- Christopher Columbus The Catholic Monarchs and the Capitulations of Santa Fe
- Spanish Voyages of Exploration Treaty of Tordesillas
- First Scenario of Colonization: Hispaniola Government Churchmen and Laws of Burgos
- Medieval Documents
Texts: Bakewell, pp. 97-125 Mills et al., pp.27-33
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
Cristoforo Colombo (Genoese, born in 1451), sailor, and lived in Portugal in the 1470s. There, he married into a rich family from Italian origins, the Perestrelos. He had a vast experience as sailor.
The Catholic Monarchs and the Capitulations of Santa Fe
Columbus tried to persuade John II of Portugal …show more content…
The first of four voyages: 1492, 1493, 1498, and 1502.
In 1493 he came back to the New World with an impressive fleet of 17 ships and 1,200 men. It was a venture of colonization. Due to the destruction of his fortress of La Navidad (created in 1492, in Hispaniola today’s Haiti), he erected the first European-American town: Isabela (in Hispaniola, Dominican Republic).
Columbus believed that he had a monopoly of exploration along the coasts in the new World. In the sixteenth century there were new expeditions by Portuguese and Spaniards. In 1500, Pedro Alvares Cabral discovered Brazil. In 1513 Juan Ponce de León arrived in Florida and Núñez de Balboa ‘discovered’ the Pacific Ocean. Numerous expeditions occurred between the 1520s and …show more content…
First bishop arrived in America in 1511, That year, in Hispaniola, a Dominican, Antonio de Montesinos preached his sermon in which he condemned the encomienda system (as an example of exploitation).
King Ferdinand called on a Junta (meeting). This Junta met in Burgos in 1512 enacted an important law: The Law of Burgos of 1512-1513. This regulated labor and conversion of the Amerindians. This legislation opened a chapter of the recognition of the rights of the Amerindians. They should mine gold for Spaniards just for five months.
Problem of the legislation: it remained largely unenforced.
New voice against the system of encomienda: Bartolomé de Las Casas.
MEDIEVAL DOCUMENTS
Documents explore the hard coexistence between Muslims and Christians in the Peninsula. The Arabic name of Spain was Al-Andalus.
Celebration of the Beginning of the Christian Year. Abu’l-Asbagh’Isa b. Muhammad al-Tamili is asked if these traditions should be followed by Muslims. He said they are contrary to the Muslim principles. (mid-Ninth Century)
Description of Christian Spain: Jilliqiyya (León and Castile). Divided into four parts
The North, Galicia (León). Important city: