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Period: Jan 1, 1493 to Jan 1, 1500
AGE OF DISCOVERY: A NATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Approximately five hundred thousand Native Americans died in the Caribbean Islands -
Oct 1, 1500
Christopher Columbus Arrested
Christopher Columbus was stripped of his title Governor of the Indes because of his harsh cruelty dealing with maintaining his governorship of the Natives. Columbus and his brothers were sent back to Europe where they spent six weeks in prison for their crimes. -
Feb 1, 1503
Native Enslavement
Spaniards enslaved and sold thousands of native people. Men, women, and children were murdered and tortured if they did not produce their quota of "one small bell full of gold dust ev three months. Fingers, hands, legs, noses, and genitals were cutt-off if they did not pay their tributes. -
May 26, 1511
Priest Antonio de Montesinos spoke out for the Natives
Antonio de Montesinos preached he was "a voice crying in the wildreness," denouncing the Spaniards claiming they were committing mortal sin for the cruelty and tyranny used to deal with innocent people. This was the first time a non-native spoke out on their behalf. -
Aug 26, 1511
The Laws of Burgos
The Laws of Burgos were meant to ensure humane treatment of Indians from the Crown King Charles I and the Council of the Indies. The Spaniards were to allow Native Americans the opportunity to swear allegiance to the crown and churhc, and if they didn't submit to the king, then the Spaniards were allowed to enslave them. These new rules did not help the relations between the Natives much at all. -
Apr 8, 1519
Conquest continues inland
Hernan Cortes commanded 550 men, sixteen horses, and eleven ships with a goal to conqueror Tenochtitlan, the Aztec captiol city. With the aide of his Aztec mistress, he was able to acquire significant cultural information of the Aztecs and that worked to his advantage in his conquest. -
Nov 8, 1519
Moctezuma invites Cortes
Moctezuma invited Cortes and his men into his palace, for fear Cortes was the returning legendary and powerful Toltec king-god named Quetzalcoatl. -
Feb 23, 1520
Moctezuma dies at the hand of his own people
Moctezuma had been arrested and taken prisoner by Cortes, and later the new Aztec leader Cuauhtemoc assumed command of the City. -
Apr 26, 1520
Spanish Entradas move from Mexico City
After the Spaniards conquerored Mexico City entradas moved out to expand even further. Spaniards brought conquests invading native peoples into present day Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Native Americans received Spaniards with hostility if they had learned of the Spanish treatment of other Indians. However, some Natives greeted the Spaniards with friendly curiosity. -
Jun 26, 1520
Cortes regroups in Tlaxcala
A successful resistance to the Spaniards drove them out of Tenochtitlan to Tlaxcala, where they regrouped. Cortes came back to fight for Tenochtitlan with almost six hundred Spaniards, thirteen ships with cannons, and thousands of Tlaxcalans to fight on land and at sea. -
Dec 22, 1520
Battle: Cortes vs. Cuauhtemoc
Cortes met Cuahtemoc (the new Aztec leader) in battle fighting over their mighty city and culture. Unfortunately a severe small pox epidemic aided killed off many Natives, aiding Cortes in the defeat of the Aztecs. -
Aug 7, 1521
Tenochtitlan under Spanish rule
Tenochtitlan became the capital of New Spain and Cortes is the governor and captain general -
May 8, 1539
Hernando De Soto explores Florida and Mississippi
Hernando De Soto led an expedition through lands belonging to native nations from Florida to the Missippi River. Leaving a legacy of death, destruction, and diseases, De Soto claimed dominion over these nations, but they were not resettled until the end of the sixteenth century. -
Jan 2, 1540
Coronado Conquerors in America
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado returned to the village of Hawikuh to defeat the Zuni Indians. The Zunis defended their home the best they could but were defeated. Hawikuh became a place occupied by Spaniards while Coronado led others to northern New Mexico brutally defeating any other Native defenses. The Hopis of northern Arizona, Cocopa, Quechan, and Tohono O'odham of Sonora, Arizona, and California were met by Coronado. -
Apr 4, 1541
Searching for the "Golden Cities"
Coronado was in search of the fabled "Golden Cities" traveling through Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas -
Feb 24, 1542
Coronado heads home to Mexico
Coronado returns to Mexico exhausted and broke. Although Coronado claimed dominion over the areas he had conquerored he did not inhabit those regions. -
Feb 23, 1550
Natives are forced laborers
Spaniards enslaved the Indians by uprotting the Indians and forcing them to work in mines, plantations, and public works. Indians died by the plenty from brutal punishments, lack of food, disease, and poor housing. Soldiers and officials raped mothers, wives, and daughters creating a a "reign of terror." -
Sep 6, 1552
Missions used to control the Natives
Missionary activities were used to control the Natives. Christianizing the Natives was one avenue the Europeans used as an excuse for coming to the new lands. Las Casas wrote in his account: Very Brief Recital of the Destruction of the Indies the bloody conquest of the Native Americans. -
Apr 2, 1565
Presidio of St. Augustine
Pedro Menendez de Aviles founded the presidio of St. Augustine. Spaniards expanded northward as the fear of other European nations threatened Spain's hold on the Caribbean islands and Mexico. Indian villages were burned by Spainiards from this mission -
Native population deteriorates
About forty thousand Indians lived in sixty-six different pueblos, but by 1800, disease and death desimated the population to about 10,000. -
Acoma people devestated
The Acoma natives resisted the Spanish as they were informed their lands belonged to Spain and that they were now subjects to the crown. The people of Acoma killed thirteen soldiers, but the Spanish retaliated killing eight hundred people, capturing five hundred women and children and ordered all males twenty-five and older to have a foot chopped off and to serve twenty years of slavery. Young people between the ages of twelve and twenty-four served as slaves for twenty years.
