5.3.

1  Study: Impact of European Colonialism in the Americas Study Guide

World History Honors Sem 1 Name:  
Date:  

Use this study guide to keep track of the important concepts covered in this activity. If you need help
answering any of the questions, check with your instructor. Save these study guides for review when
preparing for quizzes and tests.

Write the definition to each of the key terms below.

Word Definition

casta painting The paintings that portray people in the Americas with mixed racial
backgrounds.

coerced labor The work that people are forced to complete against their will by the
threat of punishment.

encomienda system A Spanish legal system that allowed Spaniards to use indigenous
people for labor during the colonization of the Americas. Many
Spaniards abused the indigenous people they controlled.

Francisco Pizarro (ca. 1471 or 1476 – 1541) A Spanish explorer who conquered the Inca
Empire in South America.

mestizo A person with mixed European and indigenous South American

ancestry.

mulatto A person with a white parent and a nonwhite parent.

vodou A belief in a god named Bondyé, along with lesser spirits. Believers
attempt to form relationships with these spirits in order to get through
life.

Write a short answer to each question.

1. What event launched the colonization of the New World?

Italian explorer Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492. When European countries
learned about the fertile land and abundant natural resources in the New World, they scrambled to
establish colonies there.

2. Identify three factors that made it easier for the Spanish to conquer indigenous empires in the
Americas.

Many of the indigenous peoples were already fighting with one another. The Spanish also had better
military equipment, as well as horses. Most importantly, the Spanish brought deadly diseases that killed
a large portion of the indigenous population and made it almost impossible for the natives to fight back.

3. Why did European countries need raw materials from the Americas?

They had limited land and supplies of many raw materials. And under mercantilism, they needed
colonies so they could export goods to them and build up their stocks of gold and silver.

4. What happened when Hernán Cortés arrived in the territory of the Aztec Empire? What happened in
the years afterward?

At first, Cortés claimed that he came in peace. However, he attacked the Aztecs shortly thereafter. With
the Aztecs already weakened by disease, it took Cortés less than three years to conquer them. He then
established a colony and rebuilt Aztec cities like Tenochtitlán to appeal to European settlers.

5. How did the Spanish supply their colonies in the New World with labor?

The Spanish established a European-style feudal system called the encomienda system, which forced
indigenous people to work for them. Later, when opinions turned against this system, colonists began
importing slaves from Africa to perform labor instead.

6. Why did Spanish colonists begin buying slaves from Africa?

Some Spaniards, like friar Bartolomé de Las Casas, began objecting to the abuses of the encomienda
system. The Spanish also had other problems with indigenous labor, like the fact that some people
weren't familiar with farming, some escaped into their native countryside, and many died from European
diseases.

7. What happened to Christianity when it was introduced to indigenous peoples and African slaves?
Describe what happened in Haiti.

In many instances, the indigenous peoples and the slaves combined elements of their native religions
with Christianity to create new faiths. In Haiti, this produced the religion of vodou.

8. What were the six major categories in the Spanish caste system? In what social position did the
Spanish place the indigenous peoples whom they had conquered in the Americas?

The six categories were peninsulares, Creoles, mestizos, mulattos, indigenous Americans, and free
Africans. The Spanish put indigenous Americans, near the bottom of the caste system, along with
people of African descent.
Expand your thinking on questions raised in this activity.

9. Do you think it was wrong of Spain to colonize the New World?

Many answers are possible. Below is one way you might have answered.

Yes, it was probably wrong of Spain to colonize the New World, at least in the way it did. Today, we have
a much better understanding of human rights and why the Spanish treatment of the indigenous and
African populations was wrong. People living 500 years ago seemed less aware of the harm they were
causing other groups, although at least a few individuals (like Bartolomé de Las Casas) recognized that
their behavior was wrong.

In one or two sentences, write the “big idea” or main point of this study.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain and Portugal conquered many indigenous civilizations in the
Americas and established colonies meant to serve the mother countries. While the blending of Spanish
and Portuguese cultures with indigenous and African cultures produced unique American beliefs and
traditions, the overall result was disastrous for indigenous peoples and Africans forced into slavery.

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