos of silver and 185,000 kilos

of gold enter Spain through Seville• Thanks to influx of precious metals from new world, Spanish influence

reverberates through Europe through its military victories and resurgent Catholicism• Phillip II costly wars and debts transmit inflation to the rest of Europe• Prices rose steeply in Spain ending Golden Age• 1588 – Defeat of Spanish Armada signals beginning of the end of

Spanish Power in Europe, will concentrate on maintaining overseas empire

Cities in Flanders and the Netherlands become trading capitals of bullion from the New World

Non-Spanish Explorers

• The Netherlands – 1602 Dutch East India company becomes organ of Dutch imperialism and expansion Asia. Dutch West India Company makes gains in Caribbean• France – 1534 – 1541 – Jacques

Cartier explores St. Lawrence river of present day Quebec (Canada)• England – 1497 John Cabot

explores present day Newfoundland and New England

The Great European Witch-Hunt

• Period of Religious wars leads to increase in witch hunts• Witches were thought to be in collusion with the Devil• “HERESY!”

• Estimate 100,000 people executed, nearly all were women

The Essay: Michel de Montaigne

• The essay: a literary genre created to express one’s thoughts and ideas• Comes from the French verb: essayer: to try• French philosopher Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)is credited with

making popular• Seen as a skeptic that questioned world around him• Religion• Politics• Society

Elizabethan and Jacobean Literature

• Shakespeare seen as the master of English literature• Found favor with Elizabethan royal court with plays such as :• Julius Caesar• Hamlet• Othello• Macbeth• Romeo and Juliet

• King James orders new translation of the Bible• King James Bible provides a superb expression of English vernacular