Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The first known and recorded Christian marriage anywhere in the continental United States was an interracial union between a free black Spanish woman from Jerez de la Frontera and a Spanish settler from Segovia who met in Seville and embarked together as a couple to the New World. This marriage took place in 1565 in the Spanish settlement of St ...
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies [2] [3] (Spanish: Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias) is an account written by the Spanish Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas in 1542 (published in 1552) about the mistreatment of and atrocities committed against the indigenous peoples of the Americas in colonial times and sent to then Prince Philip II of Spain.
It is estimated that during the initial Spanish conquest of the Americas up to eight million indigenous people died, primarily through the spread of Afro-Eurasian diseases, [98] in a series of events that have been described as the first large-scale act of genocide of the modern era.
Many enslaved Africans died during what became known as the Middle Passage, and others in the New World because of harsh conditions, especially in Caribbean colonies and South America. Slaves from Africa were considered the means to satisfy the demand for labor to develop new lands.
It is estimated that during the period 1492–1832, a total of 1.86 million Spaniards settled in the Americas, and a further 3.5 million immigrated during the post-independence era (1850–1950); the estimate is 250,000 in the 16th century and most during the 18th century, as immigration was encouraged by the new Bourbon dynasty. [6]
Cover of "Leyes Nuevas" of 1542. The New Laws (Spanish: Leyes Nuevas), also known as the New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians, [1] were issued on November 20, 1542, by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (King Charles I of Spain) and regard the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
But although they issued a decree in 1500 that specifically forbade the enslavement of Indigenous people, they allowed three exceptions which were freely abused by colonial Spanish authorities: slaves taken in "just wars"; those purchased from other Indigenous people; or those from groups alleged to practice cannibalism (such as the Kalinago). [4]
The encomienda was essential to the Spanish crown's sustaining its control over North, Central and South America in the first decades after the colonization. It was the first major organizational law instituted on the continent, which was affected by war, widespread epidemics caused by Eurasian diseases, and resulting turmoil. [ 15 ]